Home / About

Hillsides LLC · Handyman & Craft · Knoxville, TN

About Hillsides LLC

Tennessee roots and a decade of California craft, now at home in Knoxville, TN.

Born in Tennessee. Trained in the desert. Back home in Knoxville.

I'm Tennessee born and raised. I spent my first 30 years here, learning to fix what was broken and build what was needed, the way East Tennessee does it.

Then I spent ten years in California's Coachella Valley working as a handyman in Palm Springs, Indian Wells and the towns around them. I set custom cabinetry in a high-end estate, hand-shaped wave headers to match a home's one-of-a-kind artwork, opened up a desert-modern house with new structural headers and walls of glass, turned a cluttered garage into a full gym, repaired a luxury spa's hydrotherapy bed, and set up home networks. Desert homes taught me California standards: precision with stucco, heat and glass, and clients who expect it done right.

Now I'm back home in Knoxville, bringing both together: Tennessee roots and a decade of California craft. If you've moved here from California, you'll recognize the standard. If you're from here, you'll know you're working with one of your own.

The Sunsphere in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, framed by autumn treesHome: Knoxville, TN
Photo: “Sunsphere in Autumn” by David Ratledge, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; resized with a green tint.

Clear plans, clean job sites, and showing up when I said I would.

Hillsides LLC, Knoxville, TN

About Hillsides LLC

Owner of Hillsides in his garage workshop
Owner in the garage workshop
Owner at the saw bench in the shop
At the saw bench
Owner on a job with a DeWalt drill and shop vac
With a DeWalt drill
Owner by his truck with boards laid out to finish
By the truck and boards
My old green business card from the California years, with the old phone number and website blurred
My old business card from the California years.

Collaboration is part of the craft

One thing hasn't changed since my handyman days in the desert: when a job reaches past what I've fully mastered, I don't guess. I quickly reach out to people I trust: humble, trustworthy pros who know their trade and are willing to teach. Those collaborators are a big part of every result on this page, and they're why I can say yes to more of what you need, done right.

Electrical engineering background

I also worked as an electrical engineer, servicing STEM and SEM electron microscopes with my father’s business, MicroFix Service. It taught me to be patient and methodical, and to put things back exactly right. See the electron microscopy story

The crews I've worked alongside

Cabinet boxes set in place during a kitchen install
Cabinet installers
Cabinet installer fitting the kitchen island
Cabinet install at the island
Concrete crew of three pouring a footing
Concrete crew
Painter at work on a ceiling
Painter on scaffold
About me

Just call me Trey

Three sides make a triangle.

My full name is William Hill Sides III, but I’ve been Trey since the day I was born and have never gone by anything else. I’m even thinking about making Trey Sides my legal name.

I love that Trey means three. Three sides make a triangle, and that shape fits how I think about the big questions. To me, the Father is whatever existed before anything we can conceptualize, even with our most rigorous science. The Son is that, however the universe began, it produced a being that became aware of itself. The Holy Spirit is whatever actually animates us beyond cold matter.

Still, I don’t think who I am is bound to the sound of a name. It’s just the label for this life, in this moment.

What I hold onto wholeheartedly is non-violence. People can believe different things and still be generous and kind to each other. Whatever you believe, or don’t, you’ll get the same respect and the same care on your job.