My former neighbor, Luigi Robles, came over this afternoon to help with some handyman type tasks I needed done around the house. Luigi used to rent a room across the street, but he recently moved to an apartment near the southern end of San Ramon. I staked him to the deposit, which he is paying off by doing fix-it work on the weekends.
The carpet in my dining room was pulling up where it connected to the vinyl in the kitchen. It was becoming a hazard. I almost tripped on it a couple of times and I needed it properly fastened down so I wouldn't have an accident.
Luigi pulled up the old connector strip and nail boards, cut the frayed edges of the carpet back, and put down a new transition strip with carpet gripper hooks built in. It took Luigi about an hour and a half to cut and curve the transition strip, fit the carpet edge into it and tack it all down safely. It is very professionally done. He said he never worked with carpet before.
Last year I was trying to find a handyman to do work around the house. I hired someone who didn't work out. I tried to hire someone else who didn't want to do the jobs I needed done. Luigi worked for me before on a barter bases. Two years ago he cleaned my roof and gutters in exchange for an electric bicycle.
I tried to talk him into starting a handyman business, but he wanted a paying job with a weekly or monthly paycheck. He works for Comcast now. I asked Luigi if he would be interested in doing some handyman jobs after work and on weekends to pick up some extra money. He liked that idea. I said I would write my blog about it tonight. He said to give it a try.
My friend Sally suggested I take on the business end of the handyman business so Luigi wouldn't have to. He would just handle the service calls. This seems like a good arrangement and I could make some extra money too.
Luigi is smart and a hard worker. He's polite, honest, and reliable. He remodeled my half-bath a few months ago. He took out the old toilet and sink and installed new vinyl flooring, a new toilet, and reinstalled the sink and vanity.
He also patched some damaged vinyl in my other bathroom. He cut out the torn vinyl, sanded the subfloor, patched any holes with wood filler, cut new vinyl to size, glued it down, and matched the seams as closely as possible. It doesn't match the original flooring because I didn't have any of the original pattern left, but it is otherwise a perfect job.
We don't have any formal business arrangement yet. I have a DBA for "My Training Dept." which is a training business that I don't do anymore but I bill my blogs under that name. I would probably create a new business entity if I go into the handyman business with Luigi.
This blog is a trial balloon to see if there is any interest. Luigi is bi-lingual, English/Spanish. He's Puerto Rican, so he's an American citizen. He would be available for handyman jobs from 3:30 pm to 7 pm on weekdays and all day on Weekends. I'm considering billing $50/hr. not including drive time for jobs in Dublin, San Ramon, or Danville.
Does anyone have any suggestions (and no trollisms please)? I know we'd need insurance. Luigi has his own tools. I'd have to publish a DBA, but I wouldn't bother incorporating for such a small operation.
