Handyman in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg – for Altbau flats off the courtyard

In the Bergmannkiez, the Wrangelkiez or around Boxhagener Platz, most housing is Gründerzeit tenement blocks: a front building on the street, then side wings and rear buildings around one or more courtyards, usually without a lift. Kreuzberg also has old workshop courtyards and big 1970s blocks such as those at Kottbusser Tor. In Friedrichshain, the 1950s buildings on Karl-Marx-Allee and East German prefab blocks shape much of the area.

Many jobs here revolve around changing flats: painting and filling plug holes before the handover, final cleaning, taking furniture apart and rebuilding it in the next Kiez. On redecorating: whether you have to repaint when moving out depends on your lease, and many clauses aren’t valid – check that first. We don’t give legal advice.

Then come the usual Altbau issues: a gas boiler in the flat, slow drains in old kitchens and bathrooms, mouldy silicone, wiring from several decades. In side wings and rear buildings, bathrooms were often added later, with long pipe runs. We look first, then quote.

Getting a sofa up to the fourth floor of a side wing is everyday life here, but it can be planned. The route across the courtyard, stair width and floor all go into the fixed price, and we take bulky pieces apart beforehand. We can apply for the no-parking zone from the borough’s traffic authority; the signs need to be up a few days ahead.

From our office at Landhausstraße 31 in Wilmersdorf we head east through Schöneberg. Mehringdamm and the town hall on Yorckstraße are about 4 km in a straight line, Marheinekeplatz in the Bergmannkiez about 4.5 km. Friedrichshain lies across the Spree: Boxhagener Platz is about 9 km. Travel within Berlin is included in the fixed price.