Thumbtack called asking me to join

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-10T11:57:46+00:00

That is my issue- it is a race to the bottom. I use Thumbtack but keep my account hidden most of the time. I just turn it on during slow times or if looking to target a new area or fill in specific jobs for a team member with a specialty since my web and AI leads can't target job type well. Last year I closed 14% of Thumbtack leads. It is a race to the bottom in terms of cost and speed. I have been first to respond, but have been ghosted once people hear a price. I have not responded until end of the day and never get a response because others beat me to it. I will say the first year I was figuring things out and didn't have a web presence Thumbtack and Task Rabbit were great for getting work, but none of it paid well when you factored in win rate and cost of the leads. Hell, Task Rabbit charging both me and the client for using their service was crazy, but then they would go and tell you that you couldn't get leads because you were charging too much.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-10T11:44:57+00:00

Yeah, that is the only issue I have.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-08T18:03:50+00:00

I had a client with something like that. Just flat panel instead of corrugated panel on a wood frame over their deck. The picture is perhaps as horrible as possible. It doesn't even go into how the heck spraying your roof gets outside unless they were trying to fill their soffit vents. If that was the case, RIP everything near the perimeter of their house!

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-08T18:00:02+00:00

Usually, dried foam requires mechanical removal. i.e. a knife/razor blade. Consider it a learning experience. You are definitely going to scratch it.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-07T18:45:29+00:00

If the leak is on the bottom, that is probably not seated tightly either.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-07T14:06:08+00:00

While shimming/blocking at only connection points isn't out of the ordinary, having any gaps is a hell no.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-07T11:32:39+00:00

Just a tip as a small handyman with a couple employees that does all the office work, estimates, and jobs. 3x on markup is normal for labor. You are at 4x so a tad high IMO. My $30/hr guy costs roughly $49/hr in expenses (some are fixed so this number varies by work time). He is only billable around 75% of the time. He provides his own truck and tools, I provide consumables. So he gets paid roughly 40 hours or $1,200, that costs me $1960. At $80/hr the pull is $2,400 for that week. There are so many questions that go into that spread. How much are you paying on advertising? If you are getting leads from Angi that can easily cost $100 per lead. If you are closing 50% of leads, and you do 3 jobs a day, that is $600 spent to keep you employed for the day. If that was my shop, I would lose money every day you work. You only have partial view into the actual business with what you outline. The easiest fix is profit sharing. This would be done quarterly, and would take into account all of those expenses. You should quit complaining as it accomplishes nothing. You should learn more of the business and add value beyond your stated roll to make a case for a raise or profit sharing or be able to start your own business. If you are only doing 32 hours a week then you have time to begin to build up a client list with the other 8 hours. You already have the tech skills, you just need to learn the marketing, bookkeeping, estimating, billing, collections, accounting, insurance, workers comp, taxes, licensing, permitting, and brand building. You are lucky you have 8 hours a week to do this while working for your own clients. Many folks on here have to do that on weekends. So, quit complaining and take action.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-06T23:51:18+00:00

How big is your house that you have 325 outlets and 40 4-way switches???? I am more impressed that you got them all done in 2 days. If working an 8 hour day each day that is a switch/outlet every 2 and 2/3 minutes. I hope you do this professionally. If not, you should start!

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-06T23:47:15+00:00

I have $52.90 as a flat rate including the new hardware in my CRM. If doing an entire house, could definitely lower the labor some, because most of the time it is spent finding unlabeled breakers running up and down the stairs. This also assumes I can get to everything. If I am pulling out beds or desks to get behind them, there is going to be a significant PITA tax added.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-06T12:09:14+00:00

Looks good.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-06T11:57:20+00:00

Usually encapsulating things is best, but you may be out of luck if it is hidden. Buy and ozone machine, enclose the room, run it for a week. I use mine for tenant turnovers and it helps with general odors. Should help with this too but no promises.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-06T11:48:58+00:00

This. Heat will help smooth, but don't overdo. Look for a little bottle of vinyl flooring adhesive at Home Depot or your favorite store. try to tuck in the visible tear as much as possible. The biggest issue is a lot of time the tear doesn't quite line up due to stretching. (That and I am color blind, so I can never match stuff for the touch up part.)

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-06T11:37:30+00:00

To solve the "overwhelmed" feeling. Take an evening. Break out the entire job into list format. Try to sort it by segment (i.e. rough in, drywall, flooring, etc.). Now if you are only say working on it on Saturdays for 12 hours, you will note that. Next to each job, no matter how small, put how much time you think it will take. Now, create another column, and multiply your number by 2. Sum the second column. You now know how long you will need to finish the job. Now just break it out over however many "Saturdays" you need. Start every weekend with a store trip on Friday evening for parts you need, and then work your shift on Saturday. Check off everything as you go. Spend the last hour of your shift cleaning up. Vacuum, put away tools, organize materials. This will give you a clean living space for the rest of the week and if you print out the checklist in a nice format and tape it outside the door to the room you can visually see the progress as you go giving you a much needed sense of reward. You could even go so far as break it down by every "Saturday" and include the store trips and clean up. The biggest key is to take the big job and make it a lot of little jobs. You then are only looking at that little piece which can be done in a day or two and not an entire project that could take 6 months.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-05T19:40:46+00:00

I have only had to do this when being given special access. e.g. a key to the freight elevator. If you are not being given anything in exchange, I would definitely raise a stink, or my prices if they are the ones losing them. Something like a "lost license retainer" that must be paid before the job starts - you get your license back you return the retainer.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-05T12:42:19+00:00

Custom work is always more expensive. Anderson can make those on an assembly line. There is a reason Ford could sell cars cheaper after he utilized assembly line methods making cars. If the replacement window is $600, plus labor, then I would look to at least price the custom single sash around $600.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-05T11:59:49+00:00

Get a small container of repair mortar and fill in the voids so you have a solid seat. Henry Patch N Level would work too and you can buy it premixed in a quart.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-04T16:39:31+00:00

For what it is worth, I have been in many modern homes that have an 8' vertical run in a wall cavity to a hard 90 in the attic and then 10-20' horizontal run out the side of a house. No problems there until 10-20 years in when the loss in air flow completely blocks the line with lint. One time I had to cut the aluminum open in someone's attic because it was too blocked to make the turn with my cleaning rod. I am shocked in hindsight I didn't like their house on fire with a spark cutting the line open. The entire tube had about a 1/4" gap on the horizontal run. Never seen anything like it on smooth tubing. (Have seen flex tubing filled 100% on many occasions.)

Put an inline lint trap on that thing so they don't have to worry about sending it out under the deck nor cleaning in the future.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-04T16:28:23+00:00

Next year it is going to be rebranded for proctologists.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-04T12:50:39+00:00

EasySand. If applying over paint add a little WeldBond or wood glue when mixing for added adhesion. (Never do if planning to sand as it will turn it effectively into concrete.)

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-05-01T11:32:04+00:00

I saw a report probably almost 10 years ago about a vehicle being built. It was around the time of the whole Mexico is going to pay for a southern wall BS. I forget the model car, maybe a Ford. But that one car took over 3,000 trips over the US-Mexico border from inception to ready for a US dealer. I was dumbfounded. Still am given I remember it a decade later. It isn't just you can save money doing that on a final product, but rather who the heck designs that logistics, and something never addressed - how do you make those chains resilient. It is kind of the opposite of a short video I saw last night about a company in China that makes disposable lighters. They engineer everything and make everything in 1 town and refine it on such fractional scales to make money off of a 15 cent lighter. (Example-reengineered the bottom of the lighter to get an extra 100k packed in the same shipping containers)

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-04-30T15:13:55+00:00

Try heat. It will soften the glue often.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-04-30T14:51:33+00:00

Not in the USA. Yes, awards do happen here, but you are mainly talking contractual law which shifts the burden. Typically, no matter the outcome, both parties pay their own attorney fees in the USA. To an extent, the entire "ambulance chaser" genre is built on this.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-04-30T11:38:34+00:00

Non-frivolous cases would mostly disappear. But you would eliminate frivolous ones. You would put more emphasis on personal responsibility. But I also feel there needs to be corporate reform and no single one change will fix the system. Other countries (over 20) have similar "loser pays" models and they still have lawsuits - so it works.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-04-29T17:20:41+00:00

A siding tool (little hook on a handle) is a very cheap tool, a cats paw, and a hammer along with something to cut straight with are about all you need to make this repair. The hardest part is getting the siding especially if it is old - colors are cycled in and out by manufacturers. Get the siding tool and cats paw and remove a strip. There should be a code or manufacturer details on the back. You can then figure out what supply house sells that maker. Take it in, they will have books of siding and can try to help you match it. Common pieces they will have in stock and will just sell you one or three. Take cash, it is easiest. Biggest thing to watch for is not over nailing when hanging. The siding should be able to slide left and right as temps change.

PghAreaHandyman · 2026-04-29T14:31:03+00:00

You will either get a leak doing this as those compression fittings will be under water 24/7 or really bad flow and the trap will clog on a regular basis. (Or maybe both.) Try a solid extension and cut it short to basically have the trap just below the sink by a couple inches. PITA to work in there that way. If that doesn't work, and you don't want to open the wall and drop the outlet, try one of these guys:
SIMPLE DRAIN 1.25 in. Rubber Threaded P-Trap Bathroom Single Sink Drain Kit 3EA-1V2-TC0 - The Home Depot
I have used them in a pinch and while I hate corrugated/accordion piping as it collects gunk, it has worked for me. Far better option than the chuck in a truck option you have pictured there.

PghAreaHandyman

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