r/handyman

I opened my bank account earlier and felt like I was missing a few bucks, so I did a quick run through my transactions to categorize everything and realized I screwed myself on a job from last Tuesday. I was called for a job to fix a leaking kitchen faucet. After I was done, the client asked me if I could help him get a smart deadbolt on his front door, and patch up a couple of holes in the living room drywall. I said yes to it, bought all the extra stuff I needed, finished the job, got my pay. Problem is, I've noticed now that the invoice I sent was just based on my hours and the flat rate for the faucet fix. I've forgotten to add the materials needed for the extra job which adds up to $285. The client was nice and all but I feel like it's way too late and unprofessional to ask for that now so yeah. Guess all that's gone.

Hi there, I applied for a job with a big company as a handyman and then went through three rounds of interviews and then they required me to do a skills test where I had to meet with the owner at a site which happened to be his home to repair a few task that he wanted. I was told that they will pay me for it. He gave me a list of task to go through which I performed except one which was repair masonry work for a 20ft column I told him that I wasn’t comfortable doing that due to the safety as well I don’t think I could guarantee that it will turn out good as he stated he fired his old handyman because he didn’t do a good job. After this he became bit rude. I spent 3 days working for him and spent around $600 on material. He began to question everything I did and now I don’t know where to go as I’m out of a lot of money and I needed this job.

Edit: I just got to accept the fact I got scammed. I didn’t do good research on them and I can see that they have a lot of lawsuits. I don’t think I’m going to proceed with legal action because I’ll be digging a bigger hole if I were to proceed with that route. Just want to learn to let go and accept the fact that

So, I built 3 large Ikea wardrobes and mounted them to the wall for a guy and he literally sat in a chair with his laptop and watched all 5 hours of me working.

Didn't say anything.

Just watched.

My wife said "maybe he wanted a piece of you" lol.

Possible, not probable 🤣

Have you had a similar experience, what happened?

Does it annoy you when customers watch you?

Don't underprice your jobs just to get the work. It's better to be not working than to be working for less than you're worth.

Looking for recommendations for some nice counter tops- but it's for my aunt.. So I am trying to find ideas what looks awesome but not too expensive... she was thinking about tile, but I think that looks dated. Any ideas?

If you're using a site that connects pros to homeowners, reviews on these sites often don’t belong to you. They’re owned by the service itself and don’t allow you to republish them unless you buy web hosting through them.

They're also not doing anything for your business outside of that website.

If you're asking people for reviews, always ask folks to leave them Google My Business. You can get a shareable link under Ask for reviews / Promote.

And if possible, ask them to be specific about the location and service you provided. Respond to them. This all actively influences how highly you rank in GMB and local search rankings. That way you're tackling two of the three factors Google uses to rank you: relevance and prominence.

Appreciate any advice. Thank you!

Hi everyone I am a maintenance technician at two large apartment buildings. Both have a significant mouse issue, and no matter what I or pest control do they continue to return.

Information about the buildings:
- both were built in early 2000s, so relatively new, and use steel studs. They are well and properly insulated.
- they are located between a main road at the front, and at the rear past the parking lot is a strip of forest. To either side there is swamp or forest. Past the strip of forest is a highway. I am including this information for the sake of the type of mice we face.

There are no rats here, no large mice. The ones here are tiny field mice that can enter through the smallest gap. They are fast and smart, hard to catch. My cat stills gets them though.

What I have done:
- extensive building wide hole sealing using coarse steel wool followed by pest control spray foam. Behind dishwashers, where pipes go into walls, gaps in the cabinets, toilets, literally anywhere that has a mouse sized hole.
- communicated to residents not to leave compost open under sinks, and not to leave food on the floor. As well as informing them that mice like clutter.
However this is pet friendly buildings, therefore food and water is always available at ground level, making resident oriented prevention near impossible
- gone around exterior of both buildings and sealed any holes. Although I do see some in dirt around foundation I can’t prove it’s the mice.
- our pest control contractor has come dozens of times to lay more traps and to conduct unit sweeps. They’ve only dusted on a few rare occasions.

These measures only serve to delay the rodent armies formidable advances. The foam and steel wool is but a blown bridge in which they quickly rebuild and carve through. The dust forces them to make a new entry point, better hidden than before. The resident prevention is but a propaganda measure they pay no mind to. The pest control contractor fears them, they laugh in his face and at his pathetic traps.

I asked for more aggressive measures along the lines of “how do we defeat the rodent lords once and for all” in which the pest guy told me “we have already fallen, to find their nests in the walls would be nigh impossible. All we can do is hold out and pray our new rulers are kind to those that once rallied against them”

I’m gonna send seal team snake into the walls soon. Please help anything creative, preferably cheap.

Thank you!