Frustrated and looking for advice. We've had the same corner of our house repaired twice in four years by a handyman, and the wood is soft again in the same spot. Each time he cut out the bad section, put in new wood, primed and painted, and it looked fine. Clearly something is wrong with the approach rather than the material. What should a proper repair include that we're apparently not getting? He's a decent guy and reasonably priced, which is probably why we kept calling him back, but at this point I'd rather pay more once than keep doing this every other spring.

You're getting cosmetic repairs on an active leak. Replacing wood without finding and fixing the water source guarantees a return visit, which is exactly your pattern. A proper job traces where water is entering, whether that's flashing, a gutter overflowing, siding that terminates too close to grade, or a failed window seal, corrects that first, then replaces damaged material and treats surrounding wood. Ask specifically about root cause. We switched to GotRot for Seattle Dry Rot Repair after a similar cycle and the actual culprit turned out to be a downspout dumping right at that corner. Ask what warranty comes with the work too.