Handymen are always in demand. Every time we need someone to fix things around our houses, we look for experienced handymen.
The handyman sector is unconsolidated to a great extent. That means there’s great potential in the market for handymen to make money and establish their brand. In this guide, we will go through the basics of starting your handyman business and making it successful.
Starting your handyman business: the basics
You need two things to start your handyman business — skills and tools. Assuming that you’re already a trained handyman, you should have some certification or work experience to prove it. Then come the tools.
The number of tools you’d need depends on the services you are willing to offer. Some handyman services require high-end tools that are expensive. But the rest can be done with basic tools.
If you’ve already worked as a handyman, you would already have most of the necessary tools. In case you don’t, you have to make a one-time investment and buy the necessary tools.
Once you have both the skills and tools needed to work as a handyman, you can think about starting your business.
Going solo vs. making a team
Handymen have two broad choices in terms of their business structure. They can either go solo, or they can form a handyman agency.
There are pros and cons to both these approaches. The choice depends on factors like:
- Investment capacity
- Workload
- Availability of trained handymen
If you go solo, you don’t have to worry about managing a team of handymen. You can focus on your work and improve your skills.
On the other hand, a handyman agency has the potential to make a lot of money. Once you run an agency, you become an employer instead of an employee — even if you continue working as a handyman.
To start a handyman agency, you have to do the following:
- Get trained handymen to work with you
- Get apprentices who would work as trainees and learn the craft
- Set up your business entity
- Set up accounting processes
- Pay your employees on a monthly, weekly or contractual basis
If you are thinking about starting an agency, you must also consider getting insurance to secure your business. To learn more about insurance for handyman, click here.
Going solo also has several benefits. For instance, you have a lot more time to interact with clients personally and give them the best possible service. When you run an agency, you have to monitor others’ work as well as your own.
Market your business
Once you have set up the groundwork for your business, it’s time to market it. Marketing your services is different from marketing products. For example, you have to promote your skills and experience, and not the features of any particular product.
There are two broad ways of marketing your handyman business—print marketing and digital marketing.
Digital marketing includes everything from Search Engine Optimization to content marketing. Social media marketing is also a part of digital marketing.
The basic requirements for digital marketing are:
- A website
- Social media handles
- Creators and managers for both your website and social media handles
If you know the basics of setting up a website, you can do it all on your own. You have to take the help of a third-party marketing agency if you don’t know anything about running a website and social media pages. When there’s considerable traffic and engagement on your social media pages and website, it’s a better idea to let professional digital marketers handle it for you.
Content marketing
Content marketing is a subunit of digital marketing. It includes everything from Tweets to blog posts to YouTube videos. The idea is to market your services through content that doesn’t directly endorse your services.
Search engine marketing is also a cheap and effective way of getting clients. Focus on your website, blog posts, and other informative resources for effective search engine marketing.
List your business
Listing your business on various review sites (Google Maps, Yelp) is the most basic form of digital marketing.
Print marketing: Don’t ignore the power of print marketing. Use flyers, brochures, and banners to market your services. It’s easier to be prominent and noticeable in print marketing compared to digital marketing.
Customer satisfaction
The most important thing for a successful business is customer satisfaction. If you are running an agency, make sure you only hire skilled and competent handymen. Constantly upskill to be better at your job. Learn about customer interaction and work on your communication to evoke trust in your clients. Most importantly, make sure you don’t do an unsatisfactory job for any client.
Conclusion
We wish you success in your handyman business endeavor and hope these tips will guide you in the right direction.
