Welcome to FamilyHandyman.net.
I’m Zyan Ellington. I’m a general contractor in Austin, Texas, and I’ve been doing this work for 8 years now since March 2018 to today. I started this site because I kept running into the same thing on jobs homeowners asking me questions they probably could have figured out themselves, if someone had just explained it properly the first time.
That’s really the whole reason this site exists.
Why I started this
Honestly, a lot of the home repair stuff you see online is written by people who have only read about it, not by people who have actually done the job. You can usually tell. A step gets skipped, or the order is wrong, or the advice technically works but ignores the part that actually trips people up. I wanted a place where the instructions come from doing the job, not from putting a few articles together.
How I put content together
Here is roughly how I go about it. I do the work first — an actual repair, an actual build — and I take photos as I go. I write the things in order according to which happening really. Including the part where something didn’t go as planned. If a certain tool matters, or a certain material is worth the extra cost, I’ll say why. If there’s a step where people usually mess up, I flag it before you get there instead of after.
What’s on the site
Right now it’s organized into six areas.
- Home Repair — plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and appliances. This is what most homeowners call about, and a lot of it doesn’t actually need a licensed pro.
- Carpentry & Woodworking — furniture, shelving, small builds.
- Painting & Flooring — prep work and material choices, since most painting problems come from skipped prep, not bad technique.
- Outdoor & Garden — decks, patios, fences, and the seasonal stuff tied to how things hold up in Texas weather.
- Tools & Reviews — what actually performs on a jobsite, not what the packaging claims.
- Tips & Saving Money — figuring out which projects are worth doing yourself, and which aren’t.
What I’m trying to do
Honestly, I’m just trying to make home repairs less of a guessing game. You either put the repair off because you don’t know what to do, or you give it a shot and miss something important. Then you’ve wasted your time, spent money for nothing, or made the whole thing worse. I’d rather tell you the important stuff first, so you know what you’re getting into.
I’ll also say clearly when something isn’t a DIY job. Structural work, gas lines, main electrical panels — that’s not where I’m trying to talk anyone into doing it themselves. Knowing when to call a professional is part of doing this right.
How I decide what goes up
Nothing gets posted without being tested first. If I use something and it doesn’t hold up, I’m not going to recommend it. And if a tool turns out to be disappointing, I’ll say that too. I don’t care how well-known the brand is.
Still growing
A few more categories are coming later, once the current ones have enough real content in them.
Reach out
If you’re stuck on something, or there’s a topic you want covered, just get in touch. A good chunk of what ends up on here starts from a question someone asked me directly.
Thank you for visiting FamilyHandyman.net.