Hiring a Generalist vs. a Specialist

Hiring help when you have needs around your home can be a frustrating process. Service providers are busy and cannot meet your timeline. Others do not seem interested in your project. It is this last dynamic that I am going to delve into today.

When you need painting done, your first instinct may be to contact a painting company. The same can be said for a fencing project. If a storm sends a large branch through a window in your home, you may reach out to a replacement window company. If you are selling your home and the WDO inspection turns up a rotten spot on your wood siding or trim, you might then call a siding company.

In any of the above examples, you may then wonder why none of these companies are excited about your call. The likely explanation of one of scale. Your job, in these examples, maybe “too small” to get their attention. Painting, for example, is generally done by a crew. Three to five guys work together to paint the exterior, or interior of your home. That gets the job done for projects of a certain size or larger, but for a single room, a crew is inefficient.

Fencing companies also run crews that show up to erect a fence around your yard. Siding companies want to reside in your home. Replacement window companies want to replace all your windows. Depending on the company you call, a fence repair, siding repair or replacement of a single window may not be a job on a scale necessary to get their attention. Rather than getting frustrated, or giving up, you need to change your search method.

One way is to ask companies upfront if they have a repair or service division. In some cases, the “install” side of their business is so busy that they have pulled resources from “service” to keep up. While they have a service division, if it has no staff you are left in the same situation.

The other tact is to find a company that focuses on general home maintenance and repair. By definition, these are generally smaller projects as compared to new installs. These companies may also be busy, but you are now talking with somebody that does projects like yours. They will often replace a single fence panel, paint one room, do a small wood rot repair, or replace a single window.

General “home improvement” or “Handyman” companies may be a better fit for a smaller project than a company that does the very same project on a large scale. Something to consider for your next search.

Or you can simplify your search by contacting Mr. Handyman. We provide a full range of home maintenance, home repair, and home improvement projects. We can handle smaller jobs, medium jobs, and even some larger jobs. Drywall repair, siding repair, painting the repairs, replacing a door or window, installing a mailbox on a post when yours rots out, fixing a gate or fence panel, Mr. Handyman can handle any and all of these jobs, so you only have to call one place to get your ‘to do’ list done.