"Handyman" Dave...

Jim here...

Since we've been having so many contractors & repair people come by to give quotes on various projects, we've been trying to save a buck wherever we can. There probably is some truth in the old saying, "You get what you pay for." For what we thought would be an easy plumbing repair, we turned to Craigslist, where we happened across "Handyman" Dave... and I use the quotation marks with good reason. A red flag should have gone up when I saw his business card. Not only is he a handyman, but as you can see below, he also specializes in, "portraiture, art, graphic design (?), photography, troubleshooting (not sure what that's about), repair, remodel, computer tech, hardware, software, and networking." Not to mention, what is up with the tagline: "Concepts... of Diversity." What the heck is that supposed to mean?


So Dave shows up yesterday ready to fix our basement laundry sink issues (a leaky faucet and leaky trap). After an hour of holding the work light and helping him turn the water off and on in every faucet/sink/tub in our house, and locating the main shut offs, I get the feeling he may be in over his head, but I'm also sensing he does not want to admit it. He then states that he needs to leave to go to Home Depot (again) for more parts, and requests that I accompany him. At first I agree to go, but as I'm holding the work light, I think to myself, "What am I paying him for? I'm basically helping him with the job and now I have to go buy the parts as well." He reluctantly agrees to go alone to the store but tells me he "has no money" and I have to pay over the phone. Another red flag, but I go along with the plan.

He returns an hour later with a new faucet, and into hour 4 of the project, he realizes the faucet he purchased will not fit and he will need to go back to the store to buy more parts. At this point, neither issue we hired him for has been fixed and it is getting late. I decide to cut and run and I tell him just to fix the trap and not to worry about the faucet (otherwise he might have been the first to stay over in our guest room). So now we are the proud owners of an uninstalled faucet and we still have to call a plumber. All in all, I think he did the best he could, however maybe he should stick to some of the other eleven specialties he claims to have.