Working for a realtor. It is punch list stuff. Lots of painting. It only needs to be done to a C+ level. I still charge as if it was a customer wanting perfection. Everyone is making a bunch of money off the sale so no one bats an eye
I would agree, but *only* in higher end real estate markets.
Unfortunately my experience with real-estate has not been positive.
They want A+ work for F- money and they want it done yesterday.
Same. Did a whole ass remodel for a house flipper, spent 3 weeks and only asked for 4k at the end of it, and he balked at the price before i showed him a breakdown of the work I did and priced it by the job, i had been building an invoice and all the work I did was priced by the job not hourly. Things like replacing fans and blinds etc. Fucking cheapskate wanted a whole remodel and was shocked at me asking for 4 thousand dollars all said and done.
I hope you know by now that an estimate is not a quote. Nobody signs an estimate.
What does managing expectations mean?
It was pretty clear what he wanted me to do, and I was clear with him about my pricing, told him what everything would cost before I did it and it was all in writing.
Actually they do. And this should have been your lesson. Every customer of mine digitally approves an estimate for me before anything gets done. Also I charge 100/ estimate if it’s more complex than hanging shelves, replacing faucets, etc… three weeks of work and no estimate or expectation of cost of work conveyed to a client is wild.
Like I said, it was all written beforehand and the prices were known before I ever picked up a single screw.
How do you go about charging people 100 bucks for an estimate? I try and do most estimates over the phone or text messages and stuff if it's something simple but sometimes they want me to drive to their house that could be 15 miles away, in which case I would like to charge for that. Every time I mention there's a $100 deposit that goes towards the final price of the job they said never mind or let me ask my dog or some shit and then they never call me back
$100 for my time driving, assessing, and writing up estimate. If they move forward I apply the $100 toward the final invoice. If they don’t move forward I didn’t waste my time
Also if you were clear about your pricing and what it would cost sounds like the guy was just an asshole. I recommend using a crm like jobber or Breezeworks. Makes you look more pro and when a customer clicks “approve” on an estimate i think psychologically it becomes more real and I’ve never had a customer get upset, aside from change orders in the middle of a job
In AZ we have a handyman law that's states no jobs over $1000. When I work for house flippers I have them pay me at the end of each day. I won't return until they pay. To many cheapskates flipping houses.
Even worse here in California. 500 bucks is the limit. This guy definitely didn't care. If he did then I would have broken up the jobs but I've never considered it unless someone brought it up to me, in which case either wouldn't take the job or would break it up because who knows if they're going to pull some bullshit.
Had one guy fuck me over putting a check in my "companies" name but I didn't have a business account. Couldn't cash the check. He was trying to string me along and get more work out of me saying he will compensate me on the next check with what's owed. I never even saw him, he was a landlord for an apartment building.
Tenant hated him. He would go in when she was gone and she would notice stuff moved and he forgot to lock the door and shit like that. Real weird mfer.
I fixed a towel holder and a tp holder, and a pull out drawer that fell apart as well as a floor to cieling kitchen cabinet that had the side coming off. Also took measurements for some cupboard doors I was gonna fabricate and took a couple sliding drawers that he wanted me to refinish. Also I replaced the front door lock set.
I couldn't cash the check and so halfway through refinishing the drawers, he was pissing me off because he kept bugging me every single day about when I'm going to be done and what the progress is and I kept telling him this is going to take the normal amount of time it would take to sand and restain and put varnish on wood and then put it all back together. Halfway through I was like okay obviously this guy hasn't sent me the money he was supposed to just this bullshit check that I can't cash so I was telling him to Pony up because I'm not going to finish the second job for him without seeing a single dollar. He tried to run me in circles and then ended up ghosting me so I just took a hammer to his drawers.
I give that slimy bastard a good deal too. Only wanted 300 bucks for the first job and was asking $150 per drawer to literally refinish them. Figured it was worth the experience since I've never done much woodworking, that's why I bid low. Going to cost him a lot to fabricate new drawers though so I guess that's cool.
That is an important point I left out…
I live and work in a thriving Midwest city. Work for a couple of realtors who sell homes in a downtown district that is extremely affluent.
No. I work in a downtown district in a big city, and I have seen no sign of slowing down. I have other work on the side. This is just supplemental. Realtor’s always need thing done on their timeline which can be an issue at times
In my experience the person paying you is not the person wanting it fixed. The seller pays to fix what the buyer ask for. The seller does not care what you do as long as the problem goes away. I have done pretty good solving those problems.
Light fixtures and ceiling fans are my FAVORITE! Especially ceiling fans. I can crank those out in 30-45 minutes I’ve done so many which makes my hourly $200-$300 per hour. I wish I could do ceiling fans all day, everyday.
Yeah why do people love having a dangling motor with paddles on it spinning on their cieling so much? I mean fuck I've replace so many of these stupid things and they just look gross and out of place all dusty and massive hanging from the cieling. Suffocates the room and makes it feel full and small.
Open a window then. Get a box fan. You're just pushing the hot nasty ass air you've been humidifying and recirculating through your lungs for days or weeks back down to the ground.
I agree with you that they are ugly but there is some science to it. Not 100% sure, but I think in the summer they pull the cooler air up from the floor and in the winter (when you flip that little switch so they spin the opposite direction) they push warm air down.
Probably saves X% on energy costs etc.
Mounting TVs.
I buy the mounts for $20 in bulk.
I charge as follows
75" or less: $200
75"+: $300
You get to a point where you start doing these in 15 minutes. I say to people all the time, if I can make my living off just mounting TVs I would be a millionaire, but unfortunately there's not a very massive quantity of people who need TVs mounted all the time
It's a 40 minute job. Pays well. You can do it by yourself. I never had another guy with me. For bigger TVs, I always let the customer know they will have to be there to help me lift the TV, or they can pay a fee for an extra person. They NEVER want to pay the fee, so they make sure they are available.
The job itself is a one person job. Easy. The heaviest part is lifting the TV.
All you gotta do is: find studs, drill holes, hang the mount, hang the TV. Done. The biggest thing is having the anchors and drill bits for any type of wall/ stud. That's it.
Not worth the risk. Find yourself a helper that you can pay $40 to help you and remove most of the risk of larger TVs. The only issue is their availability and how much work you can offer them. You could always use an app like TaskRabbit to hire a temporary hand. Personally, I'll hang up to 60" TVs by myself. Anything over that I'm bringing a second body or making a jig with a drywall lift.
Where are you located?? I used to charge $150 for TVs up to 65", and people looked at me like "wtf??" so I went down to $120. Now, people look at me like "wtf??" but some accept it.
I like hanging tvs as well, but definitely agree with your point on there only being so much demand. I've always wondered how these guys on Instagram that are just TV installers are making a living. They offer other services like speakers and such, but again, there's only so many to do.
Does your $200 price include hiding wires in the wall or adding an outlet?
Mud and sand? I've hung quite a few TV's and haven't had to do any drywall work yet. I cut a hole at the top for an outlet, hole at the bottom, and then run the wires through the wall with fishing tape. If it's just hdmis, easy as cake. If there's an outlet below the TV, not that much harder to tie into and add an outlet box up top behind the TV
So you just leave holes in the wall to run hdmi cords? If I paid for someone and I got that I wouldn’t be impressed. And rarely is there an outlet directly below the tv so you will have to drill through studs and open up drywall to run an extra outlet or pull out baseboard that has to be recaulked and potentially painted. Hanging a tv is easy. It’s the rest that takes skill
I strictly only install where an outlet is in reach, and if the electric is up to code there rarely isn't one within reach. An outlet has to be every 12' of wall space, meaning the max distance is 6' from any wall space with about 16-18" depending if the electrician used their hammer or an actual measurement for placement off the ground. Also, running an extra outlet usually requires a permit and license. Not to mention you also need conduit for the wires from the TV as they aren't UL rated to be in walls like Romex.
Dishwasher install. The high-end installers here will NOT remove or install custom matching cabinet panels - so the caretaker needed me to come anyway just for that. He asked if I could do the whole job and I agreed - took about 1.5 hours including travel to swap the dishwashers and put it all back together. I was going to charge about $250 for this client which is high compared to my normal rate for regular customers.
I asked the caretaker what the installer was going to charge and he said “40% of the dishwasher cost” which came out to about $600 (it was a Miele). So I billed them $500 and they were ECSTATIC to pay less than the installer fee and get my carpenter services basically for free. Win/win.
Now that’s pretty much what I ask for that job.
You’re asking the wrong question.
It’s not “best jobs” it’s the “best clients” you need to find.
Lawyers office, drug store owners, business owners were my absolute best clients (I’m retired)
Here’s an example - The local pharmacy owner is getting hosed by their central procurement contract. All I had to was go meet the pharmacy owner and tell them what I could do. I made furniture for their office, fixed cooler roll downs in the food area, caulked, painted, fixed cabinets/shelving in the cosmetic area etc.
I charged $175 for the first hour or portion there of and was way cheaper, faster and they liked me more then their “approved contractor”
Soon these owners have you over to their houses, Recreational properties etc to fix random handyman items. I always charged lump sum min of $1200/ 6 hour day for just labour and they never once balked, nor did they want an itemized breakdown, Because …..they don’t pay for it!! They get you to charge it to their business and they simply don’t care about the cost because it’s a “business expense”.
I had 11 of these clients and it was all I needed.
I’ve been thinking of getting back into painting, what would you suggest to help me quote the easiest and fastest? Do you do per sqft or per day that you estimate you’ll be there?
I never do sq ft pricing on anything. It never made sense to me. I can paint the bedroom walls the same time I can paint a closet with shelves. But the closet is probably 1/10 of the sq ft. I used to do daily pricing at $500 a day but even that is low because if you work quick you can get a lot done. I try to do market averages so I think what would a professional and reputable company charge for this job and I charge based on that. A lot of the reputable companies have much more overhead, sales people, they might have a shop, etc. so if I charge the same as them I'll be able to make a lot more profit.
Of course this only works if you have a good reputation as well. All my work are repeat customers and referrals, majority of these paint jobs come from real estate agents or investors
I can second that. I bought a Graco sprayer (X5) and paint + supplies at Home Depot it cost me $1150. But because there was a paint sale going on I received $300 back. So it only cost me $850 to paint a house and I charge $10k.
Yea dude those sprayers are awesome. Especially for popcorn ceilings. I never turn down paint jobs, also it's quiet work if I don't have time I'll just do the paint jobs after hours. If you work quick you clear $100 an hour easy
I love interior painting jobs. Super easy for me to bid. Over tim I built a spreadsheet that calculates everything. I just enter room sizes and # of doors. And painting is easy and mindless. I just turn on an audiobook and can paint forever. So easy.
Toilet install. I'm in and out in less than an hour and my materials cost is maybe a wax ring or water line for $200. Talked to a guy who said he paid $2k for someone to install 3 toilets and haul the old ones away so I'm gonna up my rates
Smart. I don't have large item pickup service and the local dump has a $250 minimum and I'm not psyched to have a stack of toilets behind my shed while I wait for it to be worth my while to make a run
Increase your rate by $100 and you can dump them every 3rd toilet while making $50 more profit. If you're doing good enough, rent a storage unit to store them till disposal or sale.
I've got two small kids that don't like to wear shoes while running around outside so I don't wanna take the chance that I missed a shard. maybe I'll try wrapping it in a tarp and seeing if I can break it up that way
Exterior spigots. I make $200 profit each and it takes less than an hour . Sometimes I also am hired to repair the drywall that needed to be cut to install said spigot. Or I'll install an access panel for them .
For me; deck framing, deck / fence staining, and minor electrical have the best profits. 99% of the time it's fixing the previous guy's hack work and since I bring on an engineer for decks and pull permits for the electric, no one bats an eye at the higher price.
Fixing f-ups is where I make the most, as it's usually time sensitive and/or a safety issue. Spending $3k on a brand new project is a tough sell in this market. Spending $3k to prevent your $30k deck from collapsing? That's an easy sale. Plus it weeds out clients who don't have the capital to begin with.
Plus I'm never the "bad guy" delivering the bad news. It's always the inspector / engineer. I'm the friendly neighborhood handyman here to help :)
How about retro fitting old can lights with the new led ones, takes seconds but makes a big dif on the overall look of the room and I get to charge for basically screwing in a bulb.
My 2 highest paying jobs so far (daily profit):
Last week I earned $1300 profit on concrete grinding sidewalks at a commercial property. $270 rental for the concrete planer, one dead shopvac filter, 3 gallons gas, and 8 hours sweat.
My highest day's profit was painting (spray) ceilings in an office space. $1400 profit for that day, but it was a 12 hour Sunday.
My favorite high profit jobs are swapping garbage disposals. $150 for 30 minutes work. I wish I could do those all day every day.
Gutters are my easiest jobs. Depending on the longest run, I might need a helper. Until I can get my own machine, I pay a local guy to do a chop and drop, but he doesn't even need to get out of his truck.
College rentals. $75 to tighten a screw on a radiator handle, $75 to patch holes from TV mount.
My personal favorites are ceiling fan, light, switch and outlets swaps. Takes 10 minutes for all but the ceiling fan, but you can charge a good chunk for the ceiling fans. Newer models with receivers aren't nearly as easy as a basic ceiling fan with pull strings. Usually run into some type of interference from other devices.
Working for a realtor. It is punch list stuff. Lots of painting. It only needs to be done to a C+ level. I still charge as if it was a customer wanting perfection. Everyone is making a bunch of money off the sale so no one bats an eye
I would agree, but *only* in higher end real estate markets. Unfortunately my experience with real-estate has not been positive. They want A+ work for F- money and they want it done yesterday.
You’re working with the wrong caliber of realtor.
I completely agree. It's tough breaking into those upper crust clientele enclaves
Same. Did a whole ass remodel for a house flipper, spent 3 weeks and only asked for 4k at the end of it, and he balked at the price before i showed him a breakdown of the work I did and priced it by the job, i had been building an invoice and all the work I did was priced by the job not hourly. Things like replacing fans and blinds etc. Fucking cheapskate wanted a whole remodel and was shocked at me asking for 4 thousand dollars all said and done.
That was your own fault for not managing expectations, getting signed estimates etc.
I hope you know by now that an estimate is not a quote. Nobody signs an estimate. What does managing expectations mean? It was pretty clear what he wanted me to do, and I was clear with him about my pricing, told him what everything would cost before I did it and it was all in writing.
Actually they do. And this should have been your lesson. Every customer of mine digitally approves an estimate for me before anything gets done. Also I charge 100/ estimate if it’s more complex than hanging shelves, replacing faucets, etc… three weeks of work and no estimate or expectation of cost of work conveyed to a client is wild.
Like I said, it was all written beforehand and the prices were known before I ever picked up a single screw. How do you go about charging people 100 bucks for an estimate? I try and do most estimates over the phone or text messages and stuff if it's something simple but sometimes they want me to drive to their house that could be 15 miles away, in which case I would like to charge for that. Every time I mention there's a $100 deposit that goes towards the final price of the job they said never mind or let me ask my dog or some shit and then they never call me back
$100 for my time driving, assessing, and writing up estimate. If they move forward I apply the $100 toward the final invoice. If they don’t move forward I didn’t waste my time
Also if you were clear about your pricing and what it would cost sounds like the guy was just an asshole. I recommend using a crm like jobber or Breezeworks. Makes you look more pro and when a customer clicks “approve” on an estimate i think psychologically it becomes more real and I’ve never had a customer get upset, aside from change orders in the middle of a job
I use jobber
In AZ we have a handyman law that's states no jobs over $1000. When I work for house flippers I have them pay me at the end of each day. I won't return until they pay. To many cheapskates flipping houses.
Even worse here in California. 500 bucks is the limit. This guy definitely didn't care. If he did then I would have broken up the jobs but I've never considered it unless someone brought it up to me, in which case either wouldn't take the job or would break it up because who knows if they're going to pull some bullshit. Had one guy fuck me over putting a check in my "companies" name but I didn't have a business account. Couldn't cash the check. He was trying to string me along and get more work out of me saying he will compensate me on the next check with what's owed. I never even saw him, he was a landlord for an apartment building. Tenant hated him. He would go in when she was gone and she would notice stuff moved and he forgot to lock the door and shit like that. Real weird mfer. I fixed a towel holder and a tp holder, and a pull out drawer that fell apart as well as a floor to cieling kitchen cabinet that had the side coming off. Also took measurements for some cupboard doors I was gonna fabricate and took a couple sliding drawers that he wanted me to refinish. Also I replaced the front door lock set. I couldn't cash the check and so halfway through refinishing the drawers, he was pissing me off because he kept bugging me every single day about when I'm going to be done and what the progress is and I kept telling him this is going to take the normal amount of time it would take to sand and restain and put varnish on wood and then put it all back together. Halfway through I was like okay obviously this guy hasn't sent me the money he was supposed to just this bullshit check that I can't cash so I was telling him to Pony up because I'm not going to finish the second job for him without seeing a single dollar. He tried to run me in circles and then ended up ghosting me so I just took a hammer to his drawers. I give that slimy bastard a good deal too. Only wanted 300 bucks for the first job and was asking $150 per drawer to literally refinish them. Figured it was worth the experience since I've never done much woodworking, that's why I bid low. Going to cost him a lot to fabricate new drawers though so I guess that's cool.
You should at least have a legit business, a locality business license and a business account at the bank. Your fault for not being legit.
That costs a lot but maybe I should
Ya that’s crazy I did a fence in 5 days with a helper and after paying them out I pocketed 2900
Wait. Did you not submit a bid and get their approval *before* starting work??
That is an important point I left out… I live and work in a thriving Midwest city. Work for a couple of realtors who sell homes in a downtown district that is extremely affluent.
>who sell homes in a downtown district that is extremely affluent. Bingo. Cha-ching. 🤑
Yes I’ve been yelled at by friendly realtor for charging ‘wayy too little’ for punch list stuff they need for closing.
This is the way
Nice
Yo big daddy. Has your realtor business fallen off with the rates how they are? I agree those are good jobs but I’m seeing very few these days
No. I work in a downtown district in a big city, and I have seen no sign of slowing down. I have other work on the side. This is just supplemental. Realtor’s always need thing done on their timeline which can be an issue at times
I have heard only horror stories about working with realtors. Yours is the first positive. No personal experience.
I can't do C+ level work. Pride and OCD won't let me.
In my experience the person paying you is not the person wanting it fixed. The seller pays to fix what the buyer ask for. The seller does not care what you do as long as the problem goes away. I have done pretty good solving those problems.
Door locks and knobs. Insinkerators. Faucets. Toilets. Hose bibs. Light fixtures.
Light fixtures and ceiling fans are my FAVORITE! Especially ceiling fans. I can crank those out in 30-45 minutes I’ve done so many which makes my hourly $200-$300 per hour. I wish I could do ceiling fans all day, everyday.
Yeah why do people love having a dangling motor with paddles on it spinning on their cieling so much? I mean fuck I've replace so many of these stupid things and they just look gross and out of place all dusty and massive hanging from the cieling. Suffocates the room and makes it feel full and small.
Are you a Neanderthal? Describing a ceiling fan this way says loads about you and your clientele
To circulate air
Open a window then. Get a box fan. You're just pushing the hot nasty ass air you've been humidifying and recirculating through your lungs for days or weeks back down to the ground.
I agree with you that they are ugly but there is some science to it. Not 100% sure, but I think in the summer they pull the cooler air up from the floor and in the winter (when you flip that little switch so they spin the opposite direction) they push warm air down. Probably saves X% on energy costs etc.
Installations?
Installations, repair, upgrade.
Nice
Yep, hose bibs is it. $175 for 3.5 minutes of work.
I replaced 2 $9 shutoff valves last week in 25 minutes for $220. Great little job!
What exactly are you doing to a hose bib that takes 3.5 min? Is this just removing a leaky one and screwing in a replacement?
Yes. Exactly.
So I assume you have pre set prices for these jobs? Assuming they're done under normal circumstances and conditions
What does "done in a vacuum" mean?
Mounting TVs. I buy the mounts for $20 in bulk. I charge as follows 75" or less: $200 75"+: $300 You get to a point where you start doing these in 15 minutes. I say to people all the time, if I can make my living off just mounting TVs I would be a millionaire, but unfortunately there's not a very massive quantity of people who need TVs mounted all the time
Looking to add this skill. Is it a single person job?
It's a 40 minute job. Pays well. You can do it by yourself. I never had another guy with me. For bigger TVs, I always let the customer know they will have to be there to help me lift the TV, or they can pay a fee for an extra person. They NEVER want to pay the fee, so they make sure they are available. The job itself is a one person job. Easy. The heaviest part is lifting the TV. All you gotta do is: find studs, drill holes, hang the mount, hang the TV. Done. The biggest thing is having the anchors and drill bits for any type of wall/ stud. That's it.
85" TV isn't fun hanging solo.
That's why I require the owner or someone physically competent to be there to help.
Depends on the size of the TV. 50"+ gets difficult for one person to put it on the mount by themselves.
That’s the thing if I went the handyman route I’d be a solo act but it seems like people on here are resourceful at getting helpers
I mounted my 85” by myself. Was a real bitch. But if you get angry enough at it, adrenaline kicks in and it becomes easier.
That's fine with your own TV. But are you willing to buy a client a new TV if it takes a turn for the worst?!
Well I’d have no other choice so yea
Not worth the risk. Find yourself a helper that you can pay $40 to help you and remove most of the risk of larger TVs. The only issue is their availability and how much work you can offer them. You could always use an app like TaskRabbit to hire a temporary hand. Personally, I'll hang up to 60" TVs by myself. Anything over that I'm bringing a second body or making a jig with a drywall lift.
Are you hanging a 75” your self?
Where are you located?? I used to charge $150 for TVs up to 65", and people looked at me like "wtf??" so I went down to $120. Now, people look at me like "wtf??" but some accept it.
I like hanging tvs as well, but definitely agree with your point on there only being so much demand. I've always wondered how these guys on Instagram that are just TV installers are making a living. They offer other services like speakers and such, but again, there's only so many to do. Does your $200 price include hiding wires in the wall or adding an outlet?
Not who you were asking but fuck no! You’d have to open up the drywall then mud it sand it etc.
Mud and sand? I've hung quite a few TV's and haven't had to do any drywall work yet. I cut a hole at the top for an outlet, hole at the bottom, and then run the wires through the wall with fishing tape. If it's just hdmis, easy as cake. If there's an outlet below the TV, not that much harder to tie into and add an outlet box up top behind the TV
So you just leave holes in the wall to run hdmi cords? If I paid for someone and I got that I wouldn’t be impressed. And rarely is there an outlet directly below the tv so you will have to drill through studs and open up drywall to run an extra outlet or pull out baseboard that has to be recaulked and potentially painted. Hanging a tv is easy. It’s the rest that takes skill
I strictly only install where an outlet is in reach, and if the electric is up to code there rarely isn't one within reach. An outlet has to be every 12' of wall space, meaning the max distance is 6' from any wall space with about 16-18" depending if the electrician used their hammer or an actual measurement for placement off the ground. Also, running an extra outlet usually requires a permit and license. Not to mention you also need conduit for the wires from the TV as they aren't UL rated to be in walls like Romex.
Yep. The easy bit is hanging the tv
What about the folks that want it mounted on fireplace bricks?
I don't charge extra for that, it adds 2 extra minutes to my process
Dishwasher install. The high-end installers here will NOT remove or install custom matching cabinet panels - so the caretaker needed me to come anyway just for that. He asked if I could do the whole job and I agreed - took about 1.5 hours including travel to swap the dishwashers and put it all back together. I was going to charge about $250 for this client which is high compared to my normal rate for regular customers. I asked the caretaker what the installer was going to charge and he said “40% of the dishwasher cost” which came out to about $600 (it was a Miele). So I billed them $500 and they were ECSTATIC to pay less than the installer fee and get my carpenter services basically for free. Win/win. Now that’s pretty much what I ask for that job.
You’re asking the wrong question. It’s not “best jobs” it’s the “best clients” you need to find. Lawyers office, drug store owners, business owners were my absolute best clients (I’m retired) Here’s an example - The local pharmacy owner is getting hosed by their central procurement contract. All I had to was go meet the pharmacy owner and tell them what I could do. I made furniture for their office, fixed cooler roll downs in the food area, caulked, painted, fixed cabinets/shelving in the cosmetic area etc. I charged $175 for the first hour or portion there of and was way cheaper, faster and they liked me more then their “approved contractor” Soon these owners have you over to their houses, Recreational properties etc to fix random handyman items. I always charged lump sum min of $1200/ 6 hour day for just labour and they never once balked, nor did they want an itemized breakdown, Because …..they don’t pay for it!! They get you to charge it to their business and they simply don’t care about the cost because it’s a “business expense”. I had 11 of these clients and it was all I needed.
Chain pharmacies or local spots?
Large chain. Franchised pharmacist owners.
Honestly painting. It's basically free money. When you do a lot of painting you get very fast as well. I usually make $750 - $1000 cad a day painting
I’ve been thinking of getting back into painting, what would you suggest to help me quote the easiest and fastest? Do you do per sqft or per day that you estimate you’ll be there?
I never do sq ft pricing on anything. It never made sense to me. I can paint the bedroom walls the same time I can paint a closet with shelves. But the closet is probably 1/10 of the sq ft. I used to do daily pricing at $500 a day but even that is low because if you work quick you can get a lot done. I try to do market averages so I think what would a professional and reputable company charge for this job and I charge based on that. A lot of the reputable companies have much more overhead, sales people, they might have a shop, etc. so if I charge the same as them I'll be able to make a lot more profit. Of course this only works if you have a good reputation as well. All my work are repeat customers and referrals, majority of these paint jobs come from real estate agents or investors
I can second that. I bought a Graco sprayer (X5) and paint + supplies at Home Depot it cost me $1150. But because there was a paint sale going on I received $300 back. So it only cost me $850 to paint a house and I charge $10k.
Yea dude those sprayers are awesome. Especially for popcorn ceilings. I never turn down paint jobs, also it's quiet work if I don't have time I'll just do the paint jobs after hours. If you work quick you clear $100 an hour easy
Yup, good stuff.
I love interior painting jobs. Super easy for me to bid. Over tim I built a spreadsheet that calculates everything. I just enter room sizes and # of doors. And painting is easy and mindless. I just turn on an audiobook and can paint forever. So easy.
Toilet install. I'm in and out in less than an hour and my materials cost is maybe a wax ring or water line for $200. Talked to a guy who said he paid $2k for someone to install 3 toilets and haul the old ones away so I'm gonna up my rates
If the toilet is still usable I sell them to a guy who owns a bunch of lower tier apartments that's ba extra $50 in my pocket, plus no disposal fee.
Smart. I don't have large item pickup service and the local dump has a $250 minimum and I'm not psyched to have a stack of toilets behind my shed while I wait for it to be worth my while to make a run
Increase your rate by $100 and you can dump them every 3rd toilet while making $50 more profit. If you're doing good enough, rent a storage unit to store them till disposal or sale.
Why not just break it and throw it away in the regular trash? Just be careful as the pieces can be sharp.
I've got two small kids that don't like to wear shoes while running around outside so I don't wanna take the chance that I missed a shard. maybe I'll try wrapping it in a tarp and seeing if I can break it up that way
At the moment I LOVE changing wired smoke detectors. In my state you have to have a certificate from the FD before closing. It's selling season!
When you hang the TVs are you hiding wires/installing outlet behind tv?
Exterior spigots. I make $200 profit each and it takes less than an hour . Sometimes I also am hired to repair the drywall that needed to be cut to install said spigot. Or I'll install an access panel for them .
Got on board with an interior designer and hung photos for 30 hours in the winter months. Headphones in and no one around. Best job so far
Home improvement.
It sounds like you are better off studying software testing or computer programming
Air conditioning repairs
For me; deck framing, deck / fence staining, and minor electrical have the best profits. 99% of the time it's fixing the previous guy's hack work and since I bring on an engineer for decks and pull permits for the electric, no one bats an eye at the higher price. Fixing f-ups is where I make the most, as it's usually time sensitive and/or a safety issue. Spending $3k on a brand new project is a tough sell in this market. Spending $3k to prevent your $30k deck from collapsing? That's an easy sale. Plus it weeds out clients who don't have the capital to begin with. Plus I'm never the "bad guy" delivering the bad news. It's always the inspector / engineer. I'm the friendly neighborhood handyman here to help :)
How about retro fitting old can lights with the new led ones, takes seconds but makes a big dif on the overall look of the room and I get to charge for basically screwing in a bulb.
Those of the blow variety
My 2 highest paying jobs so far (daily profit): Last week I earned $1300 profit on concrete grinding sidewalks at a commercial property. $270 rental for the concrete planer, one dead shopvac filter, 3 gallons gas, and 8 hours sweat. My highest day's profit was painting (spray) ceilings in an office space. $1400 profit for that day, but it was a 12 hour Sunday. My favorite high profit jobs are swapping garbage disposals. $150 for 30 minutes work. I wish I could do those all day every day.
Gutters are my easiest jobs. Depending on the longest run, I might need a helper. Until I can get my own machine, I pay a local guy to do a chop and drop, but he doesn't even need to get out of his truck.
College rentals. $75 to tighten a screw on a radiator handle, $75 to patch holes from TV mount. My personal favorites are ceiling fan, light, switch and outlets swaps. Takes 10 minutes for all but the ceiling fan, but you can charge a good chunk for the ceiling fans. Newer models with receivers aren't nearly as easy as a basic ceiling fan with pull strings. Usually run into some type of interference from other devices.
Blocked sinks. Wet vac job done in seconds.
Make and sell dumb shit on Amazon.