So when one local SF renter shared their experience getting a custom bay window bench built for just $500 by an independent handyman found on Thumbtack, it struck a nerve. The work was done in two half-days, came with a free paint job, and the guy even hauled a bookshelf up two flights of stairs unprompted. No six-week waitlist. No $2,000 invoice for what amounts to a plywood box with hinges.

This is a tiny story, but it speaks to something bigger: the cost of everything in this city is wildly inflated, and a huge chunk of that inflation isn't driven by materials or labor — it's driven by licensing overhead, permitting chaos, and a contractor ecosystem that knows you have no other options.

One local resident put it well, noting they'd paid $4,000 for a contractor to redo some brick stairs — work that ultimately failed — only to have a handyman fix the same problem for a fraction of the cost across a few visits. "Turns out that contractor sucked," they said, summing up what many SF homeowners have learned the hard way.

The free market works when people can actually find each other. Platforms like Thumbtack and word-of-mouth recommendations cut through the bloated middleman economy that drives up costs for basic home improvement. The less red tape between a skilled worker and a willing customer, the better the outcome for both.

San Francisco makes it absurdly expensive to maintain a home, and then wonders why housing stock deteriorates. Maybe the answer isn't another subsidy program — maybe it's just getting out of the way so a guy named Ruben can build you a bench for $500 and carry your bookshelf upstairs while he's at it.