I had a tenant complaining that his French doors in my 1920’s guest house were rotting to a point that rats were coming into his home! I had to get the doors replaced. I used to be a Licensed General Contractor and ran million dollar jobs with as many as 100 employees and sub-contractors so I know a little bit about what is good and bad workmanship. I did my research to find out who could do the door removal and replacement in the fastest time with the best quality. After doing my homework, I choose
Mr. Handyman. I went to their website and put in my zip code which is 90046 and was directed to the Beverly Hills office of Mr. Handyman of California, Inc. I am happy to report that during the entire process of working with
Mr. Handyman of Beverly Hills Hollywood and the Valley, I was very impressed with their communication, work ethic, punctuality and workmanship! I definitely recommend them.
At 9 AM sharp actually a little before, two shiny red and white Mr. Handyman trucks arrived at my property
In today’s world of do-it-yourself shows,
Home Depot workshops and the like, we think that we can do it all. However, sometimes it pays to hire true professionals. You would think that installing a door might be an easy task however you would be wrong. If you are replacing doors in any older home, problems and obstacles that
you will come across make it absolutely imperative that you choose a true professional like
Mr. Handymanof Beverly Hills. Although
Mr. Handyman of Beverly Hills Hollywood and the Valley will gladly pickup your supplies, I chose to get the doors myself. After I got the doors, I phoned
Mr. Handyman of Beverly Hills at
818-995-4674 and spoke to Debbie who was very polite and took all the pertinent information needed to get the job done correctly. If you call in the afternoon expect to speak with Donna Marie. Debbie and I set up a mutually convenient time for three days from my call at 9am. I got a verification call from Debbie two days before our appointment to confirm all was on track. I also got a call one hour before the workmen were to arrive to, again, make sure all was fine. After the job was completed, there is always a follow up call to see how everything went.
The experienced technicians arrived in uniform driving a clearly marked Mr. Handyman van, ON TIME, AND READY TO WORK`
At 9 a.m. sharp, actually a little before, two shiny red and white
Mr. Handyman trucks arrived at my property and I met Tim and Chad, the expert handymen who would be doing the door replacements.
Chad and Tim sized up the situation and got right to work
They immediately sized up the situation and got to work, taking all the needed equipment and tools from their van. They knew what they were doing, did not have any wasted steps and went well beyond the basic door removal and replacement.
Chad noticed that the old oak threshold had separated and was dangerous; he not only put in new exterior glue into the seam and screwed it in but when that extra step to craft a custom wedge to put in below the threshold so that the stress of walking on it would not cause that problem in the future
For example, Chad noticed that the oak door threshold that had been glued and doweled fifteen years earlier had separated and was dangerous. He not only put in new exterior glue into the seam and screwed it in place but when that extra step to craft a custom wedge to put in below the threshold so that the stress of walking on it would not cause that problem in the future. This job, simple as it sounds, removing two old doors and installing two new doors and painting them required a great amount of skill that you would never understand unless you were able to see the entire process.
You could not have done this yourself, to make the doors operate correctly, they needed all sorts of tweaks from angled planeing, to spacers in the hinges
Luckily I watched the entire process. The new doors needed all sorts of tweaks from angled planeing, to spacers in the bottom hinges so they would close properly. The hinges had holes that were far too large and needed shims placed into the holes so that the screws had something to grab on to. The astragal, the piece of wood that keeps the wind and light out from between the doors once they are closed needed custom trimming to fit the old hardware, the hinges, hardware, recesses stops, surface mounted stops all had to be measured and hand fitted with chisels, levels, proper measurements and great skill . Chad and Tim removed the old weather stripping and hardware so they could recycle it and put it on the new doors.
A sign of the professionalism was that the work area was continuously vacuumed and drop clothes were used to protect my wood deck. The doors were given a primer coat making sure to get the tops and bottoms
As far as the painting, that was done professionally as well. The work area was continuously vacuumed and drop clothes were used to protect my wood deck. The doors were sanded and vacuumed before being given a primer coat making sure to get the tops and bottoms. If you miss those areas, your doors will warp. After the primer dried, the doors were again sanded to make sure the final coat would stick. Then they were dusted to remove any wood dust and painted with the final gloss coat. The final step was to remove the paint on the windows and left over adhesive from the door manufacturer with a razor. Then voila, beautiful new doors!
In no time Chad fixed the gates improperly installed by another handyman, boy what a difference 'old fashioned work ethics' make!
Other repairs that I needed were two gates that another handyman had improperly installed. I thought they both needed to have the bottoms trimmed so they would stop dragging on the cement causing great difficulty in opening or closing. Chad put his tools together to do his magic. He immediately observed that the gates did not need to have the bottoms trimmed, it only needed the hinge screws tightened. In five minutes the first set of gates were repaired. Then off to the other set of gates. Chad explained that the prior handyman had failed to install diagonal braces which are necessary in all gates no matter how narrow. The skillful handyman immediately went about measuring and cutting the two needed diagonal braces installing them perfectly the first time and now these gates are better than new! After that great work, most people would be done but not Chad. In what seems to be exemplary of
Mr. Handyman of Beverly Hills Hollywood and the Valley's detailed work ethic, he opened and closed the gate which seemed to work fine to me, but for his exacting detailed eye, it was not perfect. So Chad immediately unscrewed the gate latch and reinstalled it so that it now locks perfectly. The repair of these gates took a small amount of time but really made a big difference in our ease of coming to and from our home. Something I am aware of every time I use the gates!
To learn more about the philosophy that encourages such old fashioned work ethics, I spoke to Teddy, the owner of
Mr. Handyman of Beverly Hills Hollywood and the Valley franchise. One of the things he said really rang true "
service has gone the way of the dodo bird" and I completely agree with him. I also learned that 50 to 75 percent of Teddy's business are repeat customers.
Mr. Handyman has been in existence for 10 years and Teddy has had his franchise for five of those years.
Mr. Handyman is the largest employer of handymen in the world! There's no doubt in speaking to Teddy and experiencing the workmen that he sent to me that
Mr. Handyman of Beverly Hills Hollywood and the Valley practices old-fashioned ethics, the kind that I grew up with, the ethics that today are very hard to find. All of
Mr. Handyman’
s work is guaranteed. Their workmanship is guaranteed for life! The materials are guaranteed for one year. Teddy has approximately six handymen working for his location and there are approximately 12 working in the Los Angeles area. All their technicians have an average of 15 years experience and are professional, insured, and reliable so you can feel care- free having our technicians working in your home.’
The Mr. Handyman Pledge:
"
Handyman understands that customer satisfaction starts with arriving at your home on time. You won't have to interrupt your day, wasting valuable time waiting on
Mr. Handyman. Our on-time record is second to none, and we arrive ready to work. Your
Mr. Handyman service technician will apply the same attention to detail and quality workmanship to every job, large or small.
Our mission is to offer our residential and business customers a professional and reliable maintenance and repair service."
-Todd Recknagel, President
There's no need to make multiple calls and set up different appointments for your home maintenance and repair projects.
Call Mr. Handyman, make one convenient appointment, and we will take care of everything on your "To Do" list.
* We arrive at your home on time.
* Our service technicians are uniformed, company employees, and have an average of 15 years of experience.
* We guarantee our work.
* We are licensed, insured, and reliable.
Handyman Service in Los Angeles, CA
by
Beverly Hills office of
Mr. Handyman of California, Inc.
4533 Van Nuys Blvd, Suite 401
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 Ph: 818-995-4674
Fax: 818-907-7324
License #: #807495
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