[American_Airman]

I just got stationed out here and am purchasing a home in North Las Vegas. It is my first home and I need a handy man/ crew to help me fix up the place. Not a major overhaul just paint, new floors and minor electrical.

Anyone "know a guy?"

Not looking for overpriced labor as I will be helping too.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by American_Airman

I just got stationed out here and am purchasing a home in North Las Vegas. It is my first home and I need a handy man/ crew to help me fix up the place. Not a major overhaul just paint, new floors and minor electrical.

Anyone "know a guy?"

Not looking for overpriced labor as I will be helping too.

This question comes up often, and I believe the general consensus is there are two types of handymen.

1) The kind that flakes out and doesn't keep appointments.

2) The kind that does great for about 2 weeks and then flakes out and doesn't keep appointments.

Oh, and, 3) The ones who will pilfer your things the second your back is turned.

[latin_racer]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

This question comes up often, and I believe the general consensus is there are two types of handymen.

1) The kind that flakes out and doesn't keep appointments.

2) The kind that does great for about 2 weeks and then flakes out and doesn't keep appointments.

Oh, and, 3) The ones who will pilfer your things the second your back is turned.

I agree with Scoop. I learned my lesson. Never leave someone unattended. My wedding band was stolen and it almost got me in trouble with the wife. It was about $1500. I left them unattended for a minute and that's all it took. By the time I realize it was missing it was too late. Always keep an eye on them.

[Oldwestgambler]

Originally Posted by American_Airman

I just got stationed out here and am purchasing a home in North Las Vegas. It is my first home and I need a handy man/ crew to help me fix up the place. Not a major overhaul just paint, new floors and minor electrical.

Anyone "know a guy?"

Not looking for overpriced labor as I will be helping too.

Oh, Good luck. I have done the asking " Do you know a good.." to my real estate agent and other real estate contacts while buying homes in Las Vegas. The people who came highly recommended turned out to range from bad to below average. These are people that have " 20+ years experience." It doesn't mean a thing. The customer service and quality of work was far below par. The worst mistakes I made was:

1. Not hiring a REAL professional painting service, but hiring a Do-it-All type of handyman crew that does paint, tile and carpet. Get a service that does painting ONLY and is a bigger name in the area. Forget referrals or two clowns who put ads on craigslist, you want real painting company. Do not get a Do-it-all handyman crew. I now have to hire a real painting crew to do the attention to detail work that my Do-it-all guys that have so much experience were too lazy to do.

2. Trusting referrals. I did much better on my own than the results of the workers that came "Highly recommended" with so much experience in the Las Vegas area. You might even hear like I did how they did work on the 5 Star resorts while they were being built. Yeah, right. I don't think so with these results.

Another thing. Look out for being treated differently if you live out of state. They will play games, drag their feet and do a less than great job because hey, you're 4 hours away. You will drive hours on the day they say it is finished only to find out they need a few more days. Then they'll have that dumb deer in the headlights look on their face when you get mad about wasting an entire day driving there and $120 in fuel. You're just some investor or 2nd homeowner and we'll get to you when we feel like it. I have only found one service that didn't do that and that was the big box store. I normally don't like using their services where I live, but it has been very helpful being an out of state resident. If you want a painter, get a painter. Not a clown Do-it-all guy. The good thing about the big box stores is these workers want to keep their contracts with these stores because they get so much business, so they'll try harder because they know you'll have a survey at the end of the job rating their work.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by Oldwestgambler

Look out for being treated differently if you live out of state. They will play games, drag their feet and do a less than great job because hey, you're 4 hours away.

Don't worry. They'll do that to the locals, as well. (Play games and do a less than great job, at least.)

My solution has been to DIY almost everything. But I'm still young and spry enough that I don't mind being my own contractor. When you get down to it, very, very, very few professionals will do the kind of work on your house that they would do on their own house.

The best work is done by homeowners on their own homes -- assuming that they have the basic skills necessary to paint, lay tile, or install trim. (EDIT -- And it's not like these things are hard to do. Time consuming and bothersome? Yes. Hard? No. Anyone with the gumption can learn to do these things. Pulling out the checkbook is easy. But it doesn't always mean the best quality work.)

In the five years that we've been working on our house, we've only brought in the pros four times:

1) Crown moulding on 18-foot high ceilings. It cost less to hire a crew than rent scaffolding. They also did a better job than I could have myself. Crown can be tricky.

2) An electrician to wire the garage for 220v service. I'm not monkeying with that. No way. No how. I had the same guy wire up our gable fan. If there's a fire in the attic, I want to be DAMNED sure it's not my fault.

3) A plumber to hook up the gas grill to our gas stub. I could have easily done that job. But our insurance company insisted. (If you DIY it, they told me, your policy is void in the event of a fire. ANY fire. Even if it doesn't involve the grill. Your policy may vary. But I'd check before tying a grill into the gas line.)

4) A handyman to install our pergola. He completed the job for less money than what I would pay just to buy the materials. It would be dumb to DIY a project like that.

EDIT -- 5) We had an insulation guy blow insulation; and 6) I got sick of fixing the irrigation system just paid someone. So six times in five years. Not four.)

Painting, trim work, minor carpentry, solar screens, tile -- that's all best done by the homeowners. It may take longer. But people tend to have higher standards when working on their own property. At least my wife and I do. There is no such thing as "good enough." It's either right, or we re-do it until it IS right.

(Just for clarification, I spent two years really kicking butt on the house. Stairs, floors, closets, cabinets, wall units, et cetera. Now I just do "weekend warrior" projects like solar screens. The stairs alone saved us $35,000 compared to what the pros wanted. That's not chicken feed.)

[costaricageorge]

If I wasn't happily married to a beautiful woman I would seriously consider taking a shot at Scoop. He could fix my entire place while finding time to grill me some rib-eyes to perfection.

[latin_racer]

Originally Posted by costaricageorge

If I wasn't happily married to a beautiful woman I would seriously consider taking a shot at Scoop. He could fix my entire place while finding time to grill me some rib-eyes to perfection.

I had to read that a few times to get it. lol

[inkaamericantile]

hi this is javier a good working in houses really perfect work,if you need help you can give in touch whith me,.

[inkaamericantile]

me javier working in houses

[dynimagelv]

javier....you dont have to come up with a new name every time you make a post hustleing business.