List of Home Improvement characters

Timothy "Tim" Taylor (Tim Allen) – Tim Taylor (born October 1954) is the father of the family. Ever the know-it-all, Tim believes he has an incredibly wide knowledge of tools, electronics and general mechanics. In reality, he is highly accident-prone. He actually does have a significant amount of skill as a general handyman but can be overly confident and prone to spectacular mishaps. He often forgets a crucial step, ignores instructions, makes ill-advised modifications or comes to inaccurate conclusions. The only exception to this ineptitude is when working on cars, at which he excels. He is left-handed but actually does a great deal of his work with his right hand.

Tim has a seemingly one-sided feud with real-life home improvement specialist, Bob Vila. One episode sees Tim competing against Bob Vila in a lawnmower contest for charity. Tim installs a jet engine on his machine, which results in Tim causing unintended chaos and destruction. Tim hosts a home improvement show called ''Tool Time'' with his co-host and friend, Al Borland. While Al is his co-host, Al constantly must remind Tim of safety regulations and practices. Tim often ignores Al's advice and this frequently results in an accident. Al is far more skilled at construction work than Tim, and although Al is Tim's assistant he is frequently seen doing the majority of the work, similar to Vila's assistant Norm Abram on their show ''This Old House''.

While it is constantly mentioned that ''Tool Time'' is a limited local home improvement show that sits very high on the channel dial, it seems to have a very wide audience in the state of Michigan and is progressively broadcast to more outlets across the Midwest (A season 5 episode has Tim, Al and Bud brainstorming for ideas on how to bring the show into the Chicago markets). Tim often boasts of his popularity for hosting the show, although many people state that they like Al better. A running gag involves people encountering Tim in public and stating, "Oh, we always watch ''Tool Time. W''e ''love'' Al." To which an annoyed Tim sarcastically replies, "Oh, yeah, we ''all'' love Al." In later seasons, however, it is learned that Tim actually has a higher fan base than Al (except in a Season 8 episode, where Al scores higher than Tim on a popularity poll).

Because of the numerous accidents in which he is involved, both on his TV show and at home, it is a recurring joke that Tim is on a first-name basis with the hospital staff and first responders, and it is often suggested that Tim has special offers available to him for being a repeat customer. Another gag is that ''Tool Time'' fans believe his many accidents are staged to show people what ''not'' to do. However, many of Tim's modified inventions work but are often too powerful, like his new ice cube dispenser, his leaf sucker machine, his gas-powered wheelchair and his gas-powered garbage disposal.

Tim often garbles advice he heard from Wilson or otherwise makes ignorant remarks – although in one episode Tim stuns Jill and Wilson by putting forth sound advice of his own. Another running gag is Tim accidentally causing damage or destruction to anything he touches, such as destroying the world's smallest car or running over golf carts with a Marine Corps tank. Tim is extremely enthusiastic about Halloween and Christmas, going to extraordinary lengths to scare others and competing with his neighbor "Doc Johnson" in the annual neighborhood Christmas lighting contest, which he only won once, although it was more a victory for the boys as they did the decorating while Tim was out of town. He is also injured every year while working on the Christmas decorations.

While Tim has a very good relationship with his wife, he is quick to admit defeat in any conflict they become engaged in. He also works hard to maintain healthy relationships with his three sons, although he relates more closely to Brad than Randy or Mark.

Tim is occasionally chauvinistic in attitude, usually putting women down or sometimes seeing them as inferior (but he often must absorb the same insults against men from Jill). A running gag is that every time Tim says something sexist on ''Tool Time'', Al holds up a sign displaying the show's mailing address (or in one episode, the phone number) for the women to send in their complaints. He also tends to mock those who are overweight, such as Al's mother or his mother-in-law (until she loses weight) and can be juvenile in attitude on many occasions. Another running gag involves Jill's distaste for his attitude, in that she says "You're pathetic" every time he goes too far.

Tim is an avid fan of all the local sports teams: the Lions, the Pistons, the Red Wings and the Tigers. Many of the plot lines involve the teams and he often wears their memorabilia. He is also a big fan of boxing, the Indy Racing League and tractor pulls. Many scenes take place in the garage while he is engaged in his favorite hobby, working on one of his two hot rods, one he built from the ground up and the other an existing vehicle that he restored.

While he occasionally considers moving on professionally, Tim remains the main host of ''Tool Time'' until the final episode of ''Home Improvement''. Before he was cast on ''Tool Time'', he worked as a traveling tool salesman. Tim barely graduated from college but later receives an honorary Doctorate from Western Michigan University. He often voices apelike grunts in a range of tones and inflections to convey emotions for comic effect, such as confusion, irritation or pride.

His mother is alive for the entire series; however, his father died when Tim was eleven years old (similar to Tim Allen's real-life family history). There has always been some disparity between how many brothers Tim has. On several occasions in the later seasons, it is mentioned that Tim has four brothers, but in earlier seasons he is stated to have five. However, seven have been mentioned by name (Marty, Jeff, Rick, John, Steve, Brian, and Danny). Marty and Jeff (and possibly others) made appearances, and Steve was mentioned in multiple seasons.

Tim always thinks things need "more power" and is often seen wearing sweaters from Michigan-based colleges. Tim thinks he knows everything there is to know about tools. He is also very connected to his tools, even once joking that when he dies he would like to be buried with them.

Tim is the only character to appear in every single episode. A close second is Jill, who only missed the first part of the series finale (unless one counts the flashbacks shown).

Tim appears in the ''Last Man Standing'' ninth season episode "Dual Time". It is mentioned that Tim still works for Binford but in a high level executive position and that he did not want to do his show ''Tool Time'' any more. It's also mentioned his neighbor Wilson has died (as his portrayer Earl Hindman had in 2003). Provided by Wikipedia