Laura Young’s spouse James has skills in general DIY, painting, decorating, tiling and carpet laying, so they’ve created a lucrative handyman business called “Rent My Handy Husband.”
James, 42, is currently booked up for the month of November on jobs, for which he charges $44 per hour and about $280 for a day rate.
Their business has become so popular, they said, that they even had to turn down jobs. “I never expected it to take off as much as it has,” Laura told Southwest News Service.
She can't hire more handymen because they wouldn't be her husband.
Business can only boom so much. But is 5 Guys stuck being only 5 guys and is 3 Men and a Truck limited to 3 Men and a Truck? Doesn't matter, you might think: Marriage means something.But now I'm seeing this, and it puts everything in a different light. James had been "a full-time dad to their three children, two of which have autism." And James himself "was diagnosed with autism four years ago." Laura said he "has always enjoyed building and constructing" and "thought this would be something he could do."
Interestingly: "He’s really good at building things and doesn’t bother with the instructions.... He’s got a very methodical mind and can think outside the box. He sees things differently."
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53 comments:
Really hoping Laslo will comment on this thread.
Easy solution: charge more.
Demand for service is too high because your price isn't high enough to match supply and demand.
He...doesn’t bother with the instructions.
Usually this is meant as a sexist insult, but I get the impression that here it's meant to be a good thing because he has autism.
Laslo! Calling Dr Laslo! You are Needed STAT!!!
Would a throuple be acceptable?
If you're booked solid, raise your rates.
She can't hire more handymen because they wouldn't be her husband
Now that's a limiting principle.
"She can't hire more handymen because they wouldn't be her husband."
All depends on the meaning of my. As long as they are someone else's husband, the line still works.
[Intro: JAY-Z]
Uh, uh uh uh
It's big pimpin' baby (That's right)
It's big pimpin', spendin' Gs
Feel me uh-huh uhh, uh-huh
Ge-ge-geyeah, geyeah
Ge-ge-geyeah, geyeah
The guy that kept my 100 year old river home in Florida up and running was $50 an hour and I always included a 10-20% tip - depending on the job - for just showing up at all.
The top two comments are excellent. Achilles is 100% correct.
30 years ago we used a company in Boston called Rent-a-Husband for similar tasks.
I think this is the first time I’ve heard that autism is hereditary. Huh.
May the new business owners prosper.
Tofu King said...
Really hoping Laslo will comment on this thread.
The NYP headline writers are very good at their job.
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
She can't hire more handymen because they wouldn't be her husband
Now that's a limiting principle.
Only in a monogamous society.
It would be illegal to only hire married men.
Three cheers for us handy husbands! (But — I’m ashamed to admit it — I do read directions first. I also verify that I have all the parts before I begin assembly. )
We use a handyman who does good work. He is always accompanied by his teenage daughter who is learning his trades.
She needs to franchise it to other married couples with a handy husband. Problem solved!
I'm an odd husband, and not all that handy.
Does this guy work nights? "My husband didn't know what he was doing, so finally I hired a professional!"
I'd love to see a hard-core feminist's reaction to the name of this business. (And by "love" I really mean "hate.")
Something like, "Anyone who thinks it's safer to hire someone's husband doesn't realized it's not 1950 and bad men can be found anywhere and..."
Narr said...
I'm an odd husband, and not all that handy.
--
Me neither. I can assemble store-bought furniture and do grunt work, but not much more. That's why I appreciate folks who learned a trade. I write them lots of checks.
My wife complains I'm more randy than handy.
Demand is high because most modern men don't know how to do shit.
So, she only rents him to women?
They're undercharging.
This seems like an excellent gig economy job. I'm not as interested in climbing ladders and doing various home maintenance tasks like I used to do. As noted by many above, $280 is rather cheap to get a host of chores done in a day. And as much of those chores are home preventive maintenance, it is a great deal.
I do fear two things. First, how is the work guaranteed and his safety at my home insured? Second, Democrats seem to want to destroy the gig economy, and this type of work looks exactly like what the new 87,000 IRS agents will be examining. I wish the couple luck in the coming year.
Also, what Lindsey said at 12:48p.
They could always take on apprentices as "handy husbands in training"
I remember an interview with the CEO of the largest property management company in the US saying that their biggest problem were finding people who could do the basic maintenance/appliance repair.
I am, right now, helping a friend in Nashville sort out his refrigerator that likely has had the defrost fail. He's in now and should send the resistance readings for the element.
I can relate to this. My partner can build a house from the ground up, having owned a building company in the past. He also has a degree in mechanical engineering, so understands the systems in a house, maybe electrical is a weak point but he can get up to speed on just about anything.
Once any single, female friends gets a whiff of this I am inundated with "Can you ask your boyfriend about...."
Big pimping.
“…She can't hire more handymen because they wouldn't be her husband.”
A strong argument for polyandry.
Michael K said: We use a handyman who does good work. He is always accompanied by his teenage daughter who is learning his trades.
_______
Wonderful to hear. I often think if I could have a do-over, I would go into the trades. Anyone that has any artistic, 'loves to make things' leanings would do well to consider that path.
People who are handy are laughed at by some. Until the pilot light goes out.
This is a cover story. We know what her husband really does for these women.
Laying carpet is code for one sexual activity. Painting and tiling mean different things.
"Lay me some tile, baby!"
(Not as clever as Laslo, but an effort.)
She'd best be careful letting friends borrow her handy husband. I've known more than a few women who are happy to give such a husband a handy.
A woman in the kitchen, in the office, a man in the field, in the home, and vice versa, equal and complementary. A woman, man, and "our Posterity" are from Earth... and reconcile as adults do.
Looks like a good split between sales and operations.
I remodeled my kitchen and one bathroom from bare walls but that was 30 years ago. Now a good handyman is priceless. I didn't try electrical, though.
Young men are worthless with DIY (it probably has something to do with plummeting IQ levels). But they love industrial workwear brands like Carhartt, Dickies' and Filsonnow. The sought after denim has a "down and dirty look."
My Dickies jeans cost like $ 15 from Amazon. So why are these jerks spending hundreds of dollars on a bunch of garbage? Why do they want to look poor?
That couple seem to have values other than that of maximizing of profit, so kudos to them (the wife in the article isn't whining about the amount of business at all, or I didn't get that sense, anyway, just stating the fact)-- discounts to old people, caregivers, the disables, NHS employees, people receiving governemt assistance etc. Not that there is anything morally wrong about potential higher profit, if they elect to go that route.
First, how is the work guaranteed and his safety at my home insured? Second, Democrats seem to want to destroy the gig economy, and this type of work looks exactly like what the new 87,000 IRS agents will be examining.
The UK's 'health and safety' rules are worse than ours, or so I believe I've read, so I do wonder about this; the hiremyhandhusband website is pretty 'amateur-ish'.
We know what her husband really does for these women.
The autism may help prevent that, and not just because they tend to be overweight. I'll bet she's counting on it to do so.
"and this type of work looks exactly like what the new 87,000 IRS agents will be examining"
They have to pay taxes on self employment just like any other kind of income.
They keep good records - no problem.
Cool advertising ploy.
There are hundreds of thousands of entrepreneuring couples where one partner does the jobs and the other keeps the books. The only special ingredient here is the (successful) attention-getting name on their company.
That name probably helped them get some number more gigs when they started out than they would have without it. The cute name probably also helped word-of-mouth spread faster when the first clients found out how good the guy was at his work.
Success breeding success. The commenters above are right: they can raise their rates now. Or find other talented workers to pass their excess demand to (for a percentage).
What Mr Wobble said at 2:39:
Cf. "Lucky Mann" (Nick Nolte) in Afterglow.
Since the company name limits her business, perhaps she can restart with, "Rent an Autistic Guy" and up the rate. $44 per hour is very inexpensive for a handyman.
As long as he doesn't tell her about the pipe-laying.
"From The NYT Post."
LOL, I'm not sure about that one.
I've done handyman jobs for others, and the key is defining the scope up-front. It's difficult to plan work when the content keeps changing.
As the working man's hero Red Green used to say, "If the women don't find you handsome, at least they can find you handy."
Re: Baceseras:
That name probably helped them get some number more gigs when they started out than they would have without it. The cute name probably also helped word-of-mouth spread faster when the first clients found out how good the guy was at his work.
My guess would be that the name is a bit catchy, but also, it may be easier for women to arrange for a handyman when they know (or think they know) before picking up the phone that his wife is going to be arranging the scheduling, as opposed to stereotypical alternatives like "gruff old man," "spotty teenager," "guy who wolf-whistles at women," etc. People often prefer doing business with people they think are like them. Emphasising the domestic angle probably helps their business exploit that (natural) tendency for competitive advantage, even if they didn't set out to do that deliberately.
Where is that recent story about the 800+ children fathered by a long-serving milkman?
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