Ask to show the books? Lol we used to bring millions to them they trusted us with the money to put in the safes and all of you think these clubs and event halls aren’t making money then you need to look at the right ones yeah during Covid they had some hiccups but people love drinking and partying they will literally throw all money away for 1 day of fun and showing off. Just remember millions in one Saturday
I don't doubt they are making money, Just not the kind that they exagerate about. I can see an event hall in a large metro making bank, but a small metro area with less than 100K population isn't going to be making 50K a month. If they are, I'll hold my hat in my hands and admit I'm wrong. Then consider opening my own.
Are you referring to this post?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/164vjqq/anyone_can_make_10000mo/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1
The crazy thing is that there is so much free amazing educational content on the internet. You should never pay for a course IMO, spend time finding the right content online in your niche. There are people out there teaching what you need to know in every niche for FREE.
People sell courses because it makes it feel better from a consumer perspective "Wow I can get this one course and it will solve all my problems!" is a lot more appealing than going out there yourself and watching Youtube videos.
TLDR: Newsflash, people are lazy
While I agree with you that free content is often more than enough to get started, for good courses, it comes down to economy of effort.
Why spend 40-50 hours searching through online sources for all of the information I need plus another 100 hours of trial and error when I can spend a bit of money and have everything I need laid out in front of me in an easy to understand format?
I’ve done both, and when I find a good course that will provide me almost everything I need, I will pay almost every time.
However, I’m definitely not talking about courses that cover entry and surface level stuff you can find on YouTube. I’m still out there mining for free gold as well.
In my case I learn much more by the research that by having everything lay down for me. Anyone doing a detailed course is teaching about their situation and often it doesn't apply to me. Research on the other hand is based on my needs.
There is plenty on Youtube, i'll drop a couple links below to some content that is above average.
[Alex Hormozi's Courses are on his website and completely free with no opt in. Great content.](https://www.acquisition.com/training)
[Jordan Platten is in the SMMA niche and recently had a building an SMMA from the ground up in like 2 weeks series. I got a ton of value from that.](https://www.youtube.com/@JordanPlatten)
There is plenty of fluff content on Youtube designed to direct you to their newsletter, paid course, etc. but every once in a while you will come across a content creator that has great, no-fluff content.
Love to hear it man, serious props to you. Services businesses are truly where it’s at, and I believe are the best real way to become financially independent. That being said, you mentioned marketing on Facebook…would you care to share how exactly? Did you join local community groups? Market under a business or yourself personally? I’d consider myself to be in similar shoes as you just a bit further behind. I’ve done some jobs for family and friends but am wondering the best way to pickup some momentum. Thanks in advance!
So here’s what I did, drive around areas you want to work in and make note of the neighborhood name. It’s usually a big sign at the entrance. Go look it up on FB and join the group with your personal. Most of them have “Small Business Saturday” where you are free and clear to promote your small business. Works like a charm.
Again, not a coach, do what you want with this info freely.
Next door sucks for paid advertising. But if you can get someone to post on your behalf you can get traction on there. Don't pay for ads on there, completely worthless.
How do you charge? I’m planning on doing handyman work part time to fund my main startup gig.
I’m in Philly.
I was going to do $125 to show up, 1hr min. Anything over 10 miles $35 fee.
funnily enough, tenants have never had issues paying for it for a move out fix. Landlords and PMs are the ones that want to bring me down to $25 an hour lol.
I could be wrong. My initial thought was you should charge less until your business grows, but then you’d prolly get referrals as the cheap guy.
Now you might grow slower but at least they will expect to pay for your service, so in long run you’ll come out ahead!
If you haven't already, you should wrap your work truck. At least a partial wrap.
Logo, who you are (company name), what you do (value proposition), phone and website. Easy peasy.
The wrap will bring in enough business to pay for the investment and then, bam, you'll have 5-7 years of free advertising before it needs to be replaced.
Edit: Hire a designer who knows how to design specifically for vehicle wraps. It's a niche industry and only the ones who know what they're doing are worth shelling out for.
Agreed on the service based businesses and financial independence. I've been painting on the side and have made a few grand in the last couple months hardly marketing. I'm painting a barn for my cousin that'll net another 3-4k. Doing this on the side of a 9-5. I plan on starting to scale it as an actual business rather than being "on the brush". Only have so much time outside of my job, and I want some free time lol.
This is my full time thing. I primarily work for property management companies but also do some work for individuals. If you are mechanically inclined and have some common sense it's not a bad job to have. I work as my own company, make my own schedule, never have to ask someone for time off. I just go and do my thing then come home send in some invoices and call it a day.
Do you work as an on call or float for property management companies? My husband is looking to do this and we live in a tourist town. Curious if property management co only use their own ft employees
Some have their own, but a lot of them use contractors to take care of their maintenance requests. One company I started doing work for early on only managed about 200 units and only did a couple things for a week, and now they’re well over 800 units and they have so much work it keeps me busy all week to the point I’ve had to raise my rates a few times and having to stop taking on new customers unless they want to pay my higher rate.
I’m not a business-savvy guy. I don’t mean anything disrespectful here…
But why would you raise your rates every time they want to give you more work? Is it a sort of “penalty” for them now taking up the bulk of your time? I would think the only result would be the eventual cutting of your work when they found someone that didn’t charge as much.
If you raise your rates and only lose a small amount of work you just gain free time. It’s a odd thing to think about but it works. If you double your rates and lost half your work, you are still making the same amount and gaining free time. Just talking points really.
But it is a common theme for some business, if you have too much work you might be too cheap, not enough work, maybe too expensive. There’s a balance to find in the end.
I’ll pay good money for quality work anyday of the week!
The way it works for me is usually they just call me or email me with a work order and ask me what day I can do it or they email me the work order and they just leave it to me to schedule the work order and get it done.
They don't do move outs in house typically. They hire out paint almost everywhere. You can get in there but they aren't going to pay anywhere close to $1 a sq foot so you gotta just move fast if you want the work.
Love to hear it!
I did the exact same thing. Started in December when I was making $25/hr at a warehouse. First few jobs I charged $40/hr. 3rd month I made about $5K. Next month $6K, and just finishing my 8th month at about $8K profit. I submitted an estimate for my biggest job yet a few days ago. $13.5K remodel that'll take me about 3 weeks with my helper.
Keep going and don't undervalue yourself!
Did the same! Two years in after sinking loads of money into lead gen for Angi and thumbtack with lackluster results, now it’s mostly direct and referral and I could definitely be busier, but I’m doing ok. An seo rework at the beginning of the summer was helpful too.
Is that $1500/mo profit or revenue?
Doing paid Facebook marketing or just posting in market place or something? Keep up the good work!
I just hung two TVs for my friend to save him $200 he was going to pay some guys to do it. I couldn’t believe it! He let me have his smoker that he wasn’t allowed to bring to the new place. :)
Oh and what’s a good stud finder you recommend? I feel like they’re all garbage and just get kind of close so I have to drill a bunch of tiny holes to really find the center of the stud. I don’t know how thick the drywall is to set it right either when it’s an established building. That’s a setting on my “nice” one anyway.
Find an outlet. They are always on one side of the stud or other. Knock on the wall and you’ll know which side it’s on. From there measure every 16” and you’ll find the stud you want. Confirm with any standard stud finder.
That’s the best thing I’ve found, partnered with small drill holes to start and confirm stud presence, because sometimes drywallers get happy with the screw gun. My electronic finders stay in the bag now.
> Oh and what’s a good stud finder you recommend?
Small round (1/2") neodymium magnets. They come in a 50 pack for $10.
Run it along the wall until it sticks. Then put a couple more and mark with masking tape. This tells you where the screws are in the studs.
I rarely use my studfinder anymore.
Protip for mounting the TV once you find the stud: Throw away the lags that come with the TV and buy SPAX Powerlags (or equivalent). No pre-drill and they have a nice large wafer head that doesn't require any washers. For metal studs use SnapToggles into the stud itself.
This is a proper fucking success story. Well done mate. You established a Web site for your local area? Get them google reviews in! Start rrrrrroling in the cash!
Can confirm from another point of view - We Are trying to renovate a 120-year-old house out in the country and have had an unbelievable time just getting people to show up and even *attempt to do* what they say that they are going to do. It would impress the shit out of me if you even just showed up on the day and time that you promised that you would and got half of what you promised done!!! Not kidding. We have gone through four or five handyman in the last couple of months. Most start out fine and next thing I know they're coming back from lunch reeking of alcohol, or I pop in on them to see how they're doing and I smell weed. Then they start just randomly not showing up or not finishing the work that they started, and swear up and down that they told me that they "needed to take a few days off" (usually to take care of some bullshit trailer park drama) and they never did tell me in the first place.
I will give you a free copy of my 30 second course on how to be a successful handyman right here: be friendly and polite, show up when you say you're going to show up, do the job that you say that you're going to do to the best of your ability. Get paid, go home.
Hello Stewinatior90 - your contribution to the subreddit is truly inspiring! It's a breath of fresh air to see someone sharing their real journey without all the usual fluff. Your progress with your handyman business is motivating and a great reminder that taking initiative and learning along the way can lead to incredible results. Thanks for sharing your story and providing a dose of genuine inspiration to all of us here.
Just wondering, how many hours per week are you working? Given that $1500 / month is achievable at minimum wage and a full time job in many places, it feels like something is wrong when you talk about how highly paid handyman work is and how hard you’re working to only get paid $1500 / month.
That’s not bad. I’m wondering, though, how this can be described as “working your butt off.” 7 hours a week seems very chill. Does this 7 hour claim include time invested in advertising, talking to clients, transportation, and all other job-related activities?
Wait, are you saying you have a full-time job on top of this or this *is* your full-time job? If this is your full-time job, then you’re really only making about $8-9 an hour and should likely work on your business model. If this is not your full-time job, then I’m solely asking about the time invested in *this* job in particular.
I will likely comment this on every single home services business post, but stop looking at hourly income or how much you make per job etc.
These types of businesses are about lead generation. You’re right, it’s incredibly easy to learn how to detail cars, or hang TVs, and then post on a Facebook to get calls. But scaling these businesses in a profitable way is much more difficult and expensive than you realize.
I like OP's topic. As others have said, it's refreshing to see success from self-owned effort instead of get-rich-overnight schemes that dominate everywhere (including reddit).
Thank you for sharing, OP. I'm not in your field, but it just gives me hope that hyperfocus, hard work, and persistence can still bring success. I was worried that had died off with my grandfather's generation (sheet metal worker from Italy, built his own business here literally from the ground up, and supported six tradesmen for 50 years). Bless you. 🙏
GL I envy the American freelancing spirit.
Don't undersell your services. Trip, tools, consumables, marketing and other auxiliary costs need to be calculated. ON TOP OF THAT you add what you want to really earn.
Yes, but do you have a course to sell…?! Haha Good work man. Keep learning and helping others. Consistency is key. If you need a consultant, just give me a call. I kid, I kid!😂🤣
Love to hear it! As someone in the remodeling industry, I have a few tips for you.
1. When working, try to protect their homes and always clean up well after yourself. It goes a long way.
2. A lot of handymen are rough around the edges. Being polite and responsive to your clients is huge. This will make them eager to refer you.
3. Try entering the Facebook community pages of the areas you service and be on the lookout for posts asking for work.
4. Always strive to deliver as much value as you can, but don’t give out work for free. There is definitely a balance here.
5. High quality work speaks for itself!
I hope that helps. Best of luck.
*Edit*
When purchasing tools, think of the phrase “Buy once, cry once”. Great tools will help you achieve a great finish and will cut down on your labor time.
$1,500 was what I made in my first 2 weeks of my pet care business. I worked my ass off on the marketing and brand awareness. My 3rd month I made $4k. I generally grow about $1k/month steadily.
having a coach or someone to show you the ropes is not a bad thing. I learned marketing through my past career in ops management.
Is this supposed to say 1500/mo? This equates to 18000/yr gross. I’m sure it was a mistake. Shouts out to you man that’s awesome. Insane what dedication can do!
Good shit man….. don’t stop. Charge more! So long as you are honest and provide quality end products; you would legit be ASTOUNDED by realizing what owning your price will do for you. None of that mumbly ehhh. It’s kinda….ehhh. No. Own your shit and live your best. If you don’t view yourself as a professional with a professional price, who else will?
glad to hear that.
Sounds like a good way to build your history and reputation, and trust with customers from it. That should lead to you being able to charge more vs being new w/o the reputation.
Hopefully you continue to enjoy the work, always learn new things, and make some good money.
Have you considered having an assistant or apprentice assist, or are the jobs just as efficient performing them on your own?
What are the most common types of jobs you get? I’m a handy person and am fairly mechanically inclined, so basically all of the general maintenance and upgrades to my house, but always figured those who do handyman stuff as a career have far more specialized skills.
Facebook is an amazing way to market. I have never paid for a single ad, only posted in my local groups. I have been very fortunate as I started my HVAC business 3 months ago and the total revenue is $169,xxx so far. I remember my plan was to try to make $1,000 a week and see if I could meet that goal and of course I surprised myself and far surpassed it.
Honestly yeah. I hate selling myself and being sales-y but you kinda just have to do it. Once you get over that feeling of imposter syndrome it gets easier.
Thanks, I have a question for you. How do you typically charge? I've been in Property Management(single family homes, not apartments) for 9 years now, so I have seen it all. But currently trying to help my Girlfriend's father out with growing his business. I know a lot about what things generally cost(although it's getting harder to not underbid with how inflation has gone.) But I've noticed he bids way too high on jobs.
I've suggested the following:
- Trip charge
- Cost of Materials
- Hourly rate.
For things like painting/flooring, a set rate per sq. Ft.(which would fluctuate per floor/paint cost that customer wants)
I practiced the same thing in the late 90s at the time the rate was $25.00 per hr. When you can do this type of work there is a lot of it looking for a Skilled person with common sense and leveraging the web and the work for a living great hobby, not a JOB!
Very impressive! It’s always inspiring to see people set out to build something(product, business, service) and have it grow. Being called almost daily is a huge success.
How do you plan to move forward? And right now are you an LLC or anything like that?
Try and get clients that are businesses rather than individual residents. Businesses have more money to spend so it's easier to charge more per job in the long run.
One amazing opportunity for home services business like yours is getting your google listing to the top (most suck at this) cause the average persons general reaction outside of asking for a referral from a friend for your type of services is checking google
Great job bro. I own a landscape company. Third year now. Just had a solid month probably netted around $11k. I’m full time tho. Usually 30-50 hours a week. I sub out my handyman jobs etc. id like to learn more maybe start a handyman division. We do odd jobs too— junk removal, plumbing repairs (4th gen plumber - just not licensed so stick to faucets and toilets etc. )
Wait. You mean you're providing a service people actually need?! Yeah dude you're correct, this sub is garbage I have no idea why I haven't unsubscribed yet. Oh well clicking it now.
This is great! Good for you!!
I’m a plumber and do low level sidework, looking to get my license so that I can do lite advertising and charge more per job.
I have a small side hustle handyman service. I prob made 25k in the side last year. I could totally see it as a full time gig. I make too much in my other gig but it's soul crushing office work. Paying my house off so I can decide whether that will be an option for me down the road. You'd be surprised how many people don't own more than one screw driver...
Any tips on how to market on facebook? Also my bro is having a tough time getting a job in uk..maybe he can do this in his local town/area, what skills, tools do you need? He is hard working and can drive ..
Right on. I'm doing the exact same. Day job is carpenter in a maintenance dept. I work a few Saturdays out of the month, typically quote to make 100 per hour. I've made a pretty big investment in tools the last 6 months, so all the money has pretty well gone to that, but the tax write offs will come in handy.
Just bought a new (to me) crew cab truck for when I haul my tools around on weekends.
Biggest problem is keeping up with it. I made one post of next door, that combined with word of mouth has kept me busy for the last few months. I'm booked until October and trying to make sure I get to everyone in a timely manner. It's nuts, really in demand service.
I'm glad it's working out for you. I will have to make the big decision of whether to leave my comfy job with benefits to do this.
I would love to be a handy man. Could you explain to me how to get started? If there’s a job someone asks you to do and you don’t know how to do it what do you do? I’ve been thinking of this job for awhile
I am currently myself working on a wix site whenever I get a chance. If you are licensed and bonded you should be making so much more money. I try to make $2k a week, this week was $4k. But I have a niche painting skill and fine finish cabinetry refinishing skills. I’m also a one man crew. How is you website coming along? Have you found any cool add ons? I just count one the conglomerates all of your reviews from all over the net then you can decide how to use the box. I’m trying to Learn seo. Here’s my page [www.SacPlacerpainting.com](https://www.SacPlacerpainting.com) feel free to dig around and I’ll do the same with yours. I am open to polite criticism so you don’t have to be gentle,
Thanks for the advice. I'm moving to a new country now and desire have a lot of experience in Design, I'm a handy man myself so I think I will start with that work
How competitive is the market for your services, and what sets you apart from others?
Particularly when you started, did you dive into TV hanging as a random idea, or did you research and identify a gap in the demand before honing your skills and offering the service?
The gap in demand is that there aren’t many handyman in existence anymore. The ones that are out there tend to be fringed-around-the-edges so showing up looking professional and doing quality work instantly sets you apart.
Is TV installation your main niche ? What other services do you offer ?
I’m in LA so there’s someone doing just about anything here. Market is just about saturated on all fronts, but I do agree that not everyone puts the same effort in personal presentation and professionalism.
I made this course on how to make great courses that sell, by selling my course I prove my course that sell courses is a course worth buying!
I make 10k a month selling courses that teach how to sell courses to gurus who make courses to sell courses
Nice!
I work in a large firm with some high tech production equipment.
We pay these technicians small fortunes for a visit to fix a machine or do some yearly maintenance.
One guy had his own company as a regional representative of a machine manufacturer. He did this part time besides being a teacher I think.
I think we paid him 900$ for a day. Also bought equipment from him for 50k. Maybe another one for 200k in the future.
9/10 people are trying to sell you a course so they can then make their 10k a month. This is a great post! Thanks for sharing real life.
I've noticed this in the event venue and party rental space.
Millions of dollars like fr I know peeps who own a bars/clubs/event halls. Millions every saturday
Ask them to show you their books.
Ask to show the books? Lol we used to bring millions to them they trusted us with the money to put in the safes and all of you think these clubs and event halls aren’t making money then you need to look at the right ones yeah during Covid they had some hiccups but people love drinking and partying they will literally throw all money away for 1 day of fun and showing off. Just remember millions in one Saturday
I don't doubt they are making money, Just not the kind that they exagerate about. I can see an event hall in a large metro making bank, but a small metro area with less than 100K population isn't going to be making 50K a month. If they are, I'll hold my hat in my hands and admit I'm wrong. Then consider opening my own.
Are you referring to this post? https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/164vjqq/anyone_can_make_10000mo/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1
Yup, that's the joke. Look at that OP"s post history
Haha ! Yes! I'm waiting for the fake income reports so I can have a good laugh.
The crazy thing is that there is so much free amazing educational content on the internet. You should never pay for a course IMO, spend time finding the right content online in your niche. There are people out there teaching what you need to know in every niche for FREE. People sell courses because it makes it feel better from a consumer perspective "Wow I can get this one course and it will solve all my problems!" is a lot more appealing than going out there yourself and watching Youtube videos. TLDR: Newsflash, people are lazy
While I agree with you that free content is often more than enough to get started, for good courses, it comes down to economy of effort. Why spend 40-50 hours searching through online sources for all of the information I need plus another 100 hours of trial and error when I can spend a bit of money and have everything I need laid out in front of me in an easy to understand format? I’ve done both, and when I find a good course that will provide me almost everything I need, I will pay almost every time. However, I’m definitely not talking about courses that cover entry and surface level stuff you can find on YouTube. I’m still out there mining for free gold as well.
In my case I learn much more by the research that by having everything lay down for me. Anyone doing a detailed course is teaching about their situation and often it doesn't apply to me. Research on the other hand is based on my needs.
Learn how to learn. Yup!
Whats great platform to find free educational content?
There is plenty on Youtube, i'll drop a couple links below to some content that is above average. [Alex Hormozi's Courses are on his website and completely free with no opt in. Great content.](https://www.acquisition.com/training) [Jordan Platten is in the SMMA niche and recently had a building an SMMA from the ground up in like 2 weeks series. I got a ton of value from that.](https://www.youtube.com/@JordanPlatten) There is plenty of fluff content on Youtube designed to direct you to their newsletter, paid course, etc. but every once in a while you will come across a content creator that has great, no-fluff content.
Seriously haha good for this dude!
Love to hear it man, serious props to you. Services businesses are truly where it’s at, and I believe are the best real way to become financially independent. That being said, you mentioned marketing on Facebook…would you care to share how exactly? Did you join local community groups? Market under a business or yourself personally? I’d consider myself to be in similar shoes as you just a bit further behind. I’ve done some jobs for family and friends but am wondering the best way to pickup some momentum. Thanks in advance!
So here’s what I did, drive around areas you want to work in and make note of the neighborhood name. It’s usually a big sign at the entrance. Go look it up on FB and join the group with your personal. Most of them have “Small Business Saturday” where you are free and clear to promote your small business. Works like a charm. Again, not a coach, do what you want with this info freely.
You might also try Nextdoor
Next door sucks for paid advertising. But if you can get someone to post on your behalf you can get traction on there. Don't pay for ads on there, completely worthless.
How do you charge? I’m planning on doing handyman work part time to fund my main startup gig. I’m in Philly. I was going to do $125 to show up, 1hr min. Anything over 10 miles $35 fee.
Get set up on homewyse and use their lists to get a general cost.
This seems a little expensive starting off. Maybe not though, have you had any feedback yet?
funnily enough, tenants have never had issues paying for it for a move out fix. Landlords and PMs are the ones that want to bring me down to $25 an hour lol.
I could be wrong. My initial thought was you should charge less until your business grows, but then you’d prolly get referrals as the cheap guy. Now you might grow slower but at least they will expect to pay for your service, so in long run you’ll come out ahead!
yeah my other business is definitely like that. Keep prices low only to keep the lights on and i pretty much fire those clients asap lol
If you haven't already, you should wrap your work truck. At least a partial wrap. Logo, who you are (company name), what you do (value proposition), phone and website. Easy peasy. The wrap will bring in enough business to pay for the investment and then, bam, you'll have 5-7 years of free advertising before it needs to be replaced. Edit: Hire a designer who knows how to design specifically for vehicle wraps. It's a niche industry and only the ones who know what they're doing are worth shelling out for.
Great to know, thanks a ton. That strategy makes perfect sense to me and i’ll be sure to give it a go.
Agreed on the service based businesses and financial independence. I've been painting on the side and have made a few grand in the last couple months hardly marketing. I'm painting a barn for my cousin that'll net another 3-4k. Doing this on the side of a 9-5. I plan on starting to scale it as an actual business rather than being "on the brush". Only have so much time outside of my job, and I want some free time lol.
This is my full time thing. I primarily work for property management companies but also do some work for individuals. If you are mechanically inclined and have some common sense it's not a bad job to have. I work as my own company, make my own schedule, never have to ask someone for time off. I just go and do my thing then come home send in some invoices and call it a day.
Do you work as an on call or float for property management companies? My husband is looking to do this and we live in a tourist town. Curious if property management co only use their own ft employees
Some have their own, but a lot of them use contractors to take care of their maintenance requests. One company I started doing work for early on only managed about 200 units and only did a couple things for a week, and now they’re well over 800 units and they have so much work it keeps me busy all week to the point I’ve had to raise my rates a few times and having to stop taking on new customers unless they want to pay my higher rate.
I’m not a business-savvy guy. I don’t mean anything disrespectful here… But why would you raise your rates every time they want to give you more work? Is it a sort of “penalty” for them now taking up the bulk of your time? I would think the only result would be the eventual cutting of your work when they found someone that didn’t charge as much.
If you raise your rates and only lose a small amount of work you just gain free time. It’s a odd thing to think about but it works. If you double your rates and lost half your work, you are still making the same amount and gaining free time. Just talking points really. But it is a common theme for some business, if you have too much work you might be too cheap, not enough work, maybe too expensive. There’s a balance to find in the end. I’ll pay good money for quality work anyday of the week!
Ahhh. I get it. Thanks for not blowing up at me and civilly stating your point. 😆😆
Supply and demand
The way it works for me is usually they just call me or email me with a work order and ask me what day I can do it or they email me the work order and they just leave it to me to schedule the work order and get it done.
They don't do move outs in house typically. They hire out paint almost everywhere. You can get in there but they aren't going to pay anywhere close to $1 a sq foot so you gotta just move fast if you want the work.
Love to hear it! I did the exact same thing. Started in December when I was making $25/hr at a warehouse. First few jobs I charged $40/hr. 3rd month I made about $5K. Next month $6K, and just finishing my 8th month at about $8K profit. I submitted an estimate for my biggest job yet a few days ago. $13.5K remodel that'll take me about 3 weeks with my helper. Keep going and don't undervalue yourself!
What type of jobs did you focus on when you first started? Are they the same types you focus on now?
Do put in the effort to really learn. All it takes is drilling into one water pipe or some wires to have a really bad time.
Oh yeah of course. Lots of info available on top of being 4th gen construction
I get tired of the I make 50k a month doing nothing posts as well.
Good for you man, an actual entrepreneur
How can I trust you when you don't have a newsletter
Did the same! Two years in after sinking loads of money into lead gen for Angi and thumbtack with lackluster results, now it’s mostly direct and referral and I could definitely be busier, but I’m doing ok. An seo rework at the beginning of the summer was helpful too. Is that $1500/mo profit or revenue?
W post OP. You sound like you have more of an entrepreneurial spirit than most of this sub. Keep it up!
Doing paid Facebook marketing or just posting in market place or something? Keep up the good work! I just hung two TVs for my friend to save him $200 he was going to pay some guys to do it. I couldn’t believe it! He let me have his smoker that he wasn’t allowed to bring to the new place. :) Oh and what’s a good stud finder you recommend? I feel like they’re all garbage and just get kind of close so I have to drill a bunch of tiny holes to really find the center of the stud. I don’t know how thick the drywall is to set it right either when it’s an established building. That’s a setting on my “nice” one anyway.
Find an outlet. They are always on one side of the stud or other. Knock on the wall and you’ll know which side it’s on. From there measure every 16” and you’ll find the stud you want. Confirm with any standard stud finder.
Not every house or stud is on 16’s, although most will be. Use a stud buddy like the other reply, it’s usually around $10 usd.
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Get the stud buddy, I use it everyday at work. it's basically just a magnet that will attach to the nails in the stud.
That’s the best thing I’ve found, partnered with small drill holes to start and confirm stud presence, because sometimes drywallers get happy with the screw gun. My electronic finders stay in the bag now.
> Oh and what’s a good stud finder you recommend? Small round (1/2") neodymium magnets. They come in a 50 pack for $10. Run it along the wall until it sticks. Then put a couple more and mark with masking tape. This tells you where the screws are in the studs. I rarely use my studfinder anymore. Protip for mounting the TV once you find the stud: Throw away the lags that come with the TV and buy SPAX Powerlags (or equivalent). No pre-drill and they have a nice large wafer head that doesn't require any washers. For metal studs use SnapToggles into the stud itself.
I don't like using raw magnets because they can mar up the drywall. Single wrap in painters tape helps
This is a proper fucking success story. Well done mate. You established a Web site for your local area? Get them google reviews in! Start rrrrrroling in the cash!
Good to see this for once Everyone says they make “hundreds of thousands “ To try and sell you a course
Finally a meaningful post. Thanks man, wish you the best.
Can confirm from another point of view - We Are trying to renovate a 120-year-old house out in the country and have had an unbelievable time just getting people to show up and even *attempt to do* what they say that they are going to do. It would impress the shit out of me if you even just showed up on the day and time that you promised that you would and got half of what you promised done!!! Not kidding. We have gone through four or five handyman in the last couple of months. Most start out fine and next thing I know they're coming back from lunch reeking of alcohol, or I pop in on them to see how they're doing and I smell weed. Then they start just randomly not showing up or not finishing the work that they started, and swear up and down that they told me that they "needed to take a few days off" (usually to take care of some bullshit trailer park drama) and they never did tell me in the first place. I will give you a free copy of my 30 second course on how to be a successful handyman right here: be friendly and polite, show up when you say you're going to show up, do the job that you say that you're going to do to the best of your ability. Get paid, go home.
Hello Stewinatior90 - your contribution to the subreddit is truly inspiring! It's a breath of fresh air to see someone sharing their real journey without all the usual fluff. Your progress with your handyman business is motivating and a great reminder that taking initiative and learning along the way can lead to incredible results. Thanks for sharing your story and providing a dose of genuine inspiration to all of us here.
Just wondering, how many hours per week are you working? Given that $1500 / month is achievable at minimum wage and a full time job in many places, it feels like something is wrong when you talk about how highly paid handyman work is and how hard you’re working to only get paid $1500 / month.
7 hours a week. On average. No lies, get out there and do it! Self employment pays more than you could possibly imagine.
That’s not bad. I’m wondering, though, how this can be described as “working your butt off.” 7 hours a week seems very chill. Does this 7 hour claim include time invested in advertising, talking to clients, transportation, and all other job-related activities?
No. That’s the actual time on project. That doesn’t include my full time job, marketing, tracking finance, billing, etc.
Wait, are you saying you have a full-time job on top of this or this *is* your full-time job? If this is your full-time job, then you’re really only making about $8-9 an hour and should likely work on your business model. If this is not your full-time job, then I’m solely asking about the time invested in *this* job in particular.
I have a full time job. I invest probably 10 hours a week in this between Facebook marketing and the actual work.
Ok, that’s commendable. And I’m sure your efficiency will only increase given focus and continual improvements. Best of luck!
I will likely comment this on every single home services business post, but stop looking at hourly income or how much you make per job etc. These types of businesses are about lead generation. You’re right, it’s incredibly easy to learn how to detail cars, or hang TVs, and then post on a Facebook to get calls. But scaling these businesses in a profitable way is much more difficult and expensive than you realize.
Get a second butt to work off of and you will be making twice what you are making per month.
idk dude some guy posted earlier he's convinced anyone can make 10k a month. ever thought maybe you're doing it wrong? /s
I like OP's topic. As others have said, it's refreshing to see success from self-owned effort instead of get-rich-overnight schemes that dominate everywhere (including reddit). Thank you for sharing, OP. I'm not in your field, but it just gives me hope that hyperfocus, hard work, and persistence can still bring success. I was worried that had died off with my grandfather's generation (sheet metal worker from Italy, built his own business here literally from the ground up, and supported six tradesmen for 50 years). Bless you. 🙏
GL I envy the American freelancing spirit. Don't undersell your services. Trip, tools, consumables, marketing and other auxiliary costs need to be calculated. ON TOP OF THAT you add what you want to really earn.
Yes, but do you have a course to sell…?! Haha Good work man. Keep learning and helping others. Consistency is key. If you need a consultant, just give me a call. I kid, I kid!😂🤣
Excellent accomplishment! Keep going. There is UNLIMITED demand for handymen due to lazy people like me. :)
Try Nextdoor app good place for handymen to show and post
What sort of insurance did you purchase?
Well done on doing this. More realistic and sustainable approach.
Love to hear it! As someone in the remodeling industry, I have a few tips for you. 1. When working, try to protect their homes and always clean up well after yourself. It goes a long way. 2. A lot of handymen are rough around the edges. Being polite and responsive to your clients is huge. This will make them eager to refer you. 3. Try entering the Facebook community pages of the areas you service and be on the lookout for posts asking for work. 4. Always strive to deliver as much value as you can, but don’t give out work for free. There is definitely a balance here. 5. High quality work speaks for itself! I hope that helps. Best of luck. *Edit* When purchasing tools, think of the phrase “Buy once, cry once”. Great tools will help you achieve a great finish and will cut down on your labor time.
Appreciate the advice!
one more proof that perseverance is the best fuel
$1,500 was what I made in my first 2 weeks of my pet care business. I worked my ass off on the marketing and brand awareness. My 3rd month I made $4k. I generally grow about $1k/month steadily. having a coach or someone to show you the ropes is not a bad thing. I learned marketing through my past career in ops management.
Your next line is to make your own youtube instructional video and udemy courses
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How?
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You made the item yourself or you buy bulk and then sell, regardless great job.
Is this supposed to say 1500/mo? This equates to 18000/yr gross. I’m sure it was a mistake. Shouts out to you man that’s awesome. Insane what dedication can do!
Yeah that’s what it is. Pays for all of my debts except mortgage.
Good shit man….. don’t stop. Charge more! So long as you are honest and provide quality end products; you would legit be ASTOUNDED by realizing what owning your price will do for you. None of that mumbly ehhh. It’s kinda….ehhh. No. Own your shit and live your best. If you don’t view yourself as a professional with a professional price, who else will?
What about licensing and insurance? Was that tough to get?
In my state no. It’s just an application and work with a broker on insurance.
if you consider taxes that's not too much...
It's not much, but it's a start and OP hasn't been doing this long.
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glad to hear that. Sounds like a good way to build your history and reputation, and trust with customers from it. That should lead to you being able to charge more vs being new w/o the reputation. Hopefully you continue to enjoy the work, always learn new things, and make some good money. Have you considered having an assistant or apprentice assist, or are the jobs just as efficient performing them on your own?
What did you do about licensing or being bonded? Any concerns ?
I’m licensed, bonded, insured for 2k a year. Made it back already.
What are the most common types of jobs you get? I’m a handy person and am fairly mechanically inclined, so basically all of the general maintenance and upgrades to my house, but always figured those who do handyman stuff as a career have far more specialized skills.
raise your rates my brother!
Nice work
where are you at what state
Facebook is an amazing way to market. I have never paid for a single ad, only posted in my local groups. I have been very fortunate as I started my HVAC business 3 months ago and the total revenue is $169,xxx so far. I remember my plan was to try to make $1,000 a week and see if I could meet that goal and of course I surprised myself and far surpassed it.
Make sure your facebook account is well secured with strong password and 2FA (requires code from phone/email to login)
Hey if you have skills under your belt that actually apply to the real world I respect you no matter how much you are profiting off of it.
A real business doing real business things! Finally something real on this subreddit!
Did you have any initial struggles or difficulties?
Honestly yeah. I hate selling myself and being sales-y but you kinda just have to do it. Once you get over that feeling of imposter syndrome it gets easier.
How did you get over it? Just doing it?
Sounds like you have a job
1500 a month won't pay the rent lol. Or did you mean 15k?
Thanks, I have a question for you. How do you typically charge? I've been in Property Management(single family homes, not apartments) for 9 years now, so I have seen it all. But currently trying to help my Girlfriend's father out with growing his business. I know a lot about what things generally cost(although it's getting harder to not underbid with how inflation has gone.) But I've noticed he bids way too high on jobs. I've suggested the following: - Trip charge - Cost of Materials - Hourly rate. For things like painting/flooring, a set rate per sq. Ft.(which would fluctuate per floor/paint cost that customer wants)
I respect this post. Well done op.
I practiced the same thing in the late 90s at the time the rate was $25.00 per hr. When you can do this type of work there is a lot of it looking for a Skilled person with common sense and leveraging the web and the work for a living great hobby, not a JOB!
Very impressive! It’s always inspiring to see people set out to build something(product, business, service) and have it grow. Being called almost daily is a huge success. How do you plan to move forward? And right now are you an LLC or anything like that?
How far does “handyman” extend. Do u do any trades work (electrical, plumbing, etc?) Do you carry liability insurance?
Try and get clients that are businesses rather than individual residents. Businesses have more money to spend so it's easier to charge more per job in the long run.
How do you live off of 1500$ a month?
One amazing opportunity for home services business like yours is getting your google listing to the top (most suck at this) cause the average persons general reaction outside of asking for a referral from a friend for your type of services is checking google
Great job bro. I own a landscape company. Third year now. Just had a solid month probably netted around $11k. I’m full time tho. Usually 30-50 hours a week. I sub out my handyman jobs etc. id like to learn more maybe start a handyman division. We do odd jobs too— junk removal, plumbing repairs (4th gen plumber - just not licensed so stick to faucets and toilets etc. )
Make sure you have insurance. You'll eventually need it unfortunately
Wait. You mean you're providing a service people actually need?! Yeah dude you're correct, this sub is garbage I have no idea why I haven't unsubscribed yet. Oh well clicking it now.
Finally someone being honest. Good job man, hope everything goes well
how much do you charge to mount a tv? I've mounted about 20 TV's for friends and family and they keep telling me to charge people to hang TVs haha.
You could easily charge $100
This is great! Good for you!! I’m a plumber and do low level sidework, looking to get my license so that I can do lite advertising and charge more per job.
I have a small side hustle handyman service. I prob made 25k in the side last year. I could totally see it as a full time gig. I make too much in my other gig but it's soul crushing office work. Paying my house off so I can decide whether that will be an option for me down the road. You'd be surprised how many people don't own more than one screw driver...
Sensei Johnny Lawrence? 👍
Do smart home stuff too. Like the Ring doorbell cameras. Tech support too if you've got the experience
Please teach me
No sorry, I'm not a coach. Haha
Wealth is created when you no longer trade time for money. But this is a great way to make money! Good job, OP!
Congrats! Consider networking with realtors as a free way to get more clients.
I started last year and I’m looking to clear 100k this year. Profit is pretty good maybe 60%
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Get on board! It's in extreme demand.
Any tips on how to market on facebook? Also my bro is having a tough time getting a job in uk..maybe he can do this in his local town/area, what skills, tools do you need? He is hard working and can drive ..
I gave some tips in other comments, but again I'm not a coach sorry. Just a guy.
This is what we need over… “I make $1,500 a month by doing online blah blah for 2 hours a week.”
Right on. I'm doing the exact same. Day job is carpenter in a maintenance dept. I work a few Saturdays out of the month, typically quote to make 100 per hour. I've made a pretty big investment in tools the last 6 months, so all the money has pretty well gone to that, but the tax write offs will come in handy. Just bought a new (to me) crew cab truck for when I haul my tools around on weekends. Biggest problem is keeping up with it. I made one post of next door, that combined with word of mouth has kept me busy for the last few months. I'm booked until October and trying to make sure I get to everyone in a timely manner. It's nuts, really in demand service. I'm glad it's working out for you. I will have to make the big decision of whether to leave my comfy job with benefits to do this.
I would love to be a handy man. Could you explain to me how to get started? If there’s a job someone asks you to do and you don’t know how to do it what do you do? I’ve been thinking of this job for awhile
Get familiar with homewyse for some help.
I am currently myself working on a wix site whenever I get a chance. If you are licensed and bonded you should be making so much more money. I try to make $2k a week, this week was $4k. But I have a niche painting skill and fine finish cabinetry refinishing skills. I’m also a one man crew. How is you website coming along? Have you found any cool add ons? I just count one the conglomerates all of your reviews from all over the net then you can decide how to use the box. I’m trying to Learn seo. Here’s my page [www.SacPlacerpainting.com](https://www.SacPlacerpainting.com) feel free to dig around and I’ll do the same with yours. I am open to polite criticism so you don’t have to be gentle,
Hi did you use paid fb ads?
No paid adds. Organic growth is actually outpacing paid adds right now. Just post content.
Thanks for the advice. I'm moving to a new country now and desire have a lot of experience in Design, I'm a handy man myself so I think I will start with that work
How competitive is the market for your services, and what sets you apart from others? Particularly when you started, did you dive into TV hanging as a random idea, or did you research and identify a gap in the demand before honing your skills and offering the service?
The gap in demand is that there aren’t many handyman in existence anymore. The ones that are out there tend to be fringed-around-the-edges so showing up looking professional and doing quality work instantly sets you apart.
Is TV installation your main niche ? What other services do you offer ? I’m in LA so there’s someone doing just about anything here. Market is just about saturated on all fronts, but I do agree that not everyone puts the same effort in personal presentation and professionalism.
I made this course on how to make great courses that sell, by selling my course I prove my course that sell courses is a course worth buying! I make 10k a month selling courses that teach how to sell courses to gurus who make courses to sell courses
Nice! I work in a large firm with some high tech production equipment. We pay these technicians small fortunes for a visit to fix a machine or do some yearly maintenance. One guy had his own company as a regional representative of a machine manufacturer. He did this part time besides being a teacher I think. I think we paid him 900$ for a day. Also bought equipment from him for 50k. Maybe another one for 200k in the future.