About Marty | The Weekend Fix

Marty at the garage workbench with the spreadsheet open on a laptop, pegboard of tools behind him, and the swear jar full of quarters on the shelf

I'm Marty Hobbs. I'm 54, I do payroll for a building supply company, and I live in a 1978 brick ranch outside Richmond that breaks something roughly every eleven days. I keep a spreadsheet on it. Date, minutes, receipts, what went wrong. Deb says nobody wants to see the spreadsheet. This site is me proving her wrong.

Here's how it started. In 1998, three weeks after we bought the house, the hall toilet started running. I made it worse. The plumber charged $140, took 11 minutes, and whistled while he worked. I've been keeping score ever since. Then in 2011 a contractor quoted me $600 for a job that turned out to need a $9 part, and that was the day the spreadsheet was born.

Every job on this site posts with the time I budgeted, the time it actually took, what every part cost down to the cent, and how many trips to the hardware store it took me. The average is 2.1. I'm not proud of it. I'm not ashamed of it either.

Two promises. If I got something wrong, the post says so, with the dollar amount attached. And if a job is past what a guy with a drill should be touching, I'll tell you to pay the man, because I'd rather you spend the $180 than meet your breaker panel on its own terms.

The house

Built in 1978. Brick, one story, crawlspace with opinions. The back-left corner of the yard holds water, the 2009 windows are starting to fog, and every door in the place swells each July like it's paid to. Follow along long enough and you'll know this house better than your own.

The 1978 brick ranch: crawlspace vents, the puddle in the back-left corner of the yard, the deck off the kitchen, and the leaning metal shed

Things I will not touch

Gas lines. The electrical panel. Garage door springs. Roofs. Anything structural. The sewer main past the cleanout.

A guy has to know his limits, and mine are written down. If your project is on that list, stop reading blogs and pay the man.

The cast

Deb. Married 28 years. Runs the list. Right more often than I care to type.
Biscuit. Terrier mix. Scared of the shop vac. Cause of at least one repair on this site.
Gary. Next door since 2004. Owns every tool. Right about 60% of the time.
Big Ron. Deb's dad. Taught me most of this with six tools. The good screwdriver was his.