Our first house
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
A little over a decade ago, my wife and I set out to buy a home for my aging mother and younger siblings. It was our first foray into homeownership. And it was definitely a time for invention. It was a 1970s home, well cared for but it didn’t take long until work was needed.
A downpour and clogged downspouts allowed a lot of water to get into the basement. The roof was in bad shape. The shed out back was more like a nature conservatory than a place to keep tools.
Frustrations with Contractors
In the years since buying the house, we’ve done a lot of work on it – we replaced flooring, drywalled, painted, did plumbing work, fixed light switches, and replaced the roof. We landscaped, tore down an old shed, and built a new one. We rebuilt showers from the studs and cut down a small dead tree.
Our personal home was a small condo, and at the condo, we couldn’t do much work ourselves. We usually needed to work with contractors instead. Contractors who failed to communicate, were days late, missed deadlines, didn’t answer phone calls, and didn’t follow up. It was (and still is) frustrating.
The kitchen’s a mess, but the backsplash looks good!
I probably wouldn’t replace a roof again myself, but it was a great learning experience.
The Start of Handy Harrison
I figured it was finally time to apply some of what I learned elsewhere. I’ve always enjoyed figuring out how to do something new and challenging myself – what better way than to help people in my community with their own home repairs, and maybe pass along some of what I’ve learned over the last decade.