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Brandon Fried has always been a problem solver. It’s the reason he started the handyman service Hands for Hire almost 20 years ago.
He has also been determined to provide customer service that leaves his clientele satisfied and willing to use Hands For Hire again.
“Expect someone friendly with a smile, someone that’s knowledgeable with the service needed, someone ethical and reliable,” Fried said. “They’re going to show up in a branded vehicle, in full uniform.”
What is it?
Hands for Hire is a full-service handyman maintenance company that provides services such as:
Hands for Hire also offers programs for regular maintenance services in residential homes, such as changing smoke detectors, flushing water heaters, changing air filters and cleaning dryer vents.
“Everyone goes and gets their cars’ oil changed, but nobody does the [proverbial] oil change for the house. And so we have custom programs that we can set people up on so they don't have to worry about it,” Fried said.
They also offer services for commercial buildings. A custom program allows commercial buildings to tailor their services according to their needs.
“Vet clinics and hair salons have dryer vents because they wash a bunch of towels, and fur and hair get clogged in drains,” he said. “But golf courses, car dealerships are different.”
The backstory
Hands For Hire was originally created for senior citizens when Fried was in college in California around 2008 and 2009. His grandmother was getting older and had trouble finding people to help her take care of her home, so he would drive to do it himself.
“Then people started asking if I could help them, neighbors,” Fried said. “And then I started printing out flyers and took them to our local senior citizen centers in Los Angeles, and handed them out, and word started to spread.”
Fried said a lot of his skills were self-taught at the time. In the beginning, Fried said they provided services like flipping mattresses, changing light bulbs and carrying in groceries for elderly customers.
“Every year we kind of added to the list of services that we did, and it quickly became everyone needed the services,” he said. “So we just opened it up to everyone and provided honest work, good work, good prices and reliability.”
After opening their services for people of all ages, their clientele expanded from senior citizens on a fixed income to celebrities, and services are unique for each customer.
“A customer had a custom-built outdoor kitchen, and it had trees above it. Whenever they would go to use the sink, there’d be bugs and leaves in it,” Fried said. “They wanted a clever way to cover it, so we custom-made a plexiglass cover to fit right inside the sink to keep everything clean and neat.”
After moving to Texas years later, Fried started the service again in Houston in 2018.
Respecting the craft
Fried said moving to Texas, he originally went into oil and gas, but realized it wasn’t his “thing” and wanted to continue helping people.
“When I started out here, I didn't feel like people were being taken care of, or people weren't being heard,” he said. “It was the ‘I'll be there between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and I'm going to show up at 7 p.m.’ I wanted to get away from that mentality and really try to solve people's problems.”
Fried added that part of that was to ensure fairness for every customer in price, too.
“We’re really not charging differently if you're in River Oaks in a mansion, all the way to a senior citizen on a fixed budget. We try to quote everyone equally based on the projects that they have.”
Dig deeper
Fried said a long-term goal of his is to open a nonprofit that can offer services to people who need help the most.
“Whether it’s military spouses, senior citizens on a fixed income, single parents, people that need help,” he said. “I’d like to put together a nonprofit at some point to really help people who may not have access to home repair services.”
