Winterization
Handis winterization is the four-service track that gets a Seattle-area home ready before the wet, dark, wind-prone half of the year arrives — outdoor faucet and pipe insulation before the first hard freeze, late-fall gutter winterization after bigleaf maple and alder drop, deck and patio furniture stow-away before the November storms, and storm prep with plywood for the bomb cyclones the Pacific Northwest gets every few seasons. From $200 for a single straightforward hose-bib visit to $1,500 for a full pre-storm prep on a larger home with eight window cuts of plywood and tree trimming. Peak booking window is mid-September through mid-November; we still run visits later, but past mid-November the work shifts from preventing damage to catching it.
Services
What Handis Winterization Services Cover
Winterization in the Pacific Northwest is not the same problem it is in Minneapolis or Boston. We do not have to pull a furnace apart for sub-zero readiness; we have to outrun the leaf-drop into the first freeze, the freeze into the atmospheric-river chain, and the atmospheric rivers into the bomb cyclones that wash trees onto rooflines. Four service families, all built on the same vetted handyman crew, all sized to the actual Seattle-area weather year. Work that crosses into licensed trades — gas appliance hookups, hardwired electrical, in-wall plumbing supply or drain, structural roof repair, full roof installation — routes to a Washington L&I contractor; we name the issue in the photo report and recommend who to call.
Outdoor Faucet & Pipe Insulation
Insulated foam covers on every accessible hose bib, garden hose drain-and-store, vacuum-breaker check, irrigation backflow shutoff when accessible, and foam-sleeve pipe insulation on any exposed runs in unconditioned garages, basements, or crawlspaces. The crawlspace-pipe tier adds a full crawl with a headlamp to catch the runs you cannot see from the hatch. From $200 for a quick three-bib visit; $600 for a larger home with full crawlspace pipe sleeving.
Outdoor Faucet & Pipe Insulation — hose-bib covers, hose drain-and-store, crawlspace pipe sleeving
Gutter Winterization
The single gutter visit that matters most on a PNW home — after bigleaf maple and alder finish dropping, before the atmospheric rivers start. Every gutter run cleared, downspouts flow-tested from the top, anything slow snaked, leaf-guard inspection if installed, foundation drainage and splash-block check, and a same-day photo report of fascia and downspout straps. From $250 for a single-story standard home; $700 for two-story with steep slopes and complex roof lines.
Gutter Winterization — late-fall clean, downspout flow, foundation drainage
Deck & Patio Furniture Winterizing
End-of-season stow-away that protects three to five thousand dollars of outdoor living gear from the wet, wind, and UV. Cushion bagging and storage, umbrella crank-down and stow, glass tabletop wrap, grill propane disconnect and cover, fire-pit cover or gas-pit shutoff, planter staging, and patio-heater storage. We move the heavy pieces (sectional sofas, dining sets) into a garage or covered porch when you point us at the space. From $200 for a single-set patio; $600 for a full back-yard outdoor living build.
Deck & Patio Furniture Winterizing — cushion stow, umbrella, grill, fire pit
Storm Prep & Plywood Service
The pre-storm visit when the forecast calls for a bomb cyclone, an atmospheric river chain, or a wind advisory above 60 mph. Plywood cut, labeled, and installed over exposed windows; overhanging tree branches trimmed back from the roofline; patio furniture stowed in a hurry; gutters and downspouts cleared; sump pump and battery-backup verified; generator fuel and oil topped; emergency tarp pre-staged. From $400 for a quick prep on a small home; $1,500 for a full pre-storm walk with eight window cuts of plywood and tree trimming.
Storm Prep & Plywood Service — plywood cut, branch trim, sump verify, emergency tarp
Winterization Pricing
Final pricing depends on home size, scope, and which winterization services you book. Bundled visits cost less than the same services booked one-by-one. Each child page lists detailed pricing for that service. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Tell us the home size and which winterization services you need — we will quote the visit.
Why Seattle Homeowners Book Handis for Winterization
Winterization in Seattle fails three predictable ways. Too late and the hose bib already cracked. Too early and the gutter you cleared in September is full of bigleaf-maple debris by Halloween. Wrong scope and you spent the visit on weatherstripping while the sump pump float was sticking and a storm was three days out. Our four winterization services are sized to the actual Pacific Northwest weather year — leaf-drop, first freeze, atmospheric river, bomb cyclone — and the tech who arrives in October has done a thousand of these visits and knows which item on the list matters most for this house in this week.
Visits scheduled against the leaf-drop and first-freeze forecast
Outdoor faucet visits go on the calendar before any sustained cold in the seven-day forecast — Seattle freezes shallow but enough to crack a vacuum breaker most winters. Gutter winterization waits for the bulk of the bigleaf-maple drop to finish. Storm prep is a same-week call when a bomb cyclone or atmospheric river chain shows up in the National Weather Service forecast. The calendar bends to the weather, not the other way around.
Same tech, same notes, same opinion year over year
Each winterization customer gets assigned a primary tech who runs the visits and carries notes forward. The gutter tech who flagged a soft fascia in November opens that note on next year's clean. The hose-bib tech who replaced a vacuum breaker in October knows which one to skip in the spring. Single-property customers usually keep the same tech for years; if the primary is out, a backup runs the visit with the notes in hand.
Materials on the truck, not a stop at the hardware store
Insulated foam hose-bib covers in two diameters, pipe-sleeve foam in three sizes, gutter-screen replacement sections, patio-cover universal sizing, plywood in 1/2-inch and 3/4-inch CDX cut to common window dimensions, deck screws, masonry screws for plywood mounting, and tarps in two sizes — all on the truck. The visit does not stall because of a missing $4 part.
Honest scope — handyman work only, contractor handoff when needed
Winterization visits cover handyman scope. Gas appliance hookups (a built-in gas fire pit fed from in-wall plumbing routes to a licensed gas fitter for any wall-side valve work), hardwired electrical (heat tape and outdoor outlets we plug into; new circuits route to an electrician), in-wall plumbing supply or drain repairs, structural roof repair, and full roof installation route to a licensed Washington L&I contractor. We name the issue in the photo report, recommend who to call, and come back for finish work after their rough-in.
Insured, background-checked, 30-day workmanship guarantee
Every Handis handyman carries liability insurance and has cleared a background screening before the first job. The 30-day workmanship guarantee applies to any work done during a winterization visit — if a hose-bib insulator slides off, a plywood panel works loose at a screw we set, a furniture cover blows away in a wind we did not warn you about, a gutter clean re-clogs from our debris, or a pipe sleeve we set comes loose, we come back and fix it at no extra charge.
Estimate
Tell us the home size, the rough age, which winterization services you are thinking about (faucet/pipe, gutter, furniture, storm prep), and any PNW specifics — number of hose bibs, whether there is a crawlspace, how much outdoor furniture is on the deck, how many tree branches overhang the roof. We send a clear estimate.
What Our Customers Say
Recent winterization reviews from verified Seattle-area customers.
We booked all four winterization services in October. Hose bibs covered, gutters cleared after the bigleaf drop, patio furniture moved into the garage, plywood pre-cut and labeled for the front-facing windows. The November bomb cyclone took two big alder branches down on the side yard but the windows survived and the house took on zero water. Felt like a different relationship with winter.
Sammamish hillside home, three hose bibs, irrigation backflow, exposed pipes in the crawl. The October visit covered everything I could see and the crawl walk found a run I had no idea was exposed. December freeze hit and not one thing cracked. Worth every dollar.
We host Thanksgiving and the back patio is part of the spread until then. Handis scheduled the deck stow-away the day after Thanksgiving — cushions in zip bags into the garage rafters, umbrella down and stowed, grill propane disconnected, fire pit cover on, planters lined up under the eave. Took two hours, looked like the patio was put to bed properly.
November bomb cyclone forecast hit on a Tuesday for a Thursday landfall. Handis was at the house Wednesday morning. Two big windows on the west elevation got plywood, the maple branch that had been a worry all summer got trimmed, the patio got stowed in twenty minutes. Power went out for three days. House came through clean.
West Seattle craftsman with a basement and a sump. The fall gutter visit caught a downspout that had separated from the underground drain — water was pouring at the foundation in every rainstorm. They re-tied it, ran a flow test, and sent the photo report. Basement stayed dry through the worst week of February.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Handis winterization services — pricing, scope, scheduling, what each visit covers, and what routes to a licensed Washington L&I contractor.