My father was/is cheap and didn't trust anyone to do the job to his standards which means he fixed everything. He has rebuilt engines, dry walled and textured basements, coded in C+ for a little widget, and, even at 72, he installed a gas line for his new range and oven. Like, WTF man. Just pay someone!

Now, I have that same streak. Bought a high quality clothes washer that had a leak, for $100, fixed it. Basement light sucks. Replaced it with a good LED light bar. I've refinished furniture and build firearms. No formal education, just the drive to be cheap and gobble a challenge.

Out of curiosity, how did you learn to be handy?

Yes, Red Green was right: if they don't find you handsome, at least they can find you handy.


26 comments

  2. I’m reasonably handy, but far from being at the level of any actual tradie. In my case it was from buying a house and the work I’ve done it over the years. Where reasonable and safe I’ll try to do everything I can myself. Stuff comes up, which gives you a chance to learn how to do it.

    My FIL is extremely handy. If I can’t get something from YouTube I call him. I also inherited his garage full of tools when they retired and downsized their house to an apartment.

    I think delayed home ownership is a massive factor in why milennials and genz aren’t as handy, and something that gets overlooked by people who bought their first house at 21.

    I wouldn’t be touching a gas line though. Pretty sure it wouldn’t be legal in Australia.

  4. Dad got me to fix stuff with him (nothing crazy) and to do alot of house/lawn work for allowance. He didn’t have any builder skills to teach me anything past basic stuff but I got a feel for using tools and it stuck with me. Youtube + prices of home jobs = me learning how to do a low of handyman tasks for the past decade.

  5. I’ve been building and making things my entire life. Started out in our garage, just as a product of being lonely and having an innate desire to learn how things worked.

    My father used to joke that the only tool he had command over was his wallet, and that was no exaggeration.

    I learned through trial and error. Mainly error. Youtube has been a wonderful resource in recent years, and it’s helped me to tackle a much more diverse set of diy tasks.

  9. Ive always been drawn to building, fixing etc.

    My father is the opposite, if he says hes going to some DIY or whatever, its a given it will be half assed and look off in some way. I also enjoy learning about things, like when i was doing my first drywall. i watched videos and tried it out. failed, learned, redid it and got it done.

  11. Youtube.

    Im also a programmer and went to school for it 20 years ago. The way you learned 20 years ago was from manpages and being given a problem you had to solve. Learning how to do things like that, teaches you how to do pretty much anything. Give me enough time and the documentation. 

  13. People act like being a handy is a difficult thing. Really it’s just a matter of watching YouTube tutorials and fixing incredibly difficult things as they come up.

  15. It starts in childhood with “Righty tighty, lefty loosey.”

    Everything else builds on that through discovery.

    It probably helps if you’re the kind of curious person who enjoys exploration and puzzles and stuff.

  16. Grew up poor and learned by doing. However some things come to me easier than others. Engine rebuild, no problem. Building electrical, ehhh nope.

  17. Dad taught me all the basics. Add to that a willingness to learn, fail, try again, and succeed gets me through most things. Also being cheap af made it a necessity for years. Now that I’m older there are certain high intensity labor jobs that I’ll never do again. But I learned which through experience.

  18. my dad didn’t know how to do anything (his dad wasn’t in the picture) and never taught me anything handy as a result but I learned from friends and their fathers. my best friend especially his father always had us doing something and as a result learned how to do a lot of things around the house and with cars.

  20. Basically the same as you and your dad.

    But throw in a dash of “fiercely independent and unwilling to ask for help unless it is *absolutely* necessary”

  21. I am generally pretty mechanical and can figure out how most things work. And just home ownership has given me a reason to develop those skills.

    My dad did a lot of DIY home renovation stuff and I’ve always thought it was amazing how much I recall even not paying attention. He never touched plumbing or electrical, but I have.

    The biggest thing for me is fear of not knowing how deep the water is before I jump in, so YouTube has been great for that.

  23. My dad always said never pay someone to do something you can workout how to do. I’m constantly doing this. Plumbing,.tiling, woodwork, groundwork, electronics, mechanics, carpentry now I’m doing stained glass and pottery. I love working with my hands

  24. Little by little, over years. Started learning as a kid from a jack of all trades father, and carried his tendency to fix forward.

    I always put it to people that ask in ways like this. No one was born knowing how to turn a wrench or a screwdriver, but you learn somewhere along the way. Same with every single task out there. How’d you learn to repair a vehicle, “well it started at 5-6 when I learned righty tighty”. You build your knowledge as you try new things, and skills are transferable by project. A hammer works for a ton of shit. Building a rocket isn’t innate to human beings, you’re not born with that, but I bet everyone who ever builds one learned something about something before that.

    Learn small to gain big.

  25. Lots of it was out of necessity. Things broke, couldn’t buy new, so options were limited. Then there is on the job fixes, where you learn as you do it. And finally I like to tinker with things, so taking things apart to see how it works and put it back together again or rebuild, good ol redneck engineering, was a big part of my childhood.

  26. I learned some basic carpentry building sets for a school musical when I was a teacher. I enjoyed that and bought a couple saws and made a few projects for fun. Found myself between teaching jobs so I started painting interiors. That led to some handyman type work. That led to a full time job as a carpenter with an exquisitely talented GC and I learned A LOT working for him for about a year. Since then, I do nearly all my own work around the house and for friends.

Leave a Reply