3 Holiday-Friendly, Home Improvement Professionals

According to ServiceMagic, an online resource matching homeowners to home improvement contractors, project requests decline precipitously during the holiday season. This decline is easily explained, as every dollar spent on retail is another dollar that can't be spent on home improvement contractors. While kitchen and bathroom remodeling, and other major renovations tend to get hit hardest, there are a small handful of home improvement contractors that can be truly invaluable during the holiday season.

1. Handymen
Despite the explosion of the DIY culture in home improvement, winter (and the holiday season, in particular) does not motivate most homeowners to work on their homes. Even needed repairs may be passed on to the professionals. When appliances break down, when staircase railings become loose, when the dog finally manages to dig its way under the fence, many homeowners opt for the convenience of professional handymen. In fact, some homeowners even opt to hire a handyman for the quintessential holiday project—hanging lights.

One of the most popular single handyman tasks during the holidays is assistance with basic energy efficiency and stopping air leakage. Help with the installation of weatherstripping and caulking jumps 10.9 percent in December over the rest of the winter months. Along the same lines, basic heating system repairs jump in December, while a spike in heating system installation, which requires a significant investment in the home—doesn't occur until after the holidays.

2. Maid Service Contractors
Maid service is one home improvement made for the holidays. House cleaning can take on a whole new dimension for homeowners who are hosting the social gatherings of the season, and the mountains of dishes that come with this honor. Unfortunately, this is far from the only increased strain on your household cleaning. Like summer, the kids are home from school, giving them extra hours to rum amok. In particular, college students—home for an entire month—may present new problems, as they pick up bad house-cleaning habits from fraternity brothers and sorority sisters, just as you've lost the ability to reasonably ground them.

During the holiday season, demand for maid services actually increases, as does other specialized cleaning services. Whether more homeowners entertain during the holidays and use their fireplaces, or they want to provide a comfortable journey for old St. Nick, December is high tide for chimney cleaning.

3. Snow Removal Contractors
Snow removal is an obvious job during the holiday season, but more than just Old Man Winter may influence the demand for professional snow removal services. Looking at recent statistics from the months of December and January, the data is mixed on whether the holidays jumpstart this home maintenance service or dampens it. On one hand, homeowners may be playing host to older family members with limited mobility, making the necessity of clearing sidewalks, driveways, and walkways a holiday necessity. On the other hand, more people have time to get out there with their own shovels during holiday vacation time.

In the end, there is no way to know when and how much snow is going to fall throughout the winter months. For this year's winter, the Farmer's Almanac is predicting a colder, but drier season for much of the northern United States.

What Makes a Contractor Holiday-Friendly?
The thing these three contractors have in common is their ability to reduce the hassle of your home maintenance with minimal instruction. Ask the handyman for a home check-up, mention a few key areas of trouble, and off he goes. With maid service, tell them where they don't need to go (kids' rooms, the office) and they'll go to work. Tell the snow removal contractor to come after every snow, and you won't have to tell him anything more. This also explains why contractor referral services—which cater to homeowners who like the convenience of finding contractors online—see a particularly strong jump in these services during the holiday.

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