A handyman business is a relatively simple business to start with a huge potential market. After all, there are a lot of older houses in the US, and in 2019 80% of these houses are at least 20 years or older. Meaning, there are potentially endless things to improve and fix.
Also, more millennials are purchasing properties and are looking to renovate these houses to be more modern, but they can’t find the time to get it all done by themselves, creating a lucrative opportunity for handyman businesses to fill the gap.
Thus, if you have the skills required to fix things in homes, starting a handyman business can be a great opportunity to build a profitable business. Yet, just because it’s a lucrative opportunity, doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to succeed without any effort, and this is why we’ve compiled some handyman business ideas to help you set up your business for success.
Without further ado, let us begin with the first one:
Create a Business Plan.
Having a proper business plan is especially important if you want to secure third-party financing for your handyman business.
However, even if you are going to finance the business yourself, a proper business plan can significantly help as a roadmap to achieve success for your business.
Your business plan should detail various aspects of how your handyman business is going to operate, including but not limited to:
- Your target clients, and how many potential clients are there to attract in your area
- How much money you can make from running the handyman business
- What kinds of specific services would you be doing
- How many hours would the business operate each week
- Will you have a team of handymen or will you work alone
The more detailed and well-researched your business plan is, the more benefits you’ll get from executing this plan. Also, remember that your business plan is not a one-off thing, but you can adjust it as your business is running.
Service Excellence To Create Competitive Advantage.
While the handyman business niche has a huge profitability potential, it is also a competitive industry.
If you can’t overcome unique values or features of your competitors, what’s the reason for homeowners in your area to choose your business over theirs? You can’t always rely on lowering your price as getting stuck in a price war is never fun.
Instead, one of the best ways to build a competitive advantage as a handyman business — as a service business — is to consistently deliver excellent service and ensure a great customer experience.
Simply by showing up on time and finishing your jobs within the deadline, you can already beat 80% of your competitors, and you can improve your service excellence by investing in automated handyman field service software by fieldd.
Fieldd can help your business in implementing advanced scheduling to help you ensure timely delivery for each of your services.
Choose Specific Handyman Services.
There are various different services that you can offer as a handyman business, and as a brand new company, you might be tempted to take any jobs you can tackle.
However, with how competitive the handyman industry is, it’s actually better to specialize in just one or few areas you are really good at that are also in high demand. Having a specialization can also help in promoting your business and building brand awareness: it’s easier for your potential clients to remember a handyman business that is really good at toilet repairs rather than a business that “can do everything”.
Competitive Analysis and Market Analysis.
It’s very important to perform a proper market analysis to figure out your potential clients and how to attract them, as well as competitive analysis. Checking out how your competitors are running their businesses can provide valuable insights on how you should run yours. Not to mention, their clients are your potential clients.
You can simply Google “handyman+city name” to figure out who else is offering handyman services in your area, and you should especially check for:
- The services they provide
- The geographic area they service
- Prices, can be a good benchmark to set your own pricing strategy
- How they promote and market their businesses (advertising placements, local SEO, social media presence, etc.)
The better you know your competitors, the better you can find ways to beat them and offer something unique they can’t offer to attract your clients (and theirs).
Effective Pricing Strategy.
Arguably the most difficult task in starting a handyman business is deciding how much you’ll charge and with what method (by the hour, by the project).
On the one hand, you’d want your business to be profitable, but on the other hand, you can’t charge too high not to be competitive.
Thus, when determining how much you’ll charge, you should consider the following factors carefully:
- Time and resources. If it’s a job that takes a long time and will involve a lot of supply and travel expenses, you should charge more.
- Preparation time. Often overlooked, how much time would you need to buy supplies, prepare the work area, etc.
- Skills. If the job requires specialized skills only you can offer, you can definitely charge more.
- Licenses/certifications. If you have to be certified to perform a certain job, consider the cost of maintaining credentials.
- Taxes. Consider the amount of taxes you’ll have to pay to stay profitable.
End Words.
While starting a handyman business does have its challenges, it can be an extremely lucrative business opportunity and the handyman business ideas we’ve shared above can help in establishing and growing your client base.
