HARVEY BIO

Harvey began his career in broadcasting by missing his first newscast!  It wasn't long before he realized that perhaps his talents were not best suited to hard news.  He worked in entertainment for the next 35 years, primarily in radio and television...19 of those as Harvey In The Morning.  On television Harvey worked on many different shows including Double Dare for Nickelodeon, and various other game shows.  Harvey hosted a home improvement show for The Discovery Channel called Gimme Shelter which ran two seasons, and for several seasons played, of all things, "Harvey The Handyman" for another Discovery show, Home Matters.  In 2001 Harvey went behind the camera for TLC's mega hit, Trading Spaces and spent 7 seasons on the show, eventually rising to become Executive Producer of Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls for NBC.  Harvey also recently mastered the use of bold face and bold italic typing!

On a completely different plane, he trained as a body-centered psychotherapist, and from 2000 to 2010 co-directed week-long intensive personal growth workshops several times a year at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox Massachusetts.  A lifelong musician he also runs Barndance Productions, a project recording studio  and has produced and recorded albums and single tracks for singer songwriters John Flynn, Aaron Nathans & Michael Ronstadt and The Darlington Boys.  (seems the lad just can't decide what he wants to be!)

Harvey is a self taught carpenter who learned much from his father and further honed his skills tackling two small renovations and then a 2 story addition in his own first house,  His next project was a 4 year restoration/historic rebuild of a 200 year old abandoned stone farmhouse using salvage building materials from other 18th century buildings.  Using the services of a contractor for 1 year during the most intensive phase, Harvey ended up serving as his own general contractor for the project.  Then, things went south when the contractor would not honor his contract to finish the work.  Lucky for Harvey, he had just been fired from his last radio gig and he had plenty of free time on his hands!  He ended up doing all the finish carpentry work himself, including period correct built-in cabinetry and mouldings, antique floor restoration and log house framing and finish work.  Also, several exterior masonry projects were completed including a 130 ft. fieldstone dry-laid retaining wall, using 100 tons of stone salvaged from the property during excavation work.  What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger...or it just kills us for no apparent good reason...gotta consider both to be fair!

In 2006 Harvey decided that is was a smart thing to become a handyman at an age when most people with any sense are looking for that cushy desk job!  His desire was to find out what it was like to run his own business, and provide a needed service to people who are often vastly underserved.  The goal was then, and still is to run his business using the principles of truth and personal responsibility he taught for 10 years in the intensive workshops, remembering only too well what it's like to be on the customer end of home renovations projects and contractors.  Harvey The Handyman was launched with his first few jobs for friends, the word began to spread and people seem to like the results as much as Harvey does.