Learning about home repairs from a handyman
With many home repair services to choose from, how can you find the best one? A bigger question may be how you can find the handyman service that best suits your individual circumstances. Before tackling this question, it might be a good idea to take a look at the current US housing market and how it relates to home maintenance.
Since the housing market crash in 2008, the home building industry has changed dramatically. Most of the construction-related jobs that were created by the rise in real estate speculation have disappeared. In terms of who is buying and selling houses now, the landscape here has changed dramatically as well. While there are people who are still buying and fixing rental properties, and even some who are buying and ‘flipping’ houses, these tend to be professionals who have many years of experience in determining the best possible opportunity. Gone are the days when anyone would buy a home with easy credit and the value of the home would increase in value without a second thought.
Of course, many people are upside-down on their mortgages and have less equity in their homes than they owe. An even worse situation is the case of those people who have lost their jobs and have gone into foreclosure on their home. For people who now have a home and a job, their main concern is maintaining the equity value of their investment, not how much money they can take out on a home loan this year to buy that upgraded plasma TV.
House keeping
All houses require ongoing maintenance. Appliances and fixtures wear out with use and age, the flooring underneath settles over time creating stress within the home frame, and the exterior of the home is subject to exposure to the elements and ever-present creatures, big and small. Many of the resulting problems can be delayed for years, or even eliminated, by the builder and their subcontractors by following best building practices and demanding building codes, but unfortunately this is not always the case. But in any case, the wear and tear on a house will take its toll. As an investment, or as a safe environment to raise a family, it is necessary to take care of a house.
Many homeowners are able to take care of their own home repairs; They have the basic skills and time to fix any problems that arise in your home. Others have the skills, but don’t have the time (or after spending several weekends on some minor upgrades, they decide their time is better spent). And others have no idea where to start handling, for example, a small plumbing repair. For those lucky enough to be able to get their own work done quickly, they are unlikely to have to find a handyman to hire, unless they hire a contractor for major remodeling projects. But for the average homeowner who has a 9 to 5 job, sorting through professional handyman services is a major necessity.
You can also have a home maintenance service contract. This is a very valuable expense to budget for, especially if your heating or air conditioning is likely to require significant work. Hell, maybe an old house’s boiler is starting to make noises. The downside to one of these service contracts is that all non-covered items can be very expensive if handled through home maintenance contractor companies. However, the costs of installing a new cooling system far outweigh the relatively small monthly expense of a basic service contract. Many repairs can also be covered by homeowners insurance. It is always worth checking.
So where do you start? One is likely not even considering a local maintenance crew unless there is an issue they are aware of that needs to be fixed. This could be due to rotting wood around the front door or a water stain on the ceiling. Most home maintenance services are advertised online, so it’s not too difficult to put together a list of handyman services fairly quickly on the internet. This can be as simple as googling ‘find handyman’ and the city you are in. Most of the best will have reviews or testimonials online about their work. If not, they are new to the business or probably not worth it. This is becoming the ‘price of entry’ in business these days and no matter how good or bad they are, anything less tends to disqualify them from being considered.
At this point, call from your list of home handyman services and make appointments for a free estimate. Pay attention to your instincts when you meet the dating representative. How do you dress? How does he present himself? Is it the person who will do the actual work or a salesperson / estimator for a larger company? A very important point is to get a list of references that you can call, from each practical service that you receive a quote from. This cannot be overstated, and the more referrals the better.
Since you are happy with the man (or woman) you go out, please wait for their quote, which they can do on the spot, or send it by email or post.
Considering Handyman prices
At this point, the question is how to get the best value for your money. Your individual circumstances will greatly influence this question. A single mother on a budget is obviously going to look at this question differently than the CEO of a company. However, both of you need to consider the question of which professional handymen will do the job correctly, without you having to do it again at some point in the future. Nobody wants to pay for a poor workforce or to have a job done twice. However, someone in a better financial position will have more freedom to choose.
This is not to say that the highest price is the best. That may have a lot to do with specific hands-on staffing service. Some companies specialize in property maintenance, which may not require the same level of care and expertise as home repairs or renovations. It is also often false economy to choose the lowest price, but even this is a generality. The single mom can get a line on a firefighter who does quality repairs in her spare time and gives her a big discount because she can.
One should find the best handyman rates that one can, but delivered in the best possible quality, as determined by reviews, testimonials, and references submitted by the local handyman repair service. It’s not necessarily an easy decision, but it can be made A LOT simpler by doing due diligence and checking your references. A quick call to the local Better Business Bureau is also a very good idea.
Some hands-on services make this decision a breeze by providing excellent customer service and doing a good job consistently, and getting it known online, through testimonials and reviews, and by providing references that will explain exactly what the experience was like. when hiring them. In this case, it’s all about deciding if your price fits your budget.