Starting a Handyman Business is easy and requires very little money and knowledge to get started. Once established your monthly income can be whatever you want it to be.
When I started working on houses I had no idea what I was doing. I learned everything I know from reading and watching YouTube videos. Starting a Handyman Business is easy and anyone can do it. You don’t need a lot of money, or knowledge to start all you need to do is get started. In this post, I will teach you everything you need to know to start a Handyman Business
Start Your Handyman Business Today
The first thing I did when I started my Handyman Business was to decide on a business name. When choosing a business name I decided I was going to build a website to get customers so I wanted a business name I could also use as a Domain Name for a website.
I don’t care where you are from if you google “handyman Services” you are going to get a google three-pack at the top of the search results. This is where I started. I knew I wanted the word “Handyman” In my business name.
I was lucky, and you might be as well because I have noticed there isn’t too much competition anywhere that I can find for Handyman Services anywhere.
So this is the best opportunity for anyone to make money doing simple things for people they either don’t want to do themselves or don’t know how and don’t want to be bothered.
Choosing Your Handyman Business Name
So my advice is to choose a Handyman Business Name that you can also use as a Domain Name for a website. I chose Connecticut Handyman Services. In retrospect, I think it is too long and too hard for some people to spell. But I have had it for three years now and people know me. But if you are just starting out go for simple and short.
You can find out if the domain name aspect of your Handyman Business Name is taken already by going to a Domain Name Registrar Like Namecheap.com.
As you can see I typed in Reyshandymanservices.com. After you click on the magnifying icon your domain name will either be available or not. The images below will show you what that looks like.
As you can see it shouldn’t be hard to find a Handyman Business Name that you can also use as a domain name. if it is available I would purchase it. Eight dollars a year is cheap compared to other registrars like Godaddy or Hostgator to name just a few. I will show you what to do with the domain later so keep reading.
Handyman Business Setup
Once you have your business name you need to set up your business. The basics are simple. What I did was go to my town hall and register the business name. This gives you a doing business as name. Second I got a banking account for the business to keep everything separate and finally I got liability insurance.
I would warn you to check out your local laws and statutes in your area to find out what you need to do to register your business. Liability insurance for my handyman business is $1200 a year. You need this in case someone wants to file a claim.
There is no need to create an LLC or INC if you are just starting out by yourself with no employees. You can file taxes under Sole Proprietor and if you need to hire some people to help once and a while use a W9 as they will be their own contractors responsible for their own taxes and workman’s comp.
Getting Customers For Your Handyman Business
Like I said in the beginning I use a website to get business. If you go to this post I explain how to set up your website and create a Google my business account so you can be seen in the three-pack at the top of the search results.
I was fortunate in that I really had no competition in my area and was in the Google 3-pack almost instantly. I started receiving phone calls right away and haven’t advertised once in three years to have a steady business.
I can’t promise you the same results but you never know till you try and in most cases in my research there is very little competition for a handyman because either people start a business and abandon it or they are contractors wanting the bigger jobs.
Look at my website and see how I organized it. Only advertise services you are willing to do. Start out with simple things like painting, hanging pictures, TV’s, fix drywall, and whatever you feel comfortable doing.
How Much Should You Charge
Man let me tell you I and many other people have a hard time with this one. I think the reason why is we all look at it as a purchaser. Meaning if we tell them we charge $50 an hour we might think it is to much. You need to think about it differently.
In the beginning I charged $25 an hour and quickly realized that I was not happy or felt compelled to do the best job at that rate because it felt like a job. Depending on your area pricing differs. In my area you can charge $50 to $100 an hour.
I truly believe you can probably get $50 – $100 in most areas because there are tons of opportunities for handyman services.
How Much Money Do You Want To Make Each Week
A lot of your pricing for your handyman business will depend on how much you need to make each week. I myself target $1,500 – $2,000 a week which brings in between $6,000 to $8,000 a month. To some this is not enough money so again it is a personal preference.
Just remember that not all that income is pure profit. You do have expenses that need to be covered in your handyman business. I have a van I need to put gas in, pay insurance on and maintain. I have liability insurance I have to pay and lets nor forget about your TAX Liability. If you don’t pay your taxes you can end up in jail or worse.
So you need to be organized and keep track of every cent that comes in and goes out. I can’t stress how important it is to stay organized in you handyman business.
Working With Property Management Companies
Working with property management companies is a great way to start. One reason is their expectations are really low and all they want is the problem to go away. These companies find it hard to find a person that can do work for them they need done.
The work I have done for these property management companies are:
- Apartment Turn Overs ( I get between $2,000 and $3,000 per turn over )
- Replacing sink faucets
- changing fire alarm detectors
- replacing light bulbs
- drywall repair
- painting
- garbage disposal repair or replacement
- fixing water leaks
Most of these things take less than an hour and you can make great money doing these things. I charge a minimum of $65 weather it takes me 5 minutes or an hour. How many light bulbs can you change in a day at $65 a whack. (I’m Just Saying)
Best Paying Handyman Jobs For a Beginning Handyman Business
Here are the best paying handyman jobs for your handyman business that I have made tons of money on:
Replacing Fire Alarms and Smoke Detectors Replacing these are simple, and if you have to buy one to replace a bad detector you can easily mark up the item 50 – 100 percent adding to your income. It takes me 10 minutes to change one at $65 and then I mark up the item 75%. I make almost $100 for 10 minutes of work.
Replacing a Water Faucet Replacing water faucets is also easy. You can change one out in less than an hour and I usually charge $150 to change one and mark the item up 75% to make around $200 for a one hour job.
Drywall Repair This is another job that I will charge by the size of the repair needed. If someone put a door knob or fist through a wall that would be about $150 repair and takes an hour to do. I have charged over $500 for ceiling water damage repairs. These can be very profitable repairs.
Painting Apartments Painting can be profitable as long as you know how long it will take you to do the work. I charge $1,200 for a simple two-bedroom apartment painting one color only. This takes me about two days to do. Three beds or properties with lots of trim and windows can be as much as $3,000 depending on the time it is going to take me.
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