RSL Building Services

Two customers, five years apart, wrote about RSL Building Services and told the same story: the bill came in far above what they expected, because the clock kept running. In August 2019 a homeowner wrote that Bob had misled them on cost, billed them for his trips to the hardware store and for supplies they could not identify, and that his workers arrived late, left early and worked slowly while being charged by the hour — that reviewer also alleged that one of the men stole from the house. In September 2024 another wrote that a door between the garage and the house was left incomplete and billed at $1,000 against a promised $200-300, again with two men on the clock. That is the thing to sort out before this Beverly outfit starts work, because the praise runs in the opposite direction and is just as specific. Writing in October 2017, a repeat customer of some seven years described old ceilings replastered, a bathroom renovated and old windows re-caulked until they were tight again, called the prices reasonable, and noted that when Bob does not do a job himself he passes it to someone who does. In February 2024 another customer thanked Bob and Tony for fixing a closet door that scraped the floor, quickly. The work is small-scale and old-house-focused: general home repairs, historic home preservation, weatherstripping windows and doors, carpentry, painting, flooring, minor plumbing and electrical — with repair of historic horsehair plaster named as the specialty, which is a genuinely uncommon skill on the North Shore. Its Houzz page also lists an EPA lead-paint certification under Awards; that is the company's own claim, and it matters on pre-1978 houses, so ask to see the certificate. The two platforms disagree sharply. Angi averages 4.5 across eight reviews, but all eight are from 2012 to 2014 and describe $50-to-$1,142 handyman calls; Houzz averages 3.0 across four, and its two one-star entries are the newest things written about the company. If you hire, do it on a written fixed price for a defined scope, not time and materials — every complaint here is about hourly billing running past an estimate, and every compliment is about a small job done fast.