This guy is a hard to find business owner, that also does RU-vid! He doesn't just sell you on the video, he tells you the reality. Great job and great video. I support this channel 100%! I'm a handyman and I know a lot of what he says and that's how I know he's right! Figuring out everything from actual hands on work not from just books. I use Books , RU-vid and friends as resources for things I'm still learning, but nothing replaces actually doing it over and over and over and analyzing all of it to make yourself better and faster.
55 years old just started my handyman business last month. Thanks for all your insight, I have been a person never afraid to work hard and be open learn everyday. I know because of my skill level (30+years), desire to do quality work and ability to relate well with my customers that I will be successful. Should of done it a long time ago! Thanks again.....
@homerenew I feel exactly the same way, I’ve been doing maintenance work for the last 18 years, always did it for others, responding to corporate BS demands, expectations, doing it for people that didn’t really appreciate it and getting paid crumbs. Finally woke up and although I’m 46 I regret it that I didn’t do this years ago. I watch/listen to this channel daily and it’s like steroids to my confidence. It gives me a boost that I didn’t feel before and I told those people goodbye, now happier and making pretty decent money every single day while driving away knowing my customers are satisfied and really appreciate and respect what I do 🙌🏼💯 I want all real handyman to joint this channel and understand that they can do it too
I decided to change my existing business into a handyman business in Jan 2023. Come to realize that I have what it takes. Long story. But I finally found my calling! Placed some craigslist ads, Nextdoor and bam! I have four property managers hitting me up every day now with workorders. Hard to keep up. Yes indeed, $1000 days are definitely possible perhaps more. Thanks for your continued advice.
Hey Mate I’m from Australia and I began my business as Handyman last month thanks to you. Last week I made $1500 working 3 days. Hope I can keep it up and reach $2000 eventually and support my family properly!
So much appreciated. I'd love to tell you my story someday. You have put the fire back in my step. One man band burned out from 3 years of tough times and bad decisions. Thank you for all you are doing.
I'm a handyman and a DJ. I run two businesses and i know $1k days are doable. Both my businesses are picking up. I'm doing my own marketing and promoting and my work speaks for itself. Cus my clients keep coming back to me with more projects. I'm definitely gonna look into property management work
Worked as a foreman/project manager and a medical device installation company for 6 years . We would have 3 to 4 month projects and I would have to coordinate with the other subs, GC, and engineers in order to get the build done. I feel like it really translates over into the handyman industry well. Ive already been in that position and had to miss flights home because I forgot to buy one 1/2 inch copper fitting. I died laughing when you brought up making a second trip to home depot in one of your other videos. Keep em coming! they really help! Wish I had the time to jump on the live streams. Have my Contractors Registration for my state and Ill be taking my first job by the 1st of June!
I’ve seen too many skilled people add employees to do more business and end up making less profit overall. You are your own most reliable employee. It’s nearly impossible to hire another person that will care about your business enough to be worthy. Just be careful about wanting to grow a handyman business by adding employees. Thanks for this content! You have helped to inspire me to start this business after having been in the building materials industry for 30 plus years. It’s time for me to make the money for me and my family.
Very true, and lots of great advice in this video. You will always be the person who cares most about your own business. It is usually a good idea to only hire when you absolutely have to in order to handle business, and to be very selective about who you do take on, for that reason.
You are very welcome. Keep an eye out for a new video that I'm dropping tonight. I'm about to start filming any minute. It's a list of all of the reasons that you are actually worth the rates that you can charge.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. It is both encouraging and exciting to see young men learning the business and accelerating their experience and profits. You are so right about the difference between having great days and having consistent days. I started a handyman business here in the Philadelphia/Lancaster area of Pennsylvania. We are able to charge fairly decently for our services. $350 for a ceiling fan install $500 for a toilet swap out $350 for a bathroom sink faucet. $350 to hang any television under 55 inches in $450 to swap out a mailbox and post…… And those are all labor only pricing. As you said, it all depends upon the area where you find yourself. I am able to do $1500-$2000 days fairly easy… But as you stated I can’t possibly do those more than eight times a month. Consistency is much more important than single day wonders. However, like you said as well… They are a lot of fun! As I get older, the possibility of only working a few days, but not lowering my income is definitely encouraging. And as a sidenote, punch list projects are some of the best… Not nearly the responsibility of large projects… And they sure do add up, monetarily, quickly.
I agree, punch lists, especially if they contain some roofing, plumbing, or electrical, can be the quickest way to maximize dollars. I'm my experience it works best if you're fortunate enough to have accurately stocked most of what you need for the day to minimize shopping trips to zero if possible.
@@bulletproofhandyman Definitely’ I am in full agreement… I have a 6 x 10 6 1/2 foot tall enclosed trailer. I definitely carry a large amount of plumbing and electrical materials… Definitely all the caulks, adhesives, solvents, glues every size, screw and type imaginable just in case… It’s like a traveling hardware store… I’ve learned my lesson over the years that you need to have everything on you to maximize profit. I heard you talk about that, and making and planning for less trips out to stores in the middle of jobs… You are definitely spot on! Planning and order. Definitely add to profits. No doubt about it. Thanks again for putting yourself out there… Like I said before it’s very encouraging… And, like the proverb says… Iron, sharpens iron!… Keep up the good work!
That was awesome video Ray. Let me know about the more in depth courses I am very interested in. I completely understand and I based my system around commercial maintenance companies and residential home warranty companies so those $600-$800 days are very much a reality.
You, sir, are a genuine good person. This is why you have been successful. Talent & skill are awesome. More awesome is being genuine & hard working. That's you.
God bless you man⚜️🕊 the concept of good buisness, getting customers through value to them and helping people who need it is what first made me decide to do this and its been so hard to find someone to learn this from that has enough of the same idea about this, I was just starting to think it would never happen.
@@bulletproofhandyman Thanks so much, and thank you for the replies! You've given me confidence, on a deep level, with doing this here in Portland OR. Lookin forward to making it to one of your live streams aswell as coming back around with some results👍
I know your knot cause if you where you would be hurting your own family aswell counting i have been a handyman in scotland for over 15 years i used to make 700 to 1,500 a day now its more 2,000 on averge but now its more the bigger paying jobs i take first
Thanks brother I truly enjoy the mentorship I’ve been looking for this type of information since I started my company I’m doing okay but im ready to. Go to the next level your awesome
Nice to hear a person that gets it! People think $900 a week is a good job and my question is always, how much time do you give up for that $900? And how much would you pay for another day with your wife and kids? To me $900 for 5-6 days of work isn’t worth the time lost.
@@bulletproofhandyman love that saying! Mind if I use it? I’m planning a four exterior door day. $300 a door was the range Dr. Google seems to tell me. That seem right to you guys?
That would be a little low for me, but every location is different. As long as you feel like thats a fair price for your labor. Of course having four to do at one address helps bring the cost down a little.
One thing that can also help is to have accounts with specialized vendors. For instance, I have accounts with glass fabricators where I buy insulated glass and shower door glass where I’m able to mark up 3-4x. I also have a relationship for someone who makes me screens where I get the same mark up. If you can find similar instances where you can achieve an extra-ordinary margin, definitely focus on those services.
I don't do markups on materials currently. Perhaps in the future but it's not something I've made a habit of. However, that is a common business practice and I think your advice can be helpful to a lot of guys here.
@@bulletproofhandyman Yeah, I wouldn’t mark up retail materials but if you have a special wholesale account that someone couldn’t necessarily just walk of the street and get, it’s a good way to raise your gross profit.
This was a great video, and such an important lesson. What I took away from it: The goal is not to make $1000/day, but to be WORTH $1000/day as a handyman (experience, skills, reputation, streamlined processes)
Yes, and further, the goal is to focus more on the stability of the income and the loyalty of the clients, allowing the money to come as a result rather than the main daily focus.
Appreciate your content. I was wondering how much of a parts inventory you carry for your highest volume repairs and what if any higher priced inventory do you keep on hand? I’m planning to start my handyman business after being hired by a realtor to prep a house for market and she was blown away at the quality of work I did. I’ve been a jack of all trades since I was a kid. Turned automotive designer and HATED sitting at a desk all day. I’m older now and have physical limitations wondering why I didn’t do this decades ago but I know I can still do a lot of work and of a professional quality. Thanks again for your content.
I do have a video on inventory somewhere here in the channel, but my inventory is built up over noticing what I buy most. I don't have a full list off the cuff, but lots of the cheap parts, lots of hardware, and always a garbage disposal and a kitchen and bathroom faucet.
That’s perfect. I was going to ask that, an extra disposal is what I was thinking. Takes so long to get through Home Depot. I would like to get as much as is prudent for a weekly high frequency and a monthly freak occurrence for lack of better words. I will look for the other videos. Thanks so much again. I’ve been the stay at home dad for my boys and now they are independent. I’m so excited to get out there. Great content and I don’t know how many hours you stuff into one day to do everything your doing but it’s a testament to your work ethic.
Lol I never stop. Wish I could but I've got goals and a limited lifespan to achieve them. You'll do well with an inventory that's for sure. It was the difference between struggling and becoming comfortable. I'm not done with mine but just having anything is better than making a home Depot trip for every job.
I love your approach to things. I will say, there are ppl who have knowledge of all the trades (like I do), but who still need your advice because the skill they lack is business skills- and related: communication skills. In my case: I DO have business skills, but I am 'neurodivergent', therefore some approaches just won't work for me - my brain is just plain different. So I need to find very specific business skills relating to different ways of communicating and organizing my business! And Ray has so many ideas, that some of them are ideas and suggestion I haven't tried.
You only need a small handful of property managers. I seek them out personally one at a time. Once you have a few sending you work you don't need any more so there is no advertising necessary when you only work for property managers. Every now and then if you lose one, you just go make a few phone calls or show up in person at a couple new property management companies until you find one who needs a new handyman.
Thank you for sharing your expertise and experiences with us. I can see you are driven by a strong work ethic and how much all this means to you. I really appreciate your sincerity and honesty...these importany are so important, but are often overshadowed by catchy titles designed to get more views on RU-vid, by others on here. I wish you the best! Please continue to be genuine and thank you for generously sharing with us! :)
I’m also in az, in order to get this amount of money I’m getting my license I just don’t know which one. I do plumbing and electrical mostly but Im confused if I should get these licenses. Do most handymen carry licenses?
Hey, kinda off topic question. How do you keep up with money in money out? I’ve been at this for about a year and I always have a lot in the pipeline but can never seem to get ahead. Any tips or advice?
It's a constant battle. I track everything with Jobber, my software. Let me know if you ever get things to flow nice and even lol. My solution is to try to keep a certain nest egg of cash in the bank to even out the ups and downs.
You'll have to find out that information from your state and county and city governments. Nothing at the federal level, but the rest will be different for every state and locality.
Oh no I hope I didn't imply that I had two sets of twins. It's one set of boys. We're oddly kind of hoping that the next pregnancy would be twin girls and then we can stop 😆
Oh yes ok good. Yeah one set of twins and one single boy. I have a grown boy as well, he works with me, but I didn't have the privilege of contributing to his genetics. He's an awesome young man.
@@bulletproofhandymanCould you send me that list too Just found your channel. I'm 58 and thinking of doing this. Worked as a timber framer and drywall for yrs and then took a break for 15 years doing something else. Would you think 58 yrs might be too late to start this?
Yes. I confirmed with an investigator for AZROC that I can do any work that doesn't exceed $1,000 AND doesn't require a permit. If both of those conditions are met then it didn't require a license.
Oh AZ... You can do some plumbing work but really no electrical work other than cord and plug connected appliances. If you're making money then you should consider operating within the law to protect yourself, not worth the liability.
Oh AZ... You can do some plumbing work but really no electrical work other than cord and plug connected appliances. If you're making money then you should consider operating within the law to protect yourself, not worth the liability. An LLC wont
Oh AZ... You can do some plumbing work but really no electrical work other than cord and plug connected appliances. If you're making money then you should consider operating within the law to protect yourself, not worth the liability.
If you make 550 a day your making 140k gross a year. Not a bad income, not sure how reasonable it is to hit that over 256 days in a row, not sure what the consistency is like but I assume it comes in waves.
Yes it does come in waves. When there is plenty of work on the books it's not hard to hit $600 most days, and that's just doing small punch lists and one off jobs. However it does require an inventory and good scheduling. A busy day can range anywhere from $400 to $1000 depending on how fast, smart, and prepared you are. You will also need at least one full day per week for scheduling and other admin work and you can expect at least one day per week to not go quite according to plan.
I'm thinking of trying to start a handyman business. I am kinda nervous so I want to start part time. Will working in homes in the evening be an obstacle?
That won't be an obstacle at all. Most people who work are gone in the evenings. They probably won't want you there after dark but summer is here with long daylight hours.
If you're working for home owners scheduling work for when they're at home can be an issue. Some of them would love you to work evenings. I've turned work down because I try to do regular hours but if you want to work after 5pm then there's definitely jobs to be picked up.
I've been saying this since I was in the Marines to myself, my troops, the people I've worked for and managed. "In an emergency, pilots rarely get a second chance. If they do, they pay for it"
That's the right attitude. $300 a day is fine, $1,000 a day is fine, the important thing is that you can pull off doing solid work at a good price day after day, year after year.
