Hey man good video. Anyone who says they haven't made a mistake, either they've never done any work or they're just lying. We've all done it, that's how we learn & get better.

Honest Lee, regarding your first story: If your customer is a problem before the job they will be a problem during & after the job. Sometimes you gotta walk and let someone else do it.

The best thing to learn as a handyman are the clients to avoid

Your positive attitude of "I will figure this out" when you make mistake will serve you well. 👍

Knowing which jobs to refuse is just as important as which jobs to take on; many years ago a client wanted me to cut his kitchen cabinets, I can't remember why but I refuse the job because I am not a cabinet builder, I know that it can be done, but I wasn't sure how it wouldve turned out, so I suggested that he called a cabinet builder.

I always get the money for materials up front and half for labor when i start. Then the remaining balance as soon as i am done. But alot of people now just pay me in full upfront. Never let some one pay u after or days after like this guy..

5 steps you should take when you make a mistake : 1admit it. 2do whatever it takes to mitigate the effects. 3apologize for it. Sincerely! 4learn from it 5move on from it. It is now no longer a mistake, it's experience.

lee, as a residential, commercial, industrial electrician, i found out that i perform precision guess work based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge. "mistakes are tuition for success" !mic drop!

I was working in a five story condo in downtown Seattle on the top floor, removing car decking to remodel a bathroom. I knew there were sprinklers attached to the floor so I was being careful and set my saw to the perfect depth. Most of the floor came up without event, but I was working too fast and not being as careful as I should have been. I was using my Burke bar to pry up flooring when I heard a "BOOOOM!!" Water shot out like a cannon, the fire alarm went off, the building was evacuated and here I am trying my best to catch water in a five gallon bucket to no avail. My co-worker tried to find a water shut-off but it was locked and the guy with the key was not in. The fire department came and took their sweet time but finally got the water shut off. Every apartment below is was flooded and uninhabitable. The parking garage looked like they installed a waterfall. I went out side, literally completely wet, while 100 people were standing around gossiping about what happened and who did it. There were 5 fire trucks blocking off a major street. One of the firemen looked at me and said "I'd hate to be you right now!". I did.

I started my Handyman business (Castle Handyman Services) in 2013 and I can definitely relate to some of your learning experiences. I have no formal experience but did gain a mentor like you did and call him often. I also utilize videos as training tutorials. Overall I respect your honesty and feel that humility is important in our line of work. We take risks, lose money but gain much more in the end. Keep up the hard work.

Good videos, love your energy. First time I see termite damage I refer the customer for termite treatment. You open a can of worms when you start chasing the damaged wood for replacement. Use a sea sponge to blot the wet mud, wait for it to haze over, knock down with a mud knife. A wad of paper towel works in a pinch. When I quote paint jobs I explain that it may not match and that anything beyond what I have touched/repaired is extra.

The most problematic jobs i've ever done always start with the question ''can you just....'' ?

LOVE your channel! these videos definitely are assisting me in developing my own Handyman business!!! Keep up the great work!

Hey man, thanks for sharing. You’re definitely right about everyone makes mistakes. It’s all about learning from them and making sure that it doesn’t happen again in the future.

#1 Lesson your goodwill stops when a person knowingly doesn't reciprocate it or even tries to take advantage of it

I believe that's why some people hire handy men, they think that we are easy push-overs; if they hire a big shot company they can't do that and they have to pay for every individual screw or nail that goes into the job. PEOPLE LIKE THAT SHOULD BUY THE TOOLS AND DO THEMSELVES I run into people who try to supervise me and tell me how to do the job, and a number of times I pack my tools and left, even if they owed me money, because if you let people think that they always hold all the power, then they will do it to ya evey time.

Thanks you so much for sharing. Makes me not feel so much like a hack job handyman myself. I’m new and learning with each job. I jacked up some curtain rods of all things and I snapped off a bolt in a ceiling fan bracket. Then truck broke down so I was grounded for a few days. Either way pushing forward!

great vid bro.. absolutely right no job ever go perfectly as planned. the art of our craft is how we handle adversity

Over the years 30 plus years in home building/remodeling business and 22 years in the handyman business I have seen and done it all customers can be terrible but are usually few and far between. I developed life long customers that I did/do every handyman jobs for.

Oh wow, this isn't some guy bashing someone someone else's work like normal. Thanks for the genuine video.

My worst job is when i drilled a hole into a sprinkler system water line in a 2nd story apartment and it busted. Thankfully the water shot straight out a balcony door and into the street 50 ft out.

Lmao fun stories, definitely when you don’t have enough experience a simple work can turn in a nightmare. I have bunch of stories and like you I learn a lot. Today I do handyman jobs, more confident and professional. Nice video 👍🏼

Great stuff! I learned a long time ago, when replacing floor, wall, (underpinning!), always bid the structural underneath! The sad truth I have found out is if they are in a house trailer, they can't really afford to have the work done anyway. Been there, done that!

Worst job: someone wants it cheap and fast and then complains that the quality isn't perfect and wants it redone (free)

One of my worst was an exterior door replacement. Went and got the door, came to customers house and removed existing door( trim, storm door, jamb,etc. After spending an hour or so doing that, I get ready to put the new pre hung door into the opening only to realize it was roughly 6 inches taller than the opening. Unbeknownst to me, there is such a thing as a 75 inch mobile home door. So then I had to redo everything I had just taken out and put the old door back. Ended up only being able to charge $60 for fixing the door latch. Won't make that mistake again!

Good video man. Nice to hear your experience out in the field. I've been a general building contractor for 25+ years and just started doing handyman jobs from home advisor leads. I'm making more money and having more fun than I ever did as a full blown construction company. I do have a lot of hands on experience in almost everything which does help. The learning curve is not for the faint of heart and quite frankly can lead to disaster if you screw up. Mine were always $1k and higher. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for your honesty... not easy to own up to mistakes...

Very good vid! I’ve learned a lot by realizing half way through a job that I underbid big time. Working in the Fl sun just makes me learn faster!

learned really quick, some customers never are happy, then learned flipping houses and building models and having no customers to deal with is way better and more profitable.

I was working all alone most of the day. It's a very end. I broke a marble countertop right in front of the homeowner. 😬.. luckily I spent pretty good money on some epoxy that actually works. A lot of research a lot of clamps a lot of time for drying.. I learned some stuff about marble

Good video and presentation. Thanks..

I have done three skirting jobs on mobile home. I also found termite damage. I got some chemical and treated before I installed the skirting.

I fix appliances. 1st job I was solo on I shocked myself on a live wire and cut my wrist on sheet metal when I jerked it back. 20 stitches.

Great stories. My worst handyman mistake: shooting a deck, wind picked up, cloud of sealant, $300 detail cleaning job for the neighbor’s car.

I was on your live broadcast Wednesday I believe and you had mentioned usuing nextdoor as a word of mouth business and I did it and with in a few hours my phone started ringing like crazy THANK YOU FOR THAT ADVICE I just got 5 customers with your advice!! Again thank you

Very good video I admire your confidence and you did not allow the things you went through to discourage you. You kept going and didn’t quit. I think that is amazing by itself.

Can you link or do a video on #2 matching texture, thanks man

Nice video. The real deal with business learning curves

Great videos and info!! I’m starting up my handyman business and one, if not the only job I will not do is paint. I’m just not good at it. There are plenty of professional painters out there. The chance of a Customer not liking my work and have me redo it, or worse hold payment is not worth it.

Welcome to the capitolism young skywalker. May the farce be with you. I love watching young folks makeing mistakes. It reminds me of my youth

Hi Allen, I'm curious, do you have to be a licensed electrician/plumber to do the jobs you do? I know you're in CA but I'm just curious. I live in Chicago and have plenty of experience replacing fixtures, faucets, disposals, etc, but I have to be licensed to perform these services.

after forty years of drywall texture I have jobs that won't come out right, don't beat yourself up

HONEST LEE! HEY THANK YOU FOR SHARING :) I BEEN A HANDYMAN FOR OVER 35 YEARS AND YOUR CLOSING STATEMENT WAS THE BEST PART FOR THE NEW HANDYMAN, " IS ABOUT HOW YOU HANDLE THE MISTAKES, OR HOW YOU PUT OUT THE FIRES! YEAH! MY SYSTEM IS, SLOWDOWN BECAUSE I'M IN A HURRY!

Great Video! From Handyman to other handyman.

Thanks to technology, i always Look up Videos on any Project b4 i start the project.

Good pricing advise, contract price quotes always seem to work out better for me, too.

Great stuff!

Thats funny. I just verbally quoted a guy to replace some T11 siding yesterday. This just helped me the terms and conditions i need to add. E.g. This estimate does not account for termite and/or structural damage found behind existing paneling.

Good video, thanks for sharing

I don't think I would quote a partial paint job across an architectural run

I hate going to replace rotten subfloor and then finding/replacing part of the band around the house, floor joist, wall studs etc. That have rotten out. I currently ran into this again in a mobile home im working in. However any work in a mobile/trailer/camper are my least favorite to work in seeing how nothing is ever the same from trailer to trailer or stud to stud, joist to joist

great video honesty I like your video brother.

I screen my calls, often times Ill look up their property on Zillow while im talking to them. As soon as I find out its a mobile or manufactured home I simply tell the potential customer that I don’t work on mobile homes that it is a specialized trade. 2 things I’ve learned over the years, 90% of mobile home owners cant afford me and are looking for the cheapest guy and 2, every time I’ve taken one if these jobs on Ive regretted it. Stay away from trailers!!!

Life is a learning experience,...everyday. We all have made mistakes, or came across surprises. It all depends what we do and learn from our experiences, good or bad. Carry On!

Home owners watch too much DIY network thinking it can be done in one hour... Lol. (Tile installer)

Sometimes you learn the hard way, but that don’t matter much, what masters is that you learned something

Its a real bad job when.... the customer is arguing with you and adds more than the contracted amount on and then withholds the payment.... I have had two jobs just that way and it makes recovering from those jobs so much harder.

Hey Allen, is there certain insurance you have to carry for handyman work in California?

Good tips .

It's a great video for those that are thinking of starting or just thinking of getting in The handyman business.... As a handyman 25 years experience.. I can say without a doubt I am straight honest and sometimes bluntly when I give an estimate.. I will probe and even remove with the permission of the owner... I don't like to play around with touch ups or fix little small things when it comes to business I'll tear it down and give them a clean estimate which is the correct way approaching any estimate... If there's something I don't know I would not approach it...

Loved the vid 👍👍👍

Brah I just started out doing handyman work and I screwed up a job today. Was installing a small under sink instant water heater and over tightened the threading and the part of the heater where it threads into is some kind of pop metal and it cracked. The dude said he paid like 180 for it

Wow you learned the hard way LOL....All been there at sometime

Your first story I had a very similar experience with my customer only I had done the job correctly, he didn't live in the house but I found out by a neighbor that the house was in for closure, had to litteraly search for him finally tracking him down to his office in another town 20 miles away then he tells me the house has been sold, and told me I did a horrible job and he wasn't going to pay me, luckily my cousin is an attorney who was working at the time for the D.A who sent him a letter of intent to bring him to court if he didn't pay me within the month, I went to see him in his office the following day and got my money, but you can get into some situations when you work for the public

Lee, I'm working on a loft in a pole barn.

Everyone wants something for nothing. I had a tile job that i ended up doing trim just so they would pay me even though I showed them i only bid the tile. Long story short I got paid but it was like pulling teeth.

Haha. Because of your #1 alone, I now know why you don't like painting jobs. That situation even made me feel awkward.

My biggest nightmare is drilling into drywall and hitting a pipe, or even electrical. When I first stared my handyman business I was replacing some siding, sooooo anyway, I finished the area with the new t 111 and the lady comes out of the house and says her receptacles aren't working. I nailed into a wire.... so I had ke locate which nail it was by using a multi meter and touching every nail that I thought was he problem. I eventually found it, and then had to pull off the siding and do the repair. It sucked. So now I use nail plates on every stud that has electrical. It's what electricians put on before the drywallers put up the drywall.

My first and only so far was with this Chinese client. He had bought a building in town to set up a French school for Chinese students (people he was "importing" to the country to learn French, as well as housing), on that job I needed to build a 4 meter high by 8 meter long wall with plaster (Sheetrock), build a Wine rack (5 identical ones actually) and install new lighting rails then repaint everything. It was a nice 5000€ job. His wife came in every day, and of course adding this and that, changing stuff constantly, etc ... I did a couple freebies then asked for more money because I was redoing work that he accepted but she wanted redone / moved. This should have been my first Red Flag. He then said that I did a great job, and that he had an apartment to redo (one where his Chinese students lived while in France). I accepted, was a good 3000€ for just putting down new flooring boards and repainting everything. His wife came along and I ended up installing a new kitchen and redoing the entire bathroom, all this while the place was still lived in !! I had the cops called on me every day for making noise (apartments above and below were bothered by it), despite respecting the hours allowed by the law (no noise before 8 am and past 10 pm). Charged an extra 1500 for the two extras, he was ok but his wife bitched trying to haggle the price down to basically me doing it for free. Just refused every new offer she made, then he just handed me the money behind her back. Second Red Flag which I ignored !!! Then about a month later, he called me again to repaint a couple pieces of furniture, build his new furniture that he received from IKEA, mow the lawn in his garden and prune the trees. This time I had her on my back all day every day, nagging constantly ... he asked me to also repaint the railing and his front door which I accepted to do, as it was amounting to some nice money. But I had her on my back from the moment I arrived to the moment I left. It was the last time I accepted to work for him. I even refused an offer for 10.000€ to redo and repaint a couple houses he was going to rent out to more Chinese people ... So yeah, my first and last (up until now) bad job / client.

how much a square ft of trim prime and painted is a fair price to charge?

good stories...in my state any job over 1k dollars must have a written contract..anything under that you can do a handshake deal.. i learned my lesson even if it is a 100 dollar job i do a contract.. we have all had the " while you are here can you " and then it turns into a mess and you lose money.

What estimate app do you prefer?

Seems like you should give two bids....one for a perfect match and one to "just get it fixed". But consider this: I worked with a reputable remodeler who told me he used to cut corners to save people money....then one day he was sitting in a café and overheard someone talking about how he covers over dry rot and they had to go back and redo the mess he made. A roofing company I worked for stopped searching for leaks on roofs that were "leaking somewhere around there" and instead put a bid on that whole section of roof.

How did you stay under 500 on the trailer job if you replaced wood and did painting???

Is there foil on both sides of the insulation on your garage door? If not, I'm afraid that you installed it backwards. The foil should face the outside to repel the heat then the styrofoam insulates the heat from coming inside the garage. 😊

I was a texture man for 40 years, sometimes they go bad. fixable but sometimes yuk

what are the savings on re-keying a house vs just putting new locks? In a residential scenario its quicker, and cheaper to just put new locks, At least here in Pierce County, WA that is.

Heating and Air trade prices seem to be consistently expensive to me; whether it's a repair or total replacement.

Wow that lady was a Bxxxx! I get the majority of my paint matches at Kelly Moore. They aren't like Home Depot or Lowes. They match by eye and not a computer, they are real paint experts. The kelly moore in sac that I've used takes a day to get the match back they are a busy store. I'm in folsom so I usually go to the one by me. Anyway KM is the best I've used for paint match. They have never been off for my jobs.

Story one, as another mentioned, a customer who's a problem at the start will be a bigger problem at the end. I would have ripped the new siding off and told her to keep her money before I painted the rest of the siding that wasn't in the initial agreement. I can be spiteful. Probably not the best business practice, but it is what it is

If I don’t want to do a specific job or work for a specific person I charge them three times more, that way I’m not saying no and they have every right to turn me down, but if they accept the bid it makes it less of a headache for me

I know you didn't cause the termite infestation, but you should have noticed that before offering an estimate. People HATE unexpected additional expenses, you probably do too. A phone call "estimate" is nothing more than a guess. Don't hold yourself to what you say over the phone, just to what you get in writing. You never know how downplayed a problem is umless you see it yourself.

Your stories sound familiar for most beginners... live and learn.

thee BEST lessons are learned from failure... stepping into the unknow is the only way to grow!

I've been a Handyman for many years and let me tell something. You gotta size up the people and the way I do it is I listen very carefully to the way they are talking to me, especially the first call, the voice on the phone, I listen to the tone in which they are talking to me. Any kind of arrogance and I turn 'em down, tell them sorry, too busy and to call my competitor. The clueless ones will be stuck on son of a bitch jobs while you're fielding the gravy. What you described in the encounter with the sister, watching your every move, following you around, didn't trust, bad vibes in general, that would've been a walk for me. And I walk away from 80-90% of all jobs, don't even give 'em an estimate. Another one you gotta watch out for is end of month move outs where the landlord wants estimates for all this "work that needs to be done" but they've already SPENT the deposit so they wanna SCREW THE TENANT for as much as they can, you get what I'm sayin?! Another is commercial retail that is managed by some third party, notorious for not paying and the retail chick you're dealing with in the store doesn't have a clue about what you did or which light you fixed so another one goes out and she says you didn't do the job, total waste of time.

I don't do texture. Fill the holes plaster, sand, prime, done.

I am plumber how can participate your team

Ha Ha, yep. We've all been there. Funniest one that happened to me was I did a regrouting job for a customer who had big ideas about efficiency. I regrouted the whole area around the pool and the back of the house plus a long pathway at the front. I had finnished a whole section and started grouting another large piece. He wanted me to leave that at 3.30pm and paint his stamped concrete driveway. So I did first-clean on the tiles and then started painting the driveway. Well of course it took way longer than it should as the stampings were much deeper than normal and I really had to work the roller hard to get coverage. In the meantime the grout is going off and I ran out of daylight so I couldnt get back to it that day. You can see where this is going. The next day was really hot and as I wanted to have a lot more done than I had already I worked in the shade and re-grouted another largish portion. I then started first clean on that, (so I would finish that and get back to the harder stuff), and it started raining, (It hadn't rained in months), and I couldn't clean up the water fast enough and all the grout got really wet and ran everywhere. The next day the customer had to go to the dentist and then the day after I had to go to the hospital for an eye stabbing. (Diabetic thing.) By the time I got back to that bad section the grout was as hard as could be. I ended up having to SCRUB every tile clean. I used vinegar on the tougher bits and it helped a lot. I wasted about 3 extra days doing the job and ended up working for a miniscule amount. I didn't walk, even though I felt like it. I sucked it up and finished it. It was MY fault for letting the customer get his way on changing what I was doing. In the future I will be much firmer about that. ps I re-grouted the front section last and it was all done and cleaned properly in a few hours. I think the owner got the message as well.

Great content, I have a few similar stories LOl! Your lighting is amazing what setup are you using?

What is the Facebook page mentioned here?

How did I know The first one had to be a mobile home? Living in a Mobile home park since 1986, my first one was a 1959 Stearns made in La Habra, CA. Bought a 2006 Loft Model : my neighbor/ friend bought the old one for a rental. Retired from the Fire department after 20 years but always have done "Handyman work" here in the park. My friend also owns a 1954 Spartan: a toilet floor replacement turned into a $4500 job . And as I only charge him $20 an hour, you can imagine the work that I put into it to make it "livable" again. Him and I have symbiotic relationship....lol..I work at my own pace , charge him way below the going rate , and he gets really good work . I can't tell you how many jobs I have turned down , how many Mobile Home Horror stories I have heard ....... old Mobile homes are the shits and really require thinking out of the box, they were never meant to be lived in for 50 years or more !!!

In reference to your first story, I have two words for you - “Mechanics Lien.”

Hey bro I just went to make my business card for handyman and you just scare me, 😌🤣

Trailers are skirted with vinyl skirting..if done right

From what you said, you lacked experience, but the only way to gain experience is to actually do it, I was lucky and worked for a friend maintained his 12 rental properties, he paid cheap and I didn’t have any skills, so I didn’t have any liability if I broke something

I used to rent out mobile homes which were like ATM's and I refused to replace the skirting because it was such a bitch. You have to use a plum line and be super precise. I paid one of the residents in the park ca$h to do it and he was thrilled.

You should watch videos, and figure things out before you arrive at the customer's location.

Have you ever used the Laco 950 texture pump before? Its invaluable

Aaahhhhhhhhh! NEVER WORK ON MOBILE HOMES. They wont stop with what one needs to do! David

Anything involving the attic in the summer is the worst.