Someone You Can Trust

Are you looking for someone you can trust to work on your home? Do you want to lower your stress by getting those nagging projects off your to-do list? Are you tired of asking your husband to do them?

If so, you’ve come to the right place.

Hi, my name is Tobin, owner of TLC Handyman Services, and I’m not your typical handyman.

My Story

I grew up with a lot of success – high school valedictorian, 4.0 GPA, 5 Iowa state championships – cross country, tennis x2, baseball x2, physics degree from Lawrence University, master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University, beautiful bride, growing family (4 kids), great job designing cellphones at Motorola.

Failure

So when I quit my job at 29 to start investing in real estate, I assumed my success would continue, and I would soon be rich, or at least on my way. But things didn’t work out as I’d hoped. Looking back I realize how naive I was.

I didn’t have the required skills, nor the proper knowledge of how the world really works. My cashflow was feast or famine, mostly famine, and I wasn’t able to produce good results consistently.

New Directions

When my wife got a new opportunity in Madison, I was fortunate to get a fresh start troubleshooting and supporting healthcare software at Epic, a leading electronic medical record company.

Twelve years later, with my wife now working in La Crosse, I found myself contemplating my professional future as we moved to West Salem.

Do I find another desk job and spend the last fifteen of my working years staring at a screen, clicking a mouse, and slowly dying inside? Or do I gather all the wisdom learned from my failures, correct past mistakes, and take another bite at the entrepreneurial apple? I chose the latter.

Why Handyman?

I’ve been “handy” as long as I can remember, always taking things apart, figuring out how they work, building things, and helping my full-time college professor/part-time carpenter dad on jobs during the summer – including building my parents’ house in Decorah, Iowa where I grew up.

Every home my wife and I have owned, we’ve remodeled extensively, picking up tools and skills along the way.

Since our first house, I’ve had a full woodworking shop in my basement, completing projects from a hickory bed for my nephew, to decorative jewelry boxes for gifts, to other furniture and cabinetry, including our current kitchen (ask me about the Lake Geneva kitchen story).

I’ve also thought long and hard about why I failed in my thirties, and somewhat surprisingly, a handyman business solves each of my major problems and aligns perfectly with the skills and talents I bring to the table.

Plus, I love it. There’s something so satisfying to me about working with my hands – the before and after pictures. There’s a concreteness – an immediacy – the delighted look on a customer’s face standing right in front of me, that confirms that this is what I should be doing.

How I can help you save time and eliminate stress

I have a broad range of experience solving a wide variety of problems, so I may be able to tackle your list with one call. You’re busy enough without having to chase a bunch of different contractors.

Dealing with even one typical contractor can be stressful enough. Many are difficult to deal with, don’t communicate well, don’t show up on time or at all, and can seem like they are trying to rip you off. I take great pride in ensuring that your experience working with me is hassle-free.

I will call you back and communicate professionally. I will show up on time ready to work. I have fair, win-win pricing. I will treat your house the way I would treat my own – with high attention to detail, using quality materials, and best practice methods – so you can trust that the job will be done right the first time.

One Contact

With some businesses, you might deal with half a dozen people in the course of a project – someone answering the phone, someone else scheduling, quoting, doing part of the work, doing another part of the work, billing, complaints, etc. Not so with TLC Handyman Services. So far, it’s just me.

So when you call to explain your project, you’re talking to the guy who will be doing the work. No repeating yourself over and over or “game of telephone” miscommunications working with me. There’s no corporate run around or passing the buck, just a real person who cares deeply about providing you the best, most stress-free, no-hassle experience possible.

100% Satisfaction Guarantee​

You’ve likely realized by now that I’m very detail oriented and extremely conscientious, but even I occasionally miss things or make mistakes. If that happens, or for any reason you are ever not 100% satisfied with any of my work, there’s no need to write a negative online review or complain to your husband. Simply let me know what you’re not happy with, and I’ll come back free of charge and make it right. I want you to be delighted. If you’re not, I really do want to know so I can fix it so that you are.

Take the Next Step Today

I’ve been taking good care of one customer (I call her sweetie) for 25 years. I’m expanding my customer base. I hope you’ll consider letting me take good care of you, too.

Tobin Laursen
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Owner, TLC Handyman Services
(can you guess my middle name?)

P. S. The wisp of blond hair in my photo is my daughter, Evy. We’re overlooking the Hudson River Valley at Army West Point on a swim team recruiting trip. She’s in the class of 2026.