Hi – I am the caretaker of the blog and I do most of the article writing and all of the updating and correspondence. If you would like to learn how you can do this yourself; please let me know. I will be starting an online tutorial this month (November ’12) the cost will be low but I need students to make this worth my time as well as yours. The intro price is $9.95 including tax. Paypal will be the best way to pay the tuition. Please email me if you have an interest in persuing this.

Thanks! JB Editor and Professor

Today our team is three hardworking individuals. Brian the owner, Luis Aguirre Handyman extraordinaire and Tony Bjerke Handyman Extreme! Together our team is here to help you with your home and office maintainence and repairs

I was always under the impression that springtime was the time for repairs and renewals around the home and office. I have since ditched that perspective and now believe that Autumn is the time for upgrades, renewals and general home maintenance! Not to say that springtime isn’t also a great time for this but I now believe that fall trumps spring!

Now is a great time to tackle those home repairs and maintanence issues! Get them done before the inlaws show up for the holidays…..I will even help! Just give House Calls, etc Handyman Service a call. We are at 206-618-8974

thanks, Brian

A few tips for you

• 1. If you live in a house you have a water shut off at the street; the water shut off is usually under a rectangular metal cover. If you need to turn off the water for a plumbing fix such as a broken pipe, the water will need to be turned off…….quick! The water is turned off by turning the metal knob that is connect to the water meter. To turn off the water completely the knob will need to be turned fully. You will know that it is completely turned off when the small holes line up with one another on the tabs of the knob. The holes line up so the water company can turn of your water and place a lock on it if you haven’t paid the water bill for awhile…..
• The knob can be difficult to turn my tip is to put a pair of channel lock pliers and a 10 inch screw driver in the water meter compartment. The pliers and screw driver are used together to turn the knob….. Place the pliers and driver in a ziplock bag first so they don’t rust. This way you will be ready if something should go wrong with the plumbing.
• 2. Got a garbage disposal? Should the disposal stop working suddenly and it simply makes a humming noise. The unit is still getting power so it is likely jammed. At the bottom of the disposal is a red reset button. Press the button and hit the power switch again and it may come back to life. If not, there may be a jam. Use a “buster” wrench that typically comes with the disposal when you buy it. The wrench is like a crank. Put one end of the wrench in the center of the bottom of the disposal and turn back and forth to dislodge the jam.
• 3. You should get in the habit of checking your smoke alarm at least once a month. Choose a day of the week and get in the habit of testing the units. Installation? Be sure to keep the detector away from fireplaces and wood stoves to avoid false alarms. Place smoke detectors at the top of each stairwell and at the end of each long hallway. Smoke rises easily through stairwells. If you should put a smoke detector in your kitchen, be sure to keep it away from cooking flames or smoking areas. The alarm should be in the highest point of the kitchen; smoke rises! If you can’t reach the alarm test button grab a broom! The handle end works great as a test button poker!
• 4. Spill the wine dig that girl! Well if you do spill the wine or other fluid that stains easily pour salt over the wet stain immediately! Lots of salt….for example a spilt glass of red wine would require about a cup of salt. The salt immediately goes to work absorbing the fluid. The salt will dry eventually and most if not all of the stain will be eliminated
• 5. Got small nails? An old trick (older than me by far!) is to put a nail between the small teeth of the comb before you hit it with the hammer. Your fingers will love you for it!
• 6. Lefty loosy and righty tighty right? Well most of the time! If the item you are working on has a spinning blade it just the opposite! You would loosen in the same direction the blade is turning; which is usually clockwise (righty)..

As a real estate owner, it can be difficult to find quality contractors when new tenants require changes to a property before a move in. Rather than choosing those who have worked out before, these few tips can help you choose a contractor that will not only serve your needs, but will serve them with excellence. Reliable, skilled tradesmen are in high demand, with lots of mediocre individuals filling out the ranks. These five tips will help you find the home improvement Seattle wants in its commercial space.

Think About Past Experiences

Every commercial realtor has had a few contracting missteps. If you think about what frustrated you in the past, be it missed appointments, shoddy work, or a general lack of professionalism, you can no doubt think of specific instances where it was problematic. You can also draw on residential experience; much of the home improvement Seattle does can be translated directly into the commercial world. The biggest difference is scale. If you’ve had concerns about a contractor in the past, it may be a good idea to avoid them later. If a contractor was helpful and informative, while also doing quality work, hopefully you’ve kept his or her contact information on file somewhere.

Ask Questions in Advance

One of the biggest frustrations of commercial development is what happens if appointments are missed or deadlines pushed back, or if the work doesn’t pass muster, what courses of action are available. These are issues that are best settled before even the first quote for a project. Asking questions in advance can save future headaches. If answers are elusive, it should be a red flag that you may not want to work with this contractor. It doesn’t matter the size of the project – if you can’t get answers to pointed questions, you may not be able to rely on the person you hire to be responsible. Developing a list of questions, possibly based on past experiences and/or contracting horror stories, can help guide your conversation with your potential contractor.

Stay Involved

Nobody likes it when their boss hovers over them. That notwithstanding, it’s a good idea to stay as involved as you can in the work your contractors do. If you’re involved in the planning process, for example, it helps to solidify a schedule, and increases the likelihood that it will be adhered to. Not all of the home improvement Seattle has to offer is equal; by remaining available before and during work, you can either encourage or discourage different work styles. At some point, you do need to let your hired hands work as they will, but if you’ve looked into the general facets of the project beforehand, you can keep an eye out that best practices are being observed.

Plan for Special Equipment

Depending on the project, your contractor may need to use specialized equipment. Projects like flooring, roofing, electrical, or office telephone servicing require specific sets of tools. When you talk to your potential contractor, ask if they have special needs. If you research the project beforehand, you’ll be able to tell if they should have any significant requests. If you ask about the equipment used, you can determine, to some degree, the quality of work that will be done. A contractor that will just come in and hammer out a project without using the proper tools likely won’t do a very good job. This doesn’t apply to every single project, however. Many things are possible with a simple toolbox. It’s still a good idea to ask.

Check References

Investigating the past work of any potential contractor lets you learn from the mistakes of others. Nobody will have a pristine record – the internet, especially, is rife with negative reports by anyone with a vendetta. However, a long history of so-so support and mediocre scoring is likely the result of equivalent work. The home improvement Seattle wants is more reliable than that. There are a number of rating websites you can peruse, although most home improvement websites have a testimonial section you can review.

These five tips can help the home improvement Seattle expects find a place in the commercial improvement space.

Not all Seattle contractors are equal. Getting the most from your contractor isn’t as simple as calling the very best – that’s definitely a good start – but there are some things you can do to insure you benefit as much as you can from their presence. Even if the job seems trivial, a contractor is an excellent source of information that you should be taking advantage of. These five tips can help you do that.

Be Present While the Work is Done

This may be a no-brainer. One of the best ways to learn from a contractor is by observation. It’s impossible to do this if you’re not there while the contractor is working. There is a certain amount of tact required; like anyone, someone doing a home improvement project for you will likely get irritated if you’re hovering over them. Keep your distance, but pay attention as well as you can. Where possible, make it look like you have a reason other than direct oversight to be in the room.

Ask Questions

Like watching them work, asking questions is something to be done in moderation. Seattle contractors are used to fielding basic questions about how they work – don’t be afraid to ask. Their insights might not prepare you to take on the same project without any other training, but knowing what they’re up to might give you a better idea what’s involved. For smaller projects, a helpful tip here and there can save you lots of time should you find yourself doing basic repairs down the line.

Pay Attention to Any Special Equipment

Seattle contractors bring all of the equipment they need to the job site. If you’re trying to learn about flooring or electrical work, take a moment to note any special polymers or glues used on the bare floor prior to the actual material. Pretreatment of the floor is also worth some attention – grooving in the floor help anchor it in place, and has to be done using custom tools. Many contracted jobs have similar requirements.

Be Involved in Planning

A contractor may need to make several visits to the job site to take measurements. These will likely lead to scaled diagrams and other tools that make planning and executing the job easier. You may want to take your own measurements and create your own scale diagram, at the very least so you can note where the project was started and how it progressed. Labeling such a diagram with numbers and keeping a key on a separate sheet of paper will allow you to keep a clean diagram without cramming explanations in.

Do Follow-up Research

If you already know a few of the steps, you have a great starting place for continued research. You likely looked into some of the specifics before calling an outsider, and having seen it hands on, you may have a better conception of the process. The final step is to check back on what you’ve learned – doing basic internet searches on some of the things you saw, and some of the questions you asked, can tell you if the methods you saw executed were industry standards or specific stylings of the individual contractor. There’s nothing wrong with either scenario – there’s often more than one solution to the same problem.

These five things can help you get the most from your Seattle contractors. Asking questions tests their knowledge and keeps them sharp, while simultaneously giving you a greater understanding of the work they do.