In this brief article, we will dig into how to pick a handyman. We’ll keep the recommendations generic. So this should apply to plumbers, electricians, arborists, landscapers, etc. It should be generally the same idea.
What Is A Handyman
A handyman is a “construction” generalist. They’re great people to call when you have a tiny problem you need help with. Want to hand a TV? Call a handyman. Need a toilet installed? A handyman can probably do that very well. Need to replace a shower head? That also sounds great for a handyman. Any small job or task around the house might make sense for your local handyman.
Generally, what shouldn’t handmen do?
So, this is generally true. Often times handmen will start off in a trade and then start their own business. For example, you might have a tiler that eventually just went out on his own. He’s a tile expert. But can do a little of everything. Have a conversation with your goto handyman to see if they have a specialty. But generally speaking, you should not get a handyman for large projects. Need a whole house dry-walled? Go to a specialist. Need some plumbing relocated or an entire bathroom’s plumbing done? Go to a plumber. Need your house rewired? An electrician is your best bet.
The major multi-day and multi-thousand-dollar projects should generally go to specialists. A generalist might be able to patch a little hole in some drywall, but you don’t want mediocre drywall skills in every last square inch of your home. Also, it could even take them longer! Specialists are fast and efficient. They eat and breathe their trade. It’ll be rare for you to see an electrician installing a toilet and for good reason. They could be putting their years of knowledge to work!
How Many Quotes Should I Get?
How many quotes you should get on a project depends if you’ve had anything similar done in the past and how expensive the project is. Maybe you’ve already built a relationship with a tiler in the area? Feel free to go to them. But as prices get bigger and bigger I think there’s value in getting a couple of additional quotes. The general rule of thumb is to get at least 3 quotes before making a decision. I increase the number of quotes I get as projects get bigger.
What Should I Look At Once I Have My Quotes? – How To Pick A Handyman
- Timeliness
- Communication
- How salesy were they?
- How informative were they?
- Price
- Reviews
Timeliness
So, the day of the quote comes. Your tradesman says they’ll be there between 2 and 3 pm. Three pm comes and they’re nowhere to be found. You call or they call and you get some excuse and they say they can be there some other day. Hey, things happen. But, understand that this is most likely how they’ll treat the job you’re hiring the tradesperson to do.
They’ll come late, they’ll make excuses, they’ll flake last second. This isn’t a hard rule. Things happen. But we don’t want our walls to get opened up and then for your tradesperson to randomly come for an hour every other week in perpetuity. We want the project started, and completed, and want to pay. Or that’s my goal. So timeliness during that initial quote is in my opinion critical to establishing that trust.
Communication
So, it’s the day of the quote and the guy ends up being 30 minutes late. Is it the end of the world? Maybe they called you and let you know they hit traffic on their way over. That’s a +1 for this tradesperson. Communication is key during project execution. If they find something bad, you don’t want them hiding that. If they get sick, you want that person to tell you immediately and be able to explain to you how that’s going to impact your timeline. Things go badly during projects all the time. Make sure you get a handyman or tradesperson who can communicate.
How Salesy Were They?
Small construction businesses come in all shapes and sizes. Some are huge and hire highschool students which don’t really know what they’re doing. Others have industry experts who’ve been tiling for decades. Others are all about volume and upselling to help improve their bottom line. I get it, everybody needs to feed their family. But we want tradespeople or handymen that only point us towards a more expensive route if in their professional opinion, they’d recommend it.
Think of it like, “Would this person do what they’re recommending if this problem was happening in their own home?” We don’t want extra gadgets and costs just because. We don’t want to get sized up during the back and forth because of the car in our driveway and have them recommend gold-plated AC vents. Take notice if they randomly try to upsell you on other products that make 0 sense for you. Try to see if they’re there to make an extra dollar or to help you with your problem. In my personal experience, smaller companies tend to take more pride in their work and often upsell less. But this isn’t always true.
How Informative Were They?
In my opinion, an informative handyman or tradesperson is a communicative handyman or tradesperson. If something happens and we need to add an expense to the project, we want someone that will calmly explain what happened to the best of their ability. We want a person that takes us along for the project.
Did they make a decision one way or another? An informative person will share their thought process or ask for your input while giving you their recommendation. We don’t want a person who quietly executes the project and leaves us with a mess and a million issues.
Don’t confuse informative with salesy. They’re similar at times. Salesy people only tell you about products, informative people give you cold hard facts about the project.
Price
Okay, this is a privileged opinion and depends on the project. But one of the lower considerations I have is price. If one contractor is 2x what another quoted I might avoid the 2x dude. But who cares if you pay 80% less if the handyman or tradesperson never shows up or screws up the entire project. I think it’s okay and important to pay a little extra for professional, timely, tradespeople. We don’t want to end up in small claims. We don’t want to regret the kitchen remodel. We don’t want the project to start falling apart within a few weeks. I generally rarely go for the cheapest contractor because I generally want my projects done as fast as possible and with as little headache as possible. The cheap company might hide a mistake they made because redoing it could eat into their profit.
Look At Reviews
Finally, go to Yelp and Google and try to find some reviews on the people you’re considering. If 90% of their customers have had an issue with a company, then chances are you will too. Don’t let 1 or 2 bad reviews push you away from a company. There will always be an angry customer who doesn’t like the ugly tile they picked. But, don’t ignore bad reviews if they’re all generally bad. I pay closer attention to this as the dollar value of the project increases.
What Do I Do If There Are Less Than 3 Tradespeople In My Area?
One edge case I thought I’d bring up is that not every location has 3+ people offering tile, plumbing, carpentry, etc. So what do you do if you can’t find enough people to hit the 3+ rule? This recently happened to me and I got lucky with the only provider in my area. Chat to those 1 or 2 people in your area. If they’re around the same price and seem like generally good folks to do business with, run with it. We can’t always hit the 3+ quotes rule.
Let us know if this was helpful at all. Check out this article if you’re looking to make a privacy fence. Maybe you can do it yourself!