Advice for Pirates

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.....................

Reply to
The Medway Handyman
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Serves you right!

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

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.

Reply to
Steve Walker

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

Reply to
John

Where does a pirate keep his bucaneers?

On the side of his bucking head!

John

Reply to
John

You need to be a magician as well,as 80% of his income is doing this. :-)

summat wrong there?

Reply to
The3rd Earl Of Derby

Where's the Andes?

On your Armies.

Reply to
The3rd Earl Of Derby

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.
Reply to
Owain

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.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Oh that's really great to hear - well done for your hard work and initiative!

Reply to
Steve Walker

Are you finding the better margin jobs are the slightly longer ones, and is margin on materials a factor as well?

Reply to
Andy Hall

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!

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

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.

Reply to
Phil L

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.

Reply to
Phil L

The message from "The3rd Earl Of Derby" contains these words:

Where did Napoleon keep his armies? Up his sleevies.

Reply to
Guy King

The message from "Phil L" contains these words:

Ain't that annoying!

Reply to
Guy King

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.

Reply to
Guy King

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.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

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.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

?

:-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

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