I've expended my online and phone book searches.

February of this year was a bad month for me. About 3-4 bad things happened, one of them being my home broken into with a crowbar. Fortunately it was a snow day, and my school teacher neighbor was home, and reported the crime to the police as soon as they stepped on my property. The police were there by the time they got in, so they didn't get a chance to steal or even touch a single thing, but the damage to the outside of my home still needs to be repaired.

I've been trying since March to get a contractor out, and at least give me an estimate. After several online sources such as reliableremodler.com, maryland.com, and other local searches, I turned to the phone book, and just started calling places left and right, explained the damage, and no one was interested in coming out for one reason or another. It really blows my mind that contractors would turn down 'not too difficult' work.

I finally got 1 company, Quality Remodelling, to come out, and give a decent estimate in 24 hours. I submitted the quote to the insurance company, got it approved, and got the check from the insurance company. The guy who gave me the quote got fired, and the manager of the company claims he has no guys to do this type of work anymore.

So as you can tell, it's really quite frustrating. Especially 6 months later, and not fixed. So if you know of any handyman/men or general contractors willing to do some work in Bowie, please let myself or them know. Here's what needs fixing:

1 window, about 2x3', kitchen multi-pane - crowbar damage to frame, entire window needs to be replaced
1 sliding glass door, normal sized - crowbar damage to frame, fairly certain entire door needs to be replaced (preferably with security door) and frame repaired.
1 privacy fence. *ssholes kicked the unlocked fence upon, which bent one of the support beams. Need to replace that section, or reinforce the beams foundation with cement.

If you know of anyone, I'd greatly appreciate any assistance with getting this stuff fixed. And I've already got the cash approved, so long as 'their' estimates are about the same as the one USAA cut the check for.

Thanks,
William/Wagnbat

EDIT:
Oh. And one of the two perps was caught, and pleaded guilty on May 28th.

 

did you look in the gazette newspaper??

there were a bunch of handyman ads there when we needed
to get a door fixed, and the first one that we called came promptly.

iirc, the company charged us a flat 75$/hour.

 

William, try your Yellow Pages. The Annapolis directory has a whole section under "handyman". Most of their ads say the equivalent of "no job is too small".
good luck:smile:

Katie

 

I've got the names of a couple folks who are VA based but might pick up work in Bowie. Have you asked any neighbors? When we moved into our neighborhood, we needed some gutter work done that Michael couldn't handle. Found that the next door folks had a refferal to someone we used with great success. That led us to discover that our next door neighbor on the other side is a handyman who has helped us with a couple drainage projects.

 

I have asked neighbors, former neighbors, co-workers...

It was a pain to get Quality remoldeling to come out the first time, much less anyone else.

I'll take pretty much any contact offered.

I don't think I called any in Virginia, because even some in Maryland were like 'Oh, thats too far for us'.

 

Lemme give you a phone number -- they must want business, they just cold-called me.

Gave 'em the number for the rental office

301-324-9629, Remodel USA, Inc. As always, check with BBB.

- Z

 

I will print this out and give it to my neighbor who has his own carpentry handyman business. I just had him help me replace 8 windows and my front door (one with a side window on both sides). I'll let you know in a day or so if he'll take the job.

 

This handyman lives in my neighborhood in Bowie. Usually a guy who gets work done quick but isn't always the cheapest. But he is local and has done work on about 50% of the houses in my neighborhood..

Name is Avi 301-464-1142
I believe his business is
Nahmias Improvements

 

I could also find out some info from a former prof of mine who live{s/d} in Bowie and had some work done on her house. Give me a day or so and I can find that info out.

 

Thanks for all the contacts. I'll be getting in touch with these people and seeing if they can come take a gander & provide a quote.

I'll also post updates if anyone picks up, or doesn't pick up, the project.

Thanks again all, including those whom PM'd their responses.

 

Did you ever get a contractor to do this work for you? Are you still interested in getting someone? The guy I gave this to came to me this past weekend to ask me if this was still on the table.

 

http://www.robsjobs.com/

I've used these guys a couple of times