Want To Save On Home Repairs? Hire A Handyman!

A handyman is a skilled worker who can handle a variety of projects. He or she may have received formal education and training or may simply be self-taught. He or she may also be a specialist that has knowledge on other skills. For example, a handyman may be a licensed electrician that has a hobby of woodworking so he also knows about carpentry.

Handymen are not regulated so their competency for similar skills may be different. For example, one handyman may be better than another in terms of plumbing, unlike licensed plumbers who have almost similar capabilities. Some handymen will have a wider skill set than others that could involve plumbing, electrical expertise, carpentry, tiling or painting.

What a Handyman Can and Cannot Do

If the project requires a permit or has to be done according to code or standard, you will need a licensed professional. Not all handymen are licensed on a specific field so you will have to choose contractors. It is also a good idea to give emergency jobs like broken electrical wiring to specialists.

Based on a CostFigure article, the service cost of a handyman is charged at an hourly rate so you will possibly spend more for a job that requires a long time to finish or needs multiple workers than if you opted for a contractor.  For example, a South Jersey handyman price might vary greatly from a Philadelphia handyman price.  One handyman may have better tools than the average household but if the job requires heavy-duty equipment, then it is a good idea to hire contractors.

That said, Bright Star Handyman Service can handle a variety of minor jobs that do not require a lot of manpower or complex equipment. These can involve:

• plumbing - installing new pipes or repairing leaky faucets

• caulking - applying fresh caulk to windows, doors, and siding

• repairing decks and porches - replacing broken boards or applying sealant

• painting - painting or touching-up small sections

• gutter maintenance - cleaning gutters and installing guards

• home exterior repairs - replacing sidings or shingles

• extra jobs - replacing light fixtures and doorknobs

How Can You Save Money with a Handyman

For multiple simple jobs that require different skills, especially in South Jersey or Philadelphia, Bright Star handyman service will cost less than hiring multiple specialists. For example, replacing a leaky pipe and a broken light switch as well as painting a section of wall can be done cheaper and within the same day by a handyman than when you hire a plumber, an electrician, and a painter. Aside from this, the rate of a handyman is also lower because his overhead costs are a fraction of that of a large company.

Unlike when dealing with a contractor, you will have to supply the materials for a handyman (e.g. paint, pipes), but the effort of buying the materials yourself means that you get the retail value. You can also choose the manufacturer, material and finish, or warranty agreements.

Contractors usually provide the materials for a project and while this saves effort on your part, the price will be a little higher because they put a markup on the materials. You will also be limited to the products that they have in stock.

Sometimes you will have the skills to finish a DIY but you do not have the necessary equipment such as portable power tools.  If you Google “handyman near me” you do not even have to buy tools or devote time and effort, just find your best options and compare pricing. Aside from tools, the experience of a handyman will allow him to do a better job than a DIY, such that there are no wrong installations that can cause potential damage and further costs.

Another aspect of a DIY is the risk of potential injury, especially for elderly clients such as when climbing ladders to clean gutters or replace shingles. A handyman will be comfortable with these jobs and will be safer so potential injuries are minimized. In this case, additional cost due to injury is prevented.

Tasks that are part of the routine maintenance of a house can add up and if the homeowner cannot keep up, further damage may ensure which will cost more to repair. Hiring a handyman will allow you to finish multiple repair work in a single day. Examples of these are loose siding or shingles and peeling paint. These are minor issues and may simply be unsightly but if not addressed, the material underneath may become damaged and will cost more to repair.

Finally, there are unique projects that will cost very high if a professional will take the job. For example, laying holiday lights on a tree and ensuring that it is grounded and safe to operate can be difficult especially for elderly people. Hiring a Bright Star handyman will not be a waste because he can fix the plumbing in the sink after laying the lights. Hiring a licensed electrician will simply be an overkill.

To make the most of hiring a handyman, you should try to create a list of repairs that need to be completed in a single visit.  Also note that some states like California require a license from the State Contractors License Board if the handyman has to work on a bigger job so you have to check if the handyman you are hiring has a license.

5 Ways to Update Your Kitchen

If you've been thinking about selling your home and moving into something "newer", take into consideration the top things that increase your home's value.  A few studies have shown that kitchen and bathroom remodels are one of the most effective ways to get a return on your home investment.  Many homeowners can see up to 92% return on their initial kitchen investment, followed by 80% return on external needs like roof and window replacement.  In hot housing markets, remodeling bathrooms and kitchens can recoup more than 100% of the initial investment in upgrades.

Here are 5 ways you can update your kitchen:

BEAUTIFY YOUR COUNTERTOPS
If you have an older home, this is the best way to make a huge difference in your kitchen.  Instead of choosing the lowest hanging fruit, laminate, which is nice but hardly increases the value of your kitchen, examine all of your options.  Laminate can look very nice, but is not heat or scratch resistant and will need to be replaced faster than any stone counter.  It is also possible to ruin laminate with certain chemicals that remove the finish.  While you may not be able to afford the highest grade granite, it is resistant to heat, most scratching, and low maintenance.  There are multiple levels of granite (depending on what the granite company supplies) starting with the base level of 1, and sometimes going as high as level 7.  Lower grade granite is still very nice, but as you go up in levels, the uniqueness of the patterns and the thickness of the granite itself will determine the price.  You can definitely find affordable granite countertops.  There are also other options like glass, which is somewhat heat resistant, but can crack more easily than granite.  Additionally, you can find marble, quartz, butcher block, concrete, and others, which all have their pros & cons regarding coloration, hardness, durability, and heat resistance.  One of our consultants can walk you through all of your countertop needs and help you choose the best for your home and budget!
 

CABINET INSTALLATION
Like countertops, cabinets come in a wide range of shapes, sizes, and styles and can be painted just about any color under the sun.  There are three basic types of cabinets, base, wall, and tall.  Base cabinets sit alone the floor, wall cabinets are installed to hover over countertops, and tall cabinets typically reach from the floor to the ceiling, or close.  As for materials, varieties of wood and wood particle board will give you a wide range of price.  There are also plastic-based materials used for cabinets, however like laminate, they are less durable and are not as appealing to the eye, as the quality degrades quicker than wood.  There are also three basic cabinet door options when choosing the right look for your kitchen.  Doors and drawers can have a full-overlay which covers the entire frame of the cabinet edge to edge & door to drawer.  There is also a partial overlay, in which they only cover part of the frame, and then full-inset, where the doors and drawers are built to the line of the frame and do not stick out, but the entire front of the cabinet is flush. 
 

JUST THE KITCHEN SINK
Deep double sinks have been a hot commodity for a while now, and we can see why.  Utilizing the disposal for food scraps on one side, while allowing dishes or washed food to sit in the second side.  While stainless steel sinks have been the most popular, there are a number of varieties you can find in a sink.  If you're looking for a clean, high-white kitchen, maybe a farmhouse fireclay sink would be best!  You can find farmhouse sinks in both single and dual bowl.  The downside is that this sink is white and may show food junk faster than a stainless steel sink.  Copper sinks are another option, but are much more work to keep up.  Copper, although incredibly beautiful, will react negatively with other metals and materials that are left in the sink.  These are probably the most high maintenance of the kitchen sinks, as they can also dent rather easily.  Stone sinks are also an option for those looking to get creative with their sink space.
 

CLEAN TILING
Over time, the grout around your tiles will begin to flake off or stain from use.  If a good cleaning does not do the trick, it may be time to re-grout!  Broken or missing tiles also indicate a good time to have your tile replaced.  While it might not bother you, it is less presentable when trying to convince someone to purchase your home.  In some kitchens, there may be tile in the backsplash, as well as, the floor.  Note that floor tiles are very different than wall tiles, as floor tiles typically offer a "non-slip" texture, whereas wall tiles can be glossy and slick.  Like everything else in your kitchen, there are a number of styles & materials you can choose from like glass, ceramic, limestone (travertine), porcelain, marble, granite, and many other rock composite materials.  Durability, price, and styke will be your top comparisons when choosing tiles.  Porcelain and marble will obviously be more expensive flooring and require more maintenance than a limestone floor tile, but typically have a more beautiful pattern and finish.  Backsplash tiles are most frequently glass, which can come in just about any color and pattern you can imagine.
 

APPLIANCE BUNDLES
Yes, we know that this can sometimes be a scary choice for many, as appliances are not cheap.  But updated appliances are crucial to getting the full value for your kitchen.  It won't matter if you recently installed granite countertops and beautiful new cabinets, if your electric stove from 1970 has 3 out of 4 burners than work and are slightly warped.  Often times when updating appliances, bundles could save you hundreds on your initial investment.  The most recent trend for home appliances have been stainless steel.  They're easy to clean, have clean lines, and match just about any combination of colors and patterns.  This is a huge plus if you cannot fully remodel your kitchen, but want to invest in versatile appliances.  Some opt for the standard metal, white sets, or vintage-looking sets, depending on their budget and style.  Many homebuyers look for energy-efficient models, which even if you're not moving, could save you a pretty penny in the long run.

Home Improvement Loans

Whether you’re looking to buy, sell, or stay in your home, you may be considering a home improvement project. And while renovations can help increase the equity of your home, and add a personal touch, they can be costly.

Home equity loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOC) may tap into your home’s equity to fund improvement projects. And not all improvements will create the highest possible return on investment.

Personal loans offer a possible alternative to home equity financing. Home improvement loans can make it easy to increase your home’s value without tapping into equity.

Home improvement loans are useful for financing:

• Kitchen remodels

• Bathroom remodels

• New deck/patio/porch

• New exteriors

• Green homes

• Home repairs

KEEP READING

Water Damage: Seen & Unseen

Water Damage?  Dry Rot?  Drywall damage?

If you’ve had any sort of flooding or water leak, it’s important to keep an eye on your drywall for any areas that might be sagging, collapsing, wrinkling, bulging, or falling.  Drywall makes up a large majority of the walls and ceilings in your home, unless your home was built before the 1950’s, then it most likely has plaster instead.  Drywall is fairly inexpensive to replace comparatively, and can even look like it with the application of plaster over the drywall.  

Wet drywall can compromise the integrity of the wall itself.  When the material gets wet, it swells and can break away from the fasteners, and could be structurally unstable even after drying.  If left unnoticed, the life of the wall or ceiling will be drastically reduced.  While water damage should be pretty obvious, there’s a myriad of issues that a flood or leak can cause BEHIND the drywall.  

Mold Growth

It only takes between 24-48 hours for mold to begin growing in an area that has been exposed to water.  Once the mold begins to grow, the drywall offers the perfect environment for quicker growth to occur.  The material itself holds water, which mold (a fungus) needs to activate new spores, while the external paper of the wall is cellulose-rich and feeds the growing mold.  This growth can be exacerbated even further when insulation inside the wall also retains water.  Different molds will grow on different surfaces, are found in all colors from green to black to pink, and can be toxic in large quantities.  Severe mold growths can cause serious upper respiratory issues and skin irritations for humans and animals alike.  

The best way to combat mold growth is to locate the source of the moisture, remove the affected areas, construct a dehumidification process to remove any leftover water, and replace the damaged materials.  Many services offer “mold treatment” sprays and similar processes, but the only guarantee is to fully remove the material and dry everything out.  Mold will not survive without moisture.  

Dry Rot

Another type of fungal mold growth is Dry Rot.  This is a mold that directly affects the wood in your home and is also known as “brown rot.”  This happens most frequently when water damage has not been addressed and wood stays wet for an extended period of time.  Other times, dry rot can be caused by improperly dried and cured wood used in construction or decorating.  Like drywall, wood provides an excellent food source for the mold.  As long as water, oxygen, food (wood), and warm temperatures are available, the fungus will continue to grow.  You know you have dry rot when the wood begins to become frail, flakes into chunks, develops a cotton-like or even a flat yellow growth on top.  If left untreated, the wood will practically disintegrate.

To treat dry rot, there are several options.  Some will fill the affected wood with epoxy to seal the rot into the wood and reinforce the strength of the wood.  The best option to eliminate mold presence is to remove the rotted pieces, thoroughly dry out the area and fix leaks, treat the remaining healthy wood with a copper compound, and replace with new wood.  To prevent future issues, check for leaks in siding, roofing, plumbing, ventilation, and anything else that may allow unwanted moisture in your home.

50 Home Updates for 2018

You keep saying you’re going to retile the bathroom, or switch out the cabinets in the kitchen, or paint the living room once and for all. You magically need to add a closet where there isn’t one; the bedroom lacks light. But even smaller adjustment—new blinds, an upgraded showerhead, a rug—can make a home much more reflective of its inhabitants. Well, now's the time. Call it a New Year’s resolution or a pledge for self-care, but put down the phone (after you read this, of course), head to the hardware store, and hop to it. Wallpaper a room that badly needs personality or hack an affordable marble floor—your home deserves a little more this year. Here are 50 of our favorite ways to be clever in 2018.

1. Hard-wire for less. The simplest light socket is also one of the most attractive, especially if you put one of these bulbs in it.

2. Or just clamp a light wherever you need it. With this spotlight that’s not just for photo sets anymore.

3. Build out a minibar on a bookshelf, your side table, tucked in a cabinet, and more.

4. Or skip the bar cart entirely and make space on a shelf (even mount one) for your favorite bottles.

5. Install marble floors. They might sound like a luxury, but if you search around, you might find enough scraps to hack one on the cheap-ish.

6. Beadboard creatively. This classic material lends all kinds of cottage vibes to interiors, but panel it in a new way and it will look as novel as can be.

7. Swap in minimal baseboards. Here are six modern ways to modernize crown molding and baseboards, from the ultra low-key to the stylish statement.

8. Cork your floors. Cork…as flooring? Yes, you should consider it as an affordable alternative to hardwood that’s comfy to walk on, absorbs sound, and more good things.

9. Hack an IKEA kitchen. This couple’s IKEA kitchen, done on the cheap, will teach you all the tricks to customize your own.

10. Redo the bathroom—but don't move the pipes. 
Here’s the biggest way to drastically reduce your bathroom renovation costs.

CONTINUE READING....

Pet Damage?

As any pet owner would agree, there are inconveniences & necessary repairs that come with loving our fur children so much.  Their early years may be the cutest, but they can often be the most destructive, even on an prepared home.  New teeth can put moldings, cabinets, stairs, doors, door frames, window sills, and any other wood obstruction in danger of becoming the next favorite chew toy.  While there are plenty of preventative options to persuade pets to not chew, like bitter flavored deterrent spray, our pets love to surprise us with their creativity!  

Aside from the chewing stage(s), pet nails are also an enemy to your drywall, cabinets, doors, and flooring.  Whether your cat chose a door as its clawing post, or the dogs chase the kids through the house, Bright Star can help with both!  Flooring is the most commonly repaired or replaced item in homes with pets, whether carpet, linoleum, vinyl, wood, or tile floors.  Carpet stains quickly and is harder to keep clean, while the rest of the material options can be scratched.  Some of your flooring options are better than others with pets, but repetitious movement over a long period of time will begin to scuff the floors, no matter the material. 

Did you know that we also install pet doors?  We're happy to discuss some options with you to ease the bathroom scheduling with your pet!

Whether you're looking to spruce up your home with some painting, Spring cleaning, or looking to sell, we're here to help!

Bright Star Handyman Service is happy to offer you a Free Pet Damage estimate to begin restoring the house back to unchewed corners & beautiful floors.

Which Home Improvements Pay Off?

Basic maintenance, such as the roof and exterior painting, are frequently more important than an awesome kitchen.

In the first year my husband and I lived in our house, we spent almost $20,000 on home improvements. When we set that money aside at the beginning of the year, we dreamed about granite counters and steam showers; what we ended up with was a new furnace, new gutters, a drainage system to keep the basement dry, new landscaping and lots of new paint. At the end of that year as I wiped down my tacky Formica countertops and bathed in my 1950s seafoam green tub, I wondered if we had spent that money wisely. If we had put our house up for sale, would potential buyers have really cared about the dry basement and reliable furnace?

After talking to a slew of realtors, contractors and architects, the consensus was yes. "If the roof is leaking, buyers won't get beyond that," says Ron Phipps with Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I. "I don't care how awesome the kitchen is."

According to Remodeling Magazine (http://www.remodeling.hw.net/) you're less likely to recoup your investment in a major kitchen or bathroom remodel than you are to get back what you spend on basic home maintenance such as new siding. Siding replacement recouped 92.8 percent of its cost, according to the study. The only home improvement likely to return more at resale was a minor (roughly $15,000) kitchen remodel, which returned 92.9 percent. Replacing roofs and windows were also high on the list, returning 80 percent or more at resale.

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Prepare Your Home For the Holidays with These Five Tips

As much as the holidays bring friends and family together, a cheerful time of can often turn stressful when planning for the holidays. Consider these easy DIY tips so your home is ready for the winter holidays. 

1. Refresh Your Guest Bedroom

There's no better way to start fresh than new bedding. Quick updates, even a new throw pillow, can quickly transform a space and make it perfect for your guests. 

2. Reimagine Your Entryway

A new rug, paint or decorations can quickly transform your entryway space, making it the perfect first impression for your guests.  

3. Decorate Your Bathrooms

Consider updating your bathroom faucet or adding some holiday-themed decor to the bathroom space. Small fixtures and hardware are easy to switch out and give a fresh new look to your home.

4. Prepare Meals & Freeze Them For Later

There's nothing wrong with cooking ahead of the holidays so that you have some extra family and friend time when the winter holidays come around. Consider cooking sides so that you have less to do when hosting guests. 

Save some time this holiday season with Bright Star Handyman. When it comes to bigger updates around the house, we are here to help. Bright Star Handyman will do everything from painting and refinishing cabinets to woodwork, carpentry and installing new backsplash. Bright Star has the expertise to get the job done quickly and efficiently so that you have more family time! Happy holidays! 

Thank you, Philadelphia & South Jersey!

From all of us at Bright Star Handyman Service, thank you for your continued business! We are proud to service the Philadelphia and South Jersey regions with everything from paint to carpentry. Wishing all of our clients a very happy Thanksgiving. 

Before & After Cornice & Windows!

Before and after of the cornice and windows. Bright Star Handyman scraped all the loose paint off the cornice and painted it using Benjamin Moore HC-169. For the windows, Bright Star removed the existing capping that was old and outdating then sealed any gaps to help with the homes energy efficiency. Only after everything was properly sealed did we install the new aluminum capping!

Bright Star Handyman services the entire Philadelphia area. Give us a call today! 

Before & After!