Primo Carpentry

Keivan S.

I needed someone to install a window A/C--I wanted some professional to do it so I can make sure it's been installed safely. I had already called several companies and they had given me prices which were way above acceptable. I called Primo Carpentry and talked to Nathan. He accepted my price offer instantly and scheduled an appointment the very same day. He came exactly on time and made it really quick: in a matter of 15 min, I had my A/C installed and working. And by the way he was a very friendly and cool guy to meet. I definitely recommend him.

Will G.

Unethical and Incompetent!

If I could, I would give Primo Carpentry ZERO stars.

In March, I went to Chicago for the purpose of replacing the hardwood floors in my 1000 sq. ft. condo and putting it up for sale; I had three weeks in which to accomplish these tasks. Although I had already scheduled in-home estimates with two well-known flooring companies, I decided to continue my search and seek additional estimates. Upon conducting the search, I came across reviews of Primo Carpentry on Yelp! and decided to give Nathan a call.

A few days later, he was in my condo and gave me an estimate that was below the estimates I received from the other companies. He was well aware of my time constraints and he promised to have the work completed in the same amount of time as the big companies. Further, he would use the same quality of materials. Needless to say, I was impressed. Nathan presented himself as a professional, capable, and knowledgeable general contractor. He has the gift of a silver tongue, but his abilities are subpar and ethical practices are despicable.

It quickly became clear that he was in way over his head and had misrepresented his abilities in order to get my business. The issues I had with Nathan were so bad that after nearly two weeks of going back and forth, I refused to let him back into my condo and instead dealt directly with his subcontractor to finish the job.

Specifically, these are the issues I had with Nathan and Primo Carpentry:

1. During the first week of the job, he and one assistant worked only one full day. The rest of the time, they arrived at 8:30am and were gone before lunch time. Nathan fully knew my time constraints and ignored his promises to me from day one.

2. The amount he quoted me during the in-home estimate and the amount recited in the contract differed by $500. I was willing to overlook this because I trusted him and still believed the amount charged was a fair price.

3. He purchased the new hardwood flooring two days AFTER the entire job was supposed to have been completed.

4. The wood Nathan purchased for the job was nowhere near the quality the big companies were going to use, even though Nathan promised it would be the same.

5. He double-booked his ""regular"" flooring installer. As a result, he was unable to start installation in my unit until nearly a week after he was supposed to have finished the entire job.

6. Because of prodding by my tenant and me, he hired a subcontractor to do the actual installation of the floor and asked me to deal directly with the subcontractor, to include paying him directly. He showed up to my condo for only about 10-15 minutes per day.

7. Once the subcontractor had installed and stained 90% of the floor, Nathan contacted me and instructed me not to let the subcontractor back into my condo and pay the subcontractor only a FRACTION of what he was promised. Instead, Nathan wanted me to pay HIM the balance to finish the remaining 10% of the job and stiff the subcontractor.

8. Nathan expected me to move the furniture from room-to-room as the work was getting completed. When I reminded him that he promised all I would have to do is ""sit there and watch TV,"" he said his labor costs would go over budget and would then have to charge me more for the job...even after we had signed the contract!

9. Finally, because Nathan was not around when the subcontractor finished the job, I was forced to spend an additional $1,000 for materials and labor. This money was supposed to come from the money I had already paid to Nathan. Although I have requested reimbursement from Nathan, to date he has yet to refund this money.

In conclusion, I could not and would not recommend Nathan to my worst enemies. Beyond his inability to complete the job for which we contracted, his willingness to cheat another contractor out of over $1,000 in hard-earned money is despicable and unethical.

Contractors are a dime a dozen in Chicago, and in terms of fair play and abilities, it should not be difficult to find someone so much better than Nathan Iverson and Primo Carpentry.

Nitin A.

I'll try to keep this short and simple (maybe). I bought a 1300sq ft condo that required floors to be refinished (buffing and waxing), paint in all rooms and some ceilings and regrouting and recaulking. I also have high ceilings (12ft). I got a couple of estimates before Nathan walked in and they were both a bit above average. Enter Nathan, the dude is charismatic as hell and a ball of energy. He gave me a good estimate and promised all the above in 6 days. Next day, his boys were on top of everything. I walked in, in the evening and most walls were painted nicely. Couple of days later, the flloors were glossy and finished aside from a couple of knicks here and there (the floors were in a very bad condition from before - cat). In the end, Nathan did a fantastic job given the amount of space he had to deal with and the time constraints. He is a fun guy to talk to and you can spend hours talking to him about anything and everything :).. I wish there was more time before the cleaners/movers came in as there was some touching up needed in the end, nothing I can't handle later on but a professional touch definitely helps!

P K.

I needed a handyman/carpenter to remove some wooden banisters in my house so I could bring some furniture upstairs, and then put the banisters back on without them being damaged in the process.

I had 2 handymen tell me that it wasn't possible.

I had other carpenters who quoted me well beyond my price range and said it was a full day project.

The gentleman at Primo responded to my email the same day I wrote to him. He sent a man the very next day. He was at my house at 8am and by 9:30 my furniture was upstairs and the banisters were back on as if nothing had happened. I was BLOWN AWAY!!!!!!

And the man who was here was very nice, very friendly, even helped me get my headboard upstairs. :)

And his rate was more affordable than I even imagined possible for this kind of job. He was a solid 75% cheaper than the other quotes I had received!

I sorta wish I had more projects that needed to be done right now, because I would take advantage of Primo in a heartbeat!!!

Well done. I'm totally impressed by the speed, price, and quality of work.