How to find someone for small project?

11 years ago

I have a small triangular space, about 2' tall by 2' wide, under the first few steps of my staircase where I'd like to attach a door. There used to be a wall there that served as the handrail, but I removed it, leaving this opening. The GC for my kitchen / bath reno was supposed to take care of this as well as a few other projects, but I eventually realized that he only cared about the kitchen & bath (where he used his own workers & made $) and was not going to be a big help with anything else. I'm not worried about finding contractors for the remaining work except for this under-stair project as it is so small. Does anyone have any idea how I can find someone to help me with this?

FYI the remaining work in my apt are as follows:
- Attach stair rail
- Paint whole apartment
- Install baseboards
- Install closet door (MAYBE, I may just reattach the existing swing-out door)
- Make cabinets for HVAC units (a Big MAYBE as the cost will probably not be worth it to me)

I thought about asking one of the contractors who will help with the remaining work above to install the under-stair door, but I think only the ones for the closet door or HVAC cabinets would be qualified and these are precisely the two that I may not do.

Comments (3)

Gina_W
11 years ago
A good handyman will be able to all those tasks. The paint may be the only thing some people don't like to do. Ask your neighbors, local real estate agents, etc for referrals.
Nancy in Mich
11 years ago
My guess it that if you had friends, relatives and coworkers to ask for referrals, you would not be asking us how to find folks!

If you can't get referrals from any of the people Gina came up with, try looking online for Yelp! If you are close enough to a large city, there may be reviews for handymen or painters or the like. I found someone to clean my gutters through Yelp! and this guy told me that he didn't think I coud put off replacing my roof another year. He had no interest in roofing and did not even suggest a roofer to call. I appreciated his input. He also did a good job on my gutter cleaning.

There used to be a company called Service Magic that you could go to online to get referrals. Now it is called Home Advisor. They do have handyman services listed. I put a link below. We used them to get referrals for our roofing job. Last year I used them to get a structural engineer who was willing to take on our small job of remedying a slab floor under our living room and foyer that had experienced having the dirt wash out underneath. The rest of the house was on a basement and was in fine shape, but we needed a plan for replacing the slab floor so that if the dirt continued to disappear, our room would not sink again. We found a young guy who did private work on weekends and evenings and he worked with our contractor and the city to draw up plans for us. This fall's roofing project ended well, too, with several companies with good ratings coming out to bid on our project.

Here is a link that might be useful: HomeAdvisor.com
Related Professionals
Midvale Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · South Farmingdale Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Channahon Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Emeryville Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · South Plainfield Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Cusseta Interior Designers & Decorators · Lomita Interior Designers & Decorators · Burlington General Contractors · Berkeley General Contractors · Jackson General Contractors · Miami Gardens General Contractors · Overlea General Contractors · Rosemead General Contractors · University City General Contractors · Winton General Contractors
Jen K.
Original Author
11 years ago
Hi Gina & Nancy, thank you for your advice! Nancy, you're right, I couldn't get referrals! I had asked around & come up dry; most of my friends rent or live in newer condos that have not needed any work done. I ended up putting in a request on Home Advisor & will meet with a contractor this Friday. I'm hopeful as his profile indicates he is able to take on small projects and is very highly reviewed (200+ reviews, 4.5 stars). My experience getting connected to the right person with HA (back then, Service Magic) has been mixed; more than half the time, the referrals would not be qualified to do the work that I asked. It looks like this time will work out though. Wish me luck! And thanks again! :)