Jun 032020
 

Greetings all! We have just returned from a family reunion in Tennessee with our RV. Family gatherings are great, especially after being cooped up like chickens for so long! Susan and I feel like teenagers again and put on restriction for something we didn’t do.  How do you feel about this?

Well, it’s time to talk about beginning to finally reopen the business. Montgomery County will be placed in the king’s yellow category this coming Monday, June 8.  Businesses that do NOT have face-to-face- contact with customers are allowed to reopen; at least those who have not gone completely out-of-business. 

Those businesses that are like mine, cannot reopen until the county is considered by the king to be green. Montgomery County and surrounding counties are a few weeks out to see green (business, yes some green $). At that time, we are going to start up by contacting clients that we had to abruptly stop working on their projects and schedule them to their completion.  We are hoping that in the weeks that follow that, we can also contact the clients that have called, texted or emailed us, in the order they were received to schedule to look at their new projects.  Finally, after this, we will contact those several new clients that contacted us and schedule to take a look at their project requests.

During the week that the king says we can open our doors and walk through yours, we will be contacting you to set up a schedule.  Thanks for understanding that being in the at-risk category myself with three of the underlying health conditions, I must protect myself for the sake of my family and not be in too much of a hurry to return to normal life. As such, we will be following all guidelines for health safety during our visits. While we vehemently disagree that the governor has the authority he has usurped in this pandemic, we will follow his rulings since the courts have also wrongly sided with him. Until they are no longer required, we will be wearing masks to protect you.

We will be asking you for a few things in return.  We will be asking several questions during our confirmation call on the day of our appointment. They are:

  1. In the past 14 days, has anyone that has been in your home been diagnosed with the flu, a cold or tested positive for the Covid-19 virus?
  2. In the past 14 days, has anyone that lives in your home been near anyone that was exhibiting cold, flu or other illness symptoms?
  3. Will you and anyone in your home during our visit also wear masks whenever we need to interact together inside your home?

 

From the answers to these questions, we will determine if we must reschedule our appointment. The truthful answers will allow us to keep you and ourselves safe during our appointment.

If at any time, we determine that we have been exposed, we will immediately self-quarantine and notify each client that we have visited in the past 14 days. At that moment, all scheduled appointments will be canceled until further notice.

Thank you so much for bearing with this unfortunate situation.  Let’s try to make the best of an uncertain world. Take comfort in knowing that God IS in control.

-George

Still Home?

 Posted by
May 072020
 

Thursday, May 7, 2020, is a long way from March 13, 2020, which was the last day we were able to make a living in this state. We’ve been patient, we’ve been kind, we’ve been loving and fortunately Susan and I have always been best friends for almost 46 years so this forced restriction by daddy gov. is not so hard on us as it is for some of our kids.

Our oldest daughter has her first grandchild in Florida and she lives on Catalina Island off the coast of California and they are told not to travel.  Well, she’s a lot like her dad and said, ‘no way’! ‘We’re going to Florida to see my grandson!’  She and her husband are there now.  They’re going to Tennessee next to see her oldest daughter and husband.

Our youngest has three kids here in Limerick, PA and he is a small business owner as well and he started back up again last week, in spite of daddy gov orders.

Dad (me) and Mom, on the other hand, have mellowed out over the years and we’re not bucking the system. However, we are so proud of our kids that are standing up for their God-given, constitutional backed freedoms.

My underlying health conditional will likely hold me back a bit longer than others because I cannot control the environment in every home I visit.  I will certainly ask questions, but to be sure that places I go are not hazardous to me, I have to be skeptical at best and refuse service at worse. While I totally trust that God is watching over me, I don’t want to do something that will intentionally cause harm.

This is all to say that Susan and I are hooking up our brand new travel trailer and heading for Tennessee ourselves in the next week or two. We plan to meet up with some friends from California and hook up in an RV park in Tennessee for four days then we will travel to our Grand Daughter’s home and mooch-dock in their driveway for 3 or 4 days. If daddy gov lifts all restrictions by this time, we will travel home and start setting appointments. If there are still ANY restrictions, our plan is to continue driving over to Florida to visit the Great Grandson and other family members there. We don’t have a planned date to return, but we have a plan to have fun!

Since we are not working, I’ve still been trying to answer calls, but it’s getting depressing saying, sorry, nothing I can do right now to help.  So starting now, I’m changing the voice mail to say that we are on vacation until further notice, sooner rather than later notice, we hope. I’m going to leave my work phone at home so I will be unreachable for business until I return.

Stay safe and all my best to you,

-George

May 012020
 

When you see these things are ALL completed:

1. Our state is opened up without any restrictions. AND
2. The social distancing is no longer required AND
3. Mask recommendations are fully rescinded,

we will then BEGIN “starting up” again. We don’t know that date, so we will all have to wait and see what happens.

What does “starting up” mean?

It means that our existing clients’ whose projects were interrupted will take precedent over EVERYTHING else. These projects will be scheduled first.

What’s next?

When existing clients’ projects are nearly all completed, then previously quoted AND approved projects that were not yet begun, will start to be scheduled. Existing clients with new repair projects or any projects needing quotes will be scheduled next.

Finally, what about new clients?

We love new clients too, but our commitments to existing clients come first. When we determine:

1. Our business is back to a normal state
2. All our existing obligations to existing clients are 100% fulfilled,

we will then schedule new client’s visits and project quote surveys. It doesn’t matter that a potential new client’s project is outside work or not, nor does it matter how urgent it is to that potential client. It is not urgent to us because our existing clients come first.

Apr 282020
 

2020 is a year of tremendous CHANGE for us. It started off with a tremendous amount of business spread across a large number of existing and new clients. Between Gabe and myself, we were both busy every day, which is a rarity. Usually, we would have a day here and there where there was a lull that we could use to keep up with housekeeping. The 2016 RAM ProMaster could still look brand new with a good wash. The inside could be freshened up and our bins could be refilled with everyday use parts.

Not this year! By the end of January, we were knee-deep into a couple of large projects and trying to figure out what to do when Gabe leaves. That’s right, Gabe is now living in Virginia with his WIFE! This has been planned since earlier last year.

It was planned for February 21st to be his last day. As you may know, Gabe was in the National Guard for about 6 years and is retired as of March 1, 2020. He rose to become a Seargent in the heavy truck. Gabe’s new wife, Kristen was also in the National Guard in PA, where they met. She spent some time as a Chaplain and then transitioned to the regular Army in early 2019 for a three year duty assignment. She is now a Lieutenant in the US Army and is stationed in Joint Base Langley–Eustis in Newport News, VA. She is a platoon leader and works in Logistical; support. Her duty ends in about two years when they plan to come back to PA to settle down.

Gabe and Kristen were married on Saturday March 14th, 2020. They had planned to leave on a cruise a few days later. Well, we all know what happened next. NO CRUSES! They have been sequestered in their apartment every since. Kristen is on-call but pretty much working from home.

In trying to figure out how to work without Gabe, I have tried several other people in the few weeks prior to the quarantine starting and they just don’t measure up to Gabe. <BEGIN Rhetorical>How do you find someone, who is clean-cut, shows military respectfulness to clients, fast-learner, strong, great with tools and can work with very little direction. <END Rhetorical>

If you know someone that is handy (age doesn’t matter), that may be interested, I’d be happy to talk with him or her and see if we can work together. My health is preventing me from jumping back in too soon. With at least three, even four of the “underlying conditions” that when combined with Covid19 cause death, I will be holding back from too much personal interaction until this pandemic is behind us.

For the foreseeable future, I will need to be very careful about people I interact with. Before visiting your home, I will have to ask things like:

  1. Has anyone that will be home when I am there been ill in the past two weeks OR been near someone else that showed any signs of any colds or flu?
  2. Is anyone that will be home currently ill or have signs of being ill like fever, headache, flu-like or cold-like symptoms?

I will need to continue wearing a mask and gloves as protection, even when the answers to the questions are all ‘no’. We will both follow and comply with all CDC recommendations for safe distancing and will no longer be shaking hands as a welcome or hello gesture. Do you think that hat-tipping will make a comeback along with drive-in movies? Do you think that winks and nods will be more prevalent soon? We’re not doing the elbow bump or bowing anytime soon either!

We have some projects that were not completed when we were forced to stop work so they will be the first ones that we work on as soon as we can. I can’t put an exact date on when we can begin performing projects again, but it will be during the “green” phase. I will update you as soon as I can.

Thank you for understanding; be safe and best regards,
George

Jan 282019
 

I’ve been asked over and over, “just what does under your roof mean?” From basement floors to your ceilings on your top floor, literally, it means if your project is inside your house, Just Let George Do it. From my perspective, there’s not much more to it.  However, given the number of times I am asked, this is what I do and some of what I don’t do. Yes, this has changed from a few years ago. I a slowing down a bit and have decided to eliminate some items that I technically can perform but choose not to do anymore.

  1. I can and do perform about 90% of every handyman task for items under your roof, meaning inside your house. But that doesn’t exclude outside repairs. Like pressure washing/updating decks, walkways and sides of your home. The 10% I don’t do is roofing, attic insulation, concrete walkways, window washing, and some other major projects.
  2. My clients have instant access 24 x 7 to a complete list of the types of projects I’m qualified to perform. It’s called the Just Let George Do It LIST. You can get a new, updated copy by scrolling down and clicking the link over there on the right side of this page. I’ve included all kinds of routine handyman work like electrical repairs, light plumbing, trim carpentry, computer help, Deck building/refinishing, etc.
  3. I’ve programmed a JavaScript into this website that lets my visitors type in a single word like ‘electrical’ and when the OK is clicked a dialog box tells them if I do electrical work or not. Very simple!

I’ve also excluded projects that technically I could do, but choose not to do.  For example, I no longer carry an extension-ladder on my new RAM ProMaster Hi-Top Van.  You may have noticed that there are no ladder racks so I can not carry an extension ladder. I’ve decided that for me personally, the risk of injury vs. the reward at my age is not worth it to climb tall ladders.  So, I don’t do roofing, gutters, chimneys, etc.  But I have roofers we can call that do these things full-time.

Plumbing clogs (and chimney sweeping) are also excluded as well as working on heating and air conditioning systems. However, I do install thermostats on almost any wired, thermostatically controlled system.  Exception: Carrier has a proprietary thermostat that makes it almost impossible for anyone who is not a Carrier dealer to install a thermostat from Lowes, Home Depot or Amazon. So if you want a nice new WiFi thermostat, just let George Do it. Or if your system is a Carrier, you’ll have to pay Carrier to supply and install it.

Outside painting of house and windows for single story homes only and I will paint/stain/refinish decks, gazebos, pergolas, trellises and outside doors.  and inside of your home, I do all walls, ceilings, trim, cabinets, etc. Inside your home, I paint walls, ceilings, trim, cabinets and I also have indoor scaffolding so those hard to reach two-story foyers are no problem. My indoor, clean and safe scaffolding also allows me to replace those high up chandeliers safely and quickly.

You may have furniture that needs repair or touch-ups.  I have a friend who does these things and does it absolutely perfectly.  Much better than I could offer, so I’m not offering to repair or touch-up furniture.

Coincidentally, my two hobbies are also services I offer to my clients. Woodworking and computers. Windows computers are my specialty from Windows XP to the newest Windows 10 (yes they skipped “9”).  Routers, wireless systems setups are a piece of cake for me. Upgrading your hard drive is a snap with my help. How about adding speedy Solid State Drive (SSD)? Installing a new display monitor? I’d be happy to help you with the hookup as well as the set up for optimum displaying your screen.  I don’t sell any computer parts or software – just my help. Most computer services are by the hour.

Projects that match my skills are numerous and I love doing them. Projects that last no more than a few days are perfect for me. Examples: installing a few outside or inside light fixtures, mounting your new flat screen and hiding all those unsightly cables in the wall or replacing the storm door or that bedroom door your teen kicked a hole in!  I do say, ‘no job is too small’ but I don’t say. ‘no job is too big’.  In fact, many projects are too big for me. Building home additions, full basement remodels, garage additions, general large remodeling are not for me. Smaller remodels, projects that last for up to a few days are fine, but not much larger than that. I can install a new toilet, vanity, sinks, faucets but not the tub.

Remember, give a call, text or write and I will come out and take a look at your project. I always want to see the project first, then provide a free, flat-fee price that is guaranteed not to change, unless you change the project’s scope or add tasks or the actual materials prices are more or less than quoted.  You should know that if you have me buy materials for you, I pay sales tax on all those materials I buy on your behalf because I do not SELL any materials myself.  I only pick them up for you as a courtesy and charge you the same amount I pay. That also means that you can provide any materials you want. I’m only selling a flat fee to install, mount, replace, setup, assemble or adhere what you buy.

My fees always include all of my anticipated expenses, to arrive on time, install your project professionally and complete it on time and within your budget. You never pay any advance labor fees.  For larger projects, I may ask for the cost of the materials in advance but no labor is ever paid until a project’s phase is completed. All payments are due on the same day that a project or phase is complete. Projects are discount-priced for payments by checks only. I deposit checks or pictures of checks or copies using a mobile deposit app and they are credited same day. Projects are priced without discounts for a credit card, PayPal, mailed checks and cash payments.

Sorry for the intrusion. I simply want to make sure I help you as quickly as I can. If you would like to know if I do certain work, get an

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