Handyman-type job calls

[jeff48356]

Do any of you ever get calls from homeowners to do small tasks that any handyman would be able to do? Stuff like changing a few outlets/switches or light fixtures? Do you go and do the jobs, or do you tell them you're not interested? I've been getting a lot of calls like that lately.

 

[roger]

You may call it handyman work but in some areas (NC for one) it is illegal for anyone to perform or offer to perform electrical tasks for a fee without an electrical license.

Roger

 

[Fred B]

I get a lot of calls in after a supposed "handyman job" for "why doesn't this work?". It ends up in costing diagnosis time and the fix, more than what it would have been to do right the first time, plus they had already paid the not so handyman.

 

[electrofelon]

Do any of you ever get calls from homeowners to do small tasks that any handyman would be able to do? Stuff like changing a few outlets/switches or light fixtures? Do you go and do the jobs, or do you tell them you're not interested? I've been getting a lot of calls like that lately.

Sure why not? You can make good money on those jobs. Just price it to make it worthwhile. In my experience, most people know its a small annoying job, just want it done, and expect to pay a lot per hour.

 

[gadfly56]

Sure why not? You can make good money on those jobs. Just price it to make it worthwhile. In my experience, most people know its a small annoying job, just want it done, and expect to pay a lot per hour.

As a homeowner in NJ, I'd be well within my rights to change the 2-gang receptacle that feeds my TV into a 4-gang, or extend the existing to a higher elevation to serve the flat screen, on my own (filing the required permits and getting the inspections, of course). But, that's not my bread and butter, and I'd be spending more time thinking about the components and dithering about how I'd do it than the project is worth. For a couple hundred bucks, it would be worth it to have an EC come in and do the work and have the peace of mind that I could reasonably expect the EC knew what he was doing.

 

[Little Bill]

Sometimes that's all that comes in. I will do all of them as or when I can get to them. Money is money!!!
Would you rather spend 8 hours in a trench for a days rate or 8 hours inside a cool (or warm in winter) house for a days rate changing fixtures or devices?

I have done several complete device replacements just because the HO wanted a different color. Handyman could have done these but they wanted a professional electrician.

 

[electrofelon]

I have done several complete device replacements just because the HO wanted a different color. Handyman could have done these but they wanted a professional electrician.

Actually I think installing/changing devices is one of the more challenging skilled things we do. Everyone thinks its idiot work and anyone can do it. Cant tell you how many times homeowners have wanted to put the devices in "to save money and because its easy". If you do a crappy job, sure its quick and easy, but to get them straight, even, supported properly, aligned properly, and the plate to cover considering less than perfect drywall and out of level boxes, it takes time and skill, especially on 4 gang boxes. Its not unreasonable for it to take me a half hour to device and plate a 4 gang switch box. My standard are quite high.

 

[electrofelon]

Homeowner or handyman device install will usually be atrociously awful.

 

[Little Bill]

Homeowner or handyman device install will usually be atrociously awful.

Especially for 3-way switches. I don't know how many calls I've had where a handyman or HO has bought SP switches and tried to replace a 3-way with them or have an actual 3-way and didn't know how to wire it. Had one where they said "it has three terminals and I put a wire on each one" turns out it was a SP and they used the ground for one of the conductors and couldn't figure out why the breaker kept tripping!

 

[Coppersmith]

I have a job I'm bidding right now where I'm changing lighting fixtures in a drop ceiling. The client asked if I could change all the drop ceiling tiles in the whole building. Initially I said yes. It's not work I normally do, but I know how to do it. Then while we were walking the job looking at lighting changes, the client decided the grid needed to be changed in some places to make the lighting line up nicely. I told her that grid work was outside my expertise and she was better off calling a ceiling grid guy. And if she was going to call a ceiling grid guy, she might as well have him change the tiles since he will most likely be cheaper than me. I hate the idea of somebody paying more than they need to. Probably makes me a bad businessman.

 

[LarryFine]

I've installed suspended ceilings. It gave me an excuse to buy a rotary laser level.

 

[jmellc]

Especially for 3-way switches. I don't know how many calls I've had where a handyman or HO has bought SP switches and tried to replace a 3-way with them or have an actual 3-way and didn't know how to wire it. Had one where they said "it has three terminals and I put a wire on each one" turns out it was a SP and they used the ground for one of the conductors and couldn't figure out why the breaker kept tripping!

I had a similar guy years ago who energized his metal switch plate & kept shocking himself. Box wasn’t grounded & didn’t trip breaker. He didn’t understand that just any wire can’t go to just any terminal.

 

[LarryFine]

I had a sorta-similar one years ago in an older home. The primary complaint was an intermittent laundry circuit, and second was a dead living-room receptacle.

Someone intercepted a non-grounded 14-3 NM between the 3-way switches in the living-room to feed a grounded 12-2 NM to feed a new washing machine.

You guessed it: when the 3-way near the front door was flipped, it switched between the washing machine working and energizing the washer's cabinet.

"Let's see . . . black to black, white to white, red to bare. That'll work!"

 

[Jerramundi]

Sure why not? You can make good money on those jobs. Just price it to make it worthwhile. In my experience, most people know its a small annoying job, just want it done, and expect to pay a lot per hour.

You might think so. But I've bid medium fixture replacement's at $50/each and been scoffed at, lol
Wealthy people don't get wealthy by handing out high hourly rates, even to qualified individuals who have invested their own time and money in advancing their skills/knowledge so as to justify those rates.

In a perfect world maybe... Not here.

 

[LarryFine]

My standard small-job rate is the same as my standard 1-hour minimum: $150, incl travel.

I figure a lighting job by the time, not "per fixture", but I make sure it works in my favor.

 

[Jerramundi]

Do any of you ever get calls from homeowners to do small tasks that any handyman would be able to do? Stuff like changing a few outlets/switches or light fixtures? Do you go and do the jobs, or do you tell them you're not interested? I've been getting a lot of calls like that lately.

Doing it the right way isn't handyman work. It's still electrical work.

Handymen don't understand why there is no 120V to Ground on an outlet fed by cloth wiring.
Handymen don't understand why installing a self-grounding receptacle at a location like this is wrong.

Handymen don't understand how to make a solid termination on a switch with stranded wire.

I could go on and on...

 

[roger]

My standard small-job rate is the same as my standard 1-hour minimum: $150, incl travel.

I figure a lighting job by the time, not "per fixture", but I make sure it works in my favor.

The way it is normally done and should be

Roger

 

[Jerramundi]

My standard small-job rate is the same as my standard 1-hour minimum: $150, incl travel.

I figure a lighting job by the time, not "per fixture", but I make sure it works in my favor.

Ugh Larry, you're a $150 guy? Damn, and I was just starting to like you, lol.

Not a fan of the 150 Club. Most 150 guys, when asked how they get 150, can't explain it mathematically. They've just taken an industry standard off Google and run with it (not saying you have).

As long as you have a mathematical basis for that 150 and not a "it just costs what it costs," we'll be cool.

 

[roger]

Ugh Larry, you're a $150 guy? Damn, and I was just starting to like you, lol.

Not a fan of the 150 Club. Most 150 guys, when asked how they get 150, can't explain it mathematically. They've just taken an industry standard off Google and run with it (not saying you have).

As long as you have a mathematical basis for that 150 and not a "it just costs what it costs," we'll be cool.

I would say Larry knows his overhead, job cost, and profit margin, he didn't just grab it out of thin air.

Roger

 

[LarryFine]

It's easy: $100/hr + $50 to get me there. I have omitted the $50 for calls from customers who intentionally called me because we're in the same neighborhood.

However, I rarely quote the hourly except for troubleshooting and other impossible-to-know work, in which cases I'll either fix it or quote the repair by then.