Houses To Go

Christmas Handyman Help

December 7, 2007 on 5:36 pm | In Houses To Go General |

We can use a little Christmas help.  This is the time of year when we join with family and friends.  We even try to join with our co-workers in an effort to spread the Christmas spirit.  When we invite people into our homes for the holidays we invite them with open arms.  It all starts at the front door or maybe even the edge of your drive way.  Just because it is the holidays does not mean that you will not be able to find a good handyman to help you with your needs.  This is when you need the most help.  The Christmas spirit is in the air and we want it all to be just perfect.  No, you don’t have to remodel your whole bathroom; but maybe some new towel bars would be a nice touch.  We just installed a new rail/wall system in our entryway of our home.  I am hoping that it will be done before Christmas eve.

This is still a little bigger project than towel bars;  but will get noticed by everyone who enters.  When people come to your home you want your home to feel warm and inviting.  Fixing small things around your home helps give this feel.  A broken bathroom door knob which allows the door to swing open when someone is on the thrown is not going to give people a warm and inviting feel,  maybe screaming and shock!  I know family and friends are coming to see you and not your house; but your house is you.  Take a strong hold of pride of ownership.  When your front door light is burnt out and is only hanging by one screw, its time to fix it.  The are so many little things around the house that you can use a good handyman company for.  You don’t always need a general contractor who charges  a $100 dollars per hour just to talk to him or her.  The large property management and complex associations fall into the contractor pit alot.  They could get a good small contractor or handyman company that could cover all their needs and spend 25-50% less just because they did a little searching.  You can do the same.  You still need to be careful and research the background of the people you want in your home to do your work.

I can’t but think the bigger the company you go with the less you will know about the people you are letting into your house.  You see lets just look at one of these so called online screening sites for contractors and handyman work.  Take note,  your not paying the screening company for them to find you a honest and true craftsman.  So,  who is paying the screening company?  That’s right the same contractors and handyman company that they told you about.  Really seems like a conflict of interest to me.  These screening sites are popping up like crazy so someone must be paying their bills.  The other thing out there is the big flashy ads and hounding sales people.  The large replacement window companies are great for that.  I will stop there, what I am trying to say is the large places are not paying large money to the people they are sending you and that leads to high turn over.   A smaller company will know its people and you might even have the company owner working on your house.

I have tried to write a couple articles on consumer protection and scams.  I write this article now as I know people want to have things just perfect for friends and family.  The haste to get things done can lead people to the wrong person to do their work.  The Christmas time of year is a special time of year that can really be destroyed; because the guy the big name company with all the flashy ads and hype sent out,  came back and did his own house call and your gifts and belongings in your home was his fee.   There are many good people out there doing high quality work for reasonable rates.  They are sometimes a little harder to find because they don’t have big flashy ads in the phone book or full page ads in your local newspaper.     In the end you will be happy that you spent a little time to find the right handyman for you.  Try to find someone that friends or family have used or just find out what you can about a company before you just hire them because they had the biggest ad or listed first on a big name online search engine.

There can be hazards of hiring a small company as they may not have the tools or knowledge you thought they had.  These smaller guys don’t last very long and makes the percentage of them finding you small.  The true small company knows how to treat people as their business depends on it.  If you have to dial a toll free number to find your handyman odds are this is not a direct line to the business owner.   You hear it all the time,  what happened to customer service?  The person answering that same toll free handyman number,  has no idea who is going to show up at your house!  Everybody likes to make fun of small cities or towns where there’s one or two plumbers or handyman,  but you never hear those people say, “yeah, Fred the plumber took my TV and all my Christmas gifts” or “Yeah, I just got ripped off again by Joe the handyman.   These people know each other and live in the same communities who have pride and respect for one another.  It also helps you know exactly where Joe lives if he would rip you off,  but Joe’s not going to do that because he wasn’t sent to you from some screening service.   Heck, you might have even went to school with Joe and now your kids go to school with Joe’s kids.

Look for companies with good names,  Badges Properties LLC and Home Improvements.  This name makes a statement.  Not a flashy franchise name and look at our big flashy ads and toll free number.  The company with a good name or family name is the one that will stand behind there badge and name to give you the service you need and want.

Remember, Always Safety First.

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