Vol. XXVI · No. 04 • Workshop Almanac
— The Everyday Handyman —
Est. MMXIX
Vol. XXVI · No. 04 • Workshop Almanac
Est. MMXIX
Handyman Guides is a workshop that happens to publish. We test tools on real projects, break our own tips before we print them, and vet every tradesperson in our directory against real licensing and reviews. This page is who we are, how we started, and the editorial standard behind every star, rank, and recommendation on the site.
§ I — The Origin
Handyman Guides started the way most good workshops do — out of frustration. Our founder, Jeffrey Will, spent years reading tool reviews written by people who had clearly never held the tool, then buying the wrong gear and paying for it twice. The site began as a private list of what actually worked.
Jeffrey started writing the corrections down — first for himself, then for friends, then for the thousands of readers who found the guides useful. What began as one honest opinion is now a small team, hundreds of tested entries, and a trades directory homeowners trust. The mission has never changed: no fluff, no sponsored rankings, just tools and trades that earn their place.
Handyman Guides launches as a one-person project. Jeffrey Will publishes the first dozen tool reviews from his own garage bench.
Readers start writing in for advice. The first buying guides go up, and the site crosses its first hundred thousand annual readers.
The trades directory launches, vetting local plumbers, electricians, and handymen against real licensing and reviews.
A small team of field testers joins. Coverage expands to power tools — compressors, chainsaws, generators, and more.
The site passes 300 tested entries and a million annual readers, and formalizes its five-axis editorial standard.
Handyman Guides becomes the everyday homeowner’s first stop for the right tool, the right fix, and the right pro to call.
§ IV — Directory
No. 01
In-depth, field-tested buying guides for air compressors, chainsaws, drills, generators, pressure washers, welders, and more — ranked on real performance, not spec sheets.
No. 02
Step-by-step repair guides for the jobs every home needs — patching drywall, fixing sticking doors, stopping leaks — tested before we publish them.
No. 03
A vetted directory of local trades — plumbers, electricians, painters, and more — checked against published licensing and real customer reviews.
No. 04
No sponsored rankings and no pay-to-play. Every recommendation is one we would give a friend, updated as new models replace the old.
§ II — Specimen Pages
If you have read any other “tool advice” site, you already know how this is supposed to go. Search keyword, paraphrase the manufacturer’s page, paste a link to Amazon, hit publish before lunch. We do not work that way, and we have been told it would be more efficient if we did. We decline that advice for the same reason we decline most advice on the internet — because the thing we are trying to build only works if the work is honest. Below is the editorial standard, in six short rules, that decides what makes it onto the site.
We do not. Every tool we feature on Handyman Guides has been pulled out of its packaging and put through a real project. Every tip we publish has been tested, broken, and tested again. Every trade in our directory has been vetted against published licensing, real customer reviews, and where possible a phone call. This is not a content site that happens to be about tools. It is a workshop that happens to publish.
Below is exactly how we work. Read it once and you will know what every star, every rank, and every “Best Overall” tag on this site is built on.
We pull each tool out of the box and put it through a real project. Spec sheets lie; sawdust does not. If we have not used it, we do not rank it.
We earn from affiliate links and display ads — nothing else. No manufacturer has ever paid to move up our rankings, and none ever will.
We revisit our buying guides at least twice a year. When a newer model beats an old favorite, we say so, and we date every update.
No listicles, no SEO mush, no ten-things-you-need-now. We explain the trade-offs in plain language so you can decide for yourself.
Our only job is to save you money, time, and frustration. If a recommendation stops holding up, we change it — and we read every email.
§ II — Specimen Pages
A small team stands behind every review and every trade in the directory — led by the founder, backed by the field testers who break the tools and the vetting desk that checks the pros.
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Jeffrey started Handyman Guides in his own garage and still tests most of the flagship tools himself. A lifelong DIYer and tradesman, he sets the editorial standard and personally signs off on every “Best Overall” pick.
Years on the tools
Reviews edited
Our Field-Testing Crew
The people who actually break the tools. They run every compressor, saw, drill, and welder through real projects — timing cuts, measuring runtime, and logging what fails at month six so you do not find out the hard way.
Tools tested a year
Tool categories
Directory Vetting Team
The team behind the Hire a Pro directory. They check every plumber, electrician, and contractor against published licensing, insurance, and real customer reviews before a single trade earns a listing.
Trades covered
License-checked
§ II — Specimen Pages
We do not run a Patreon. We do not sell a course. We do not have a paid newsletter. Handyman Guides has two revenue streams — and both are visible to you the moment you arrive on the site. There is no third income source we are being quiet about.
The first is affiliate commission. When you click a link in one of our buying guides and end up purchasing the product, we earn a small percentage of the sale. The price you pay is the same. We are an Amazon Associate, and we participate in a handful of other affiliate programs for tool manufacturers we believe in.
The second is contractor lead-matching through the Hire a Pro service. When a contractor in our network wins a job that came through a reader request, we are paid a small placement fee by the contractor. The reader pays nothing for the service at any point.
That is the whole picture. No sponsored articles. No paid placements in buying guides. No “brand partnerships” that quietly insert paragraphs into our entries. The day any of that changes is the day this paragraph gets rewritten — out in the open, with a publication date stamped on the change.
What started as a correction project became a publication. The shape never changed: hands-on, field-tested, written by people who held the tool before they typed the article. The almanac you are reading is what that small project has grown into — still small, still hand-built, still corrected when a reader writes in.
Amazon Associates and select tool-manufacturer programs. Earned only when you click and buy — at no extra cost to you.
Standard display ads on some pages. They never influence a ranking or a recommendation.
The occasional reader tip. We run no Patreon, sell no course, and take no sponsored reviews.
§ II — Specimen Pages
We don’t believe in listicles, SEO mush, sponsored top picks, or 10-things-you-need-now. We believe in honest tools, careful work, named authors, and the quiet satisfaction of a job done properly. We write for the person who is going to do the work themselves — or pay someone to do it, and want to know the difference between a fair quote and a fast one.
Handyman Guides exists to make the right tool, the right fix, and the right tradesperson easier to find — without the noise of the modern internet. Our reviews are written by people who have actually held the tool, and our tips are tested before they are typed. Thanks for reading, and for trusting us with the jobs that matter. — Jeffrey Will & the team
One email, every Sunday. New tool reviews, the best tip of the week, and a single recommendation from the editors. No clutter.
