Serving Ithaca, Cortland, and everywhere in between!

Andy and dog, work photo

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Contact

For all scheduling and inquiries, call or text: (607) 288-2463

Services offered

We are proud to offer handyman services in Ithaca and the surrounding areas.

Below, you can find a listing of services that we specialize in. This isn't a comprehensive list of everything we can do, but it is a good summary of our strengths.

You can think of us as "TLC for your living space". We excel at small- to medium-sized maintenance tasks and repairs to keep your home looking good and running smoothly.

Home technology

Having trouble with your wifi? Need to tame a mess of cables or set up a new piece of tech?

On your walls

Need to install some new blinds? Hanging a coat rack? Need a hole patched up?

Windows and doors

Have a tear in your window screen? Need to change your locks?

Decks, porches, patios, and yards

Ithaca winters are hard on a porch, let's fix things up so you can relax outdoors in comfort.

In the kitchen

Hanging cabinets? Shelves broken or missing hardware?

In the bathroom

Big time jobs will need a professional plumber, but small tasks are our specialty:

General home help

Need to install some new blinds? Hanging a coat rack? Need a hole patched up?

Work Examples

A selection of work examples to give you an idea of what we do!

Fence replacement

We were called in to remediate a poor-quality privacy fence installed by another contractor. The property sits on a slope, and the uneven appearance of the stepped fence, combined with the low-quality stockade panels which were installed, was a bad look.

First, we removed the old panels and replaced them with carefully measured pressure-treated rails which follow the slope.

Then, we installed high-quality cedar pickets, choosing the best faces for a good appearance.

The new fence is a big improvement! The homeowner is very happy to come home at the end of the day without being greeted by an eyesore.

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The original fence, note the gaps along the bottom and the poor-quality materials
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Taken down and in the truck!
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Completed rails, note the mason line strung at the bottom to ensure a consistent pitch.
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In progress picket installation
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Finished fence, from rear
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Finished fence, front

Mailbox replacements

As wise mail carrier once said to one of my clients: "Don't get too attached to your mailbox, because it will get destroyed eventually." Mailboxes face a lot of abuse being out on the roadside: enduring road salt, snow, glancing blows and head-on collisions from cars and snowplows.

Spending too much time and money on them brings inevitable heartbreak, but some quick work with a circular saw and a pressure-treated post can do wonders for your curb appeal!

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This poor thing managed to limp along for two years like this!
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Much better. Note the decorative 30-degree pyramid bevel cut into the top.
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View from the street. This particular street gets heavy snowplow traffic, the replacement post was installed in a decorative planter to prevent a more traditional in-the-ground install from being quickly wrecked.
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Another mailbox on South Hill.
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The galvanized lag bolts were replaced with stainless steel to ensure maximum longevity and ease of replacement in the future.

Flagstone walkway

This was a small flagstone walkway installation to make a garden hose faucet more easily accessible.

The homeowner wanted a slightly uneven, "playful" layout for the stones. First, we took the flagstones and placed them in a pleasing layout.

From there, we marked out the area to dig down under each flagstone to make them flush with the landscape.

Then, after tamping down the soil, we put down a layer of pea gravel to help level out the flagstones. This was also tamped down to ensure a sturdy seating of the stones in the soil.

No more stumping through muddy soil to turn the water on!

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Rough layout, digging out individual stone foundations
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Just a little bit goes a long way.
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Finished!

Baseboard switchout

We tackled a small but important task for a homeowner taking care of a wheelchair-bound child. The motorized wheelchair sometimes causes damage to entryways and baseboards.

The bathroom sink's baseboard in particular takes a lot of hits, so we replaced it with a taller, sturdier piece of pine. This way, it can handle frequent impacts and is easier to replace when needed. Gem, the resident Quality Assurance Specialist, kept a close eye on the work!

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In the middle of removing the damaged baseboard
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Gem helps out :)
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The newly installed pine baseboard

Rotten siding replacement

A homeowner needed help fixing the siding on their shed. Firewood had been stacked against the shed's wall, which caused the T1-11 plywood siding to rot over time.

We removed the damaged plywood and put in fresh pieces. To save costs, the homeowner took care of priming and painting the new panels.

This kind of "project scoping" arrangement works well for jobs with time, budget, or skill constraints. We're happy to do the parts of the work you can't or don't want to do, leaving the rest to you!

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Front view
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Corner view

Custom deck couch build

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A custom outdoor deck couch

This was a fun build! A custom outdoor couch was the perfect choice for entertaining on this smallish backyard deck, but big box store couches were too generic and did not fit the dimensions of the space well. Meanwhile, outdoor furniture manufacturers who offered more attractive customizable furniture options were out of budget.

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A test layout with the cushions before continuing assembly.

So, the couch was designed with the dimensions of the deck in mind, we opted for less expensive pressure treated lumber to reduce materials costs, and made up the visual appeal with nice cushions and an attractive cedar-colored finish.

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Assembling the components in-situ.

The homeowners have enjoyed many pleasant evenings this summer on the couch! The project was a huge success.

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Fully assembled, finished, and good to go.

Garage tool organizer hanging

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A garage tool organizer

This was a quick job to hang a custom-built garage tool organizer on a wall.

Instead of securing it directly to the wall, I opted for a cabinet suspension rail system: two rails secured to studs on the wall, two rails attached to the back of the tool organizer.

That way a minimum of hardware can be used to screw the tool organizer to its rails (preserving its appearance), and the exact placement of the tool organizer on the wall can be fine-tuned on the rails to achieve a nice positioning.

Pet Policy

I love them! Especially the spicy ones.

As the proud owner of an adorable and particularly spicy shelter dog, I know it can be super stressful to worry about whether a reactive pet is going to cause a scene while contractors are going in and out of the house.

If your dog or cat needs space and time to warm up to me, or just needs to be ignored completely, I completely understand and will let them set the pace.