About Me

Hello, My name is Ian Clayton, and I am the owner of MacLeod’s (Ma-cloud’s) Handyman Services. In this week's post I am going to tell you a little about myself, why I started this business, and where my experience comes from.

My story

Started many many years ago when I was a wee boy. You see, my becoming a handyman was hereditary. My father was a handyman, he remodeled many parts of my childhood home in Rush, New York, built his own barn, and just did everything himself. I was not automatically drawn to doing this kind of work just because he was, I was usually reluctantly dragged into whatever job was being done (I would have rather been playing hockey in the driveway). But while being the “hold it” guy for my Dad I started to pick things up, which hammer to use when, how to use different tools in different situations, and how to build things.

A few years later took Mr. Goodsell’s basic electronics course at Rush-Henrietta High School, and then subsequently took the Audio Electronics course the next semester. I didn’t know it at the time but these two courses would change my life. Knowing electricity and electrical code would help me so much throughout my life, whether it be in remodeling my first house, but also in my career as an automotive technician, and now helps me in my business as that is what I specialize in as a Handyman.

This would also lead to the next chapter of my life, which was working for my father. My Dad was an Audio Engineer and would install sound systems into places like schools and other public venues. When I would be on breaks in High School and College I would work for my Dad, whether it be at the office building amplifier racks or on the job site installing the systems. Here I got even more experience working with electricity and wiring.

Many years later I bought my first house at twenty five years old, the place was an estate and had not been updated since the mid-seventies. There was avocado green linoleum everywhere and needless to say the whole place needed to be renovated. Thus began a six year journey of renovating the entire house; bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, a deck built in the back yard and many hardscaping projects throughout the outside areas. I took what was an outdated but lovely home and turned it into our own little slice of paradise.

I have since moved to a new home in a rural area outside of Rochester, New York, just on the edge of the Finer Lakes Region of New York State and continued to upgrade this house which had also not been updated since the… we’ll say nineties on this one. We have added a four hundred square foot deck onto the house, poured a concrete walkway, and done numerous other projects to turn this new home into a new little slice of paradise.

So, why start a handyman business?

I started this business for the reason that everyone starts a business, to turn a profit and make money. But, this was not the sole purpose behind this business. I also started this to challenge myself to learn the skill of operating a business, which I believe is a skill unto itself. I knew going into this that the easy part for me would be the handyman work itself, and I knew that the difficult part would be running the business.

The Unexpected

When I started this business I did not expect to find joy in the places that I have found so far. I did not expect to enjoy interacting with my customers nearly as much as I have, interacting with and learning my customers stories has been so incredibly enjoyable and rewarding. The feeling I get after helping someone install, upgrade, or repair their home cannot be explained.

Conclusion

So far this experience has been extremely educational and enjoyable and I am very much looking forward to continuing and growing my business. I look forward to helping more people, getting to know more customers, and providing my Handyman services in the Rochester and Finger Lakes Region of New York.