Career as handyman?

[dlminehart]

Out of work for the 3rd time in 6 years, I'm thinking about becoming my own boss. I enjoy projects around the house, have successfully tackled a wide range of them, and am wondering about starting a handyman business.

Anyone willing to volunteer 15-30 minutes of phone time to sharing their experiences at doing this? If so, please send me an email suggesting a time I might give you a call. It would be much appreciated!

[ragswl4]

Out of work for the 3rd time in 6 years, I'm thinking about becoming my own boss. I enjoy projects around the house, have successfully tackled a wide range of them, and am wondering about starting a handyman business.

Anyone willing to volunteer 15-30 minutes of phone time to sharing their experiences at doing this? If so, please send me an email suggesting a time I might give you a call. It would be much appreciated!

I have a stepson that recently lost his job. He was fixing up houses that he purchased as a sideline to his normal job. He decided to try his hand at doing this for others, installing tile, painting, kitchen remodels, etc... He really loves it and now is having problems handling all the work that is coming his way. I would think the hard part is doing the biding so that you don't wind up in the "RED" on a project. That's where his learing curve is the steepest.

He even jacked up and moved a 1500 sqft house that he had built too close to the property line. Never did it before.

What the heck if you are out of work it can't hurt to try it out. Maybe think about getting a contractor's license first and look into liability insurance costs in case someone decides to sue you later for the work that you did. Maybe the small business bureau can provide some help as well.

[Mr__Bill]

I am sure you have a lot of reasons to, but here are some of the why not to's:

Licensing
Insurance, business
Insurance, health
Collecting what is due
Taxes
Bonding
Trouble getting any kind of credit
Charging what you are worth
Friends who expect free
You loose it as a hobby
Working for your self, every day off is a day you don't get paid

Licensing is the big issue. In many areas if you charge to change a washer on a sink you have to be a licensed plumber, ditto for a new light switch. In addition you will need some form of a contractors license. Without these you can get into real trouble if someone wants to press the issue.

But other than that, it can be rewarding when done between real jobs.

Bill, on the Sunny Oregon Coast

[poolhound]

As Bill points out licensing and insurance are probably your biggest issues to come to grips with. In some states licensing is not required if the value of the job is below a certain amount. I would guess that CA may be more strict but if not and you are OK with staying to "odd jobs" rather than major projects you can do quite well depending of course on what your financial needs are.

I belong to a number of networking groups here in Phoenix and see quite a few "handymen" who seem to get plenty of referrals for business. If you decide to go forward I could reccomend you to some in your area that could help.

[herb fellows]

My wifes uncle, after 40 years as a minister, became a handyman! He absolutely loves it! He sticks to those areas where licensing isn't an issue, not sure what insurance he has.

He told me his biggest asset was a happy customer. By bending over backwards to please them, even at a monetary cost to himself once in a while, the referrals more than make up for any losses.

[atgcpaul]

As Bill points out licensing and insurance are probably your biggest issues to come to grips with. In some states licensing is not required if the value of the job is below a certain amount. I would guess that CA may be more strict but if not and you are OK with staying to "odd jobs" rather than major projects you can do quite well depending of course on what your financial needs are.

The only jury I've ever been on was in CA for a guy suing the city for being
hit by a trolley while he was doing his community service hours. Why was he
doing community service hours? Because he was busted for working as an
unlicensed contractor. Don't know to what extent he was working, but watch
out.

Paul

[scmhogg]

Check with the State Contractor's License Board. 7028 of the Business and Professions Code, makes contracting without a license a misdemeanor.

Steve

[dlminehart]

Well, I did a little research on this. In CA, one needs a General Contractor's license to do jobs totaling $500 or more. To get the license, one must pass two exams, one about business & trade practices, one in the technical area (general, electrical, plumbing) sought. One must be a journeyman; i.e., have 4 years (full-time) verifiable experience, or an equivalent combination of experience and formal training (with transcripts).

Not too easy if you've not been working in an actual full-time job in the trade.

Advantages of having the license:

You can bid for jobs that are over $500.
You can bid for government projects.
You can take the customer to court if you are not paid. (Without a license, a contract over $500 is considered illegal.)
You can legally advertise your construction business.
You can pull building permits.
You are eligible for special discounts from many material suppliers.
You can join builders' associations that offer job boards, plan rooms, and group insurance.

Wonder if both partners in a joint venture need to have licenses? I might look into teaming up with someone who has a license.

[rnelson0]

Does your state offer a handyman's license? Some offer this license so that someone can do "lite" plumbing, construction, etc. without having to spend 4 years as a journeyman in each area.

[dlminehart]

California offers no "handyman's" license. Closest is General Contractor, requiring the 4 years experience. Otherwise, as stated, you can't do jobs whose bill totals $500 or more. State actually sets up sting operations, with employees posing as new homeowners needing some work done exceeding $500. They'll bust a bunch of folks, publicize the event to discourage handymen from doing more substantial jobs, and highlight any handymen with shady backgrounds as a caution to prospective users of unlicensed handymen. They also look into folks who advertise handyman services without listing their license number, as advertising (even posting notices outside or on bulletin boards) is illegal without the license even if you'll only be doing small jobs. I.e., you're restricted to word-of-mouth promotional activity.

[wardprobst]

David,
I've been self employed in an unrelated field for about 30 years. You have been given some good advice and have done your homework. My advice would be to find a handyman and work as an assistant as you suggest. You will see if it's something you want to stick with, you'll gain experience toward a license if you do and you are not out a bunch of bucks if you don't. I'd find the busiest guy around and tell him honestly what you are capable of doing and what you need training for. If you make him a good hand, you'll be successful on your own but you will need to make him money to make it worth his while to train a competitor. Which usually means working for the lower wage while learning. The good news is you'll never be outta work again.
HTH,
DP

[Tom Slick]

Do your homework on the technical area license also. IIRC even with a general license you are limited to the types/amounts of jobs you can take i.e. you can't do a 100% plumbing or electrical job as a GC. Although I'd think typical handyman stuff wouldn't go over the edge of a GC's typical scope of work.

If you do decide to do handyman work see if you can hook up with a real estate company for doing rental repairs and fixing up houses they are going to sell. I have a friend who did this and had more than 40hrs/wk of work for himself.

[leehljp]

My daughter is the assistant manager for a privately owned motel that is associated with a large chain. (Her job is more than that.) She said that that the handyman under contract to keep things going - made as much as the manager did last year. He changes bulbs, fixes doors, locks, paints wall scrapes, furniture fixes, basic electrical work. When things get more than he can handle, he contacts the specialists such as the elevator or AC folks.

This is in a region that doesn't have major licensing issues though.

The point is, get some experience and then look for small or private enterprises that you can contract with. This will be a little different than pure free-lance but probably more consistent in employment.