How do you find a good handyman?

The best way to find a good handyman is word-of-mouth. If you talk to someone that is happy with the work that a handyman did for them, you should get their phone number and keep it in a safe place. There are lots of handyman services out there that you don't want to hire. If you just look up handyman services in the phone book you will not know if they do good work or not. Word-of-mouth is definitely the best way to find a good handyman.

Be careful hiring a handyman that works for one of the national handyman services.  The handyman that comes to your house is often no different than any other handyman service, but they are probably paying large franchise fees to be part of the national company.  The advantage for the handyman to be a franchisee of a large company is that the large company runs national advertising campaigns that the average handyman could never afford. The national company pays for this advertising by charging monthly fees to the franchisees. The franchisee then has to charge their customers enough to pay for those monthly franchise fees.

The big problem I have with these larger companies is that most of them don't do any research on the people they sell franchises to and they provide little or no training. The training they do provide has nothing to do with handyman work but is about how to run the franchise business the way they want it run. The handyman that comes to your door could have plenty of experience or they could have no experience at all. I have heard of people hiring these handyman services based on the professional quality of their television commercials and the promises the commercials made, only to find that the handyman sent to their house was neither skilled nor professional. If someone recommends one of these larger franchise companies to you, find out the name of the handyman that did the work, and request them by name when you call.

If you can’t find a recommendation, get prices from a few different handyman services. While you are talking to them about pricing, try to get a little more information about them and their experience. Ask if they have references or if you can look at some of their work. If they give you references, check on them if you can to see if they are really satisfied customers. If it is a national or large handyman service that you call, ask if you can talk to the person that will do the work before agreeing to hire them.

Keep in mind that what they charge may reflect the quality of work that they will do for you. If they are charging considerably less than other handyman services in your area, it may be an indication that they do lower quality work. It may also be a sign that they are not properly licensed, bonded, or insured. A professional handyman service should be licensed, bonded, and insured for your security as well as for theirs.