Tom Towle Carpenter

I can’t speak for his work since we never got to hiring him. He came saw the deck project. He seemed to understand specs and materials. We waited for a quote. And waited and waited. I called, texted and emailed. He got back to me a month later. He had lost his phone. Anyway I never got the quote after he contacted me – we were still interested in our project. He just disappeared again – Must’ve lost his phone.

This review is a long time coming. My partner and I moved out to Ditmas Park back in March. I Googled around to find a handyman to install a ceiling fan and a pots and pan rack and hang a mirror. I was stressed at the time due to my father just dying and starting a new job, so I probably wasn’t as diligent in my search as I should’ve been. But in reading his profile, he seemed like a an able, efficient guy.
He wasn’t.
He was befuddled from the moment he walked in the door. After trying to put in the ceiling fan for an hour, he finally told me that it just couldn’t be installed properly because the beams in the ceiling weren’t secure enough.
OK, so on to the mirror. He struggled with this as well, with my trying to help. He finally was able to hang it but it was totally crooked. I didn’t say anything because he was making me nervous. He kept taking phone calls. Then asking me questions about what I did for a living and making somewhat snarky comments on the size of my TV. (I’m a movie fanatic and had just bought a huge flatscreen).
Hanging the pots and pans rack didn’t work out either. He drilled a few holes and then said he couldn’t find the right beam and yet again that it just couldn’t be done.
So out of 3 tasks, he barely accomplished 1. When I had called him, he said he’d charge me $ 100 for each task. Again, I wasn’t thinking straight and just agreed. Which leads me to the most galling part of all this. I asked how much he wanted for what he was able to accomplish. He said $ 300. I was shocked and freaked out. The guy’s demeanor is a little weird and at that point I just wanted him out. So I paid him the $ 300 so he would leave.
In retrospect, it’s clear that he thought I was some idiot gentrifier with a lot of money to burn. At one point he made some bitter comments about being priced out of the neighborhood. So no doubt he felt like he had total license to fleece me in the way that he did. Yes, I’m stupid for not doing my due diligence. But this guy is just something else.
The following week we got a handyman from Almac True Value — Henry — and he was amazing. He got everything I needed done in just over an hour and for a lot less. He was super-​pleasant too.
Anyway — avoid this guy AT ALL COSTS.

Tom is a skilled carpenter whose training as an artist shows. I hired him to restore salvaged built-​ins that had various missing and broken pieces. Tom chose perfect moldings, fixed hinges, added shelves and built everything into the walls. Now it looks like these pieces have always been part of the apartment. The workmanship and attention to detail are amazing. Tom also turned out to be a great person to have around. He understands how things work, and fixed a bunch of other practical problems around my apartment. If you can think it up, Tom can build it!