FEEDBACK from clients around the world!

“We wanted to thank you for all the effort and hard work you put into our recent renovation project. I love thinking about such projects and doing all the searching for interesting unique materials and objects, but I utterly lack the ability to implement the end result. It was such as pleasure to find you and your ability to work all the aspects of the project with professionalism and creativity. In the past, it was always difficult to find a tradesperson who had the patience and ability to solve problems with a passion, creativity, and sense of joy. Honestly, it was a pleasure having you at our home each day – it felt like having a trusted family member there taking care of our house. As much as we enjoyed the process – imagine saying that about a house renovation! – we were even more happy with the quality of outcome. Thanks again, and we look forward to the next projects that we will most certainly do with you.”
John Patwell — Pontivy, Brittany, France

”I really appreciated having Mark realise my idea of the new internal hall. He took time to talk through what I wanted and to make sure it was right.”
Kate Picken — La Trinite-Porhoet, Brittany, France

“Mark came to the rescue after struggling to find good local tradesmen. He turned his hand to every task with expertise and an excellent understanding of what finish I was looking for. He has a great eye and also very quick and quality execution. I can recommend Mark’s services without hesitation and will be calling on him for all future projects — no matter what scale. Mark is perfect at understanding our vision and being flexible as it changes — and his quality of finish is unquestionable!”
Nicholas Le Ny-Clarke — Coetlogon, Brittany, France

“We have used Mark Harmes on a number of occasions over the past year and found the standard of his work to be excellent. He has a ‘can do’ attitude and his work ethic is exemplary. We have asked him to do all sorts of work and nothing seems to be beyond his capabilities. I would recommend him to anyone.”
Kate McGovern — Malestroit, Brittany, France

“Mark has done a variety of jobs for me in the past year and is nothing but professional and reliable. He listened to my requirements and completed the work to a high standard and according to my wishes whilst always on hand for recommendations and suggestions. All in all a great guy to work with. I definitely recommend him and I look forward to working with him again in the future.”
Jayne Harvey — Josselin, Brittany, France

“Mark did quite a few building tasks for me and he seems perfectly able to turn his hand to almost anything. We settled on the primary project being the rendering of a section of the barn (soon to be a conference centre), which in turn required not only the plastering but plumbing work, flooring, brick-laying and the re-purposing (and installing) of old French doors as an internal door. So just on that project Mark displayed multiple skills.
He also did a great job of sanding three doors and tackled some of those annoying smaller jobs around the house such as putting draught-proofing around some of the windows, re-wiring a couple of lamps, sorting out wonky doors that scraped the flooring etc. Mark also had lots of ideas and suggestions for products and/or techniques I could use on many other smaller projects going forward.
Mark was amiable, a self-starter, very competent, capable and I never doubted his ability or approach.”
Villa Del Prete, Tuscany, Italy

“Fantastically supportive and 120% reliable. Highly recommended!
To date, Mark has done,
1. Painting of walls and woodwork in the main house and gites.
2. Repair of mechanical security roller-blinds on exterior of beach house.
3. Repair/reinstallation of handrails and door stoppers in plaster walls.
4. Oiling patio furniture.
5. Moving television satellite and reconnecting wiring from satellite to television.
6. Assembly of IKEA shelving in storage room.
7. Painting of walls and woodwork in the laundry room and toilet.
8. Building a shelving unit for the laundry room.
9. Installation of a new bathroom upstairs in the main house including a new bathtub, taps, tiles, and new flooring.
10. Plumbing and electrical repairs at several of the houses.
11. Installation of drain pipes at the main house.”
M.W. — Moyon, Normandy, France

“To Mark — Thank you so much for my lovely porch. Better than I dreamed of. Looking forward to my pergola next summer.”
Fiona Hartery — Helléan, Brittany, France

“Mark is a respectful builder who was always careful to create what we wanted. He helped demolish an internal wall, build up and tile a fire place and insulate and plasterboard the lounge walls and ceiling. He also helped take out extremely heavy old cast iron radiators which is more difficult than it sounds and sharpened our knives wonderfully. Mark is fun to have around and is very conscientious in his work.”
Peter — Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët, Normandy, France

“Mark Harmes has been an invaluable discovery. Over the last several years, he has worked on our three homes in Melbourne and Country Victoria. He has done everything from carpentry to decorating, building a bathroom in our country cottage from scratch, installing a kitchen, installing new doors and windows, installing timber floors and building new walls, and rebuilding the foundations of our cottage. He totally reconstructed the vintage wrap-around porch on our 3rd house — a 19th Century rural ‘gentleman’s retreat’ — and suggested ways to reorient the rooms for a better flow of energy.

He’s so trustworthy and reliable that I simply give him the keys to all of our houses, hand him a wad of cash, and know that he will always provide an accurate account of all time and expenses and give me a correctly formatted tax invoice. Mark is a treasure and so honest and professional. We’re sorry to see him move away from Melbourne!”
A.P. — Melbourne, Australia

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