This is a guest post from our friends at Moving Offices San Diego.

We all like to have a perfectly functioning home, right? After all, no one likes to live in a household that’s run down and unkept. But let’s be honest here: making home repairs aren’t always enjoyable experiences. First of all, somehow, stuff always breaks down when you least expect and have the least time to deal with it. And then the fixing always takes a lot more time than you initially thought. Yeah, home upkeep can be a nightmare. That’s why everyone appreciates a good handyman, but finding one isn’t easy at all!

Do I even need to hire a handyman? 

Okay, we know what you’re thinking. Once something breaks down in your home, we all think of one thing first: can I fix it by myself? It’s only natural, we get it. After all, spending money on a handyman can seem like overpaying in some cases. For example, do you really need help fixing a leaky faucet? Maybe you can do it all on your own? You’d save a ton of money that way, right? Regardless of whether you’ve lived in your home for decades or you just moved in, you don’t want to spend too much money on something you may be able to fix yourself.

Why hiring a handyman is a smart move

When it comes to home repairs you do on your own, do yourself a favor: take a step back and think of your past DIY projects. Now, remember how it went in most cases: maybe you had a small repair to make, and you thought you can do it on your own. But then you realized you didn’t have the right equipment, so you had to buy it. And then you didn’t really have much experience in handling the equipment, so you could have made the original cause for repairs even worse. And finally, at the end of the day (and your nerves), you realized what you should’ve done all along: you just looked for a good handyman service to undo all the damage!

So why not just skip all of that, and not waste any more time and money than you really need to? Yeah, to be honest, we recommend you just let professionals handle this right from the get-go. And sure, there’s stuff that may seem like the smallest of repairs. But really, you know full well how home malfunctions can escalate quicker than a forest fire. That’s why you need to look for some local handymen, using these steps: 

  • How to find a good handyman

  • Looking online 
  • Getting estimates 
  • Signing a contract 

Make sure you get plenty of referrals 

Now that you’ve decided to hire a handyman service, the question is where to start? While many will flaunt the Internet like the perfect solution for, well, anything – but we’d like to champion a more old-school approach here first. Before you start browsing online, you should definitely ask around for some referrals. After all, everybody had to deal with home repairs at some point – so someone you know probably has a good handyman service to recommend. 

Start with your extended family, your friends, your coworkers… we’re sure you’ll find more than a few people ready to recommend some decent handymen.  

Search online

While we think that finding referrals from people you trust is the best way to go, we’re not saying you should ignore the Internet completely. After all, for some reason, you might not like the handymen you were referred to – and you don’t want to be out of options! Really, online you can find anything. From storage companies, if you need to have your items safely stored, all the way to every kind of handyman you can think of! 

Don’t be hasty and read the reviews 

 Beware the dangers of false online advertising, though. In this day and age, there’s really nothing easier than whipping up a passably fine website which sings praises of your services. That’s why it’s important to separate a really good handyman service from a mediocre or bad one. And how do you go about doing that? Well, you simply need to be thorough. Read every single online review, and let nothing slip past you. Everything from Google to Yelp reviews – you’ll need to read it all! 

Get estimates from potential contractors 

Okay, so you’ve whittled down your choices to a handful of potential contractors – so how do you make a final decision? Well, now that you’ve seen the reviews and referrals – it’s time to meet these handymen in person! You should contact the companies, and have them come to your home and bid on the repair project. This will go a long way to help you find a good handyman service. How? Well, for starters, only the really serious companies will send a representative. And then, you can see how professional they are. Did they arrive on time? And did they give a rough estimate or thoroughly determine what repairs are needed? All of this will help you make your choice.   

First impressions count! If your handyman is sending professional estimates through job management software like Tradify, then they’re probably on the level. Professional handyman software will help them keep track of your job and you’ll have a record of communication by email. You should be able to view and accept the job on your mobile device and even pay for the job online with your credit card.

Get it in writing

 Finally, by now you’ve probably picked your perfectly good handyman service. After the selection process, we’ve recommended you follow, it’s probably a truly professional company. But still, there’s one last thing you need to do. Whatever the job is, and no matter how small the repairs are – make sure you sign a contract with the handyman service. No matter how professional this company seems, in what amounts to a business transaction you can’t trust anyone at their word. What you need is a guarantee that they’ll get the job done – and a written contract is the best guarantee you can have!