Is It Hard To Be A Handyman?

Across the country, thousands of handymen are busy keeping up with numerous requests to perform maintenance tasks and make repairs at millions of homes and businesses. This is a great career opportunity for people who like to solve problems and work with their hands.

However, there are aspects of the job that can be challenging, so you might be wondering if being a handyman is hard?

Is It Hard To Be A Handyman?

When evaluating whether being a handyman is hard, you should consider two individual components — the work itself and the skills required to run a handyman business. Some people will be very good at fixing lights, installing cabinets, or patching drywall, but not on the administrative side of the business. Others may be great at running the business but have very basic repair skills.

• Skill Level - Generally speaking, most handyman tasks are relatively simple including installing curtains, hanging picture frames, painting, hanging doors, and clearing gutters. This is usually the aspect that draws people into this line of work, so it usually isn’t a problem. As you get more experienced, you may be asked to take on more complex projects.
• Finding Clients - One of the biggest challenges for handymen is finding their own clients. If you are not able to sell your services, you may struggle to earn a decent salary. Of course, this takes time away from the number of paying jobs that you can take on in a week. The good news is that once you establish a solid reputation, you should generate new clients from word of mouth.
• Workload - The number of requests may come in waves. Balancing your workload can become overwhelming if you are not well organized. It’s important to turn down work instead of overcommitting. If you are getting a lot of requests, it may be time to re-evaluate your pricing.
• Running the Business - Owning a business requires you to keep up with accounting, marketing, hiring employees, and paying taxes. This can be difficult for some people who don’t have experience in business operations. For this reason, many handymen choose to operate their business under an established franchise that has many processes and resources in place to make this part of the business simpler.
• Schedule Flexibility - Handymen do have the ability to adjust their schedules as needed. However, there could be emergency requests that come in during the evenings or weekends that take you away from your family or other commitments.
• Financial Stability - Being a handyman provides a decent amount of financial stability. However, keep in mind that this income relies on your ability to perform your duties. If you become injured and unable to work, you could lose your clients or face major setbacks.

Mitigate Challenges That Come With Being A Handyman

One of the biggest risks of being a handyman is performing work that could accidentally cause injury to a client or damage to their property. If serious enough, the handyman could be sued for compensation to cover the damages or medical bills.

Because of this, handymen generally hold public & products liability insurance to protect themselves, their clients and their business. Check out our free instant quote generator to get an estimate on products liability & public liability insurance for handymen in seconds!