[Bog99]

Hello TOTVers,

I'm trying to deal with being an absentee homeowner, and I've had 2 well-known handymen now who have started out great --
- then with the 2nd job they say "yes, I can to do that" -- then you don't hear from them literally for weeks at a time! !!!

Can anyone recommend a handyman that doesn't treat snowbirds so badly? it's not the work, it's the relationship. It's like they don't realize snowbirds are people too, and treat them like crap.

(I've seen a lot of that elsewhere among the "natives" -- I call it the Florida-Eff-You : nice and social at first, but a little further into the relationship they lay into with bad treatment or language so rough they might as well say "Go eff yourself, Yankee!" I try to tell them the Golden Rule applies to customers too. "Would YOU like to be treated the way you've just treated me?"...

[Villager Joyce]

I'm not sure this is a snowbird issue. We are full timers. We tried many times to get one of the very highly recommended handymen just to show up to price a job. Finally, he showed up, gave a bid and we accepted. Never showed up again to do the job.

[John_W]

Tim "The Toolman" Miller has been in TV for years. He did several small jobs for us six years ago, everything from installing stairs in the garage attic and flooring to putting on kitchen cabinet knobs. He does have an ad in the Sun paper but he really doesn't need it, he generally has a 1 or 2 week wait.

To show you his honestly, he accidently cracked one of my sliding doors on a late Friday afternoon. The door just made like a spiderweb, nothing dangerous that we couldn't wait until Monday. He came back Monday morning with his helper and replaced the glass sliding door, no charge to us and didn't even hint that I should pay part of it.

His prices were great, he moved all the shelves in our master closet down a foot and place identical shelving 3' above, patched and painted all the old holes. Essentially he doubled our closet's capacity and total cost parts and labor $150. I just did a search on TOTV and Tim's name is mentioned in 39 threads. Here's some reading if you want:

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...rchid=13903975

Contact him at Tim Miller 352-217-0561

[Nucky]

Our handyman is a great man. 30 years in the Army and now just taking a couple of jobs here and there to keep him out of trouble as he put it. While doing a quick plumbing job for me our neighbor stopped by and shamed him into building a ramp for them. Our guy tried to wiggle out of the job but I guess he felt bad and took the job. Big mistake on both sides because it did not go well. Carpentry is not his thing. His skills in that department are one step above a homeowners.

The point is these handymen have different degrees of expertise at different jobs and their people skills vary. There is a good chance they are not going to keep their word and show up for you if they can make a bundle on something other project that presents itself. They mostly are poor communicators. If you speak with them to much while they are working that doesn't work either. Offer them a water, buy lunch if it's appropriate and never pay until you're satisfied.

Once they are done ask them about their experience with the customers they encounter. How many times have they been $$ Stiffed $$. There is always two sides to every story and sometimes when expectations are high then there is a good chance to be unsatisfied with the job. I hope things work out for you.

[Here2Stay]

Must call Herb at 352-425-5985, our clients love him and his work

[xcaligirl]

It's not a snowbird thing, we've full time and get the same treatment... unfortunately! And, it's not just with handymen, it's also been with 'highly recommended' companies. Quite frustrating, to say the least.

[Bog99]

Originally Posted by John_W

Tim "The Toolman" Miller has been in TV for years. He did several small jobs for us six years ago, everything from installing stairs in the garage attic and flooring to putting on kitchen cabinet knobs. He does have an ad in the Sun paper but he really doesn't need it, he generally has a 1 or 2 week wait.

To show you his honestly, he accidently cracked one of my sliding doors on a late Friday afternoon. The door just made like a spiderweb, nothing dangerous that we couldn't wait until Monday. He came back Monday morning with his helper and replaced the glass sliding door, no charge to us and didn't even hint that I should pay part of it.

His prices were great, he moved all the shelves in our master closet down a foot and place identical shelving 3' above, patched and painted all the old holes. Essentially he doubled our closet's capacity and total cost parts and labor $150. I just did a search on TOTV and Tim's name is mentioned in 39 threads. Here's some reading if you want:

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...rchid=13903975

Contact him at Tim Miller 352-217-0561

Thank you, John W.

Will add Tim Miller to my list.

2 things to improve the Handyman market:

1) more competition: the handyman I just had who left me in the dark for 2 weeks charges $40/hour and "doesn't advertise" or (usually) make estimates. $40/hour is good in anybody's book, so if anyone's interested in being a handyman, I would encourage them to do so.

2) Feedback: like this, and Yelp.com, and Google Reviews. Thank you one and all for the feedback, and keep it coming.

[Bog99]

Originally Posted by Villager Joyce

I'm not sure this is a snowbird issue. We are full timers. We tried many times to get one of the very highly recommended handymen just to show up to price a job. Finally, he showed up, gave a bid and we accepted. Never showed up again to do the job.

Hello Villager Joyce,

Thank you for your post and feedback. Feedback like yours is one of the mechanisms to improve the Handyman market. Yelp is one place to do that so "the world" can see what this particular handyman's service is like. Are you up for posting your experience there?

At my stage on the resident learning curve, I'm reluctant to because I might need these handymen to help me again, as much as I'd like to do business with someone else, I just don't know who else to turn to -- if they know I've criticized them on Yelp.com, how good will the engagement be then.

At any rate, I'd encourage one an all to leave feedback for the handyman market -- it looks like it surely needs it.

Regarding snowbird vs. full-timers, yes, it probably isn't a "snowbird" issue -- maybe more like "local" vs. "transplant". I've see "locals" who are fine at first, but as soon as a little stress comes into the relationship, they lay into you 'no holds barred' with the Florida-eff-you. I think I'm getting good -- or at least practiced -- at the what I call "the Golden Rule" response, namely, "Would YOU like to be talked to and treated like that?"

Maybe a thing to do is ask the other contracting party "do you believe in the Golden Rule, and does the Golden Rule apply to customers?"

On the positive side, one reason the Florida-eff-you stands out so starkly is that many/most people you meet/deal with in the Villages are quite nice and personable -- "Friendliest Home Town" -- which makes the Florida-eff-you incidents stand out as contrast.

But the less "Florida-eff-yous" the better, naturally.

[Arctic Fox]

Prepare a contract before hiring anyone, to include an agreed completion date with financial penalties if not met.

Sounds like a lot of bother but it could save you even more bother later, and is great for focusing minds.

[Investment Painting Contractors]

Mary & I just had Dave Wilt of DMW home services install a couple fans, and remove an old water softener, and haul them away. The entire process was enjoyable from the start. I called Dave and left a message, he returned my call the next morning and made an appointment. He showed up at the arranged time, laid down tarps and went to work. He cleaned the area loaded up the old fixtures at the agreed upon price and left our house neat and tidy. You can't go wrong with Dave. I have a very happy wife and we will use him again. Call Dave Wilt 352-470-7917

[PNaughton]

Try DOC'S Restoration. I don't have their information with me but perhaps out "links" man can look it up..
I'm sure you'll be satisfied with their work.

[Bog99]

Hello TOTVers,

Thank you for your responses:
- 3 Recommendations (good to hear there ARE some satisfied Handyman customers out there)

- support (about the "locals" who have the hometown advantage and use it to slap you around)

- recommendations

*******************

Speaking of "slapping around", pasted below is an email I plan to send the guy who was the last straw in this Handyman Hell. I've had enough of the Florida-Slap-Around to get angry about it, so why not let it be known? Any thoughts?

**********************

Dear Handyman,

... the check is in the mail, as they say ...

Now -- can we talk a little bit about what waiting 2 weeks to hear from you was like? I'm referring to having to call you to find out what was going on -- about 2 weeks after the Amazon goods arrived.

Do you know how infuriating -- and yes that's the word -- that is? And then when I call, it's "Oh yes, I was just getting to yours as we speak.." If you have things so "right at your finger tips", why couldn't you have let me know that a week earlier???

And indeed you did the work on the day you told me you would -- so it's clear you have things under control, but you couldn't have the consideration to let me know that first? instead of me having to call you?

Here's my Golden Rule speech for Villages contractors who put zero consideration into the human relations part of the job: after getting an excellent first impression from the prospective contractor -- would YOU like to be left in the dark like that for 2 weeks.

There's a pattern here -- I had the exact same treatment from another well-known Villages handyman. Do you Villages contractors get some sort of sadistic pleasure out of playing the home-town advantage and treating out-of-state customers like fools??? "Oh, those dumb northerners -- they don't want to be a pain in the ass by calling, so I can let them wait and they won't do anything... "

You guys are well spoken, and tech-savvy. What excuse do you have for such contempt for the people who are your customers? Is this a native-Florida thing? "Oh, those dumb northerners..."

Is It Asking Too Much To Make Contact Twice A Week With Your Waiting Customers????? In this age of email and internet the answer should be "NO" -- there's no reason you have to keep us in radio silence like that and think we're a bunch of dimwits about it.

Again -- the Golden Rule -- would You like to be treated like that? Doesn't the Golden Rule apply to customers too? Surely, esp in a place like The Villages, the answer to that one would be yes.

Wouldn't you agree? Next time -- and there very well could be a next time because all-of-us-Villagers need your services -- won't it be fair of me to ask how far out in the schedule I am, and you'll check in once/twice a week to let me know where I am in the jobs queue? Is that asking so much?

Regards

[Bog99]

For the record, there must be an ugly we vs. them mentality between retired Villagers and the indigenous population that serves them.

Among the indigenous population there may be a discussion of contempt and resentment that can be pretty strong and boil over in outright abuse with not too much provocation --- "I have to be nice to these people all the time but nobody's nice to me" --- in a word "envy" -- and, I've had to work like a dog all my life and into the grave and who are these people to live such a lifestyle???"

(This may be a variation on the "income inequality" situation, which has truth to it because of dishonest money ("inflation") and dishonest banking, but that's another conversation).

That attitude can be reinforcing in Village-employee social circles and get ugly at slight provocation. One of the ingenious things of the Villages is the Charter School -- I'm sure that lifts the attitude and quality of service measurably.

Maybe on thing to do is ask the Handyman "do you have a child in the Charter School"?

Meanwhile, frankly, someone with too much envy/resentment of the Villager circumstances might simply not be a good person to be employed in Villages services. "If you're going to express your envy and resentment about Villager circumstances, then maybe you shouldn't work here."

Another is asking not to engage in "those dumb northerners" talk because that's where the reinforcement comes from.

Better service comes with tipping -- maybe the Handyman industry should announce beforehand they take tips?

But back in the here and now, I just had 2 almost identical bad-treatments (weeks of no-communication silence) from two well known Villages handymen and I figure the only way of doing something about it is to complain to them about it -- i.e. "Would YOU like to be treated like that in a Handyman engagement?"

Meanwhile, for those fortunate enough to have Villages life to the fullest extent -- enjoy! (not me, yet; I'm absentee and have 3 years to go).

Cheers,
PG