Top Drawer Carpentry LLC

I hired Todd in September to do a number of small jobs, two of which involved woodworking — the replacement of rotten trim around a bathroom window and some cracked cherry cove molding in the kitchen along the floor of one wall and the baseboards of some of the cabinets. He said the project should take him two days. The non-​woodworking projects went fine. However, Todd tried to put up window trim that was too narrow (and exposed the gap around the window where the drywall was cut for the window) and would have had I not come in and stopped him. He said I could fill in the gap myself! I specified I wanted the new trim to match the old trim when I contracted the job. He appeared frustrated, then admitted that he had not measured correctly and would have to call around to find the correct size or make the trim himself. I hired him specifically because he was a woodworker. I wished it to look professionally done and not a shoemaker’s job. He did get trim from somewhere and while wider than the first, it still was not as wide as the trim he removed. This left old, dirty caulk exposed that he did not clean up. The new trim still left a gap exposed in the wall that required visible caulking so now I have to paint the walls. He did both the 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint one right after another with little dry time. The coats are very thin. He also managed to get a lot of small paint chips in the paint (probably fallen in from the can) when he painted the 2×1 foot window sill which looks terrible but he refused to sand and repaint, telling me it was «satisfactory.» (I have had to fix this myself.) The molding in the kitchen was installed without my approval of the profile (it wasn’t quite the same as the remaining molding) or the color (it didn’t match). This was particularly frustrating as I had some original stain that matched the cabinets that I offered him before he started the job but he refused it, saying he could match the color without it. A helper came one day and, at my request, did put a coat the original stain on the new woodwork, but he also managed to spill the stain on the floor. Todd refused to replace a long piece of molding that cracked when he installed it with the nail gun leaving me with the same problem I had before he came. Also, instead of cutting a new piece of molding, he put a great deal of wood putty in a corner join because he had cut the angle wrong. (On his first day he told me he had plenty of molding and could replace additional pieces if I so desired.)
His «day» was 4 hours long. He did not mask anything (which made me uncomfortable with the thought of him polyurethaning the new molding in the kitchen, so I’m doing that myself), and while he was never rude, he was not interested in what I wanted done but rather what he felt was «satisfactory.» I’ve never had a contractor lose interest in a job so quickly, especially at so small a job. The two day project took about 4 visits, as his nail gun jammed the second day and he had to get that new piece of trim, and a couple of times when he was supposed to come he called to beg off. Because of the window trim issue, I felt I had to watch him which worked to my advantage in some cases (I caught him doing things I was able to get him to correct) but he ignored me in others. He seemed content to suggest I do some of the contract work myself — like filling in the hole around the bathroom window — rather than doing what I hired him to do. There’s no real point in hiring a contractor if you end up having to do a great deal of the work yourself. Todd is not the worst contractor I’ve ever had but he’s willing to cut corners and ignore your legitimate requests. What you’re left with is sloppy work and the same problems you hired him to fix. I think Todd can be a competent contractor when he wants to, but if he is unwilling to do the job as you specified, correct or even acknowledge his mistakes, you’ve paid for work that still needs doing and that’s not acceptable. So you have to ask yourself if you want to hire a contractor that is satisfied with his own work or one who wants YOU to be satisfied with his work.

I called Top Drawer to modify a cabinet. Todd the owner responded within a couple of hours. I explained the project to Todd and emailed a couple pictures. He replied back with a very competitive quote. Service was very prompt and he finished the project in two days. Communication was outstanding. Very good attention to detail. I highly recommend.

Top Drawer Carpentry does great work. Todd the owner has a keen eye to detail, can read architectural drawings like the back of his hand and takes pride in what he does. Good communication throughout the entire build process and he’s very punctual too. In an industry that is inundated these days with un-​qualified people who embellish their capabilities; Todd is the real deal. Highly recommended.