Handy Man Business - Start Up

Curious as I have a corporate job as well. I’ve been looking into a similar service business. How are you setting this up (I’m in Virginia so no completion with you).

Are you hiring a GM to run it day to day? A franchise? How do you plan to have the work completed? Are you just subbing out the work and 1099 people?

I set up an LLC, for now i will run it & complete the services myself after work & on weekends. Once i get my feet under me i will start to look for someone to go do the service runs while i focus on growth and client relations.

I’ve thought about doing something like this in my neighborhood as a retirement gig. My neighbors are always getting small things done that I regularly knock out in my own home. Hard thing is they pay for convenience. Hard to do when you're on vacation etc so would need a reliable back up or 2

If you have skills you'll always have work. Major gap for good qualified guys in my area. Plenty fly by night scoundrels though.

I have this set up. I use a chase business account and quickbooks..I started out doing handyman work did a couple of kitchen remodels and basements and decided the mechanicals paid the best. Unfortunately it’s difficult to get licensed without trade experience but in Louisiana anyone can get an electrical contractors license. The difficult part is marketing. Everyone on social media is looking for cheap and there are a ton of unlicensed competitors out there. Not sure about where you are at but to be successful here I’m going to have to pound the pavement with realtors and contractors until it finally pays off because Nextdoor and Facebook ain’t it. I do jobs for neighbors from time to time and those go well. I’m also doing my first whole home
Generator install right now so hopefully I can market that to my neighbors and pick up a couple lucrative jobs.

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They all demand a license, insurance, and zero money up front.

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To be fair, if the handyman falls off your roof or cuts his hand off and doesn’t have WC you can be on the hook for their healthcare and disability. I don’t let anyone set foot on my property without WC at a minimum.

You know the economy is bad when we have side hustle threads instead of stock threads yet the boomers here still won’t admit that it’s Donover


Anyway all of this stuff sounds cool until you pay taxes


That 500 bucks you made goes away real quick once you give up half of it to the government


Side hustles only work if you’re getting paid cash

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Talking with people in town they struggle to find a reliable professional handyman

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There’s a reason for that.


The people in town probably want 3 or 4 things tackled at their house but they aren’t able or willing to pay more than a hundred or so to do all 3 or 4.

the hell with genpop. The thing to do is hook up with a few residential and/or commercial landlords, realtors etc

You should only be liable if the handyman has employees and no WC. I've only been asked to provide WC if I had laborers on jobs.