Christine Blau 
“Know a good handyman?” questioned a neighbor just lately. Not only could I not assistance with a name and quantity, I essential a person myself and was clueless where to turn. There may well be some very good handymen in the higher valley, but I’ll be damned if I can obtain ‘em.
We look to live in an age of specialization. If you need some carpentry operate, there are a great deal of outfits out there that do that. Portray? We are filthy with guys and gals in white overalls who can end a property or do an inside re-paint restore. There are loads of plumbers out there who will bring a comprehensive workforce and some reamers to your casa to thoroughly clean the pipes and hold your bathrooms from functioning.
But, a jack of all trades? A utility fielder who can play all the positions on the diamond? Someone who can paint, hammer, evaluate twice and slash when? That appears to be to be a dying breed. And, still, I’ll guess that form of talent has hardly ever, if ever, been much more in demand from customers than these days, in these areas.
Both of those my neighbor and I fit the profile of medium-to-long-term householders who require a little help with, effectively, just about all the things around the dwelling. Stuff gets a minimal outdated rather rapid on properties in the mountains, what with the superior elevation and the publicity to the cold of wintertime and the warmth of summer season. And, like my neighbor, my residence enhancement skills border on the negligible. Even transforming a light bulb is a obstacle to my talent set.
Trims require painting, decks want sanding and sealing, doorways and locks need adjusting, gentle switches have to have shifting, appliances need to have calibrating. Yes, there are any quantity of tiny responsibilities that could be done in a week or so by a single talented handyman that otherwise demand scheduling specialist corporations that only do just one factor at a time — and cost large bucks to do so.
What I want is a man with a truck and tool belt with a “git-er-done” perspective. But, it feels these times like my choices are confined to calling a range of specialised design workplaces and talking with a receptionist about getting appointments for two to three months out — if that.
Earlier this week, I identified myself in, get this, a line 10 persons deep at the Ace Hardware retail outlet down below Clark’s Current market in which I was finding Soda Stream refills (You do have a Soda Stream, never you?). I assumed I’d move the time asking my fellow patrons, all in a hurry and all with hardware in hand, if they could propose a very good handyman. Nope. Very little. Nada. Not a single of the development people on-line with me at the over worked counter had a clue in which to discover someone who they could advise.
Like I explained, a dying breed. So, permit this be an ode to the handyman. The man who was the moment an indispensable member of our culture. The do-it-all person who manufactured points occur when no 1 else could. The crusty impartial with the techniques to retain a home manufacturer new.
Justification me … I have to go call an electrician.
