I bought my first home at 36, a one-bedroom apartment in NYC, and learned the hard way that renovating a home is a classic recipe for disaster when you're a 'newb' like I was. It's the classic "you don't know what you don't know" situation – and for that, I was bound to eventually pay up.
The apartment I thought I could "just renovate"
The building had great bones. (Maybe? What did I know about building bones?) But the unit, well, it wouldn't take an expert to see that it was going to need work. It appeared not to have been updated in 40–60 years. But it was easy to see how beautiful it could be and I had a vision for it.
So I did what most people would do: found contractors, agreed to their various scopes, and got to work.
Where it went wrong
As a first-time homeowner attempting something close to a gut renovation, I didn't have a reliable way to sanity-check decisions. And unfortunately, small misunderstandings (or gaps in knowledge) in home improvement aren't small. Worse, they often compound.
In my case, the most painful moment was going with a recommendation for an electrician who, it turned out, wasn't wiring the apartment up to code. But how would I have known? The need to address their poor decisions wouldn't come to light for more than 6 years. The result was thousands in rework, months of added stress and my own time, not to mention real compromises to the vision.
The real problem wasn't "bad people" — it was incentives.
I kept asking myself: How did this happen if I was doing my homework and trying to be thoughtful?
In retrospect, it's actually pretty simple.
There's no great place to get high-quality, unbiased advice on home improvement work.
- Maybe you have a handy person in your family or friend group, but unless they are truly experienced in the specific work you're doing, you probably shouldn't be relying on them.
- You can ask contractors, but they're often incentivized on selling you, which doesn't necessarily mean you are getting what you need.
- Even when a tradesperson would give you great guidance, their time is how they earn. If you're not hiring them, they usually can't afford to spend the time to walk you through your options.
- And if you're DIYing, online forums and videos can get you pretty far, but often times will only get you to 80% of the answer.
Side note: I did meet some incredible tradespeople who helped me along the way. They exist. But the system doesn't make it easy for them. There's a ton more to say about incentives and how misaligned they are – but that's a post for another day.
The insight: I'd happily pay for skilled judgment — and the trades deserve to be paid for it
If I could pay a great carpenter, electrician, plumber, tile setter, or landscaper for their experience without worrying they have other intentions (to 'win' the work), I'd do it immediately.
And for Fixers, remote advisory can be a better way to earn:
- no time lost in traffic
- no surprise hardware runs
- no crawling into cramped spaces
- no new customer acquisition slog
- more upside on days when you're unexpectedly free or underutilized in person
How Fixers Club works
Whether you are hiring contractors to improve your home or DIY'ing it, we're bringing you tradespeople who have answers. Here's how it works:
- You describe the situation with context: What you're doing, what's at stake, constraints, and context in the form of photos, quotes, plans, reports, etc.
- We match with a Fixer: Based on relevance and experience based on what you've shared
- They follow-up: Diagnosing, assessing, troubleshooting – they boil it down.
- Leave with progress: Next steps, questions for your GC, expectations as a benchmark, all bundled up in a post-consult summary.
Construction is one of the oldest professions — and it's only getting more complex. The homeowner experience shouldn't be "pay up and pray." And DIYers should have the ability to fill the gaps left by existing digital knowledge platforms.
Fixers Club exists to make the process of home improvement lower stress, more reliable, and less expensive by catching mistakes before they become rework.
If you feel this uncertainty and are seeking guidance, my co-founder Mike and I would love your help.
If you're:
- a first-time homeowner simply looking to know how to maintain their home
- planning a renovation (or already mid-stream)
- a DIY-er who needs occasional support when reddit or YouTube don't get you all the way
- reviewing quotes, change orders, or a big "what should we do?" decision
…reach out. If you want to try the beta, reply/message me at zach@fixersclub.com and I'll send details for how you can give us a try. And if you're a tradesperson (or know one!) who's interested in offering paid, remote guidance, we'd love to hear from you as we build our roster of skilled Fixers.