A solid handyman (Celah)

I met Celah a few months ago. We had to replace a mixer in the shower. The plumber did his thing but left us with a gaping hole. If ever you find yourself in our situation, you will know. It was more or less open season for other tradies to quote whatever they want. Imagine a 2 tiles by 2 tiles area, materials won't cost much (we supply the tiles). So a bit of gyprock. A bit of skills. A bit of waterproof material. Time to let things set and time for membrane to dry. Maybe two visits. The quotes came to $6-800.

Celah is retired. He is Turkish. Swore a bit when he was doing his work. Every now and then he had to sneak outside to have a smoke. Did other handywork / construction over the years. He is also trained as an auto mechanic.

Celah quoted us $400 instead. Keep in mind, he is a handyman but not a licensed tiler.

He did the job well. Paid attention to details. He chipped away at the old grout on the replacement tiles. Regrouted the area afterwards.

We actually had him to come back and help with other stuffs as well.  A man of honor one may say. We were looking to replace some taps and shower heads. But I got the wrong parts. He could not do the job that day. He left and he did not charge us at all. He said I did not do anything for you so could not charge you even though he drove up all the way. Next time he dropped by, we went to Bunnings and bought all the parts together. His rate was lower than quotes I got from other plumbers.

With Celah, need to speak a bit louder to him. One side of his hearing is not well. Also he can be running late. His GPS can be temperamental with his old phone. However, his quote will be competitive. He has done tiling, change taps, change lock for us.