Mobile Homes "How to find a HANDYMAN!"

Mobile home mommy, foreign. So what's up everybody? It's Nicole Briscoe, AKA the mobile home mommy. And I want to talk to you all directly about how to have a winning handyman team. Now I can cry you the blues, I promise you because I've been through it all, baby. I changed my handyman team out more than I changed my underwear. Okay, I am sorry, but it is real. So I'm gonna give you the real life facts of dealing with hand and what to look for. The first thing people always ask me is, well, how do you find them? How do you find good handymen? And the number one thing I'm going to tell you is always find someone that's around what it is you want to do. What do I mean? The way I love to find my handyman is I go to these mobile home parks specifically and I'm driving around looking for people that have what brand new decks built, paying attention to who looks like they had the roof done or the new frame around the door. Like I want to know I'm paying attention in the mobile home park of who had new work done on their house. And typically what I'll do is I pull in the driveway and what do we all do when somebody pull in our driveway? We look out the window, we try to figure out who it is and I'll wave at them and say, hey, can you come here? And they'll crack the front door and I'll just engage in a conversation. Hey, I was admiring your deck, admiring your deck because I just bought a mobile home and I need someone to build a deck. I for me, eight times out of ten it's been oh, my husband has done it, let me go get him or oh, my uncle has done it, he lives here with me. Let me give you his number. It is always for me best to find handymen that are already in the mobile home park. Now the downside of that is let's say the mobile home park or the park owner refers you a handyman and they tell you that he is the maintenance guy for their park and he does their rehabs. Remember that you are going to be a side hustle which is not bad. But his full time job is catering to the mobile home park. So he's going to have to get to you during what, his free time or on the weekends. Is this a project where you can afford to have somebody working on just the weekend? That's stuff you want to ask yourself, right? Another place I love to find handymen is reaching out to the mobile Home supply store and asking them, hey, are you aware of anybody who does flooring or plumbing, electrical? And they don't give you good reach on who you can reach out to to see who can help you with your mobile home. Thumbtack is another good resource to find handyman. I haven't actually used Angie's List, I've heard a few people talk about it. But thumbtack is a good resource. You can go through, see the people and also read the reviews. You gotta read the reviews. Even if you find them on Google, you have to read the reviews. Why? The people are always gonna tell you what's going on. The people will tell you what's going on. What I also like about thumbtacking Google, it has a section for images so you're able to see what type of work that they've done. I don't typically want a contractor working on my mobile home because a contractor is going to charge contractor prices. As previously stated, I like handymen that live in a mobile home park because they already know what the ins and out, what's going to work and what's not going to work when it comes to how to pay them. Let's talk about this y'. All. For example, my last rehab that I did cost me $12,000. Now in a situation like that, that's a big job and it's understandable for the handyman to say, hey, I need some money up front. But you should not under any circumstances be paying people 50% up front. Typically I like to tell people to think about it like this. When you go and start for a new job, normally you have to work in the hole, right? So why would you pay somebody 50% of an incomplete job? Sure about that? So what I'll negotiate is, hey, if they say they want 30%, hey, I don't feel comfortable with paying the 30% but I am willing to give you 10% up front. 10% up front or 15% up front, something to lock it in. But you all, before you give any money, you need to have a contract detailed of everything that they are doing. It is okay if you have to run through that contract two, three times. What I particularly like to do is when I have a handyman that's going to give me a quote and I have them walk with me through the mobile home and we assess every single room, what needs to be done and what they are going to do and perform. And I make sure it is all in writing so there is no confusion or no question. Oh, we didn't say that, oh, we didn't do this because guess what, Guess what. We can always refer to the contract. Refer to the contract. You want to make sure when you're vetting out these handymen that you all have a projected timeline. For instance, my last mobile home, that cost me 12k in rehab. He told me it was going to take him a month. I lied to you all night. He finished it in 10 days. Get you somebody that's going to. How do you say it? Under prom, over promise, and then deliver. Y' all know what I'm trying to say. Find you somebody that's going to tell you one thing and do something else that's going to benefit you. Right? That is somebody you want to keep on the team. You want to have strict deadlines on, hey, when this will be done right? He gave me a month just in case. Rain, bad weather, car breakdown. I didn't even have to include extra time because he told me, I'm going to say 30 days from start to finish due to anything that may happen. Pay attention to. Pay attention to things like that. I like that. Normally I do that on my own. I include in. Let me add in a few more days. He already said, hey, I'm gonna add in this time just in case of X. What I also appreciate about handyman, something you want to look out for is somebody that's trying to save you money. Let the church say amen. And here's what I mean. I was used to going to one liquidation spot. And he told me, you know what he said? I got a guy that can do it cheaper. Come with me to this store. So instead of me buying flooring for $9 a box, I was able to get it from someone else for $6 a box. That's what I like. Someone is trying to save me money. How and when you're vetting these people out, don't take the first person's word. You need to get at least. I would say get at least three quotes. Pay attention to who's giving you a detailed quote and what they're saying, what it is that they can repair. Ask them how many people they have on their team. Although we're investing in mobile homes and they're not as big as traditional housing, you want to make sure that they at least have a few people that can help them with the task at hand, especially when you're doing a full rehab like the one I'm doing. Okay. What stores are they shopping at? Where do they typically get their material from? Do they have any discounts? I Had one guy who had discounts for Lowe's specifically. See what other resources they have. Okay. Also, try to get quotes with material and without material. Would it be cheaper for you to pay for the material on your own, or would it be more affordable for you to include everything inside? Those are some things you want to ask when looking for a handyman and when you're vetting these handymen out, I say it's very important to also pay attention to. When they tell you they're going to meet you at 12, do they arrive at 12 or 12:20? Did they call you and give you a notice? How quick are they answering the phone or being available? In the words of Michael Jackson, he told me he'll be there. You want to make sure your handyman is there. Okay. You want to have someone that over communicates. My handyman, now he'll call me and say, hey, Nicole, we just finished this. And I'm like, thanks for calling me, but you don't have to call me. So now instead of calling me, what does he do? He sends me pictures. Y'. All. Just yesterday we went to the store for the week, right? Because I do not like running back and forth to the store. So I had to communicate and say, hey, we're gonna go to the store one time a week. We can get everything that we need, or we'll buy all the material up front. We just went yesterday and got this wood. And look at me sitting on this beautiful deck that they just installed for me. Like, I'm excited. I'm excited. Why? Because what he told me is, I want to make sure I get the right lumber that's going to pass for the county. He's already pre planning and thinking about the permit process, thinking about building an inspection, coming out to make sure that the framing and everything is particular. Because these right here are called pickets, and they are in this county that I'm in. They are very particular about how many pickets it has to have and how high the steps have to be per step. I didn't know that. I'm not a handyman. I like buying the mobile homes and flipping them. But I also didn't know that it has to be at a certain angle. It can't. I failed before because the angle was too high at the top. It didn't decline enough. You do this long enough, you'll learn. But before I even mention it to him, he mentioned it to me. So these are all things you want to remember. Contracts. How can I find them? Am I getting multiple quotes? Are they providing me with the contract? How are they on purchasing material? Are they showing up on time? Did they do the due diligence? Don't get into a rush to pick a person just because you anxious to start. Hello somebody. If you don't remember nothing else, remember that. I hope this video was helpful for you all. Picking and vetting out handymen. Make sure y' all choose wisely. I hope you all take this information and yeah, let me know in the comments if I missed something or something else you all would like to see. Until next time, under promise and over deliver. I couldn't get it. I can never get it. Mobile home Mommy Sam.