A handyman, handywoman, or handyperson is someone who can do a variety of home repair and improvement tasks. Sometimes they are do-it-yourselfers, but they are often professionals for hire. Handypersons are necessary to keep homes maintained and functional.
A handyman,
handywoman, or handyperson, is a person capable of making repairs of various things around the home. In the French language, the word for handyman is “bricoleur”, which has the connotation of a do-it-yourselfer (DIY) who is skilled at repairing many different kinds of objects with only the tools at hand. However, handypersons also do their work professionally for pay. The term can also refer to a person who fine tunes or rearranges an organization. While the term handyman has a variety of meanings, in everyday speech, it generally refers to a paid repairperson.
The tasks which a handyperson can deal with include electrical and plumbing work. They might replace or repair lights or water pipes. The general idea is that a handyperson can take care of jobs that do not require the specialized knowledge and training of professions such as electricians and plumbers.
The term itself, “handyman”, like many other similar gender-specific terms, is coming to be replaced by the corresponding feminine gender form, “handywoman”, and the gender-general term, “handyperson”. The driving force behind this change is the increasing prevalence of women who work in the field of handiwork.
Handypersons can take on different tasks, some of which are small and some of which are more difficult. Even though they do not have the training and specific knowledge of an electrician or plumber, they can still be very skilled at what they do, and some handypersons, with the right training, are able to successfully complete many home improvement tasks.
Over time, in any home, parts of the home will begin to either accumulate matter, interfering with normal use, or break from wear and tear. Most of a handyperson’s job consists of replacing worn out parts, especially due to planned obsolescence in industrial production. Mass production of the parts that make up homes has lead to their ever increasing disposability. This has lead to an increase in the need for handypersons, and the emergence of handyman franchises.
Maintenance of the home is another general area to which the handyperson can apply him or herself. A good handyman should be able to maintain all of the accumulated necessities of a home. Everything from alarm systems to gutters, toilets to painting and dry wall comes under the arrangement of services provided by handypersons.
A handyman should also be able to remove and repair situations involved with the possibility of toxins in the home. Removal of mold, radon, asbestos, lead paint are all issues that face the home today, and they fall under the purview of the handyman.
In conclusion, handypersons can be anyone with a variety of home repair skills, but it is increasingly becoming a paid profession, and there are even handyman franchises that exist in different geographical locations. Do-it-yourselfers have different levels of skill, and sometimes have to hire outside help. Products have come to have shorter life spans as cuts have been made in the cost of their production. Therefore, the need for handypersons continues to go up. Home improvement and repair is a necessity in the modern home.
