Average Hourly Handyman Charges in South East

suzieemm

I have been given an hourly quote from a Handyman I am thinking of using to do various houshold DIY jobs - i.e. painting hall, installing trellis in patio, sealing loft hatch, installing 2 posts for washing line in garden, fixing kitchen drawer etc. etc. I have been given a quote of £35 per hour but am not sure what sort of hourly rate is reasonable for the Brighton area. Can anyone help with a rough idea?:(

Canucklehead

suzieemm wrote: »

I have been given an hourly quote from a Handyman I am thinking of using to do various houshold DIY jobs - i.e. painting hall, installing trellis in patio, sealing loft hatch, installing 2 posts for washing line in garden, fixing kitchen drawer etc. etc. I have been given a quote of £35 per hour but am not sure what sort of hourly rate is reasonable for the Brighton area. Can anyone help with a rough idea?:(

Hi: £35/hr. :eek: I would recommend you get a fixed price quote for the work you want to have done and check that this 'handyman' is insured.

HTH

Canucklehead

tartanterra

In the current economic climate you will get a properly qualified and certified tradesman for less than £35 an hour. You will certainly get a qualified painter for less than that.

As a tradesman myself, I have found many "handymen" an absolute menace as many of them are carrying out jobs they know very little about and certainly aren't qualified to do.

If you do use him, ensure that he has insurance in place.

leveller2911

tartanterra wrote: »

In the current economic climate you will get a properly qualified and certified tradesman for less than £35 an hour. You will certainly get a qualified painter for less than that.

As a tradesman myself, I have found many "handymen" an absolute menace as many of them are carrying out jobs they know very little about and certainly aren't qualified to do.

If you do use him, ensure that he has insurance in place.

Spot on, I'm a Carpenter & Joiner, run a fully equipped workshop/van have every insurance you can think of and I don't charge anything like that hourly rate.......

Thats shameful, I think the "Handyman" is taking the pi$$ ...A handyman in Brighton is worth no more than £100 a day for a job which is on par with labouring,not having a dig at labourers as they do a worthwhile job but basic skills .....Also agree about them being a complete menace generally.

If he is charging £35 hr then he will be over the vat threshold if he charges that all year ..so is that £35 + vat?

jc808

tartanterra wrote: »

In the current economic climate you will get a properly qualified and certified tradesman for less than £35 an hour. You will certainly get a qualified painter for less than that.

As a tradesman myself, I have found many "handymen" an absolute menace as many of them are carrying out jobs they know very little about and certainly aren't qualified to do.

If you do use him, ensure that he has insurance in place.

my emphasis

Paul_the_Painter

Used to do a bit handyman stuff, £35 for 1 hours work might be fair enough. Generally you'll be lucky to get 3 of those jobs knocked off in 1 day!

But for anything more than that, should be on a 1/2 or day rate.

so it depends on the the question you asked.

"how much to come over and do an hours work?" - £35 fair

"how much do you charge per hour?" - £35 = unfair!

Russe11

I've never found a insurance company prepared to insure a sole trader operating as a handyman, its been the case I had to tell them every single trade I would be doing within the course of a year... its all added up to the fact that I just stuck to listing down one trade and eveything undertaken just had to take the risk that I was not insured.

If you operate as an multitrader/handyman you need a lot of tools/knowledge/experiance in a lot of areas to be useful.

£35 per hour might sound a lot, but if you wanted to get individual trades in to do all the little jobs then I would think they would not be interested or want at least a days work.

As for VAT registerd or not there is no way of knowing, I was asked how come I didn't charge VAT on some work I was doing, but the assumed I was working 5 days a week 45-50 weeks a year... I prefer to have a few months off a year rather than all the hassle of VAT.

leveller2911

Russe11 wrote: »

If you operate as an multitrader/handyman you need a lot of tools/knowledge/experiance in a lot of areas to be useful.

£35 per hour might sound a lot, but if you wanted to get individual trades in to do all the little jobs then I would think they would not be interested or want at least a days work.

As for VAT registerd or not there is no way of knowing, I was asked how come I didn't charge VAT on some work I was doing, but the assumed I was working 5 days a week 45-50 weeks a year... I prefer to have a few months off a year rather than all the hassle of VAT.

Like I said I have a fully equipped Joinery workshop,insurance for that, Public liability insurance for in and out of workshop,Van,van insurance etc etc etc and I don't charge that so I wouldn't expect someone who has a little knowledge/experience/qualifications (most of them bodge work) to be charging £35 hr in Brighton, its a joke.

I'm sure many qualified tradesmen have the same problem and take months of each year to stay under the VAT threshold..:rotfl:

Seriously considering changing my job title to "Handyman" upping my rate and taking 3 months off work and travelling round Austrailia... That said I'm not sure I could sleep at night charging £35hr for putting up washing line posts...

suzieemm

leveller2911 wrote: »

Like I said I have a fully equipped Joinery workshop,insurance for that, Public liability insurance for in and out of workshop,Van,van insurance etc etc etc and I don't charge that so I wouldn't expect someone who has a little knowledge/experience/qualifications (most of them bodge work) to be charging £35 hr in Brighton, its a joke.

I'm sure many qualified tradesmen have the same problem and take months of each year to stay under the VAT threshold..:rotfl:

Seriously considering changing my job title to "Handyman" upping my rate and taking 3 months off work and travelling round Austrailia... That said I'm not sure I could sleep at night charging £35hr for putting up washing line posts...

:TThanks for that Leveller 2911. Looks like I should rethink my choice. I went for this company (various different trades in the company) as I chose one from Check-a-trade.com as I thought I would get a better workman. They did have good reviews and some saying a good price but yes, you are correct, they are not VAT registered but are insured. I did hesitate regarding the price though and this was a reason I posted on this forum to get other's ideas on it. Looks like the majority of you think it is rather high and perhaps I should continue my search. Perhaps if you do decide to change your title to Handyman I could select you (if still keeping below the £35 hr mark of course).

leveller2911

suzieemm wrote: »

:TThanks for that Leveller 2911. . Perhaps if you do decide to change your title to Handyman I could select you (if still keeping below the £35 hr mark of course).

You should keep looking Suzieemm , try and find 3 different people and get a fixed price quote.Go for the one who you feel most confident in or even better still try and get someone recommeded to you via friends,family or work colleagues. If you can try and see some of their previous work...

You will find that retired/semi retired tradesmen like Painters,carpenters ,bricklayers would be a good start as over the years they learn basic jobs from each other but when semi retired/retired charge reduced rates rather than say a car salesman who does a bit of DIY on the side.

Thanks for the offer but I just make and fit Joinery now .You should be able to get a decent handyman around Brighton for no more than £120 a day labour only.

macman

Why pay by the hour? Get a quote for the work you want doing, then you know exactly what it will cost.