I contacted this company around September 2010. I was in search of someone to paint the trim on my house and also to put new tile in my bathroom. They told me their contractors were bonded and licensed and had been thoroughly checked. I don't think that's true for the reasons I'll outline below.

I hired Shawn Walton, dba The Handyman, to finish painting the trim on my brick house (part of it was already done) and to put new tile around my bathtub.  He missed a part of the house when painting and had to return on a Sunday to wrap it up. He didn't pay attention to detail. He acted as though he really knew what he was doing and that he'd done it many times before.

About a month later, water was getting trapped between my bathtub liner and the tub. This caused a good deal of danger and inconvenience and an unhealthy condition. I'm having to spend over $3,000 to take care of the problem. The tiles have to all be taken out and the job done by a true professional. Plus, I have to take the tub out and put a new shower in. Totally redo the bathroom.
This was due to the caulking job he did around the tub. It lasted about four weeks then began to wear away from the tub. I don't know if it was due to the caulk he used or the way he applied it. Either way, it was a bad job --- a job that is costing me time, worry and money.

I had two professionals look at the job. Here's part of what each independent professional reports to me:

- Walton used the wrong tile. He used floor tile and not wall tile
- He used the wrong caulk
- He used the wrong grout
- He did not line the tiles up - you can easily see they're mismatched and botched up.
- He did not level the tiles
- He did not seal properly, leaving water to get trapped between the tub lining and tub.
- much, much more . . .

So, while his fee was low it turns out he's very expensive in that I had to do much more work at a much higher cost because of his failure to tend to small, but extremely important details.  Servicemagic will not pay me $1,000 even though I'm a premium member. I joined as a premium member after hiring the above service provider. And they are dragging their feet in even paying me the small amount of $500 for a standard member --- even though I submitted all the documentation, and more, than they asked for.  I advise anyone looking for a handyman or any other sort of help to avoid this company and search on Angie's List or someone reputable. I'm very sorry I contacted these people. They're just out to make a buck on both the service provider and the client and don't seem to care about the quality of the work the client gets.  As I tell my own prospective clients, "You get what you pay for." Unfortunately, I failed to listen to myself. Now I'm paying for it.