Is paying a handyman for simple household jobs now common practice?

[HumbleHun]

Has a anyone ever paid a handy man to change spotlight bulbs? All my friends pay this young chap to change bulbs, jet wash their drives, clean the oven etc but my DH does all this but apparently it is common practice in my village to pay for these services. I'm tempted in a keeping up with Jones sense but DH says it's ridiculous. Is this a common thing now?

It was only a generation ago that men used to do all this stuff themselves. Home maintenance etc etc.

Then men stopped being around for their kids and teaching them how to do this so it's died out. It's sad when you think about it. Once that knowledge is gone, it's gone.

I find it astonishing that someone would pay for someone else to do those very simple tasks.
I'm a woman in my sixties and don't bat an eyelid at doing those things and all the other things people on this thread pay for eg cleaning oven, all gardening, all housework. The only thing I don't do is cleaning the gutters( 2 storey house).
But each to their own as to how they spend their money.

Keeps some in work and unlike car washes no questions of modern slavery.

Some of us have disabilities that mean that we can’t do them ourselves.

I hate cleaning the oven, always get someone in. I used to get someone in the steam clean the sofas and rugs a couple of times a year but got cancelled on so many times in the end I bought a shark and do it myself, and whilst overall that's cheaper it's not if you include my time

Surely it is a time/benefit trade off. we have always done most jobs ourselves. We have fully decorated our house, we cook/clean and do pretty much all maintainance ourselves.

however, as we get older and work longer hours we do get people in to do jobs. I no longer deep clean the oven myself, when we need the house repainting we are going to pay. Jet washing the driveway - we can do it but professionals can do it much better. But day to day maintainance we will always do ourselves. But each to their own. I once was amazed when I was talking to a colleague and he was going ‘you painted your bedroom? By yourself?!’ - he was truly incredulous that this was possible.

Who would not want a charismatic young chap doing jobs around the house? Sounds perfect and worth the money

The cost of your time is only valid if somebody will pay you more for that time than you are going to pay somebody else. The skill required is a valid argument, I pay more per hour for car repairs than I have ever been paid, but I don't have the necessary skill set (or tools). Plumbers I pay because he will just go to his van to get an imperial to metric, right angled flange reducer, while I will have to do a tour of shops and plumbers merchants and won't know if they've sold me the correct thing or not.

Last time I booked a day of annual leave to clean the carpets/sofas because it's better to do it without ds around, I earn about £300 a day and it wouldn't have cost me that to hire someone if they'd actually turn up! I also wouldn't have wasted a leave day

I wouldn’t pay someone to change bulbs but I pay for my gutters to be emptied and my wheelie bin washed (same local company). I also pay for oven cleaning because it’s a messy, time consuming job that I’d rather pay someone else to do better.

ds is pretty handy so will do stuff like change taps using YouTube for instructions. I’m a single parent and ds is like his dad and practical so is happy to do it.

Is he jack the lad as it seems everyone must think he's got the looks. It's not a handyman saga BAC

I have neither a husband nor any practical ability.

I do what I can do, and pay a chap to do the rest with absolutely no qualms. I'd prefer to pay a woman, but there are no handywomen around here that I know of.

I’m single and would get my son/daughter to climb a ladder to change bulbs though some can be tricky. I would hire someone to just do that, but if someone was doing other odd jobs (cleaning gutters, whatever). But my son does anything ‘unskilled’ (I guess like your DH).

No, we have lived here for 15 years, they all been changed twice l think in that time.
Thats without the annoying bathroom light that has to be taken to bits to change the blub

What kind of hours do you work?

Yes, unfortunately snobbery runs rife were I live. I know it's pathetic but it is my reality.

I think it depends how practical you are and how much time/money you have. DH likes doing most the stuff and couldn't be bothered to waiting in for someone else to do it, whereas I would get someone in. He even likes washing the cars

I'm retired but I did it all when I worked, also did it all when I had young children as a widowed lone parent.

OK. Do you feel it's a moral question then? I mean, fair enough if you have to fix everything yourself because you haven't much money, but it is morally wrong to pay someone to clean your oven or put up some shelves?

@ExOptimist I think you make that comment without context. Our garden is over half an acre and need help to maintain it. If we lived in a smaller house with lower ceilings, we might not balk at changing lightbulbs.

Lots of people do it. I do a lot myself but only since our income nosedived and I had to learn how. Now I know it’s easy to do it cheaper but before I knew… I paid someone who knew what they were doing. Never changing lights but changing the heat element on an oven, clearing gutters, trimming trees.

I think the average job done by an average "handyman" are the "easy" jobs that virtually anyone can do with a few tools and a bit of experience/confidence.

It's the more specialist jobs where you need a qualified/experienced plumber/electrician/plasterer/joiner that most homeowners can't do themselves, but nor can the average "handyman".

Exactly.

I think more people are getting someone else to do jobs round the house because they simply don’t have the time both to do it and also to learn how to do it. In the 1980s I called a plumber out because we had a dripping tap. The plumber asked me why my husband couldn’t just change the washer himself!

I clean my oven but it is a pyrolytic one ( the shelves go in the dishwasher) so it is easy. My husband changes all light bulbs. Due to his height, he doesn’t need a stepladder. I used to decorate but now we just get someone in as we do with most other jobs.

That's exactly true here. I've got time to move all the stuff OR to paint, but not both...