At last

OK, I am the first to admit it. When they passed out the "fix it" genes in my family, my brother Steve got them all. Let's review. My dad is one of the handiest men I know. There isn't much he can't do. I am his oldest son and I am the most inept do-it-yourself guy you will ever meet. Most of the time my "fix it" projects are less projects than challenges. I mean, I can change a light bulb but a lot past that is not for me to do. 

My brother Steve (the middle son) got the "fix it" gene from Dad. He can build stuff, repair stuff and tackles stuff I wouldn't even consider trying. And he's good at it. He and his wife have a beautiful home that always seems to be in great condition (although his wife Jamie might say differently--I just don't know). I have to admit that I do not know if my youngest brother John has the "fix it" gene. I'll have to ask him next time I talk to him.

I got the creative gene, by the way. It's served me well over the years. I write, take great pictures (I think) and do pretty decent design. 

Which brings me to today. As a homeowner whenever anything breaks in the house that I can't just replace it freaks me out. It means I have to try and fix it or I have to try and find someone to fix it that knows what they are doing. 

Do you know how hard it is to find someone who does little "fix it" jobs? It's crazy. No one wants to do small jobs. And if they do, they want big bucks. So last week we had a built-in fan in our laundry that is an integral part of our whole house ventilation just stopped working. To me, that means the fan needs to be replaced. We also have a VERY noisy bathroom fan that we thought we might replace as doing both might entice someone to come out and do that for us. 

I started off calling a place we had used before (Gleem Handyman Services) but they wanted $168 to just come out, look at the fans, tell us what was wrong with them and what parts were needed to fix them. Then I would have to go to a Home Depot type store and pick up the parts after which they would come back and install them for another $168. YIKES!!! That's almost $500 to repair the fans. 

So I kept looking. And as the title of this post says, "AT LAST" I found someone. Honey Do Services. I know, it's a funny name. But sure enough today, out came the Honey Do guy and I showed him the fans. He said, "Let me look at them and I'll tell you what I think." So he went to work and I went back to my office to work. About 45 minutes later I realized (it was a really busy day) that he was still working. The dollar signs went off in my head but a few minutes later he came down and asked me to come up and see what he had figured out. 

With the laundry room fan (that is on a timer) he found that the fan was fine. He had cleaned it out and gotten it to work. He found that the timer was broken. He had pulled it out of the wall, showed me exactly what to do to remove it so I could take it to Home Depot, tell them I needed to replace it and then how to put it all back together. He gave me detailed instructions without being condescending. A really great guy. Then he showed me how much guck he had pulled out of the bathroom fan and that just by doing that and pushing a small piece of wood between the housing of the fan and the ceiling it would cut the vibration sound by half. But he told me, "This type of fan will never be really quiet." But it is so much quieter I am thrilled. 

But the best is yet to come. After cleaning up after himself we went back down to my office so I could write him a check and he asks, "Would $55 be too much?" Too much? Too much? I would have paid him $155 (I actually gave him $75) just for coming out and being so incredibly honest about what needed repair and what didn't. How refreshing and wonderful is it to find someone like that in this day and age. And he said, he'll come back anytime. YAHOO! I am thrilled. I can stop worrying about home repairs.