ANDY OnCall

It is refreshing to find a carpenter or handyman that wont walk away from a job because they will not make a boatload of money or the conditions are not optimal. I have personally experienced this with multiple carpenters/​handymen and am grateful for a service like Andy OnCall.

Andy On Call is a marketing and sales service for independent contractors, and when we received a callback from the carpenter who had been selected by them we almost mistook him for a well-​timed telemarketer.
The basement steps built into our home were old and a little loose when we bought the house in 1986. With time and wear, they only got worse. This past summer we decided to have them replaced, and began seeking estimates.
Apparently, most local carpenters consider this too small a job, a waste of their time. After much searching, we located three prospects. Prospect one couldn’t come for an estimate for three weeks. Prospect two was ready to estimate the next day, and in his excited and enthusiastic sales pitch peppered with colorful (to use the current phrase) «cultural insensitivities,» was apparently too stupid to realize my ethnicity. Thanks, but no thanks. This leaves Andy. The price was right, work could begin immediately, and all seemed right.
Our carpenter arrived on time. I spent a few minutes showing him around. He wanted to setup in our backyard, so I very carefully directed him to the outdoor house outlets (USE) and NOT the electrical outlets in the garage (DON’T USE, they are low amperage). He proceeded to setup enough electrical equipment to support a NASA launch, and plug his absurdly overloaded power strip into (you guessed it) the garage outlet. With power restored to our home, I had to get back to work.
I next checked after the old steps had been torn-​out. They were sitting in a pile on our back lawn. Checking again, a bit later, a pile of mis-​cut new lumber was now sitting next to them. By mid-​afternoon an additional lumber run was necessary. After I politely advised our carpenter that we would not be paying for his mis-​cut lumber, he promptly loaded it into his truck.
Our basement steps are extremely solid and level. To our surprise, absolutely nothing was done to finish– not even replacing the finish components torn-​out before the work began. No moldings, no trimwork, no paint and only 90% of the cleanup– but a well-​built set of steps.
As Andy’s competition was so quick to bring to my attention, this was not a difficult job. I’m not sure that the complexities paired well with the levels of drama. I really would have to again have few options to use Andy on Call again.