Handyman Hotline

Debbie H.

James and his crew and contractors are doing an outstanding job on our home renovations. They are doing an excellent job remodeling our bath, bedroom, kitchen and living room. They have done electrical work, plumbing, framing, tile, hardwood, drywall, window and cabinet installation, painting, faux finishing, and more. They are always on time, clean up daily, respectful, and pleasant. I strongly recommend them and will hire them again--soon!

Kris K.

So sorry to be terribly disappointed after reading such great reviews. After sending a fairly thorough description of the repairs I need, I never heard back. This lack of response is just why we think handymen and contractors are such untrustworthy flakes.
PLEASE contractors, if you do not want the job, tell us. If you are too busy, tell us. If this is a type of work you do not handle, refer us to someone else. You will not hurt our feelings, you will earn our respect.
Chalk up another 25 year local who will be telling as many homeowners as possible to use someone else, you cannot count on this company.

Kristy L.

Today I used Handyman hotline for the second time. They were prompt, professional, and got the job done professionally. My first need was to patch a wall hole and fix a broken light. They arrived promptly, when requested. He called to discuss options. I paid online, and the job was finished quickly and finished well. He asked if I would like to get matching paint and remounting the curtain rod, which I opted to do, and he gave me a tip on remounting the rod.

Today, I sent them a picture to replace a thermostat. They picked one up on their way, came within 1.5hrs of calling (I had no heat!). They quickly replaced it and referred me to an expert in heating when the furnace still didn't work. Excellent service, I will use Handyman Hotline and refer them to friends.

Darlene B.

We were so lucky to find James. We were dealing with a complex sale of our rental home. We live two hours away. The house had a tenant and we needed to do some work to bring the house up to code and get it ready to sell. James wears several hats so he seamlessly acted as handyman, project manager, a contractor, purchaser, realtor and assisted us in many other ways. He was always available by phone, was an excellent communicator a and was completely up front and honest. His handyman business is run professionally and billing online was a breeze. He ensures that the invoices are complete and easy to understand and always fair. He made the difference in what could have been a nightmare and turned it into a doable process . We highly recommend James Fain.""

Cathy W.

I called James because I saw his reviews on Yelp and I needed some shelves hung. What a great professional job he did! He came out at the time he said he would which is a big plus in my book! He got right to work, hung my shelves and hung a dining room light I needed centered. The price was right and I will call him again when I need some more work done.

Tiffany T.

I called Handyman hotline based on the good Yelp reviews and was very disappointed. James did arrive the following day. I asked for a quote for bathroom renovation and he quoted me by the hour. When I asked him to give me a ballpark of how much (time and $$) he predicted, he sounded very annoyed. Instead he asked that I draw a design of the bathroom for him, which I told him none of the others contractors had asked me to do. The bathroom work was very basic and all I wanted to do was update the sink, toilet, and place baseboard moldings. He was very condescending and unprofessional. He left in a huff and refused to give me a quote for the snow removal services. I will not be using handyman hotline again. It makes me wonder if he got his friends and family to write the other great reviews.

Elizabeth F.

I recently had James Fain and his team from the Handyman Hotline assist me with many different jobs during a remodel. They were all extremely kind and professional. They went above and beyond to overcome challenging obstacles and make helpful recommendations. I highly recommend Handyman Hotline for any home improvement needs. Sincerely, Liz Klein

Bruce S.

My wife found James (Handyman Hotline President) on Yelp. I was driving from Bay Area to Tahoe on a Wednesday and called James on my way. He returned my call that evening and was able to stop by the next day to look at a job to build a fence.
He followed up promptly with an estimate and had the job finished on Saturday. Wow, what fast, professional service and his pricing is very fair!
What else can I say other than Handyman Hotline will be the first call I make next time I have a household repair need.

Sarah C.

It took me a while to find a handyman in Tahoe, but when I met James I knew he was the one. He took my condo from mid-construction (our contractor never finished the job) and completely finished it. He is excellent at communication and logistics. I could not believe how fast he finished my condo. It was amazing. Some of the things he helped me with were:

*Assembled all my furniture and moved it into place (couch, multiple beds, night stand, garage shelving)
*introduced me to electrician, cabinet maker, window people and did all the interfacing
*Dump runs
*painting
* Fixed a pocket door
*sealed pine doors
* leveled out a toilet
* fixed caulking
*etc.

I would completely recommend him to do any type of handy man projects.

Mendee G.

Was not impressed at all. I need to get my decks stained--nothing major or extravagant. In preparation of listing our house. I made it very clear that we were on a budget and were only looking to do some quick fixes to make the house show better. He showed up 30 minutes early which i guess was better than late but I had just gotten home from a trip and it was really inconvenient- in this instance I would have much preferred 30 minutes late. When I showed him the decks he mentioned something about it probably being best to do hourly. I asked him how long he thought it might take and he seemed annoyed and said fine I'll give you a quote based on sq footage. OK, i really just wanted a ballpark. He seemed to be making the job into a much bigger deal than it needed to be --I had to remind him about 10 times that we are SELLING the house and were not looking to do anything major. Really just stain --railings only and maybe pressure wash. I told him 3 times I just wanted to match the areas that weren't so weathered and even had the stain that was used. He wanted me to pick out from his swatches, I told him I'm relying on you to match it, not looking to change anything and I understand if it'll be a little uneven because certain areas will be more weathered. That seemed to piss him off. He had an employee with him that I felt like he was equally rude to --dismissive and impatient. Then he told me he wanted me to give him money to order 6 gallons of stain because there was a discount. I asked how much he thought we'd need and that question too seemed to annoy him and instead of answering just said well you get a discount if you order 6. We had a bunch of old building materials under one of the decks and he said I'd need to pay for them to move it. Really? Why? The materials were not important and were not blocking any kind of access to the beams that would be stained.

Later that night he sent me a quote that was almost illegible. You could tell he plugged in dimensions for the decks but I don't think he accounted for the fact that it was only railings and not to mention the quote was barely even legible because it was so misaligned. Bottom line it was about $1400 @ $34/hr and 40 hrs of work. Give me a freakin break! Railings only for 4 small decks? should take 2-3 days tops including the pressure washing which the quote didn't even mention. Just to be sure I forwarded the email to a couple of other people one of which is a contractor himself in the Bay Area. I gave no indication of what I thought simply asked if they thought this was a fair quote (they have all seen my house and the decks). It was unanimous that this guy was trying to rip me off.

Bottom line, way over priced, not willing to answer questions and impatient with me and his employee and that's before even getting the work! I don't know if it's because I'm a woman or because it's a nice house. but I definitely do not appreciate someone trying to rip me off for any reason