by Mark Gillman, Fabrication Specialist
You've probably noticed I don't have a fleet of trucks or a big crew. There's no receptionist to shuffle you through a phone tree, and I don't have "next available appointment" three weeks out with whoever happens to be free.
It's just me. And that's exactly how I want it.
I've been doing this work for over 30 years now. I've seen plenty of guys start small, grow big, and then spend their days in an office managing people instead of actually building things. They make more money, sure. But they stop doing the work that made them good in the first place.
I decided a long time ago that wasn't going to be me.
When a handyman business grows into a company, something gets lost. The owner stops showing up to jobs. You get whoever's available that day—maybe they're great, maybe they're new, maybe they care about quality, maybe they're just watching the clock.
You become a number in a schedule instead of a neighbor who needs help.
I've watched it happen. A guy builds a reputation on doing things right, then hires a bunch of people and suddenly he's spending all his time managing problems instead of solving them. Quality slips. Customers feel it. But the business is too big to go back.
Staying small means I can be picky about my work. I can tell you honestly when something doesn't need fixing, even if it costs me a job. I can take my time to do things right instead of rushing to the next appointment. I can drop everything for a real emergency because I'm not juggling fifteen crews.
When you call me, you get me. When I give you a quote, I'm the one who looked at the problem. When I show up to do the work, I'm accountable for what I quoted. And when it's done, I'm the one who stands behind it.
I can handle about nine projects at once—that's my sweet spot. Enough to stay busy, not so many that I'm cutting corners or making you wait weeks for a callback.
After three decades of this, I've figured out what I'm really good at: custom steel fabrication. Railings, handrails, deck structures, things that need to be built right and built to last. I still do general handyman work—fixing a fence, repairing a gate, the odd jobs that pop up—but the work I love is when someone says "I have an idea for this railing" and I get to figure out how to build it beautifully.
That's where my AutoCAD background comes in handy. I can draw up what we're talking about, make sure you can see it before we build it, and then fabricate it to exactly match what you had in mind.
But here's the thing: I can only do that level of work if I'm not spread too thin. If I was managing a big operation, I'd be doing paperwork instead of welding. I'd be hiring people to do the work I used to love doing myself.
When you work with me, you're not getting a corporate experience. There's no polished sales process or slick marketing. I'm not going to upsell you on things you don't need, because my reputation in this neighborhood matters more than any single job.
What you get is straightforward:
I'm not trying to be the biggest handyman service in the area. I'm trying to be the one you call when you want it done right, and the one you recommend to your neighbors when they ask "who should I call?"
I'll be honest with you: staying small means I can't take every job. Sometimes I'm booked out a couple weeks. Sometimes a project is too big for one person. Sometimes I have to say no.
But when I say yes, you know exactly what you're getting. You get my cell number, not a call center. You get three decades of experience, not whoever's available. You get someone who cares about the work, not just the paycheck.
And in my experience, that's worth the trade-off.
I could have grown this business bigger. I've had the opportunities. But every time I thought about it, I remembered why I got into this work in the first place: I like building things. I like solving problems. I like helping neighbors figure out the right fix, even when it's not the most expensive option.
Stay small, stay good, stay honest. That's been my approach for 30 years, and it's worked out pretty well for everyone involved.
If that sounds like the kind of person you want working on your home, give me a call. If you need a big company with 24/7 availability and a fleet of trucks, I can probably recommend someone. But if you want quality work from someone who'll treat your project like it matters, let's talk.
I'll tell you straight whether I'm the right person for the job. And if I am, I'll do it right.
That's the deal.
That handrail kit looks fine in the store, but wait until you actually need to grab it. After 30 years building railings, I'll tell you why thickness is the difference between a rail that's there when you need it and one that fails when it matters most.
Read moreStaying at a hotel over Christmas, I grabbed the staircase handrail and immediately knew: this is exactly what I refuse to build. Thin material, missing paint at joints, bent brackets, gaps where sections met—a perfect example of cheap and fast over right. Here's why I build differently, even when it costs more.
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