How To Start a Handyman Business

by Team Tradify, May 30, 2023

For many of us, the idea of starting your own handyman business is a tempting proposition. You’ve got loads of experience from years of hard work, and maintenance jobs never seem to dry up. So why shouldn’t you be feeling confident and ambitious?

While it can seem pretty straightforward at first, getting a carpentry business off the ground can be anything but. So, how can you make sure that you build a business that succeeds from the word go? Let’s take a look.

Short on time? Skip ahead!

1. Write a business plan
2. Explore the financials
3. Register your business
4. Get insurance
5. Figure out what to charge
6. Get more work with intelligent marketing
7. Perfect your business management

1. Write a business plan

If you want to get a business off the ground, the very first thing you need to do is create a solid business plan. Not only will this create clear and meaningful business goals that you can check off methodically, but it will also give you something constant to refer back to if things start to get out of control. It’s important to keep this simple and easy to follow. Download our free handyman and maintenance business plan template to get started.

2. Explore the financials

How are you going to fund the launch of your handyman business? If you plan to approach a lender, here are some documents you’ll need:

A break-even analysis — be sure your business can at least break even before it makes a profit.
A cash-flow forecast — how much money will move in and out of your business, and when?
A sales forecast — estimate future revenue by predicting weekly, monthly or yearly sales. This isn’t easy when you’re starting, but there are ways to determine whether your business idea is financially viable.

You may also want to research whether you’re eligible for local government funding. Here are some links to get you started:

🇺🇸 USA - SBA provides limited grant funding to eligible businesses.
🇬🇧 UK - Start-Up Loans of £500 to £25,000 are available to start or grow your business.
🇦🇺 AU - Check if you’re eligible for a range of grants that vary between states.
🇳🇿 NZ - Government grants, advice and mentoring are available, depending on your business.

3. Register your maintenance business

You can’t run a business if it isn’t registered. So, do some research into what’s required to go legit in your country or state. Check here for some resources:

During this process, it’s also important to consider your goals as these will affect the type of company you’ll be looking to register. Do you want to expand in the future, or fly solo indefinitely?

4. Get insured

When running your own maintenance business, it’s crucial to insure your work vehicle and tools — they’re your livelihood and you can’t provide your services without them. And, although you might take good care of your tools, it’s important to realise that anything can happen — even tool theft.

It’s also wise, no matter how good you are at what you do, to cover yourself with general liability insurance. Nobody plans to cause problems on a job, but you never know when you or a staff member might have an accident that results in damage.

Likewise, health insurance & income protection are (sometimes literally) a lifesaver if a health and safety incident occurs onsite, putting you in bad health or out of work. For some health & safety resources, take a look at the following articles:

For more info on this topic, take a look at our guide to business insurance for tradespeople!

5. Figure out what to charge

When it comes to turning quotes & estimates into handshakes and contracts, pricing is everything. So, you need to make sure you get it right. Part of this comes down to what the competition is charging and the rest comes down to more internal factors. Use our free charge-out rate calculator to perfect your pricing.

6. Get more work with intelligent marketing

Whatever business you’re in there’s always competition — if there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that you won’t be the only maintenance man in town. While a lot of business does come through word of mouth, it’s also essential to have a website that oozes professionalism with great reviews and lots of photographs. Use your website to highlight why you’re better than the competition and include important information like pricing and contact details. If you’re not sure how to make a website, let alone add all this to it, then don’t worry — Tradify’s Instant Website feature will do it all for you, fast!

Beyond a website, there are plenty more ways to market your business, take a look at these resources for more:

7. Perfect your business management

There are a lot of things to consider when building a business from scratch. If you don’t keep on top of everything, it’s much harder to succeed. So when you set up your business, you’d be wise to ensure you have a good job management system in place.

With Tradify’s online job management software, running your own business has never been easier. You can organise your job schedule, send quotes and invoices, and take payment all in one place.

Try Tradify’s 14-day free trial and find out how much it could help your business.