Phillips Home Repair

Warm weather has come and gone again, ending what was probably my busiest Summer yet. Winter is usually my slowest time of year, and therefore the best time of year to schedule larger jobs that take multiple days or weeks. As of now I have a few things lined up, but not much going on into the new year. As a reminder, I absolutely hate the cold weather and will not do much, if any outdoor work once it gets below about 40 degrees. I have plenty of indoor jobs to keep me busy, so save the outdoor stuff for Spring or call someone with more natural insulation.

I don’t have a set holiday schedule yet. Since Christmas and New Years both fall on weekends this year, I don’t really need to take any days off for holiday celebrations. I know a lot of people get a week or so off over the holidays, and that can be a great time to take care of jobs around the house. If you’ll be home and need some work done over the break, feel free to ask. I will probably take a few personal days to spend with family, but nothing is set in stone.

Thanks for another great year!

It’s been a busy Summer, so I haven’t updated things here in a while.

This is the time of year when everyone realizes that they have something outside that needs to be done before Winter and they don’t have much time left. The good news is, you’re not alone. The bad news is, you’re not alone! Last year, October was so rainy that many outside jobs that I had scheduled didn’t get done. Because of that, I’ve been trying to cram as much into September as possible. Well, it’s all filled up. I am now booking for October and hoping that the weather cooperates better than it did in 2010.

I am also still getting 5-10 messgaes a day that I don’t have time to return, much less actually schedule and complete. If you are one of them, I am sorry. I am getting requests for about 4 times the amount of work I can handle. I have no plans to add employees, so that means I have to get picky. I will certainly continue to work with my wonderful regulars and past clients that are spread out all over the Iowa City/Coralville area. As for new clients, I am going to narrow things geographically. I spend a lot of time in the car, usually driving to the outskirts of Coralville, North Liberty, Tiffin, Etc. That is not only bad for the environment, it’s a lot of time I am paying for gas and not getting paid for working. From now on, I will only take new clients that live within a couple miles of the Longfellow School neighborhood, which is where I live. I got in this business to fix things, not to spend an hour or two in the car. I hope everyone understands, and remember that this does not apply to existing clients. I’m not breaking up with anyone!

Thanks for your continued support,
Mark

Except for a few times here and there, the month of August is full and I’m now booking for September. Another busy Summer come and gone.

I am back from vacation and now booking for Summer. Contact me soon to get in before my schedule fills up!

You may have noticed that I’ve been having some website issues. This conveniently coincided with me being out of state for almost two weeks. Sorry about any confusion. I’ll be back in a few days and I’ll straighten everything out then. When it rains, it pours.

My momentary-lapse-of-judgement-turned-seven-stitches-in-my-thumb is healing nicely. I have lost feeling in places from severing some nerves and will have an ugly scar, but I should have full use of my hand within weeks. You’re not getting rid of me that easily!

I now have several large jobs that I’m in the process of scheduling, and I’ll be out of state for the last week or two in May. Put those two together and I am booked until June. If you’ve already talked to me about a job, don’t worry, I’m in the process of getting everything planned out.

Unfortunately, what little time I had left in early April is now gone. I suffered an injury to my hand while working on my own house on Friday that required seven stitches. Everything seems to be healing just fine for now, but until my stitches come out in two weeks, I have very limited use of my left hand. I will not be scheduling anything until I know how long the recovery will take. Thanks for understanding.

Well, Spring is here, I can tell by looking at my appointment book. March and the beginning of April are completely booked. I’m finally closing on my house in early April, and there is a fairly extensive remedy request I am working through. I need to tear out and rebuild a staircase and shingle a small roof, so any free time between now and then will be used there.

Also, just a heads up: I will be gone the second half of May at a wedding on the East Coast.

March is finally here, which means winter is almost gone for good. If it weren’t for my love of spring, I would have moved south years ago. The only thing that gets me through the winter is knowing that sometime, usually in March, the snow will disappear and things will start turning green again.

Another thing winter brings is the flu, and I’m just getting over it myself. If you tried to call in the last week, that’s why I didn’t answer or try to call you back. I didn’t have much of a voice and I didn’t want to answer the phone sounding like Darth Vader. Other than my schedule being a little backed up, I came through fine and am back to work today. I’m wrapping up a big project on top of the game of catch-up from being sick, but taking new appointments for mid-march. So feel free to get a hold of me to schedule those outdoor projects that were forgotten over the winter. There’s nothing I like more than to spend some nice days outside.

Thanks, and I hope everyone has a great spring!

The weather is warming up and I am expecting my phone to start ringing off the hook any day now. If you have a warm-weather job, feel free to contact me, but be prepared to wait a little while. I am still pretty busy wrapping up my long list of winter projects.

I will be off on Monday the 21 and Tuesday the 22, so any calls those days will go straight to voice mail. However, I should have email access during that time if you need to get a hold of me.

I finished my mid-century television project. It took me a couple months of weekends and evenings, but we couldn’t be happier with the results. It not only has it’s own speaker system and a place for the DVD player, but it has a built-in PC video game emulator. Only a few gigs of storage can hold every game made for every vintage home console from the Atari 2600 through the Super Nintendo.

Check out the pictures, and please contact me with feedback or if you are interested in ordering your own custom TV, or anything else. If you can dream it, I can probably make it.

[View with PicLens]

Things aren’t letting up! I finished one large job and the next is underway. I have a few messages that backed up last week, and I will try to get everyone called back soon. As for availability, the month of February is pretty much full already. If winter is this busy, I hate to think what summer will be like. This is probably the point where most businesses make the decision to hire employees. I am not taking that route. My goal isn’t to have a large contracting empire, but to be my own boss and do what I love. This business has one employee and always will.

If anyone was wondering what happened with the latest phone book dispute, I finally won! They stopped billing me for the ad I didn’t want. Don’t let big businesses push you around. Getting the BBB and state Attorney General involved was a big help. Power to the little guy!

Hello everyone, and happy New Year!

Apparently my winter slowdown is taking a vacation this year. I am booked up through January and have a few other big jobs just about all lined up for February.  I can still get in some small stuff here and there, but big stuff will have to get in line.

I will be adding a new section to my website soon. During my free time I like to build things on the side. Not the typical standard woodworker junk like cutting boards and birdhouses, but unusual things you can’t buy anywhere else for any amount of money. I don’t see the point of making something that everyone else already makes. So if you’ve been wanting some piece of antique furniture that is impossible to find, a coffee table that transforms into a DJ booth, an Art Deco iPod dock, or anything else you can imagine, just ask. I have experience in a wide range of areas, and I like to use them in strange ways. Hop over to the “Custom Woodworking Projects” section to see what I’ve been up to. (Should be up soon.)

Well, I managed to make it through another year. I’d planned a change in the business this year, stopping all print ads and focusing more on my existing client base. Not that I don’t want new clients, I just want to lose the drama that comes with constant calls from bargain shoppers. Unfortunately the Dex phone book renewed my advertisement without my permission. (Click on the “Advertising Rant” heading to read the whole story.)  But, I am minus one book ad anyway so will have a little more time for my regulars and referrals this year.

So far I don’t have much scheduled for January. Maybe I am finally getting that short break that usually starts in December. If you do have indoor work, please get a hold of me to schedule soon. As the weather warms up, my summer will fill up fast!

I hope everyone has a great new year, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Usually around Thanksgiving things slow down and don’t pick up until Spring, but this year the jobs just keep on coming. I’m not swamped, just busy enough to not be bored. I guess that’s what I get for taking most of the Summer off to get married and move.

Since turning my phone back on a few weeks ago, all I’ve been getting is telemarketing calls, so I’m sorry if I don’t drop everything and run to the phone when it rings. If you get my voice mail, leave a message I will call you back. Otherwise, email is usually the best way to reach me.

Also, my house is officially up for sale. Just thought people might want to see some pictures of the remodeling projects that got me interested in this business:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/72-Gleason-Drive_Iowa-City_IA_52240_M88611-74285

Well, the most ridiculous Summer of my life is now over. I just turned on my work phone for the first time since July and cleared out my full inbox. I am getting people called back and finally catching up.  My phone is on, and I am taking appointments. As of now, I still have an approximately 1 week lead time, but depending on the size of the job, I can maybe get you in sooner.

Thanks for everyone’s patience!

Mark

It’s been a while since I updated things here. My summer has been quite crazy. If you’ve been trying to call me, I apologize. I haven’t had my phone turned on for most of the summer. My wife and I moved to a new place which had no functioning kitchen and needed a lot of other work to be inhabitable. We’re fixing everything in exchange for rent while we sell our old house. So I had to take some time off to get the new house livable while still making frequent trips to the old house to clean it and take care of the yard, etc.  So this summer is pretty much a complete loss on paper, and I am sorry if you had work to do and couldn’t get a hold of me. As soon as the new house is complete and the old house is on the market, I will return to normal once again. In the meantime, you can still contact me through email. I am still taking small jobs here and there, and rest assured that as soon as I am able, I will be running full steam once again. Thanks  again for your patience, and I will post pictures of the remodel job when it is complete so you know I didn’t just spend all summer laying on the beach!

Although it is not listed yet, my old house is for sale. There are a lot of pictures of the work I’ve done to it on the photo gallery page on this website. Here is a link to the Zillow page. We haven’t decided on a price yet, but we are always taking offers.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/72-Gleason-Dr-Iowa-City-IA-52240/76764064_zpid/

I am still not taking too many new jobs as of now. I am still booked and it is only 2 weeks until I get married, so obviously I’m a little preoccupied as well as busy. Feel free to keep the emails coming and I’ll try to squeeze things in whenever I have time. Unfortunately, the phone will probably continue to be neglected for a while longer.

I’m back in town and all settled in. I’m about to finish the second of 3 big jobs that have been occupying my time this summer and preventing me from answering my phone or returning phone calls. It really is true that in this business you spend all summer turning away work and spend all winter begging for it. If anyone has any indoor jobs that can wait until cooler weather, let me know now. I can put it on my schedule and I’ll even give you a deal. If you have an outdoor job, feel free to contact me (preferably through email) and I’ll see what I can do. June is pretty much shot and July is full of personal days since I am getting married and moving.

I’ll be getting some pictures of these new jobs up soon, so check back to see those. The one I am most proud of is an entire main floor and part of a basement remodel. I am handling the gutting, door installation, trim installation, and a ceramic tile entry. Flooring specialists installed new carpet in the bedrooms and unfinished oak in the main living space. All the trim I am installing  is custom stained oak and is being done in an Arts and Crafts style. No faux-wood ranch molding and 45deg miters here! I also am about to finish a condo in Coralville where I removed ALL the carpeting and installed 35 boxes of Pergo laminate, stairs and all. They also got new ceiling fans and kitchen appliances, including a fridge that was so big I had to trim the counter and the upper cabinet to make it fit.

Thanks to everyone for your continued patience through the busiest summer I’ve ever experienced.

I will be out of town from Friday June 6th through Monday June 14th. Any calls or emails will be returned on or around Tuesday.

If you have called and left a message in the last week or two and never heard back, I am sorry. I have been wrapped up in two very large jobs and I haven’t been able to answer the phone or return any calls in 2 weeks. (Or eat or sleep for that matter!) I plan on working through the huge backlog of messages when I get back into town.

Thanks.

According to my constantly ringing phone, summer is officially here. As of now, I am booked through May and a little into June. I have two large projects that I am in the middle of and every available second will be going towards those. So if you need anything done before June, I am sorry. If it can wait though, feel free to contact me for a June appointment.

As for the contacting goes, when I am busy like this I can’t always get to my phone and can’t always get back to everyone that leaves a message. If you send me an email it will be a lot more reliable and you’re guaranteed a timely response.

Thanks!

Spring is here which means business is picking up. If you need anything done this spring, please feel free to contact me right away. Right now my lead time is around a week, so don’t wait until the last minute to call or email. And please remember that as things pick up and the phone starts ringing with more frequency, there is an increased possibility of me missing calls or forgetting to call someone back. I’m only human and running all aspects of the business by myself, so please be patient and don’t hesitate to call me back or email if you don’t get a hold of me. I’m a much better handyman than receptionist. Thanks, and I hope to hear from you soon!

I just added a new photo gallery of non-house repair things I’ve done. So far it’s all cars I’ve rebuilt or customized but I plan on adding some other things down the road. Check it out if you’ve never seen an AMC Pacer with hydraulics before!

As far as scheduling goes, things have started to pick up and I already have a few jobs set up for whenever this awful winter ends. If you have some outdoor work, feel free to contact me now and I can pencil it in so you’ll be one of the first when the weather warms up.