Handyman business

[Ranger619]

Does anyone on here have a handyman business? I found out a week ago that my hours are being cut 8-16 hours per week. I have thought about starting this anyway and this may be the push I need. I have a few questions for those with experience in this area such as insurance, rates, collection, marketing yourself, etc. PM me if you want.
Thanks

 

[JFK]

I know guy who recently started a handyman business. He’s a semi-retired general contractor/job site supe. He’s had best luck with word of mouth in his neighborhood. Been building lots of small entryway decks, pergolas, installing new front doors, etc. Neighbors get something done, then tell their neighbors about it and word spreads from there. Believe most of the jobs are cash and under he table. Here in Ca construction is still going full tilt...hard to get someone who’s even available to take job and there isn’t a lot of negotiating on price. Having hired a similar type of guy before to work in my place it’s pretty normal for all materials to be paid up front with the balance paid on completion. Some also do 50% of the job up front and 50% on completion. Hope this info helps and best of luck.

 

[Rich M]

I know a guy who got laid off 2020 and started a handy man business.

Far as I know, folks either pay up front or give a deposit for price of materials and payment is either due in installments as you reach project milestones or at completion of the project.

Would of course vary by project and how much you want to risk.

If the folks are real picky and needy up front, they will be thru entire project. You lose money having to hold hands and babysit thru a project, job takes longer and you make less for your time.

 

[fmyth]

Set up a Facebook page for your business. Join all of the local FB Groups and ask the admins for permission to make a post about your services. In my area nearly every individual subdivision and community has a Facebook Group. Lots of posts in these groups looking for Handyman services. Just make damn sure you take pics before each job and after each job and make certain that your customers are happy or they will destroy you on social media over a $50 job. Also check out Nextdoor.com. It's another great place to get hyper local business.

 

[Elk97]

I started kind of a handyman business, way back in the early 90's. I mostly concentrated on commercial type work, property management companies that owned commercial property, shopping centers, storage businesses, etc. Carpentry, painting, flooring, welding, fence repair, concrete, asphalt, etc. I would guess it is easier to get residential work now, but the commercial side of it usually ends up with a lot of repeat type work. Marketing yourself now is a lot different and it looks like you've had some great advice here. It's a lot of work/hours and I took on anything that I could make a buck at. It eventually led to branching off into related fields and opportunities and grew into a sizable business. I sold the business and retired in "08". Good luck to you!

 

[CJohnson]

It’s not a handyman business, but I recently started doing residential electrical work on the side. I have a few close friends who are residential GCs and they can give me way more work than I am able to do. I set up an LLC with some help from a lawyer buddy and got basic GL and WC coverage from State Farm. I’m looking at hiring a few guys to work full time now and learning about that process. I don’t think I’ll be getting rich from anything, but there’s something nice about bringing in money on your own.

 

[slaton]

I’ve recently started my own electrical company. All I want to do is residential stuff. Home advisor has been good at generating leads but dealing with the company sometimes can be a pain in the rear. You have to pay for each lead and they are sent to multiple contractors. The price for mine range from $20-$100 per lead. Sometimes I get the job and sometimes I can’t even reach the homeowner. Send me a PM with you contact info and I’ll share some contacts that have used for insurance, marketing and everything else.


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[Ranger619]

Thanks for all the replies. They all help. I have been doing a bunch of research on it and am forming a plan. It just takes time and money....

 

[Bubblehide]

Many states regulate the total amount a handyman can charge for the total job. For example, in Ca a handyman cannot legally charge over $500.00 for the total job. Furthermore, if a customer refuses to pay more than $500.00 there is no recourse for the handyman.

 

[Ranger619]

In Minnesota a handyman can bill out up to $15,000 per year before a contractors license is needed. I won't be able to build anything new only remodel, which is fine to start with. If I do this I will see how it goes and may end up trying to get the contractor license eventually.

 

[cnelk]

I retired last May and started a handyman/carpentry business.

I have insurance thru NEXT Insurance.
$1m liability and $10k in EO
Costs me $40/mo

I work pretty much when I want, or if there’s a job I work until it’s done.

I did find a small GC that I do work for and it works out great.

Good luck. There’s a ton of work out there

 

[gbflyer]

Even here in my town in rural Alaska there is a guy. He is swamped. Town of 400 people. No one wants to get dirty these days. You’ll have more work to do than you want in no time.

 

[cnelk]

Here’s an example:

Some people wanted this old cedar fence taken down. Just remove it all down to the grass. Didn’t need to pull out the posts.

Completed it in about 3hrs and hauled it away

$600

 

[cnelk]

Brought the lumber home and made me a chicken coop

Win Win

 

[Deadfall]

Get insured and licensed, then pass a few cards out to property managers. You'll get a call. From there just make sure you can do what you say you can. Always be on time and FINISH projects.
I would stay away from social media, this can be a real cutthroat business.

Buy code books and follow them.
Rates vary depending on area. Can vary a bunch. 75$/hour good starting point. Adjust from there.
Suggest bidding by job, not by hour.

Kept good records.
Every job should have its own receipt folder, and notes from what you did.

For invoicing and estimate purposes tge wave app is free and easy to navigate.

Whatever your business name turns ot to be, I would leave the word handyman out of it. There is a stigmatizm attached to that word.

Take good pictures of before and after. Keep it simple.

 

[Deadfall]

In Minnesota a handyman can bill out up to $15,000 per year before a contractors license is needed. I won't be able to build anything new only remodel, which is fine to start with. If I do this I will see how it goes and may end up trying to get the contractor license eventually.

If are just decent at what you do. It won't take long to hit 15 g. If you are God at what you do, the phone will ring of the hook.

 

[Deadfall]

I deal with property managers because I dont want the hassle of contracts and chasing money down. My business is word of mouth. I do work for home owners now as well and don't have issues getting paid. That's because of the client base.

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

I have a finish carpentry/woodworking business that has kept me extremely busy for the last 7-8 years, I started from scratch here and have never advertised.

If you can be professional, call people back, show up on time, and do good work you will have all you can handle once word starts spreading.

You’ll have to check local laws as to what you’re allowed to do. Some states it’s a free for all, some are extremely restrictive.

Here you have to be a licensed contractor to pull a permit, and replacing an exterior door is supposed to be permitted. You can’t get a contractor to even give you a price on that, so the handyman type guys do it sans permitting.

If you’re doing non electrical/plumbing/structural stuff, all you need is a worker’s comp exemption, which requires filing and LLC.

Print up some business cards, make sure you have a local area code on your cell or get a work line app, and have a professional voicemail and at least a business gmail account. Facebook and Instagram are all most people look at these days besides the older crowd, so you don’t need to dump a ton of $ on a website.

I’d find a contractor you can get along with and refer them work that you can’t handle, they will send you stuff left and right. I work with 4 or so interior designers that are awesome as well.

I don’t take deposits to hold a place on my schedule, but for anything from $1,000 - $10,000 I take 50% for materials when we start and the balance at the end. Make sure you can accept credit cards, Square has been great to deal with and has no monthly fee, I use Invoice2Go for my estimates/invoices.

I have a shop, but the best thing I’ve ever done was buy a 6x12 enclosed trailer than I can hook up and head to a job with everything I’ll need in it. Back stocks of fasteners, ladders, stuff you don’t expect to need.

Regarding customer base, don’t try to be the cheapest, and stay off Home Advisor, Angie’s List, Home Depot installers, etc. You don’t want the people that are shopping half a dozen guys for the “best price”. They will be a pain to deal with, expect you to do stuff for free, etc. You want people who have heard you do good work and will pay your rate and wait until you can get to it.

 

[Reburn]

Ill throw my 2 cents in the pot.

Pros:
1). you will never be out of work if your any good at all.
2). You can make a ton of money and still have some flexibility

Cons: Now this is be being a touch negative since I have been in the residential construction business for 14 years. Both as a builder and as a trade.
1). Homeowners can be a real pain in the butt to deal with. IF you think they are even the least bit crazy run away. You cant bid the job high enough for it to actually work out. This is why we dont work for homeowners at all.
2). Chasing down money sucks. You will need to learn how to file and remove a lien. Its 300 to file and 100 to remove in texas. This is built into every job price wise. This is why we dont work for homeowners at all.
3). Insurance here is expensive.
4). Major trades here plumber, electrician and HVAC are licensed.
5). Mission creep is real and has to be avoided and nipped in the bud otherwise you will never get a job done.
6). Getting qualified people to work with you is akin to hitting the lottery. The trade pool is very shallow.

Business wise.
Word of mouth is the only way to fly. We have no online presence and no advertising and still get to select who we work with. We only work with builders and only those that have the horsepower to do 300-500 homes a year.
My handy man I put in business in 2009 as I needed a bunch of remodel work done on older properties we were selling. I advanced him 25k and off we went. (I knew him prior) 11 years later he is still doing it and has a 6-9 month backlog. He simply has more work he can handle and stuggles to get qualified guys that are worth a shit to help him. He cleared 425k last year in the bank in profit pre tax.

 

[Squamch]

Get good subs to work with, sparkles and plumbers.
Word of mouth is EVERYTHING.