Many people prefer to hire handyman to take care of home repairs and chores. Southern Stock/Digital Vision/Getty Images Making repairs is a part of home ownership that many people like to avoid. While a fix may not warrant a professional repairman, learning what needs to be done, getting the right tools and then finding the time to make the fix involved more effort than many want to deal with. Offering a handyman service provides an affordable alternative for homeowners. 1. Decide what types of services you'd like to offer and what market you'd like to work with. Handyman services covers a wide array of tasks, including seasonal chores, small appliance repair, home fixes and home decor, such as installing trim or painting. As a handyman you can offer a multitude of these service or focus on a specific area. Further you can serve the residential community or commercial businesses. For example, you can work with a real estate agent to fix up homes that need to be sold. 2. Develop a business plan in which you detail all the aspects of your business.

Focus on how your handyman business will be different from others in your area. Ways to differentiate your business include offering emergency or after-hours services, price, types of services and market focus. Create a section on marketing with details on who your market is and how you'll reach them. Your business plan needs to also address your financial situation, current assets as well as projected income. Include a list of services and prices for each. Don't forget to include the cost of supplies as well as your time in your price calculations. 3. Set up your business. Determine how you want to structure your business. To protect your personal assets, forming a limited liability company or other corporate entity or partnership is recommended. Apply for a business license through your city or county government office. Contact your state occupational licensing board to find out if you'll need a contractor's license as well. File a doing-business-as statement with your local clerk's office if your business name will be different from your given name.

Consider getting bonded to protect you and your clients if one of your handyman tasks go wrong. This can make your business more marketable as well. 4. Set up your office location. You can run your handyman business from home, but to run your business efficiently as well as to take the home office tax deduction, you need office space dedicated exclusively to your business. Obtain needed furniture, equipment and supplies to manage your business. handyman lake worth flIf you'll have a team of handyman, create a system to dispatch them. business for sale horsham victoriaPut together a worksheet that can be used to identify clients needs and work specifications. business for sale jalisco mexico

5. Purchase needed tools. Using your services list as a guide, obtain the tools you will need to undertake the various tasks. Don't forget drop clothes and cleaning supplies so you can keep the work area clean. Consider purchasing a truck or van to transport your tools to client locations. 6. Market your cleaning business to your target market. Network with your contacts and ask for referrals. Contact real estate agents and apartment building owners about providing services after a tenant moves out. business for sale greater bendigo regionTake advantage of seasonal chores, such as spring cleaning and hanging holiday decor in your marketing strategy. business for sale greater bendigo regionProvide coupons through mailers and newspapers offering discounts to first-time clients. roger that handyman services

References Small Business Administration: Start Your BusinessContractor License Reference Site Photo Credits Southern Stock/Digital Vision/Getty Images Suggest an Article Correction The college of Southern Maryland is a Public, Regional Community College with a Far-Reaching Mission – To Help our Students and Community Meet the Challenges of Individual, Social, and Global Changes. CSM operates four campuses in the tri-county area: The La Plata campus in Charles county, The Prince Frederick campus in Calvert County, and the Leonardtown campus in St. Mary’s county. CSM’s new Regional Campus will be located in Hughesville. CSM’s new Regional Campus will be located on 74 acres in Hughesville. The campus willprovide offerings to serve the entire region in a cost-effective and convenient way. The master plan is designed to create a sense of community and includes five phases of growth. Investing in the College of Southern Maryland through the Foundation is an investment in the community.

Your support will transform the life of a CSM student by providing lifelong learning opportunities to meet the educational, employment, and enrichment needs of our community.

Your browser does not support frames or is currently configured not to display frames. However, you may browse the content of frames by College of Southern Maryland CSM Student Life and Athletics CSM Career and Professional Development College of Southern Maryland Performing Arts CSM Alumni and Friends Southern Maryland Studies Center CSM Arts and Cultural EventsAnglers Seafood Bar And Grill Seafood Restaurant Coupon: $5 OFF Any Table Check Of $30 Or MoreHow much should you charge per hour as a handyman?Unfortunately, there is no simple answer.  In fact, handyman hourly rates are all over the map.  Some demand over $100/hour (I’ve seen $150/hr) because they know what their doing and do it efficiently, professionally, and immaculately.  Then, there are the guys on craigslist that only charge $10/hour and still have trouble getting customers!

So, where do you fit in on this scale?  What’s a good rate to base your service pricing on?That’s what I hope to help you answer in this article.  I’m going to lay out a step-by-step process you can follow to help nail down a rate that will keep you profitable and busy.Whether you are charging by the hour or by the job, follow these steps to price for success.How much does it cost for you to live comfortably and happy?Write down a list of all of your expenses and an approximate monthly total for each.  Spend time and try to think of all of your expenses, even the ones you only pay once a year.  Assign a monthly value to each and  add them into an excel spreadsheet (or just write them down).Make sure not to leave anything out.  Include entertainment and even a little extra for unexpected expenses.  The idea here is see how much living actually costs.  If saving money for retirement is part of your lifestyle, make sure and include that, too.Now, list your handyman business expenses and assign a monthly value to each expense.  

Once again, include everything.  Here is a list of most handyman business expenses.(To get more detail on the expenses of running a handyman business, check out this complete pricing guide which details all of the expenses you will encounter and other helpful tips and strategies to help you succeed.)Figure out your tax responsibilities by doing a little research.  Here are some taxes you will be required to pay.  However, this list is not all inclusive and you may have other tax obligations outside of these.  I am not a tax professional and am only providing the following information as an example.  Your specific tax obligations may be different and you may consider consulting with a professional. – For the year of 2014, self employment taxes are set at 15.3% according to irs.gov.  These do change each year, so you’ll need to keep up with this. –   As you probably already know, this tax depends on how much money you make each year.  The more you make, the higher the percentage of taxes you will pay.  

For the purpose of figuring out your hourly rate, you will need to estimate this tax.  After all expenses and tax write-offs, I don’t plan on making more than $30,000 this year.  I’ve estimated my federal income tax at about 15% based on my expected tax bracket. – Check with your state to find out if you need to pay this tax.Once you have an estimated percentage for each tax, add them all up to come up with your total tax percentage.Let’s say your taxes are as follows:Self employment:  13.3% Federal Income Tax:  15.0% (based on less than 32K/year) State Income Tax: 0%Total Taxes = 28.3% (example only)The next step is to figure out how many billable hours you are going to work each month (assuming you have the business).You may be thinking that 40 hours is a good estimate.  In reality, however, with all of the quoting, following up, driving time, etc. it is probably more realistic that you will bill somewhere in between 25 and 35 hours per week.The goal here isn’t to see how many hours a week you can work, but how many hours it is reasonable to work without totally consuming your life.  

After all, you’ve started this business to have some freedom right?  Enjoy that freedom and set a limit on your billable hours.For my handyman business, I’ve decided that 25 hours/week is a good amount of work.  This allows me time to improve my business, have a personal life, and run this blog.  I’ve based my work load on my own personal lifestyle design.  I recommend you do the same.Don’t want to do the math? I’ve created an hourly rate calculator to help you do this faster than ever! Click here to download “The Handyman Hourly Rate Calculator.”Now that you have an understanding of your costs and how much you think is a reasonable time to work, you can do some quick calculations to see how much you need to charge to live the lifestyle you have designed for yourself.It goes like this: Total Monthly Living Expenses = L Total Monthly Business Expenses = B Total Hours/Month = H Total Taxes (%) = T  Hourly Rate = L/[H * (1 – T)] + B/HExample: So let’s say you need to make $3,000/month to live, expected your business expenses to be about $1,200/month, estimate your taxes at about 30%, and plan to work about 32 billable hours per week.

L = Monthly living expenses = $3,000 B = Business Expenses = $1,200 H= Monthly Billable Hours = 128 T = Total Tax Rate = 30% = 0.30Hourly Rate = $3,000/[128 *(1-.3)] + $1,200/128 =  $42.86/hour  So, now you know how much you need to charge in order to live the now defined lifestyle that you have laid out in terms of expenses. The next step is to evaluate this hourly rate and determine if how you can provide that much value in one hour.Is the number you came up with reasonable?  Based on your experience, qualifications, etc, can you comfortably look a customer in the eye and say “I charge X amount?”  If you can, awesome. If you don’t feel comfortable charing that amount, why not? What’s holding you back? I’ve found that most handymen tend to undervalue their services. I made that mistake and it cost me tens of thousands in my first year as a handyman. Instead, learn the business skills you need so you can gain the confidence to charge what you should. It’s likely higher than you think.