Is Your Handyman Pulling In More than You Are?

It's no surprise that this economy blows chunks! That's right, I said it and it looks like there is no relief in the horizon. Everybody I know got a bailout except for me! The job market is awful and the price of everything has skyrocketed. Real estate on the other hand has taken a nosedive. Do you see where I'm going with this? Who comes out on top in this economy? You guessed it - the multi talented handyman.

Both my husband and I are recent graduates of Kaplan University, he with a degree in corporate paralegal training and mine in software developing and are both well-employed.  But in spite of graduating with online accredited courses, the economy still has us tightening our purse strings. But guess who is walking away with a big chunk of change - the handyman.

With people hanging on to their appliances longer through repairs and staying on in smaller houses for fear that they may sell at a loss, people are looking more and more towards the handyman to make this possible. Fixing that old microwave works out much cheaper than replacing it with a new one. It was unheard of for Americans to fix anything that cost more than $50 in repairs; it is so much smarter to buy a new one with all the bells and whistles that the latest model offers. Not anymore! This economy has most Americans going back to our grandparents’ ways where frugality was the order of the day.


Today, handymen are in great demand considering that they can fix the dishwasher, change out the lighting fixture, swap out the heating element in your rusty hot tub and even change the oil in your jalopy. With this wide skill set, it is no wonder then that the handyman is making a killing in this economy.

Even five years ago, nobody held onto a starter home for more than 3 years, but today the starter home has been reconfigured with the help of the handyman to meet the needs of a larger family. New additions are being put on to starter homes, when just a few years ago the hassle of obtaining an expansion license and not to mention the dust and other inconveniences of construction would have not even been considered too much. But today a good handyman can mean the difference between taking a big hit with appliances and real estate and financial independence. So don't resent your handyman, take him along for the ride and everybody wins!