Home Guides
Guides for actually knowing your home
Most homeowners can tell you what their house looks like, but not what's behind the walls. These guides are written for Tampa-area homeowners who want to understand their property — where the shutoffs are, what equipment is installed, what's been done to the house, and what's worth planning for next.
A house holds a lot of information that rarely gets written down anywhere: the valve type on the main water line, the HVAC model that was installed six years ago, which outlet actually controls the disposal, or what a previous owner already fixed. That information usually lives in someone's memory — a homeowner's, a contractor's, or a previous owner's — and memory is not a reliable place to keep it. Each guide below answers one specific, practical question a Tampa homeowner is likely to ask, with enough detail to actually act on it: what to look for, what to write down, and when a job is better left to a professional.
These guides connect directly to the Hands On Home Logbook, a property record designed to hold exactly this kind of information — equipment details, completed work, maintenance history and future plans — in one place that stays with the home instead of scattering across old invoices, text threads and memory. If you want a broader look at how much homeowners typically don't know about their own house, start with How Well Do You Know Your Home?
Know Your Home
The systems and shutoffs every homeowner should be able to find and explain, before there's an emergency.
- Main Water Shutoff
Where it usually is, what type of valve to expect, and how to test it safely.
- HVAC Information to Keep
The model numbers, filter sizes and service details worth knowing about your system.
- New Homeowner Home Basics
The first things to locate and learn in a house you just bought.
Records & Documentation
What to write down, why it disappears otherwise, and how to keep it usable for years.
- What to Record After Work on Your Home
A short checklist for after any repair, install or improvement is finished.
- Building a Home Maintenance History
A simple, durable way to log recurring maintenance over time.
- Information That Should Stay With a House
What should transfer to the next owner when a home is sold.
- Why Homeowners Lose Track of Repairs
Where home history actually goes missing, and what stops the pattern.
Planning Improvements
Thinking through a project before anything gets installed.
- Planning a Lighting Upgrade
How to plan lighting room by room — layers, placement, dimming and color temperature.
Something with the house?
Start with Hands On.
Send Hands On a photo and tell us what's going on. You don't need to know exactly what the solution is.