Wow , is it hard to find a handyman?

[PD41]

Many Handymen that do electrical are HACKS ! Was a commercial/industrial electrician for 25 years then did handyman work whenIi was in transition to my current career.

I'd do jobs where a handyman did electrical before and had seen some real crappy not up to code electrical work. Be careful, have your fire insurance paid up.

[wdfifteen]

I try to imagine being a handyman. You drive 30 minutes to get to the place. Spent 20 minutes working up an estimate. If they bite, 30 minutes back to town to get supplies, 30 minutes back to the job, 30 minutes doing a Delta faucet or an easy Moen - or if it's a Moen that sticks, 8 hours work. You put in a genuine Moen cartridge that cost $18 and you mark it up to $20 and they google up a "will fit" chinese cart from Amazon that's $7. "Why do you charge me $20 for a $7 part?"
I wouldn't want to be a handyman unless I worked for me, our at leas someone who has done that kind of work himself and knows how complicated and unpredictable a "simple" job can be.

My beef is with so-called pros who are clueless and still charge like pros. A couple years ago on a cold winter week the drain from the house to the septic tank froze solid. Plumber came out and determined that it was clogged with poopy ice and nothing the could do but wait for better weather - $500. Called another guy who quickly assertained that the lift pump it the septic tank wasn't working and the tank was FULL, fixed it and got the drain working - $250. I hate tradesmen who charge you just for showing up and guessing there's nothing they can do.

[KFC911]

James Taylor ain't workin' fer peanuts anymore...

I'm slow as hell, but I'll do it myself....James moved to CA years ago...I can't afford him

[jcommin]

I appreciate the previous comments.

There are 2 universes when it comes to contractors: residential and commercial.

Residential - everyone is looking for the cheapest price - the repair/replacement parts are cheaply made. The labor cost is all over the place. And the first comment is always, " that's too much money". The market price adjusts to the demand. And the labor quality isn't commensurate with it's cost and then sometimes you get what you pay for. I just don't see consistency. .

On the commercial side, I know contractors who won't bid on residential work because of the labor costs. I work with allot of contractors and I bench mark them. So I'm picky and my choice is always quality over cost. It pays in the long run. I have had to redo work from vendors who came it at the lower cost.

And in both cases, it is hard to find a good contractor

[fastfredracing]

Called 2 more companies. Guy #1 is booked till June, that is no help to me.
company #2 says family owned, have 7 techs on hand daily . she said, if they say they will be there at 8:15, they are there at 8:15
$150.00 an hour, and worth every penny if they do what they say. Im going to give them a try.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by jyl

Zeke, if you lived in my neighborhood, what would you need to see for this program to be attractive for you?

I see nothing wrong with being on a list. Developing that list will be the tough part.

Here's the thing about your typical handyman, only a handful are true professionals that like their business, take it seriously and do good work making a decent living. The rest are truly fly-by-night characters that don't have good skills in one area or another — maybe more than one area.

Those areas being reliable, polite, equipped and skilled at repairs and the like. Also figure in transportation. A lot of people doing this sort of work don't have the money to have that good of a vehicle. More: many are restricted in how many hours they are available because of a variety of reasons. Some want more time at the bar and some may be caring for someone at home.

And people and their situations change overnight. So that list needs constant monitoring.

[Bugsinrugs]

So, of course as soon as I have shoulder surgery my furnace stops blowing heat. Trying to trouble shoot it with one arm just wouldn’t work. I called a local company that sent out a tech that afternoon. He spent a half hour trouble shooting it. Bad circuit board. $350 for a new board $85 to install it and no charge for the diagnostic. I’m happy with that since I am worthless for a while.

[fastfredracing]

Originally Posted by Bugsinrugs

So, of course as soon as I have shoulder surgery my furnace stops blowing heat. Trying to trouble shoot it with one arm just wouldn’t work. I called a local company that sent out a tech that afternoon. He spent a half hour trouble shooting it. Bad circuit board. $350 for a new board $85 to install it and no charge for the diagnostic. I’m happy with that since I am worthless for a while.

We have a furnace guy, plumbing company , and electrician on hand . They are all astute professionals , and we get similar treatment.
It is all the little stuff, that keeps me running constantly , and I cannot find anyone worth their salt to take care of it .

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by jyl

We have a lot of elderly homeowners who are 75+, widowed, increasing mobility issues, children live out of state, their long-time neighbors are themselves elderly.

I have two on my street that I cut their grass for them, just wheel the mower over and did it the same day I was doing mine. One lady was practically crying she was so grateful. She was better after I gave her a hug and talked to her a little bit.

I hear about someone taking advantage of widows, makes me want to take them in the trunk of my car to visit a pig farmer.

[look 171]

Was it Milt that said this? When home owners call you a handyman, they immediately have your hourly rate fixated in their head. Its never up to standard, maybe 15-16 bucks per hour, tops. I had people say that to me before. We don't do handy dandy jobs but have and continue to do them for clients we know. I hate it when someone new calls and ask me to fix this and that or look at their flickering lights in the living room because so and so gave them my number. I do it out of obligation. There's never any room to make money on little jobs like that. Driving in this traffic congested town is difficult to make money because many of us sit in traffic for hours at a time.

[fastfredracing]

Thing is guys, I am expecting to pay. There are times where I would gladly give up 250-300$ when I am just too busy to get at it . We pay our teenage worker 16 $ an hour to pick up trash, and sweep the floors.
I know what it takes to run a profitable business, and have a real good idea of what is involved in every one of these tasks that I am trying to farm out. Ive been doing it for 20 years

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

Thing is guys, I am expecting to pay. There are times where I would gladly give up 250-300$ when I am just too busy to get at it . We pay our teenage worker 16 $ an hour to pick up trash, and sweep the floors.
I know what it takes to run a profitable business, and have a real good idea of what is involved in every one of these tasks that I am trying to farm out. Ive been doing it for 20 years

And it's not your fault. This is why most (I think most) property owners just pay for a property management company. That and the fact that the PMC knows the discrimination laws upside down and they run credit checks which costs an owner a lot even if they aren't that accurate.

Hiring a handyman is a crap shoot for anyone. Having a shortage of time to babysit these guys (I would have said girls too but I never ran across a female repair person that wasn't real decent in their work — maybe that's a though to consider) ....

anyway, having a shortage of time, expensive time at that, is no way to spend your time away from the core business.