Handyman job

Thomas_Holding

I live in a London suburb a friend asked how he can he find part time jobs as a handyman. He is a caretaker in a school and would like to find more work at weekends.

Any ideas?

diystarter7

What skills and personal tools does he have?

baser999

Tried advertising in local shops, parish magazines? 

Edi81

Signup to taskrabbit and or similar?

He has to make sure he has suitable insurance just in case anything goes wrong. 

Savvy_Sue

He also needs to check that his employer allows him to take on additional work, which they may do as long as they know about it and it's clear there's no bad effect on his day job. 

Where I live, NextDoor is full of posts from people wanting handymen, and handymen offering their services. The first few jobs will be the most difficult, after that you can ask satisfied customers to post recommendations, and they'll chip in with recommendations when anyone asks. 

Marcon

Thomas_Holding said:

I live in a London suburb a friend asked how he can he find part time jobs as a handyman. He is a caretaker in a school and would like to find more work at weekends.

Any ideas?

Try peopleperhour.com

Local noticeboards in supermarkets are often free - have a look to see whether anyone else is offering such a service and what they charge.

Also worth contacting establishments such as local care homes, churches, blocks of flats or anyone else who might need his services (spoiler alert: pretty much anyone!).

DullGreyGuy

There are a range of websites/apps available like those mentioned and also things like RatedPeople and MyBuilder.

Like any business there is a skill to using these tools and its important to understand the billing structure... some like the above two charge you for each job you are short listed on irrespective if you turn it into a job or not and so you need to get good at identifying the time wasters and not having to pay for punts on a job that you've no realistic chance of securing etc. 

Thomas_Holding

diystarter7 said:

What skills and personal tools does he have?

Thank you all sorry I have been ill so couldn't log on.
General handyman so small repairs etc.

Thomas_Holding

Edi81 said:

Signup to taskrabbit and or similar?

He has to make sure he has suitable insurance just in case anything goes wrong. 

Thanks a lot, any idea what that should cost?

tacpot12

Insurance should be available for less than £100. If his caretaking job requires him to undertake repairs, then letting the insurer know that he has professionally experience will reassure them, and might even bring the cost down. 

He might need the services of an insurance broker to find cost-effective insurance.