Professional Handyman

Most of my calls for handyman service start with the question, "what do you do?".

The answer is everything.  I do everything.  I especially love lists of things.

I find that most people looking to hire a handyman want someone who can do everything.  They aren't interested in the expense of hiring several contractors to complete their honey do lists and home improvement projects.

They have figured out that it's much cheaper and easier to hire a handyman, rather than half a dozen contractors.  Smart.

So to elaborate on that most common of handyman questions, the ubiquitous, "what do you do?".  I do all the typical handyman things plus more.  

Whereas most handymen are more interested in the simple tasks, things like towel bar installs, hanging pictures, changing filters, etc., I'm mostly into doing the challenging tasks, like cutting in a new door, replacing and plumbing a new vanity, and installing a large chandelier, etc.  I still do the simple tasks but I'm also capable of doing the more complicated ones too.

I like to think of what I do as "general contractor lite", and it's why i chose the name "Professional Handyman".  I felt the name more accurately describes the way I work.

In my 20 years of general contracting, before starting my handyman company, I hired a lot of subcontractors.  Some really great ones, some really bad ones, with most just being OK.  When doing this, I looked for two things during our first meeting.  Punctuality and the state of their work truck.  I wanted any potential new hire to be on time.  If they were late to our first meeting, I felt chances were low that they would be on schedule with the project work.  I also felt like punctuality was a representation of their desire to work.  A sub that's 20 minutes late to our first meeting, probably isn't too happy about what he does for a living.  This apathy was not something I wanted on one of my jobs.  

Secondly and even more important, to me, was their work vehicle.  At first glance, I want to see a vehicle filled with tools of their particular trade and indications that they work regularly.  

If I'm hiring a new concrete contractor, I want to see them pull up in a truck full of trowels and rakes, with concrete dust on everything.  If they hit these two marks, I'm over the moon with excitement, "this is going to be a great person to partner with on this project", I'll say with satisfaction to myself".

But, If they pass these two tests AND their work truck was also clean and orderly, I was ready to write them into my will.  

Over the course of twenty years of subcontracting and hundreds of hires, I can count on one hand the number of subs that satisfied all three of these prerequisites.

This, and several other factors are why I created my "5 point pledge".  These five points are all things I wish subs had done, and it's one of the reasons I always invite new customers into my work trailer.  I want them to see how well designed, stocked and organized it is.

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Check out the inside trailer image at the top of this text to see it.

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