Is there a demand for these 'Handyman' services?

phill99

I wouldn't put any figures in at all. Sell only on quality of work and service. Don't be obsessed with being cheap.

ALIBOBSY

OH started as S/E about 18 months ago doing IT repairs for local small businesses and home computers, but over the summer last year after doing a gardening job for a friend of our parents started picking up jobs as a handyman/gardener by word of mouth and actually the combo of the two types of work has been good and kept him going. Sometimes he has done one type of job for someone and left his details and got another type of job from them.

We are about to do some leaflets to have a push on over spring/summer as its all been word of mouth for the handyman side. OH has found alot of older people who want little jobs doing and have found many trademen either won't take the smaller jobs or rip them off.

One job he has found they appreciate is clearing/fixing of gutters especially this time of year, not jet washed though as this makes too much mess lol.

Definately agree about the tools/equipment though and the spread of work. The big ladders have been a great investment. But you can buy stuff as you go. OH has had a few jobs cleaning out and sorting those block paving type of drives.

Regarding price OH generally prices to the job, but also offers hourly rates depending on what the customer wants, sometimes as another poster says they may have a list of items and simply want to have him for a period of time. If he has to travel further than the local area he adds on petrol money and makes this clear from the start.

We already had a galaxy with a roof rack, so he uses that instead of a van so our costs are pretty low.

Finally don't forget to register as self employed and keep records of your work for the tax returns.

Good Luck
Ali x

Biggles

There's definitely a demand, go for it.

For a flyer, I would:-

Include your address, or at least your location; people would like to know you are local, some people just put a mobile number and you have no idea where they come from.

Definitely include your hourly rate; most people expect to pay a handyman by the hour and would feel more confident ringing you if they knew what it was beforehand, rather then getting a nasty surprise.

Include an email; people might like to sound you out generally on one or two jobs they have in mind.

It helps if you can say what your specialist areas are, eg if you can do carpentry etc.

lostinrates

We'd love to find a reliable, professional handy man for all the jobs my husband doesn't get round too and that I cannot do for one reason or another.

As a younger household, a service offering a discount to pensioners would make me think we were Paying a premium to subsidise that corner of your market, who aren't necessarily worse off than younger people who might benefit from your service.

moneyistooshorttomention

CBL123 wrote: »

Thanks for the positive responses.

I have wondered whether a 10% off for over 65's or for anyone within say 2 miles offer could help me starting out.

Make that over 60s, as many women are retiring sometime between our retirement age (ie 60) and 65 and cant afford to pay what working age people pay. (Rueful comment from a woman who retired at 60, but will be on half-pension until I reach my revised SPA).

When I was working age I didn't object to a bit of cross-subsidisation of pensioners, as I knew I'd be one myself one day...so its "swings and roundabouts".

fluffpot

Despite what some others have said, I think it IS important to know what your hourly rate is, as some people will want to book you this way. Plus they may ask you, just so they can gauge how much a job might cost. I do agree, though, don't be too cheap - you need to cover your costs and being really cheap can also put some people off (conversely if you aren't the cheapest, you tent to weed out the customers who want something for nothing!

I offer a sliding scale so that first hour is X and subsequent hours are cheaper. And also daily rate, cheaper by the hour again.

But when all is said and done, don't worry too much about this - as you are self employed you can make changes to the way you work and the way you price very quickly and easily - a case of suck it and see

good luck - let us know how you get on

spannerzone

Phil99 has given some invaluable advice here and as someone that was self employed in the past I can say that most people called me because I advertised my full name, landline and other details that made my advert look less fly by night than my competitors.

I'd never advertise price per hour on flyers/adverts and to be honest if the potential customer first asked 'what's your price per hour' rather than 'can you help me/my problem? ' etc then I'd be wary. Most decent customers didn't actually care too much about price but they cared about trustworthyness, honestym quality of workmanship and reliability.

Never aim for the cheap end / bargain basement .... aim for more affluent customers that appreciate quality. If you try to compete with others that advertise ' no fix - no fee' and '£10 an hour' you'll do a lot of work for nothing.

jellie

I wouldn't respond to a flyer if the only contact details were a mobile phone number.

CBL123

Thanks for the further responses.

One other question I have, flyer or business card?

phill99

CBL123 wrote: »

Thanks for the further responses.

One other question I have, flyer or business card?

Both.

Each one is used for a different thing.

A flyer is a (relatively) low cost advertising medium that is handed out, put through people's letter boxes, left in various locations for people to take etc. 99% will end up in the bin. They need to be seen in the same light as any form of advertising and will have a very limited shelf life.

They will have details of your service, locality etc, a brief intro s to how good you are and a few bullet points. Typically A5 sized and printed on 80-120gsm paper.

A business card.is left as a calling card when you visit someone's house for the first time either to do a quote or to do a job. It needs to carry all of the information about you and your company that a customer or potential customer would require which includes your company name, your name, possibly your position in the company, your business (or if you work from home, then your home) address, land line phone number, mobile number, free phone number (if you have one), fax number ( if you have one), email address, website details (if you have one). This is something that people would expect to keep and is normally printed on card (300 - 400gsm card) and not paper like the flyers. Typically size is 2" x 3".