Handyman or Home Consultant?

by Tina Gleisner, Mr. Handyman International, LLC

Today’s homes are incredibly complex structures combining the skills of 20+ specialty contractors, managed by a builder or remodeler (also called a general contractor). Once the home is sold, it becomes the home owner’s responsibility to manage their homes ongoing maintenance and repairs. Do you have a maintenance plan for your home? Most home owners don’t, which is why most repairs are made in the 6 months leading up to the sale of a home, or the 9 months immediately following the purchase of a new home.

Most of us know we should get an annual checkup, and we leave it to our primary physician to recommend other tests that are appropriate for our health and age. Similarly, car manufacturers recommend maintenance guidelines based on mileage, i.e. change your oil every 3,000 miles. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had similar guidelines for your home? We’re working hard to provide you with these guidelines.

There are many books about home repair, and now even more web sites to offer you advice on how to change a faucet or stain a deck. The advice focuses primarily on fixing problems after you identify them. Wouldn’t it be nice to prevent problems before they occur? That’s where a consistent home maintenance strategy pays off: by preventing problems or finding them early when repair costs are minimal. A good example is wood rot:
Annual maintenance is required by certain parts of your home like window sills and kick plates below doors, because they are more vulnerable to moisture (need to be scraped, caulked and painted).

Minor repairs might include scraping out punky wood and filling in a small amount of rot, or replacing just one piece of wood trim like a window sill or kick plate (these are 2 of the top 10 handyman repairs).
Major repairs are needed when vulnerable areas are ignored for years. For example, prior to painting your home’s exterior, the painter will inspect the house. They often find extensive damage around windows, doors and the sill plate, as no one has looked at these for 6 to 8 years, when the house was last painted. When moisture is left in place, it will travel, i.e. from a window sill up the vertical trim boards and inside too which can compromise a window’s structure requiring a new window.

Most home owners think contractors know one trade like carpentry or painting. They actually know more. A good contractor understands the role their work plays in tying together the work of several tradespeople that proceed them. For example, the painter must caulk trim work and repair drywall problems before painting, to insure their work looks perfect. When exterior paint bubbles, the painter should explain to the home owner what is causing the problem and alternatives to address, i.e.ventilating moisture that needs to escape from the home’s interior.

The value of working with a handyman business is the experience gained from solving hundreds of home owner problems. The business owner, typically with a college degree and many years of corporate experience, integrates this experience into a knowledge base they use to run their business effectively. They become home consultants who can help you plan an effective home maintenance strategy, in addition to handling your typical home repair and remodeling projects in a cost effective way.

About the Author

Tina Gleisner is the founder of the Association of Home Professionals, which helps home owners find the information and resources they need to manage their homes with confidence (www.hometipsandtools.com). She has written hundreds of articles about home maintenance, repairs and remodeling to help customers find the best solutions for their home, lifestyle and budget. Through My Handyman of Southern NH, Tina offers services in home maintenance including wood rot and water damage, energy saving improvements and updates such as trim, tile, painting and creative storage solutions.

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