Dr. Steve’s Tips

We mourn the untimely passing of Aretha Franklin, one of the truly great voices of our time – someone who measured by today’s standards could even get Simon Cowell to stand up from his chair and hit the gold buzzer. Looking back, it seems like her 1967 hit “Respect” was perfectly timed, marking the end of an era in which Americans openly showed respect but didn’t talk about it, to our new era when Americans show a lot less respect, but can’t stop yapping about it.

So, we’re going to plead “guilty” to being dinosaurs, still following the pre-1967 rules for how to treat our customers. Sorry, but we at Fix St Louis just happen to think you deserve MORE than ‘just a little bit’ of respect:

R-E-S-P-E-C-T Your Time

No waiting, no wondering. We schedule FIRM, SPECIFIC times for our visits, not a time window, so you don’t have to sit around all morning or all day waiting for us to arrive. We also take away the wondering whether we’ll EVER show-up by sending confirmation emails and calling you when we are on our way, before the appointment time has arrived. After work begins, our technicians will “check-in” and “check-out” with you if they need to run out to pick-up a part, so that you can squeeze-in errands like a trip to Walgreens, the vet, or anywhere else. In fact, the only time we insist that you be present is at the very beginning to make sure there are no misunderstandings about the work you want done.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T Your Money

You will know EXACTLY what your job will cost in advance. Fix St Louis provides FREE estimates, and we provide FIRM prices. Since we don’t charge by the hour, you don’t have to take frequent nervous glances at your watch, worried about what it will all cost.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T Your Home

We’re there to FIX your home, not make ourselves AT home. We will minimize the “footprint” of our workspace so that we intrude as little as possible. And, we will haul away all debris and clean-up after ourselves. Also, no need to worry about your possessions – our technicians have passed criminal background checks and drug tests, they are bonded, they are covered by workers comp, and we carry liability insurance.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T Your Authority

So, here’s a throwback from an earlier era. We won’t call you by your first name unless you request it. To us, you are Mr. Jones or Ms. Smith. It’s a small way for us to express that we are honored you selected us, that we fully acknowledge you are the boss, and that you deserve more than just a little bit of R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

There’s a line in the “Respect” lyrics that goes “Take care, TCB” which, thanks to the miracle of the Internet, I now know is short for “Taking Care of Business”. So, maybe Fix St Louis should change its slogan from “One Stop Shopping for Professional Home Repairs” to “R-E-S-P-E-C-T…that’s our way of T-C-B”. Hmmmm. Maybe Aretha had a gift that I don’t have. What do YOU think, Simon?

Dr Steve
Fix St Louis
314-434-4100

If anyone in the national media is guilty of producing “fake news”, I swear they must have learned it from the handyman industry. Fact of the matter is, my industry is so good at spreading falsehoods, we don’t even show-up on those Internet lists of least trusted professionals – even though by speaking to all of you, I KNOW handymen must be ranked somewhere between Members of Congress and OJ Simpson.

So as a public service, let me shine the light of truth on some of the drivel and balderdash you may hear from handymen, so you are better prepared in the future, should you make the questionable decision to hire anybody other than Fix St Louis.

I need to take a few days off to attend an uncle’s funeral

This usually means one of two things. Either your handyman would rather spend his time at a job more important to him than yours, or you will never see him again. It NEVER means he had an uncle who, like, died, or that he even ever HAD an uncle. Best advice is to immediately put yourself in a position where you won’t feel ripped-off if he never returns, which you probably wouldn’t want him to do anyway.

I’ll need full payment in advance (alt. I need some more money to buy supplies)

No handyman should receive full payment, or excessive advance payments, until the job is completely done – it’s unnecessary and removes all incentives to complete the job fully, properly, and quickly. On the other hand, it is appropriate to make a partial, advance payment so that your handyman doesn’t need to go out-of-pocket on needed materials and to confirm your commitment so he can reserve the manpower needed. Be sure payment requirements are understood in advance, and don’t let yourself be talked out of them after work begins.

I broke into my ex-girlfriend’s apartment when she wouldn’t return my TV

You won’t hear this song-and-dance unless you ask a handyman why he has a felony conviction on his record, which is something we at Fix St Louis actually HAVE done. I couldn’t imagine why an ex-girlfriend’s revenge-of-choice would be to hold onto her ex-boyfriend’s TV, so I was skeptical the 1st time I heard this story, and a whole lot more skeptical when I heard this story REPEATED by 3 MORE candidates as a way to dance around their felony convictions. You start out by thinking, “sure, who WOULDN’T break into their ex-girlfriend’s apartment to retrieve their misappropriated TV” and end-up “hey, wait a minute! NO ONE would do this.” We spare our customers the trouble of handyman interrogation by running our own criminal background checks, and by not hiring convicted felons nor giving them access to your family and personal possessions. We wish these folks well, but we also know ourselves well – we’re in the handyman business, not the redemption business.

No job is too small

Unless you are talking to Fix St Louis, you can assume whenever a handyman tells you ‘no job is too small’ it is fake news. EVERYONE BUT US secretly wants BIG jobs, not small ones. So if you DO have a small job, you are likely to hear suggestions to make it bigger, though it will not be said exactly that way. Instead you will hear things like “That [blank] can’t be repaired, you need a new one” or “yeah, your [blank] is broken but you really need to replace all your [blanks]” or “the cost of doing that will be [3x what it should cost] in the hope that you would either be foolish enough to pay that amount or just reject it outright.

So, what is NOT fake news? You can start with our headline, “One Stop Shopping for Professional Home Repairs.” With Fix St Louis, at least there’s SOMEBODY in the handyman business who tells it like it is.

Dr Steve
Fix St Louis
314-434-4100

“When in the course of handyman events it becomes necessary to dissolve the commercial bands that have connected you the homeowner with THAT handyman, whom you originally THOUGHT was great, but who now has your money, won’t return your calls and, now that you mention it, didn’t do such great work, either.”

OK, so maybe I can’t write like Thomas Jefferson. But based on the stories you tell us every day, the truth is self-evident that while all handymen may be CREATED equal, by the time they actually arrive at your house, they sure don’t turn out that way.

That’s why we the handy-persons of Fix St Louis hereby pledge our fortunes and sacred honor in offering this Handyman Bill of Rights:

1. We shall make no policy prohibiting homeowners from exercising their right to FREE ESTIMATES, and their ability to schedule FIRM TIMES for appointments shall not be infringed.
2. A well-regulated workforce being necessary to perform repairs properly, our technicians shall have at least 10 years of experience.
3. Our work shall be GUARANTEED for one full year, and we shall provide a full-time CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE whom you may petition for a redress of grievances.
4. The right of homeowners to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects shall not be violated, so we will conduct criminal background checks and random drug tests on our technicians, and their work shall be bonded and insured.
5. Checks and Balances: Our customers may write CHECKS to pay their BALANCES (Oh, and may also submit payments by cash or any major credit card, offline or online).

Fix St Louis would never think to impinge upon your freedom of association with other handymen, in your search for a more perfect union. But when it comes to “E Pluribus Unum” (aka ‘One’)-Stop Shopping for professional home repairs, we try hard to be the shining city on a hill.

Dr Steve
Fix St Louis
314-434-4100

Unlike NFL players on the Philadelphia Eagles, handymen never seem to end-up on anyone’s A-List for invites to the White House, or anywhere else for that matter. It’s not that Donald Trump and I don’t have anything in common – after all, he builds buildings and we fix toilets in them. But even I would have to admit, it would be socially awkward to be chatting with Melania, while avoiding eye contact so I could stare at the White House’s magnificent hardwood floors and crown molding.

So, rather than wait to someday appear on your A-list for an invitation, let me just suggest you might actually want to invite Fix St Louis to your house now:

• Don’t you have some small home repair needs that seem unusual or trivial, and you’re afraid no self-respecting handyman would want to be bothered?
• How about those problems where you’re not even sure WHOM to call? Things like those cracks in your wall, that bad doorbell, that window pane that suddenly looks foggy, that hole in the wall your plumber left when he fixed your drain, that draft coming in around your front door, that closet door falling off its track, that door that won’t quite click shut?
• And then there’s that list of needed repairs your well-meaning, live-in honey-doer never seems to get around to.

Not to sound desperate, but if you do invite us over, we will make it painless. Our estimates are free, we show-up at firm scheduled times so you don’t have to wait around, and they generally take no more than 10-15 minutes.

In fact, Fix St Louis regularly gives free estimates to possibly the most discriminating invitees in the country – NFL players, past and present. Please don’t make us beg. We hope to hear from you soon!

Dr Steve
Fix St Louis
314-434-4100

As a handyman, I just can’t help it. I notice when things are broken, or not working as well as they once did, and try to fix them. And, I’m sensing that Memorial Day has become one of those things.

We’ve got a holiday weekend on which we’re supposed to honor, reflect on, and be grateful for the many who made the ultimate sacrifice, so that the lives of our families would be better. So, most of us do – what? Watch fast cars run around a famous race track, eat barbecued meat, take a day off from work, and drink adult beverages? Not that there’s anything wrong with those things, but – for real?

Maybe Memorial Day has become a victim of America’s own success. It’s been so long since the average American family has been personally touched by a war with mass casualties that, for many, there isn’t even a local cemetery to visit that’s the final resting place of someone we personally knew who died in battle – a suitable venue for us to honor, reflect on, and be grateful for their sacrifice.

So, on this Memorial Day weekend, please allow this grateful handyman to offer this step-by-step Memorial Day repair manual.

Step #1: FULLY understand how grateful we should be to them
Every country has, and will always have, their war dead. But ours are special – really. They didn’t just fight for land, or to protect people of their own blood. Coming from the only country ever founded based on an idea, they fought for enlightened principles, the shorthand version of which is “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Even to this day, NO nation takes liberty as seriously as we do. And, no nation in history has liberated as many as our armed forces have – it’s in the hundreds of millions.

Step #2: Honor their sacrifice by having a fulfilling weekend
If they died for our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, the least we can do is enjoy them. By pursuit of happiness, our founders probably did not have roller coasters, bar hopping, reality TV shows, Snapchat, or other “fun” things in mind. They probably meant the more serious things that give us a longer-term glow, like family, vocation, community, and faith. So enjoying your family and friends over the Memorial Day weekend in a roundabout way DOES honor the fallen.

Step #3: Recognize and be proud of your own contributions
Here’s an exercise that you can do that, if it works for us handymen, it ought to work for you, too. Think about how your family’s vocations contribute to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For you health care and legal professionals, it’s pretty easy – you’ve got life and liberty covered. Most of the rest of us are in the the pursuit of happiness business. Here’s just some of the ways Fix St Louis helps make happiness possible:

• Keep water from destroying your home
• Keep pests out of your home
• Help keep your house at the same temperature year-round
• Provide lighting so there’s more to do than go to bed after sundown
• Allow you to enjoy the convenience of modern appliances
• Make your house more secure
• Make your house more enjoyable by being more beautiful

Memorial Day weekend. There, I fixed it. Now go forth and pursue happiness.

Dr Steve
Fix St Louis
314-434-4100