Homeownership remains a cornerstone of the American dream. But when you own your own home, you’re responsible for upkeep and maintenance. And unless you’re handy yourself, you’re going to need some help to keep your home up-to-date and well-maintained.
But a good handyman is hard to find, not least of all because the best handymen and women are already booked solid with jobs for repeat clients. How can you find a handyman or contractor to help you repair, renovate, and maintain your home? You’ll need to do some research, both online and through word of mouth. Once you have a few names, you’ll need to vet those people to make sure they’re licensed and have good reputations. Finally, you’ll need to invite a few contractors into your home to see the scope of the work you need done and give you accurate quotes.
Do Your Research
The first step towards finding a reliable handyman who does quality work is to research handyman services in your area. A simple web search using a phrase like “handyman services in Los Angeles”, for example, will turn up several good options.
Google reviews, and sites like HomeAdvisor or Angie’s List, will give you some idea of how satisfied previous customers may or may not have been. Of course, even the best contractors will have a few bad reviews from disgruntled previous customers; you can’t please everyone, and some people just live to give bad reviews online, or so it would seem. Use your best judgment to decide how many bad reviews are too many.
But the internet isn’t your only source for tracking down great handymen. You can, and should, ask friends, neighbors, and family members if they know anyone who does the kind of work you’re looking to have done. Asking around like this has the added benefit of giving you the opportunity to look at some of a contractor’s completed work. If you’re new to the area, you can still ask around – pop down to the nearest independently owned hardware store and ask the owner, or one of the longtime employees, for some referrals. They’ll have been working with the area’s contractors for years, and will be able to recommend some good ones.
Vet the Candidates
Now that you have a few names, you need to make sure that the candidates you’ve chosen are qualified, licensed, and have good reputations. If you found them online, you may already have some idea of what previous customers think of their work. But you can go further than that.
Check with your state, local, and municipal governments to make sure the contractors you’re considering are licensed, bonded, and insured. Contact your state’s consumer protection office to find out if any formal complaints have been lodged against the contractor in question.
Get Quotes
Before you choose a handyman to work on your house, get quotes for the work you want him or her to do. A trustworthy handyman won’t give you a quote without seeing your house and discussing the project with you in detail. He or she will need to form an accurate idea of how big the project will be, how long it will take, and how much the necessary materials will cost.
While you should get at least three quotes, you shouldn’t necessarily go with the lowest quote, especially if it’s a lot lower than the others. A contractor that gives a significantly lower quote than others could be too inexperienced to understand the true scope of the work, or planning to cut corners. You don’t have to choose the highest quote, either, but it might not be a bad idea to go with the middle option.
If you’re planning a significant renovation, you may want to give a new contractor a chance to prove his or her skill by asking him or her to start with a smaller job first, with the understanding that if said smaller job goes well, you’ll hire him or her to do more work. Ideally, you want to form a relationship with a handyman so that when something breaks or it’s time for a change, you don’t want to have to go through the process of finding someone all over again.
It can be hard to find a good handyman, but it’s worth the work. The right handyman can take the burden of maintaining your home off your shoulders, so you can focus on enjoying it instead.
