Priya Nanthakumar — Toronto, Ontario, Canada First-Time Homeowner & Graphic Designer
Nobody prepares you for how expensive and exhausting homeownership actually is.
You sign those papers, you get the keys, and everyone congratulates you — and then a pipe makes a noise you’ve never heard before at 2am and you realize you are completely on your own.
I bought my semi-detached home in Scarborough about two years ago. It’s a 1970s build, which means it has character (the polite word) and also a long list of things that need attention (the honest word).
Within my first year, I dealt with a stubborn bathroom drain, peeling paint in the kitchen, and outdoor wood siding that was starting to look genuinely weatherbeaten.
The siding became my Handy Home Men story.
I’d gotten quotes from two contractors. Both were quoting timelines that stretched three months out and prices that made me genuinely reconsider some of my life choices.
A friend who does renovation work on the side told me the job itself wasn’t complicated — I just needed proper preparation and the right products.
She sent me the exterior wood siding maintenance guide on Handy Home Men.
I spent a weekend reading everything on the site about it. What I loved was how Remi approached the topic like he was anticipating every question a beginner would have — because he’d apparently been the beginner once too, and he remembered what that felt like.
The guide covered prep work in detail, which most tutorials completely skip over. That’s where I’d have failed without it. I would’ve gone straight to paint and wondered why it looked terrible in six months.
The whole project took me three weekends. I won’t pretend it wasn’t physically demanding — that part was real — but it was absolutely doable.
My siding looks genuinely great now. More importantly, I understand my house better than I did before.
I know what the wood needs seasonally, what to watch for, and when to address small issues before they become large ones.
I’ve recommended this site to every new homeowner I know. There’s something about the way Remi explains things that makes you feel like you have a knowledgeable friend in your corner.
In this city, where everyone is busy and everything is expensive, that’s not a small thing.