Handyman Extraordinaire

Carie C.

We had several unexpected plumbing jobs that required holes be cut in my drywall...right in the middle of a painting project. Looked for several drywallers who would take in a small project. Mark was recommended to me by another contractor who mostly did electric work. Mark for here the same day and completed the work the next day. He also helped install a new bathroom vanity after fixing the drywall behind it and hooked up the plumbing. On the fly I asked if he could also replace the toilet tank pump. He agreed and it has worked great! Super happy with the projects and how quickly they were completed .

James P.

Mark was very responsive with our small drywall repair project. Had gave e a free quote based on a few pictures and description of the project. It only took him a couple hrs to fix but made sure to do a thorough job with the patching. Was honest and transparent upfront about how it would look. I would definitely use Mark again for future home repairs.

Bill S.

I'm normally a DIY guy, but recently I had a couple of difficult problems to solve, so I called Mark Speas. Problems solved. Bam! That was easy. Mark is genial and a good listener. I will always call Mark, including when I just get a little lazy.

Amy F.

Please don't depend on this guy. I wished I had read some of these reviews before I called Mark Speas. I'm a 66 year-old senior gal who's been very sick and bedridden for 8 mos. I live in a low income high rise senior building.

I needed a handyman to build a very simple wooden platform to elevate my small refrigerator so it didn't cause me so much pain to lean over and turn my head almost upside down. Mark came over promptly and was very amicable saying it would be a super easy job even to temporarily remove the cabinets above. The quote was great. I told him I would need to get permission to make any changes in my unit but would pay him directly myself. He made a point of telling me he worked several times in our building before.

Well, because this is tax credit building, I had to initiate a special accommodation request with my doctors endorsement to make any structural changes in my unit. Not an easy process. I've been on their butt to find out status. The manager asked me to have Mark submit a brief scope of work to get the final sign-off. It would have been a simple paragraph in an email, not even an invoice quote. He would have been paid in cash on the spot. I emailed Mark immediately thinking as an experienced handyman, this wasn't a big deal especially since he supposedly worked in our building before.

Well, Mark's laissez-faire response was ""I going to pass on the project. 3rd party submittal is more paper work and such I try to avoid"". I was very disappointed how flaky he turned out to be. In any apartment you have to get permission even if you pay for it yourself!

I emailed back and implored him to please help me since I counted on him. But it's obvious he could care less. So now being very debilitated, I have to go through the whole process of looking for someone else.

Somehow I missed reading these Yelp reviews. You can see Mark is a real talker without follow-through. I don't doubt he doesn't have skills or can do a good job when he wants to. But this is a character thing. He doesn't seem to have the integrity we all value in doing business.

Pat R.

I've done a dozen or so reviews over the years and they've always been 5 stars. I like to give credit where credit is due and recognize exemplary work. I also was always taught that if you don't have something nice to say, then don't say anything at all, which I've always adhered to up until this experience. I couldn't in good conscience NOT review this individual and let him prey on some other unsuspecting person.
If there were zero or negative stars available, Mark Speas would rate the lowest available score. I wasn't sure whether he was more lazy or incompetent, but I've decided those qualities are even, and you can throw in a bad attitude on top of it.
Mark was referred to me by my realtor, who has since apologized profusely for doing so, but apparently hadn't received any negative feedback before, so I didn't hold it against her. I was in a hurry to get my house ready for sale, so went with her referral.
Mark is a great con-man, with a gift of gab. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about and was able to come across as a great guy and he knows how to instill confidence. My first clue should have been when we walked through the house and I listed each and every specific item I wanted to have done. He carried a yellow legal pad with writing all over it and made little notes in between other things already written. He gave me a bid of $2000, which seemed reasonable, so I agreed and we shook hands. He asked for $1000 up front. I wasn't sure why he needed half the job pre-paid, since I was paying for materials, but I needed the work done quickly, so I didn't quibble.
To cut to the chase, HE SCREWED UP EVERY SINGLE THING HE DID FOR ME.
He replaced three faucet sets, one had a leak under the sink before his work. All three leaked after he installed the new ones. He bitched and moaned the whole time he worked, telling me numerous times how hard it was, how tight the space was and how he was busting his knuckles. (I didn't pick your profession for you, pal. If you hate it - quit!)
He was supposed to replace the sink in one of the bathrooms, but gave me the wrong sku and it wouldn't fit, so he didn't do that, which was supposed to be part of the job.
About a week into the job, he asked me to sign his work order for his records, which I stupidly did without scrutinizing it. We had shaken hands on the job, which is how I do I business.
Later, I reminded him of things that I'd listed on our initial walk-thru and he said they aren't on the worksheet (which he had me sign well into the job.)
He replaced a wall lamp and left about a 3/8 to 1/2 inch gap and the lamp listed out at an angle. He claimed it was due to the socket being mounted wrong on the house.
He replaced about a dozen towel racks and eleven were mounted upside down. Even as a layman, I know the screws are supposed to be on the bottom, so they won't show, but that's harder and takes longer, and Mark is nothing, if not lazy.
I personally replaced almost all of the pull handles and knobs in the kitchen. Mark started to do that, but I took over about a third of the way and did the rest myself, because he was bitching about the job taking longer than he anticipated and I just wanted it done. The next day, I went to open a cabinet and it twisted, because there was only one screw in it. It was one of the ones Mark had done. I went to put in the second screw and realized why he hadn't put in the second. It didn't line up properly, so his ""lazy man attitude"" was to just skip that one. Again, as a layman, it took me about a minute to figure out by loosening the top one, I could then get the other started and tighten them both down. But that took a couple of extra minutes and some concern and thought to do it correctly, things foreign to Mark.
He was to take down several old smoke detectors that had yellowed with age and replace them with new white ones. He made sure to tell me to get battery operated ones, which I thought nothing of at the time, but I later realized they were easier and less time consuming to install. The knucklehead, installed the new ones and left the old ones up, which looked ridiculous. It turned out that the old ones were wired, and when he realized that, he just left them and screwed in the new ones. Another example of laziness and incompetence. I had to pay a second guy to remove the old ones, properly encase the wiring to code and patch and paint the ceiling.
He was to replace several mirrors. I bought them and left them at will call at Home Depot under his name. He whined about how much time it took to pick them up for a half a day and later told me one was broken and that I needed to return it, which I did. However, I later noticed broken glass where he had unsuccessfully attempted to hang it using clips. That's the ONLY place the glass could have come from, so I went back and paid Home Depot after realizing that it hadn't come broken, but that my incompetent, lying excuse of a handyman had broken it.
Out of space - he sucks!

Bri K.

I was so pleased with the quality work done handyman extraordinaire, Nick and Mark are such nice guys. we needed some dry wall patching, shelving put up and mounting our tv along with other small projects and nick got all of it done in 2 days and exactly to my liking, very pleased and will be using them again for future house projects

Chris M.

I would highly recommend Mark for any job large or small. He showed up promptly and removed my old security screen and removed my old front door and installed the new door. He does Amazing work!!!! Give him a call he is very reasonable and honest which is hard to find these days. I would call him for more improvements.

Tracy P.

HomeDepot suggested this guy. We needed a room air-conditioner installed. What a joke!! He didn't bring the proper tools. The job could have been done better by a 10 year old. He broke the blinds and took the screen. It wasn't a full hour and he charged $165. It's sad to know this guy. Very poor business skills.

He has a quote printed on his business card that reads, ""the bitterness of poor quality reaminas (remains is spelt incorrectly) long after the sweetness of savings is forgotten"". He is pretty much saying he provides poor quality workmanship and it's his forte.

I do NOT recommend him.

Richard K.

We met a few weeks ago and I outlined many jobs to be done around my house the first being Facia board repair. We spend probably 45 min to an hour discussing different jobs to be done and that I was looking for a reliable long term relationship with a good handyman. Mark was a real nice guy and I could see being friends with him. He quoted me a price for the Facia board repair, ""which was much higher than a couple others,"" and a couple days later asked him if he could price out the estimate so I could see how he broke it down. That was April 2nd. He responded that he was extremely busy all week and that he'd try to get something out by the weekend. ""To me it would take 15 minutes to quote.""

I never heard from him over the weekend so I sent another message on April 9th and he responded with a second quote that day $200 higher than the first. When I said I was confused he said it was on old text he accidentally sent and would get back to me that evening.

He responded that night saying he wasn't going to be able to send a breakdown as it was to much work, sorry he couldn't help me...

My beef is if someone is too busy with all this other work, don't waste my time waiting for you to respond only to be blown off..

K W.

Scheduled a week in advance; he confirmed the day before so I took the day off from my job to meet him; and he canceled with 90 minutes notice, saying that he felt sick.

When I feel sick... I still go to work. Showing up is the most important part.