Well since the author hasn't spoken against it in the ideas thread; I have to presume he doesn't have any issue with this.
"Eeyup, it'll do."
-'Big Mac' of the Pomum family, Handyman test pilot
"Never going to be equal to an SCV but but those folks seem to like it well enough."
-Rory Swann, chief engineer of Raynor's Raiders
"There's a Handyman for that."
-Larc Incorporated advert for their newest product
"Get offa me you little pissants or I'm gonna kill you all then find your families and skull-f*CRUNCH*
-Last recorded transmission from the Victor assault mech piloted by the pirate Cody 'Mad Eyes' Payton before the cockpit was destroyed via repeated pile-driver strikes.
Background:
While the only experience Dumassas has had with mechs (battle or otherwise) for centuries throughout the Sucession Wars was passing mercenaries or pirate raids; the mystic surrounding said giant bipedal machines never truly faded away. However the notion of them ever regaining the ability to construct battlemechs as they used to was only ever a pipe-dream at best. So it was no surprise that when the Raiders showed up with their SCVs, vikings, goliaths and thors (the last causing several panic attacks/religious experiences) and so on; interest spiked. Particularly when it was indicated that the Raiders had the capability to make more of sad machines. However many dreams were shattered when it was discovered just how different said mechs were in construction and function compared to 'conventional' ones. But even with this, some felt this might be at last a chance to regain a bit of that old dream.
Larc Incorporated at the time of 'The Arrival' produced tools, industrial machinery, farming and mining equipment, along with replacement/repair parts of all of said items. While historical records show that they used to be one of several mech building companies on the planet, said ventures ended very violently with the orbital strikes (nuclear and otherwise) on the cities containing their factories. Not exactly something the company could just write off as the cost of doing business and rebuild from. The only physical reminder of those better days being a hollowed out Assassin posed in the companies current headquarters; myomer long since degraded away with the fusion engine, electronic components and medium laser removed for use elsewhere. When the company heads heard that Dr. Hanson's people along with the former 'inhabitants' of New Folsom would be settling on the planet, an idea began to percolate.
They might not necessarily be able to regain old glories, but who is to say that they need to do things the same way as in the past?
Overview:
If one were to judge the Handyman based on the 'baseline' equipment and construction as listed, one would wonder why on Terra such a mech would be made in the first place. A 35 ton fuel-cell powered industrialmech with an expanded fuel tank, four tons of armor and absolutely nothing else leaving 12 tons of potential weight completely unused. The secret to it's success came from extensive collaboration (and in multiple cases) hiring of Koprulu scientists and engineers resulting in the creation of three key features unseen in any mech in the Inner Sphere previously. The first was the replacement of myomer bundles with Terran servomotors to provide movement.
While this resulted in a machine impossible to be repaired by conventional mech facilities, it was far easier for a world with industry and economy centered around conventional ground vehicles to do so. The second was the inclusion of movement softwar based on the Goliath for the legs and dedicated force-feedback servo armatures in the cockpit for precise control of the arms and hands. This allowed for fine control and easy movement over rough terrain without requiring the traditional Neurohelmet to provide balancing aid etc to the machine. The final element was the highly modular design of the mech, allowing one to quickly and easily swap in any number of components that change the machines role entirely, but also the inclusion of 'plug-and-play' data cards that can reprogram the main computer so it properly interacts with said equipment. Even portions of the arms are capable of being removed for the attachment of sawblades, wrecking balls or any other possible gear.
In fact the main source of profit that Larc generates form the Handyman is not sales of the mech itself, but selling equipmentsoftware packages that allow the mech to perform just about any role. liquid cargo units along with sprayers and suction systems for firefighting, Lift hoists and chainsaws for lumber harvesting, mining, construction, demolition, excavation, agriculture, the list goes on. Larc even offers 'custom' builds for clients that have unique and/or special jobs intended for the industrialmech. While having military potential, Larc has not heavily examined this aspect of the modular system, as it is felt that while allowing great flexibility, this type of system would not fair well on the battlefield due to the extreme stresses that would be placed on them over time.
Battle History:
As an industrialmech with no proper military capability, it is to no surprise that combat history of the Handyman is limited. The largest exception was on a planet that had recent managed to buy a set of the Industrialmechs came under attack by a surprisingly well-equipped (and previously unknown) pirate band. While the PDF managed to shatter the raid (and the Raiders were chasing the scum back to whatever hole they crawled out of) the band's leader managed to evade capture. Unfortunately for him, poor understanding of his Victor's sensor systems and the nature of the fuel cell engines allowed the Handymen to ambush him. Using improvised shields to survive closing to melee, it was shown that heavy-duty construction and mining equipment used by very angry mech jockies worked perfectly well at carving into armor plating and myomer bundles. And after surrender was refused, application of a pile-driver ended the threat permanently.
AN: To any planning on extrapolating/borrowing/whatever from this; the Handyman chassis is in-universe a bad choice for any actual military use and the modular systems are too fragile to safely mount dedicated weapons. The Victor fight was in the do-or-die category where they had no real choice. The only real/novel 'battlemechs' appearing on Dumassas for some time are no doubt going to be created by the Raiders mostly based on their tech.