Local grandpa turns hobbies into handyman business

By Melody Parrette

Contributor

If he looks familiar, it’s probably not just because he has one of those comfortable friendly faces. You’ve likely sat next to this sports-enthusiast grandpa at a football game, soccer match or baseball double header.

He’s Greg Carter, local grandfather of five boys (expecting grandson number six in February 2011) and a master-fixer-upper as owner of North County Home Maintenance/Handyman Services. Greg – or “Bro” as he was originally affectionately called by his son-in-law, and has now become his nickname — specializes in all aspects of home repair, including electrical, plumbing and carpentry. After a long career that took him from construction to contractor and iron work, Carter took a less physical turn as owner of a lively printing business. Although fruitful, it wasn’t his passion. Instead of hanging it all up and retiring, he took his lifelong-honed home handyman skills and a love of woodworking and built a new career that would allow him to fulfill his real passion all the while keeping enough time for him to do things like volunteer for the “chain gang” at his 14-year-old grandson’s football game or help with the TPHS Varsity Baseball field day, fishing or cooking with his wife Barbara at their local home.

“Nowadays, with the economy as tough as it is, people are repairing their homes, rather than getting into a bigger remodeling job. I love helping people. I love pets, kids and getting to know my clients. I am glad that I am able to do what I do — and make new friends along the way,” Carter said.

Carter encourages maintenance that will help avoid the big-ticket repairs. This might mean just basic ‘tune-up’ like filter-changes, smoke and carbon monoxide detector battery changes, keeping weather strips intact, garage door calibration – things that most busy families neglect but can keep a house in good shape as well as keeping energy and other home repair bills down. His customers often joke with him that having his help means getting the “Honey Do” list completed perfectly without having to ask multiple times.

“I’ve lived in my house for five years and recently I was noticing a lot of little things that needed attention. Instead of calling a plumber, electrician, carpenter, etc. I was able to get it all done with one phone call to North County Home Maintenance/Handyman Services. I was thrilled to get all the things checked off my list and all done impeccably,” said Melody Parrette, a Carmel Valley resident. “Greg does an amazing job and his pricing is very reasonable. It’s no wonder he gets most of his business by word of mouth. My family just loves him!”

Carter finds that most of his business is small repairs, electrical, plumbing, hanging mirrors/pictures and routine maintenance but is capable of tackling bigger jobs too.

Another customer, Karen Madera from Encinitas, says, “He’s on time, clean, affordable. Those things are important to me. His integrity, honesty and sense of humor keep me calling him back.”

If you don’t happen to run into him in the near future on one of the playing fields, Carter can be reached at 619-957-2102.