Unfortunately I have to hire a handyman today. My boy always opened the refrigerator but forgot to close it. After a few times, the temperature won’t go down any more. It is frustrated enough that I have to spend another $100 at least. I guess this kind of situation happened to many families all the time. I want to share a few tips that work on my family. Please let know me if you have any better ideas.

Trick 1: Get a Home Warrantee, Or Not

Well, this is debatable. My husband insists to cancel the home warrantee from American Home Shield. It costs us about $1200 every year. And for every visit I have to pay $60. It saved me huge bucks on broken air conditioners last year. But if nothing serious happened, it is just a waste of at least $1000 every year. Do the math yourself, if over the past years, you spent more than $2000 on handyman every year, you should consider to get a home warantee. Plus the home warantee company will get you qualified experts to help, which saved you the headache.

Trick 2: Find a Handyman at Service Magic

Register free at ServiceMagic.com, and post your issues or projects. Two or three service providers will contact you. Read their reviews, get the quote, and pick the one you are satisfied. I have used this websites many times, and every time I was very happy about it.

Trick 3: Reseach the Handyman before Hiring

Other than Service Magic, I would get recommendaitons from my friends or neighbors. But if you don’t know the handyman you are hiring, research him on the Internet. Most likely you can find him on Facebook or some other social websites. See how others have to say on him. You should do this for your own safety as well.

Trick 4: Ask your Handyman for Guarantee

After the service done, ask your handyman for guarantee for as long as you can. If you can’t get a one year guarantee, you should at least one for a month. And have it written on a paper or receipt.

Trick 5: Shorten the repair visit

Most of the handymen change you by service time. Please try to explain your problems over the phone, not to wait until he gets to your house. And if possible, ask him to what he will need for the repair. Get ready before he comes. Finally, don’t ask the handyman to clean up your house. You won’t like it anyway.

Trick 6: Do-It-Yourself

Is this a trick at all, you may wonder. Sometimes they are not as hard as you thought. Ready our blog last week: Stop Hiring Handyman: 7 Easy Do-It-Yourslef Home Projects.