Oscar's Handy Service

I hired a handyman, "Oscar Handyman Services" through Porch.com who came to the house, gave a quote- $475. I agreed, he came a couple days later, proceeded the work and then my concerns began. He was removing a popcorn ceiling because it contained asbestos and refinishing it. He brought two apprentices who taped off the living room from other rooms but used very flimsy plastic sheeting and left big gaps. Material blew into the other parts of the house. I had to tell him to tape it up completely and ended up having to DO IT MYSELF to get it right. He also didn't seem at all concerned about the seriousness of the carcinogenic material- not wearing even a respirator himself, and no one in protective clothing. When they were done with the removal - with all the material still covering the whole floor in piles- he took down the protective plastic. ??? They dragged all the material out which I did not see because I stayed in my room and had others in the house with the pets stay in their rooms to avoid exposure. It's like he didn't really know that the asbestos fibers are invisible to the naked eye. He then sprayed orange peel texture onto the ceiling without reapplying mud or taking care of the obvious water stains on the 55-year old drywall. I know now that he should have used a special primer- but he did not. They painted and the next day we looked at it and it was bad. So he decided to apply mud. He charged an extra $200 for this. I felt at his mercy- I just wanted it done and for them to go. The next day, however he only had his apprentice patch up certain areas. I had to leave before they were done. I had to leave him a check. My brother was home but he is mentally ill and incapable of dealing with it. When I got home I found mud splattered all over the glass doors, windows and carpet. The patched areas were obvious. By the next day the stains were coming through the mud- as I now know will happen if not using primer. Dangerous, bad decisions, no real idea what he was doing - I gave up on a refund when Porch said he had to come back to "fix" it. He lied and said he got caught up with another project. and when could he come back to repaint? I wouldn't let him back in. Fixed it myself. Many lessons learned and I particularly wont use Porch again. Good luck!

Oscar and his team did a wonderful job with all the projects we gave to him. His pricing was good and he was very timely.