A Handyman With Extensive Experience

From an early age I often helped my father with his construction work, learning basic trade skills and procedures. In 1986, I began my career working with several residential building companies and by late 1989, at the age of 23, I had worked my way up from a general laborer to a Journeyman level carpenter and obtained my General Building Contractor license. I gathered a crew together and started a construction business specializing in the rough framing and finish carpentry aspects of residential remodeling and room additions.

However, though I had competent trade skills at that young age, I lacked business experience and was struggling to make the business profitable. Though I never failed to deliver on a contract, eventually I dissolved that business and went back to hiring myself out to other GCs, this time as an independent lead carpenter, running crews and working hands-on, doing what I loved to do best and leaving the administrative headaches for the GC to deal with.

Then in 2002, I was hired by the owner of three historic apartment buildings. There were 120 units in total, and my job was to refurbish any vacant apartments and perform repairs and maintenance on the occupied units.

I operated in that capacity until 2006, when I was hired as a Job Site Production Manager for a luxury home remodeling company. In this capacity my responsibilities were interpreting blueprints, assisting and coordinating subcontractors, directing crew work-flow, estimating and generating building material orders, and scheduling deliveries, as well as troubleshooting and consulting back and forth between tradesmen, architects, engineers, homeowners and city building officials.

Then came the Great Recession. The company I was working with went bankrupt. Big problem! Solution: High-End Handyman Service! With the help of modern technology, I would structure my business to optimize the amount of time I spend doing what I enjoy the most – hands-on work at the job site – and design it to be recession-proof by focusing on a niche market delivering a professional, high quality home improvement and repair service to discerning clients, both residential and commercial. Operating as a small one-person business and limiting my services to ‘small projects only’ allows me to keep my overhead expenses very low and streamline my services for optimal efficiency,  increasing my availability to a greater number of clients. This, in turn, increases the depth and diversification of my client base, making my business and career significantly more resilient in an economic downturn.

And so, High-End Handyman Service was born: a one-man operation with the #1 goal of providing the highest level of handyman service to discerning clients with small projects that need to get done and done well.

I’m very excited to be offering my high-end service to the greater Spokane / Coeur d’Alene area market. Being trusted, respected and valued by others for my skill, competence and professionalism at work is not only rewarding for me, it’s my profession and livelihood. Your satisfaction is my livelihood. That’s the spirit of service you get when you choose me for your small handyman projects.

~ Tim Houlihan – Founding Owner/Operator