Smart and Handy

I was impressed with Smart and Handy in every regard - they did great work, communicated well and often, and stuck to their schedule.

They actually talked us into doing less work in our bathrooms than we originally intended because we didn't need it (which saved us money and cost them money). That's the sign of a good business that's concerned more about creating a long term relationship than a short term gain- and what they recommended looks great.

I am very happy to have found a General Contractor that I can use in the future and have and will continue to recommend them to family and friends. We've all had encounters with the other kind....

First of all, I rarely write reviews. Dave was so helpful that I wanted to share about his wide knowledge base regarding whole house remodeling! He and his team re-wired all my bathrooms (upstairs and downstairs) creating a second circuit breaker. In the laundry room, he designated a new electrical outlet for an electric dryer and opened up the drywall to create the plumbing to install a sink. He installed new wired-smoke alarms, created new recessed lights and updated the existing recessed lights. He had a good understanding of where and how to install grab bars in the bathroom for elder safety. Dave also provided advice regarding sound insulation, lighting, and roof repairs.  I am a pediatric occupational therapist and he installed specialized therapy hooks and created a frame to hang equipment on. I have recommended him to many friends and would call him for any work that I need done in my house - small or big!

I have a first time home buyer and had a great experience working with Dave.  He is extremely knowledgeable and professional.  Dave took the time to educate me on projects I was interested in - even those that may not involve him.  I would not hesitate to call Smart & Handy again.  

Dave recently repainted and installed new flooring in my town home.  He completed the project on time and on budget, and provided me updates via texts and pictures along the way. Dave even took the time to meet me at the flooring store and helped me select the flooring that would suit my tastes and function best in my home.  

Additionally, Dave provided a lot of pointers for me on how to make the home suitable for my elderly parents.  He is extremely knowledgeable and thoughtful about the options available to make my home as safe as possible for a person with a disability but was also very conscious of my limited budget.

Lastly, I'd like to say that in attempting my first remodel, I am very weary of dishonest or careless contractors. In working with Dave I never felt this way.  He was never pushy, always polite, and incredibly easy to work with.  I look forward to working with Dave again in the near future.

Dave and his company were amazing in the remodel of my grandparents' bathrooms, in a house that hadn't been touched since 1956 when they bought it.  Dave was extremely patient, good at communicating with both me (running the project from across the country) and my grandparents.  The finished product looks beautiful, and most importantly it is much safer for my grandparents.  Great work from a great company!

Top notch service!
We wanted to remove a wall between our kitchen & living room. Dave did a clean cut exploratory panel & found plumbing we didn't know about which would require a drastic increase in budget we didn't want to spend.
He sealed up the wall for us.  His smart thinking saved us a big mess and lots of cash.
He even cleaned the dry wall dust up!
Highly recommend Dave & Smart And Handy!

We had a difficult dilemma with a previous homeowner making home alterations without city permits. Smart & Handy was hired to work help us return laundry hookups and relocate a water heater.  From the first point of contact, Smart & Handy was prompt and laid out a realistic plan of action and cost involved, especially given the degree of unknowns involved from previous renovations. The final results were very polished and precise. Their work ethic and diligence was also a reflection of their professionalism. We passed final city inspection without a hitch ! Thank you, Smart & Handy.

Dave from Smart and Handy was the contractor for our bathroom, wall and flooring, and fireplace remodel. He also put in a beautiful new built in entertainment center. Throughout the experience he and his subs were professional, thorough, and reliable. Dave has some great ideas on functional design, but also was willing to work with our interior designer on details. When something went amiss (and something always does) he readily responded and solved the delemma.  Our house is lovely and we are planning to go ahead with another bathroom upgrade soon.

I have used a number of contractors in the past and each time have always been left a little disappointed with the experience. Not so with Dave and his crew at Smart & Handy. The entire crew was very professional, friendly, prompt and accountable.

They took the time and listened well to be sure that they knew the customer's wishes and had a keen attention to detail during the project. They left the job site clean at the end of the day and were very considerate during the entire job. The entire process was very pleasant and enjoyable, and most importantly, I felt no need to micromanage the project as I could tell the project would be completed to my specifications (also not the common experience with my previous contractor hires). Dave & his crew were also very dog friendly -- a plus since we have a lovable but protective labradoddle in the home.

I look forward to working with Smart & Handy in the future for several additional projects I have on my checklist. Thank you Smart & Handy!

Dave did an amazing job installing a bi-fold door and a Superior TV Mount which wraps around our wall and allows our TV to go outside.  Unreal.  Couldn't be happier with service, price... everything.

Although I am putting my room addition plans on hold, Smart and Handy was quite professional. Setting up an appointment with Catherine on the phone was easy.  Dave showed up on time and was forthcoming with his knowledge.  Upon request, he even respected our house by removing his shoes upon entering.

Dave was responsive, punctual, smart and a very experienced handyman. He thought of a way to solve the problem of a rediculously long venting from our dryer to the outside and then did a fantastic job of making it work.

They are indeed smart, and handy. Very competent, thorough and conscientious. They completed the work quickly, and on-budget. If you need a reliable handyman service, this is the one!

I contacted three contractors for estimates on a bathroom remodel. Dave not only responded in a timely manner, but he was the only one who came to see my bathroom in person. He gave an extremely thorough explanation of everything that he would be doing, & he also answered all of my questions in a very patient & easy to understand manner. Throughout the remodel, he consistently provided updates & confirmations as to what would be done when. When it came time for me to choose tile, he went & picked up samples & brought them to me so that I could see how each would look with the cabinets. The work he did was top notch, & I would highly recommend that anyone looking to remodel their home give Dave a call.

Excellent repair of wall around new windows.  Contractor Steve Panek was clean, efficient, friendly and paid attention to every detail we mentioned.  He came on a Saturday as promised.  He fixed spots with missing insulation and thoroughly chalked before screwing in wallboard.  The finished area matches the rest of the room perfectly.  The work areas were left clean.  We're delighted.

My father is elderly and was having mobility issues due to arthritis and a stroke. When this happens to most of us for the first time we don't know what option there are to allow our parents to remain independant. I contacted Dave because I needed someone to make knowledgable recommendation. He did exactly that. What I most appreciated was his patience with my father and that he did not push for major modification right away. We addressed the immediate concerns and I learned from Dave that as the mobility issues worsen we could revisit for addition modification.

I meant to write this review last year after Dave finished working on my house but I suppose better late than never.  I needed some pretty extensive remodel work on my house (bathroom, kitchen, flooring, drywall, closet construction, lighting and more)  After many meetings with many potential contractors, I decided to go with Dave at Smart and Handy and i'm glad I did.  His prices were fair (not the most expensive and not the cheapest).  
I've heard the usual horror stories when it comes to remodeling but things went very smoothly thanks to Dave being on top of everything and the easy communication.  Being busy at work, it's hard for me to take a lot of calls but we were able to easily go back and forth via text and picture messaging about all the little details that come up with this kind of work.  This was great because I wanted to know exactly what was going on during the entire process.  Of course, problems here and there came up once we started opening things up but that's natural for an older house.  
I was very particular about the quality and esthetic of the work and everything turned out the way we wanted.  For certain specialty tasks like travertine and glass tile installation, hardwood flooring and stairs, Dave brought in sub-contractors to help out.  I like this a lot because these people do this specific work all the time and they're good at it.  He has a good network of people that he trusts.  
Lastly, the other day I smelled a gas leak outside and I called Dave to ask for advice.  He was nice enough to drive over right away!! He told us what we should do and luckily everything was okay.  That really is great service.

Overall, i'm very happy with how things turned out!

Dave and his team at Smart and Handy were amazing when I needed to do a full remodel of a condo for my elderly mother.   When I called a handful of companies  for an estimate, Dave was the only one who called me back within a day.  

Dave gave great options to do the remodel with my limited budget.   He also has a great sense of design and made recommendations and gave feedback on materials and colors.   An added bonus was that he and his team are experts in remodeling homes for the elderly.   I really appreciated the advice he gave on grab bars, shower seat, door knobs, door width, and other details.    My mom feels so comfortable and safe with the features that were incorporated into the design.

Dave communicated well with me every step of the way. He and his team did a great job and always left the place clean.   He also followed up a few times after the remodel was done to make sure that everything was satisfactory.   I give Smart and Handy 5 stars and would not hesitate to use them again for future remodels.

We are nearing the end of a large remodel (a gut basically) on our townhouse. We started with Dave with Smart and Handy back in January. I had him give us a quote based on great Yelp reviews, although I was still a little nervous thinking that those weren't as good as a personal recommendation. Well consider this your personal recommendation (although they will be happy to give you references, which we called, and they will all sing his praises). Dave gave us a very thorough initial quote that encompassed the wide scope of work we were looking for. Anything that came up, he always wrote up a new estimate so we knew what we were in for. All the vendors he brought in were fantastic. We completely redid all 3 of our bathrooms and the tile work that his tile guy did was beautiful! My husband and I were so impressed. We also needed engineered drawings of a staircase that we were redoing and a wall we were taking down, which required a beam. Dave recommended a fantastic engineer who did drawings that passed with the city the first time they were submitted, and he happened to be an incredibly nice guy as well. The staircase railings and treads were redone by another vendor of his who did a superb job. Our stairs are not only beautiful now but safe for our growing family.

Every subcontractor that Dave brought in was fantastic. While some may not have been the cheapest, with construction I feel like you get what you pay for. We decided to find our own painter to save a little money and ended up having Dave's painters come in and do it because it was so much better, and quicker. Do yourself a favor and trust Dave. He's been working with these guys a while and your project will run smoothly and turn out fantastic if you go with them. From framing to drywall to tile, paint, and flooring, Dave knows people who will get the job done right. He will help counsel you on material options where you can save money as well. I went with him to purchase our tile and I paid what he unwound pay for the tile with his contractor's discount. He didn't take anything off the top.

Dave has great attention to detail and is very honest. In fact when there was an error made on his end, he refunded us what we paid for. Way above and beyond what we expected but definitely made us trust him and we will use him for any future projects (although now we just want to enjoy our new remodeled home!).

Every day my husband and I comment on how much we love our remodeled home thanks to the hard work of Dave and his team. Give him a call, it will be the easiest decision if your remodel!

We wanted to upgrade our closet from wood panel to drywall. We had a family friend help do it but it turned out real bad. So after calling a couple of other companies and giving us outrageously high quotes for a closet, we called Smart and Handy. Their quote was completely acceptable compared to the other guys. Dave and his daughter were completely professional. You could tell they knew what they were talking about and I felt confident in them before they started working on our closet. Dave made sure to explain everything to us and asked us about out closet doors so he could build the closet frame opening according to closet door we chose. He even hid our electrical cables that were hanging making the closet look uglier and messier. He also suggested to add a new outlet behind out television, in the new wall, for our television. So happy we did because we only had one outlet for our tv, cable box, ps4, and phone chargers. He even upgraded our old outlet from 2 prongs to 3 prongs. Im so happy with how everything came out. The walls came out real smooth, no bumps or anything. It looks perfect. I highly recommend Smart and Handy to anyone that needs work done right the first time.

I called three times since last week. Mail box is always full and no one answers. Then I left a message by clicking Quote and no reply. Therefore, I give one star because if they don't start with a good customer service, how would they help you?

Used 'em a second time... you can see the Bi-fold door/window they installed in photos above.  Delivered on budget, time and quality.

Dave returned a call for my request on Yelp within 1 hour and scheduled a meeting in his office to do initial consaltation for my project. I feel so lucky to meet Dave at this early stage in searching for general contractors, the meeting was so educational. Smart & handy is obviously an well organized business. Dave is very professional, experienced, the most important, is very patient to a potential client like me who asks all the stupid questions. The meeting today easily deserves my 5 stars rating!

Though they weren't able to help with my small job in a short time frame, they were courteous to return my call within about an hour which I really appreciated.

My husband and I are first time home buyers and we chose a house that needed remodeling. We were very nervous about the process as we have heard all the horror stories on contractor jobs gone wrong.We also had items on our to-do list there were causing us some anxiety and we wanted to make sure it was done right.

We did our homework, had quite a few contractors bid our jobs, and in the end, we are so thankful we chose Dave to handle this experience. He is very knowledgable and did a very good job in explaining the work that needed to be done. We felt that he treated our home as if he were doing the work on his own home, and he was very particular in making sure it was done right!

As first time home buyers, we are obviously very cost conscious and Dave was very respectful of that. He always gave us options that would help us stick to our budget, but we never felt like we were getting skimped on quality. We are very happy with the outcome and we will be using Dave for our future contracting needs. We feel like he knows our house so well now, we wouldn't trust anyone else with the job!

I called Dave for some advice on repairs based upon a home inspection report and he emailed me a thorough list of his recommendations and cost estimates the same day! He also called to ensure that I understood everything and gave some great advice on further testing that we needed. I will definitely call upon Dave for future work to be done on our house. Thank you!

Worked with me to get the job done ASAP. Agreed to meet at 7:30 AM so he could be done before my customers arrived. He was on time and completed his work in the estimated time frame.  Work area was neat and tidy as if he had never been there at all.  Very professional-he explained everything he was going to do before he did it.  If you ignore the weekend, our job was completed less than 24 hours after first contact ( which was made the same day through yelp).  I highly recommend Smart and Handy.

COULD NOT BE HAPPIER! Dave and his crew were on time and finished the project as promised. He even told us of another problem with our outside electrical that he went ahead and fixed....no charge. we had a nightmare expierience with our original contractor and was looking for someone who we could trust. we found it in Dave and Smart and Handy. We will call him in the future....it's a no brainer!
thanks Dave!
Kevin
Long Beach

We appreciated every aspect of our interaction with Dave and his team. They promptly returned our call, and Dave showed up to the inspection appointment when he said he would and provided an honest, no-nonsense estimate on what our repair needs were. We had him look at some water-related frame damage on our house, and he recommended basic service (which he encouraged us to handle via our normal contractor), whereas less-scrupulous people might have made our situation seem worse than it was. I highly recommend him and will personally keep his team in mind for future needs.

I called them and completed the online form because of their high Yelp rating promising  a few hour return for quote. I never heard back from them. Disappointing considering the high rating. Not good to over-promise and under-deliver on your response time.

After seeing all the positive reviews of Dave's work, my husband and I chose Dave to remodel our bathroom. His design expertise and professionalism  proved we made the right choice. The bathroom turned out so well, we asked Dave to remodel our master shower as well. Stunning work! We will continue to work with Dave for other remodel projects in our home.

I was very relieved to find Dave and his team to help modify our bathroom for accessibility concerns. They did a great job offering solutions which included widening our door and placement of grab bars for safety. They were very compassionate and trustworthy. I appreciated how thoughtful they were about protecting our home and cleaning up extremely well.  They also held true to their bid even though the project took longer than I expected. I will definitely hire Smart and Handy again.

Smart & Handy is very knowledgable about walk in bath tubs.  My husband has terrible arthritis.  These tubs are perfect for him!  And it's great to have a trustworthy contractor to make it happen.

We would definitely hire David at Smart and Handy again!  We needed a flat screen tv wall mounted and the wiring run through the wall in our company showroom so I searched 'electricians' on Yelp.  I sent several requests for quotes out and David was one of the first to respond with a quote much lower than the first one I had received.  We were also limited on time, so needed the job done quickly.  From the time I accepted the quote to the actual install was 1 1/2 business days.  He was on time, did a great job and left the room as clean as when he found it.  Thanks, David for living up to your reviews :)

Dave was literally the one person who called me directly, out of the six contractors that I reached out to on yelp about two hours ago. I current have water damage in my unit and needed to reach out to a contractor asap. Not only did he take time out of his busy schedule to call me right away, but even though there seems to be a possibility that I wasn't going to be able to go through work with him (due to handling of insurance claims and their recommends) I never felt like Dave was giving me the quick run around. He was patiently explaining how I can best handle my scenario and his advice was very reassuring. He stuck through the call with me and answered all questions I had. I got the impression that Dave is a very considerate and caring person that can be relied upon. If I have any future construction needs, I will definitely be looking to Dave to get the job done.

Dave was a great choice to fix the door frame at my rental property.  A guest had ripped the door frame apart and we needed it fixed fast.  Dave showed up on time and replaced the door in one day.  He was very professional and it shows in the quality of his work.  Would recommend him any day!!

Fast response.  Dave is very knowledgeable, thorough/detailed, and wants to get the job done right.  General contractor background/license a huge plus.  Catherine smart and helpful too.  Very professional/good paperwork.  Thanks!

I made an online inquiry, late at night, and Dave responded.  He was very prompt responding, and we set up an appointment on a Saturday morning to take a look at the job.  He arrived on time and quoted a reasonable price for the job, which was to remove the sheet rock from two walls, replace it and texture it.  The texture was old and not an orange peel or knock down.

Dave arrived as scheduled the following Monday and proceeded with the work.  He spent all day working on this and he did an outstanding job!  My sister is a general contractor and former building inspector, and she was very impressed with Dave's craftsmanship.  He was very easy to work with and friendly.  Dave obviously knows what the term customer service means.

I contacted one other handyman that was referred byt a friend, and he never even responded.  In this strong economy, it is sometimes difficult to get anyone to do a small job.

Dave explained to me that he does all types of jobs including kitchen and bathroom remodels, room additions and more.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we wanted to remodel a bathroom to make it accessible for my husband with a disability, we chose to work with Dave at Smart and Handy and are glad we did for so many reasons I'll have to list them.
1) when Dave first came it bid our job he spent a lot of time with us talking about my husband's needs and, because he has experience in working with the disabled, he was able to give us some ideas we hadn't thought of.
2) Before starting work Dave gave us a detailed estimate of what he would do and what the costs would be. He stuck to that estimate throughout the job.
3) the sub-contractors (plumbers, dry waller, and tile man) who worked for Dave were all excellent at their jobs.
4) Dave always took the time to answer our questions.
5) when Dave said he, or one of his workers, would be at our house at a certain time they always showed up at that time.
6) and best of all, now that our job is done we are very happy with the bathroom and recommend Smart and Handy to anyone needing to have remodeling done. Thanks, Dave!

After reading all the 5 star reviews on this company, I thought it would be a good idea to give them a call for an estimate.  Unfortunately, I was very disappointed.  After David aka Dave (the owner) came to review the requested work, I was told I would receive an emailed estimate within a week - it has now been 1 and half weeks and after leaving two messages with Dave, I still have not received a call back.  I am sorry, but I am somewhat skeptical how all the reviews are 5 stars.  If this is true, why have I not received a call or email back???

In addition, I was given a verbal quote from Dave when we met to retile a shower for $5k (that's me buying the tile mind you).  For that amount of money, I should be getting most of a bathroom remodeled wouldn't you think?  Good luck if you use this company, I hope they return calls from you...