Pirates!
Are you having trouble with your grappling irons? Simply use an extension lead instead - guaranteed to catch on every single piece of timber it goes anywhere near.
Becalmed? Cant chase your victims because there isn't any wind? Simply lay out a 20 metre roll of landscape fabric & start cutting it to size - a gale will spring up immediately.
Yes - I have been building a deck today.....................
Serves you right!
Mary
Heh - how's it going anyway, Dave? Are you getting sufficient work now - I remember the discussions about promo's & discounts, wondered how it all worked out in the end. There's probably a few of us who idly wonder about following your example, if it could be made to pay a living wage.
I have said this many times to people. Whenever you a 'dragging' the trailing end of a lead it will jam on anything, car tyre, workmate leg, under a door.... BUT if somebody said "If you can get that lead to jam under that cat tyre without looking, I will give you £1,000,000", it would NEVER happen. The b*****d things know you know!
Cheers
John
Where does a pirate keep his bucaneers?
On the side of his bucking head!
John
You need to be a magician as well,as 80% of his income is doing this. :-)
summat wrong there?
Where's the Andes?
On your Armies.
Have they got skateboards for cats now then?
I'd give a million quid to see one[1]
Owain
[1] Only if I had two million quid to start with, obviously.
The market is huge and, even better, willing to pay what I ask. I'm now sufficiently confident that I turn down work I don't want or people I don't like. I'm without doubt the most expensive handyman in the area - some of these idiots will work for £5 per hour.
I wish I'd done it 20 years ago to be honest.
Good cost effective marketing is the key. I know people made fun of my corporate overalls etc, but it's all paid off. I've created a brand rather than just being another handyman.
My weekly turnover is £800 + on average, less moderate expenses of course, with the odd job like decking adding a huge margin.
Granted, my magic performance makes a difference because it's so well paid by comparison to anything else, but it's not regular.
It's been a huge learning curve though, finding what pays & what doesn't, where there is agro and where the margin is huge, managing cash flow etc.
More than happy to pass on what I have learned the hard way to anyone thinking of having a go.
I got a lot of good advice from this NG.
Oh that's really great to hear - well done for your hard work and initiative!
Are you finding the better margin jobs are the slightly longer ones, and is margin on materials a factor as well?
And what would be wrong with decks? I like them because a) they are a great garden area and b) because they earn me loads of dosh.
I like decks!
Margins on materials cannot be ignored as they do make a difference, sometimes a big one! - although I believe TMH charges by the day/hour? and leaves the materials up to the client?
IME, the shorter jobs pay the best.
Me too, if I don't want a job I *never* turn it down, I just put in a ridiculous figure, you'd be surprised how many say OK
But not for long because most of them are numpties. :-p
I did.
I think you've done it the right way, a lot of folk are a bit nervous about getting in a builder for small jobs in fear of being blinded with science and also getting ripped off, the market for handymen is huge and you seem to have filled a void well, IE someone who knows what he's doing (or at least looks the part!:-p) instead of some scruffy oik turning up in a battered old Capri with no tools.
I think quite a few people on this NG have the ability to do it for a living if they wished, I myself have no formal qualifications to speak of, but had the confidence to try everything and some things I was good at and now I earn my living doing them...big jobs just get contracted out to other trades (3,500 bricks on this job!!) and I do what I can, foundations, drains, roof, plastering, glazing etc.
The message from "The3rd Earl Of Derby" contains these words:
Where did Napoleon keep his armies? Up his sleevies.
The message from "Phil L" contains these words:
Ain't that annoying!
The message from "The Medway Handyman" contains these words:
You ought to try it again with a name like Czaikowski and see if people are even happier with a Polish handyman.
Larger jobs are usually good margins yes, because as you say you can earn a good mark up on materials. Decking is a prime example, I have a good timber supplier with prices much lower than the sheds and better quality, so I can earn a good daily rate and a good mark up on the materials as well.
I always ask for a deposit & use that to buy the stuff. I quote a price for the complete job, without breaking it down into labour/materials.
I mainly let the client buy the materials, things like doors, laminate flooring etc because I can't put much on top and I don't want to tie up my cash. I only supply materials where I can gain a good margin.
Agreed, I can earn much more by doing 4 small jobs a day than 1 bigger one. In other words 4 customers are better that 1 customer. Each of the 4 pays the higher rate for the first half hour.
I must try that!
In my magicain mode I've often quoted what I thought was a good price for say a private party or wedding reception, and when I;ve arrived at the 7 bedroom mansion, driven through the electric gates & parked next to the Aston Martin realised I should have charged a lot more.
That was entirely the idea I had, people will pay for a 'professional'.
I was rather pushed into doing it when my day job finished (company has now shut anyway). Like many I was in a 'comfort zone' with a regular cheque and needed a kick up the a*se to change.
I've got a plan to write a book about How to be a Handyman after a years trading. I've learned a whole lot in 6 months.
I think thats the next step for me - project management.
?
:-)
Mary
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