the.com/handyman
part plumber, part therapist, part magician who makes your impossible problem disappear by lunch
means A person skilled at a wide range of small repairs, maintenance jobs, and odd tasks around a home or building.
from A plain compound of "handy" plus "man." "Handy" once meant simply "convenient" or "close to hand," then broadened to "skillful with the hands" — and that's the sense that married into this word, a 19th-century English coinage for the fellow who's both nearby and capable. The root "hand" itself is ancient Germanic, carried into Old English unchanged, doing in language exactly what hands do in life: getting hold of things.
- old name
- derived from 14th-century word for skilled hands
- toolbox
- average homeowner kit has 30-plus tools, rarely used
- duct tape
- won't fix everything, but they'll try first
- unlicensed limit
- many regions cap their jobs by dollar value
- side hustle
- top trades earn six figures freelancing
bob vila — hosted home improvement tv show 'home improvement' for 8 seasons starting 1991
mike holmes — canadian contractor hosting 'holmes on homes' since 2001, known for fixing botched renovations