Cary Carpentry & Construction

I used Cary Carpentry for a number of projects around my condo.

Paul was great to work with. He was flexible when I asked him to add additional items to the scope. He also paid great attention to detail. I could tell that he really cared that the work was done correctly. The finished product (he installed baseboard, built one new door, and did a bunch of little fixes) looked great!

After being so pleased with the first time I hired Paul, I gave him a call when I needed my garden apartment renovated. Working largely alone, he demoed, insulated, laid flooring, trimmed, hung cabinets, and finished about 600sf of living space. Because there is hardly a straight line or square corner in my 120 year old house, I needed a problem solver who could figure out how to hide or work around imperfections. Paul was always up to the task, finding solutions where I didn’t think they existed. For tasks outside of his trade, like tiling, drywalling, and electrical, he recommended craftsman he’d worked with in the past, and each one was skillful, fast, courteous and reasonably priced. Best of all, unlike nearly every contractor I’ve ever worked with, Paul is ALWAYS on time and great with communication.
So long as I own a house in Chicago, when it comes to carpentry and general construction, I can confidently tell folks, «I got a guy.» My guy is Paul Cary.

Paul is a pro and does great work. He recently hung a door in our garage and installed new flooring in our nursery. Our house was built in the late 1800s, so nothing is plumb, but Paul worked his magic to make the nursery look straight despite its odd shape. Prices are reasonable and he’s a great guy to have around to boot. Highly recommended.

Bought a home built in 1913 with a lot of original wood work. We had to have new windows installed and we had to remove all of the window trim. Which was also in need of stripping and re finishing. Paul reinstalled all the original window trim while fixing the past owners contractors horrible work. Everything looks great and could have not asked for a better job. All done in a timely manner and as he had originally quoted.

Paul was professional, timely, did skilled work, and also worked really well with our plumber on a bathroom job. He is exactly what you want on a small to mid sized project; low overhead, honest and experienced.
My husband and I had a bit of a miscommunication, and Paul talked me down and was patient and got us back on the same page. Really great guy to work with.
Barbara L. (Below) seems to do a poor job of vetting contractors and its a pity she took it out on Paul.

Paul took on my small job (construct & install 4 sliding closet doors) without hesitation and delivered it quickly and at a good rate. Pleasant to work with and quality work. If I were staying in the area, I’d hire him for other jobs.

If you need more than a 1 person job, I would not contact this guy. It’s apparently a 1 man operation.
I called ONLY this 1 contractor and explained to him that he was the only person doing the estimate for me.
When he met me in person, he looked bedazzled. I kept explaining the scope of work I needed (repeated same information told on phone) and he said, «well, I can’t do it.».
It seemed as though he has given up on his career in this very moment. Literally the guy was like, «meh, well I’ve been going through some issues in my business». I’m like… «Do you need a moment to reflect on your life? This is a freaking estimate! Just write down the information, go home, price it out, then get back to me with a price and time frame!».
Long story short… I think he may be closing up shop… you may not want to call and bother him.

UPDATE: I had Paul create a new front door for the garden unit to my building and he did an amazing job. He built the door from scratch and framed out the door and added moulding details, hardware, and painted it. It’s perfect! There’s nothing this guy can’t do.

Really responsive. I asked him for an estimate for extensive remodel work that he wasn’t available for so he pointed me in the direction of another reliable contractor, who I am now using. All and all really helpful.

My husband and I needed to overhaul our bedframe — it was a somewhat complicated job, that required finesse, patience and care. Paul was the only person who took the job seriously. He came over twice to measure and consider all the options. He then gave me a fair quote, explained exactly what he would do, and got to work. Along the way, he made several minor (but work-​intensive) improvements to his initial plan to make sure that the frame looked right after all was said and done. What resulted was gorgeous, and exactly what we wanted! I couldn’t recommend him more — he’s a master of his craft. Thanks so much!

My boyfriend has recently had a number of contractors come through and Paul was nothing but professional!
What I appreciate most about him, was that when he came over to look at the work he didn’t just throw out something he knew we wanted to hear. He wanted to do the job right.
In addition to some small projects in the condo (new closet doors, touchups, etc), he also built a phenomenal banister. It definitely was a sign of professional work. I would reccomend Paul to anyone that needs quality work done in their home.

Great carpenter who will talk out your project with you to find the right solution. Great work.

I hired Paul to do some finish cabinetry in my kitchen, on cabinets. Paul faced my cabinets and added additional height and crown molding to the tops. Finish work requires skill and the result came out remarkably. He took his time, arrived when he said, used high quality products, came in exactly as he quoted and on time. Paul handled most of the work when I was unavailable, and was completely self-​sufficient.
A great job and contractor all around.
I will absolutely use Paul again for any type of carpentry work I need at home or in my rentals.

Paul was great. Showed up when he said he would, did the job exactly as I wanted, and finished on time. After numerous experiences of trying to work with people who would not show up on time or even return a phone call, I really appreciated Paul’s professionalism.

I recently hired paul based off of these Unilocal reviews. They couldn’t be more accurate. I needed a wall built in a high rise and had no idea what I was talking about. Paul showed up within a day or two of me sending him an email, took some measurements, and gave me a reasonable quote the next day. He was very good about following up on emails, showed up when he was supposed to and did everything I asked for and more in the time frame that he specified. In addition to doing a bang-​up job he proved to be a good-​natured and trustworthy person as well as very clean. I’m definitely going to reccomend paul for any future jobs, and will undoubtedly use him again if need be.

My husband hired Paul to build a wall-​closet in our guest room. While our needs were basic, Paul listened to what I wanted to use the space for and built exactly what I had pictured, but hadn’t been able to properly articulate. He came up with perfectly efficient solutions to some of the issues we had with the space (long & narrow) and went above and beyond to make sure everything was sturdy without any stabilizing pieces of wood becoming eyesores. Paul is fast & efficient, yet incredibly meticulous. His work is thoughtful, precise, and solid with a clean aesthetic. It was clear to us after seeing the finished closet that Paul really knows his stuff. He’s a true craftsman who takes pride in his work and it shows. He will definitely be the first person I call the next time we want any sort of carpentry work done. THANK YOU, PAUL!

Paul is the best carpenter/​handyman to work with ever! If you need help with something small or large, he is trustworthy, easy to talk to, easy to have around, smart, and most importantly, great at what he does. Part of the problem knowing who to hire for projects around your home is worrying about who you can trust, and that is what I like about Paul. I was referred to him through a friend, so I already knew I could trust him, and I wanted to write a review here to confirm that he is trustworthy. He’s creative and won’t over price. I actually wanted him to do a project on my roof and he told me how I could do it cheaper another way, not even involving him. He is so great, I’ll be hiring him again!

I needed some last-​minute help before putting my condo on the market, and a friend of mind recommended Paul. What a nice guy, and skilled worker. Paul helped me with some painting, grouting my bath-​tub, and generally fixing up my bathroom and kitchen. While he says he’s mostly a carpenter, he helped me with all the odds and ends I needed fixed correctly with ease and skill.
Not only was he a great worker, but Paul made himself available when I needed him in a pinch. He is an extremely kind person and I’d highly recommend Paul for any job.

We where in need of a GC to build some walls for our office. Paul came in, listened to our needs and followed our (half-​assed) sketches. The end result far exceeded our expectations. He was thorough, clean and on time. Highly suggested!