Frustration getting small home service projects done

Woke up to leaking kitchen sink — nothing earth-shattering there, but I sure wish there was a way to find a repairman where it isn’t going to cost me an hourly minimum, because from past experiences, I know it will take all of 5 minutes to fix (for someone who knows what they’re doing).  I’ll check HelpHive, AngiesList and RedBeacon (had a good experience with them recently).  But, sure wish there were a way to get these tiny projects done more affordably (without resorting to just posting on Craigslist…).

On a side note (and shameless plug), we just soft-launched a Washington DC Home Services website called ServiceAlley, in conjunction with the Washington Post — it’s very much a beta site at this point, but we look forward to continuing to experiment with it.  Here’s an example of my personal ‘Favorite DC Home Service Providers’ list.