Use your construction experience without wearing tool bags all day.
Happy House Maintenance LLC is looking for an unusually sharp, dependable, and personable Home Repair Assessor & In-Field Support team member.
This is not a production carpenter position.
We are looking for someone whose greatest value comes from their years experience in the field, keen eye, sound judgment, impeccable communication, and ability to notice what other people would miss.
You will visit homeowners, assess repair and maintenance issues, investigate problems, take detailed photos and measurements, and clearly document what needs to be done.
You will also help keep active projects moving forward by checking on jobs, picking up and delivering supplies, communicating important field information, catching missed details, collecting payments and solving small problems before they become big ones.
There is some light physical work, but we are hiring your ability to assess and be detail oriented more than your muscle.
If you have years of residential construction or repair experience and would like to put that knowledge to work in a role that is less physically demanding and more focused on assessment, problem-solving, customer service, and project support, this may be an excellent fit.
The Mission
Your mission is to help Happy House understand exactly what is happening with a client's home, clearly define what should be done about it, and help make sure our projects run smoothly from assessment through completion.
A great person in this position makes:
Clients feel taken care of.
Estimates and assesses accurately.
Writes detailed scopes of work without leaving anything out.
Prepares team and crew seamlessly.
Helps projects run smoother.
Helps potential issues be addressed sooner.
Helps finished jobs look complete and professional.
What Excellent Performance Looks Like
Within your first few months, we expect you to become someone we can confidently send to a client’s home knowing you will represent Happy House professionally.
You will be expected to arrive on time, be properly dressed, and listen politely and attentively to the client’s needs. You will assess the home and its maintenance needs, ask the right questions, and return with useful, accurate information that allows us to confidently prepare the next steps for the client.
1. Thorough Home Assessments
You systematically walk the property and notice issues that an average person would overlook.
You may be looking for:
- Dry rot and wood deterioration
- Deck and stair problems
- Loose or deteriorated railings
- Failing siding and trim
- Paint and coating failure
- Caulking and waterproofing problems
- Roof and drainage concerns
- Moisture intrusion
- Deteriorated structural components
- Unsafe or unfinished conditions
- Deferred maintenance
- Poor previous repairs
- Other visible residential repair needs
You don't simply see the obvious problem.
You look around it, underneath it, above it, and ask what caused it.
2. Exceptionally Clear Documentation
Finding a problem is only half the job.
We need you to be able to define it clearly enough that someone who was not standing beside you understands exactly what you found.
That means taking:
- Clear photographs
- Accurate measurements
- Specific location notes
- Useful written observations
- Enough context to understand the repair
- Notes about related conditions that may affect the work
Instead of:
“Deck beam has rot.”
We want something closer to:
“Approximately four feet of the exterior deck beam near the left support post shows deterioration. The lower portion of the beam is soft and visibly decayed. Recommend removal of the affected section (10ft) and evaluation of the concealed post connection once opened.”
You don't need to be a professional writer. We use Voice-to-text AI, which speeds things up. You do need to be a detailed thinker and convey that to our AI tools.
You do need to be specific, accurate, observant, and able to communicate what you see.
3. Excellent Customer Experience
This is one of the most important parts of the job.
You will often be one of the primary faces of Happy House in a client's home.
We need someone homeowners naturally feel comfortable with.
You should be able to:
- Build rapport quickly
- Listen carefully
- Ask good questions
- Explain construction issues in understandable language
- Answer questions calmly
- Be confident without being pushy
- Treat people's homes with respect
- Communicate problems without unnecessarily alarming people
- Make homeowners feel heard and taken seriously
The goal is for clients to think:
“He was thorough. He knew what he was looking at. He listened to me. I trust him.”
Technical knowledge without good people skills will not be enough for this position.
The Second Half of the Job: Keeping Projects Moving
Assessment is a major part of this role, but you will also help support our active jobs.
That could include:
- Visiting jobs to check progress
- Comparing completed work against the scope
- Taking progress photos
- Catching forgotten or incomplete details
- Communicating field conditions to the project manager
- Picking up materials
- Delivering supplies to crews
- Tracking down a missing part or material
- Helping resolve small field problems
- Meeting a homeowner when needed
- Helping with touch-ups or minor repairs
- Helping clean or organize a job site
- Carrying or loading materials when needed
You are essentially another set of experienced eyes and capable hands helping projects stay on track.
We want the kind of person who walks onto a job and naturally asks:
“What needs to happen here to make this go smoothly? What was missed that was outlined in the contract?”
This Is NOT a Heavy-Labor Construction Position
We want to be very clear about this.
You will not be expected to wear tool bags and perform hard physical construction for hours a day.
This position is primarily about:
Experience. Judgment. Observation. Reporting. Customer service. Problem-solving. Follow-through.
You should still be comfortable being active.
You may climb a ladder, crawl underneath something to take a look, carry supplies, load materials, clean something up, make a small repair, or lend a hand to a crew.
But those tasks support the position.
They are not the primary reason we are hiring you.
This can be an excellent next step for an experienced carpenter, contractor, maintenance professional, home inspector, painter, remodeler, or tradesperson who still enjoys construction but would rather use more of their knowledge and less of their body.
Who We're Looking For
The right person is unusually observant.
You notice the soft corner of a fascia board.
You notice that water appears to be running behind the trim.
You notice the handrail that moves more than it should.
You notice that the repair addressed the visible rot but not what caused it.
You notice the unfinished caulk joint before the homeowner does.
And when you find something, you don't just say:
“There's a problem over there.”
You can explain where it is, what you observed, approximately how much is affected, what appears to be happening, and what should happen next.
The A-Player We're Looking ForYou are highly detail-oriented.
You naturally look twice.
You don't rush through an assessment and assume you saw everything.
You are humble.
You have strong construction judgment.
You understand how houses are put together and can recognize when something doesn't look right.
You're excellent with people.
You're friendly, calm, confident, respectful, and comfortable talking with homeowners from many different backgrounds.
You communicate clearly.
Your notes make sense. Your photos tell a story. You don't leave everyone else guessing what you meant.
You take ownership.
If you say you're going to do something, it gets done.
You don't need someone repeatedly reminding you.
You solve problems.
When a crew needs a missing material or something unexpected happens, your instinct is to figure out the next useful step.
You're trustworthy.
You will frequently be representing our company without someone standing over your shoulder.
We need complete confidence in your judgment and integrity.
You're professional.
You arrive on time, present yourself neatly and professionally, communicate respectfully, and treat a client's property as though it matters.
You're a team player.
There is no “that's beneath me” attitude here.
You might spend part of the day evaluating a complicated repair and later pick up lumber for a crew or help clean up a job before the homeowner gets home.
The common denominator is:
You make yourself useful. You are a step ahead, anticipating needs.
Experience
Strong candidates may come from backgrounds such as:
- Residential construction
- Home repair
- Remodeling
- Carpentry
- General contracting
- Home inspection
- Property maintenance
- Deck construction and repair
- Dry rot repair
- Exterior repair
- Painting
- Roofing
- Siding
- Restoration
- Construction project supervision
Home inspection experience is a plus — but it is not required.
We care much more about whether you understand houses, notice problems, think carefully, communicate clearly, and can earn the trust of a homeowner.
You do not need to know everything about every trade.
A strong candidate also knows the difference between:
“I know what's happening here.”
and
“I'm not certain yet — this needs further investigation.”
Good judgment includes knowing when not to guess.
How We Will Measure Success
We believe people perform better when expectations are clear.
Success in this position will be measured by:
Client Experience
Homeowners consistently experience you as professional, knowledgeable, helpful, and trustworthy.
Professionalism
You represent Happy House well every time you enter a client's property.Assessment Quality
Your assessments consistently identify the important visible repair issues and provide enough information for us to act on them.
Documentation Quality
Photos, measurements, locations, and written observations are accurate, specific, and useful.
Scope Accuracy
Your information helps us develop clear scopes and reduces surprises after projects begin.
Attention to Detail
You routinely catch problems, incomplete work, and missing details before the client has to point them out.
Project Support
Your involvement makes projects easier for the crew and project manager rather than creating additional work.
Follow-Through
Assignments, supply runs, job checks, photos, and communication happen reliably without repeated reminders.
About Happy House Maintenance LLC
Happy House Maintenance LLC repairs, restores, and preserves homes throughout Nevada County and the Auburn area.
Our work includes dry rot and structural repair, decks, siding and trim, painting and weatherproofing, general residential repair, roof and water-related repairs, preventative maintenance, and wildfire-risk mitigation.
We're building a company homeowners can trust.
Pay & Schedule
Starting pay: $28-31/hour DOE
This is a part-time position, with the possibility of additional hours and responsibility as you demonstrate capability and the role grows. Room for advancement and career development as we are a growing company and need additional team members and leadership support. Ideal candidate has availability M-F, with flexibility on timing.
This is a field position serving homes and projects primarily throughout Nevada County and the Auburn area.
Pay: $28.00 - $31.00 per hour
Expected hours: 20.0 – 25.0 per week
Work Location: In person
