Question for the PM's (and others) here - Handymen pain points

Hi All,

My husband has started his own handyman business and in the next week or so will be approaching local PM's and REA's (among others). Other than price, quality/call backs, reliability and availability what are some of your pain points you have with your Handymen? On the flip side, what are some of the things they do that you like?

TIA!

 

Limited experience here but having arranged some long distance, I like handyman who are:

• responsive. Doesn't have to be the next minute, but hey within 2 working days is good
• give me quotes when they said they would
• took pics and send them over to me

Dislike:

• those who said would call and arrange quote and didn't
• one big line expensive item on quote (especially those from my PM list). I want works to be specified especially if the quote is more expensive than other tradies who provide better breakdowns on what they do

 

Maybe have a good read of this thread covering the same topic:
https://propertychat.com.au/community/threads/approaching-pm-for-using-your-tradie-services.4136/

 

Thank you and noted!

Yep, I posted in there how timely and useful the thread was

 

Based off past couple of years of tradies.... they must come equipped with everything they need to do their job.

The number of times I have had a tradie ask "do you have....." when it was an essential tool, such as a ladder or drill or saw or screwdriver or vacuum cleaner to clean up afterwards.

 

I don't understand some tradies that come out to give a free quote, but charge a call out fee for the actual job. Surely they could just do it when they come out the first time.

 

Yep, noted.

Tricky one this one, but understand the frustration - Aaron (husband) has done both - given verbal quote, been accepted on the spot and fixed the issue straight away as he carries all tools with him as well as some common spare parts for different things.

Sometimes he's unable to do so as needs to get materials for the job that he doesn't carry on hand. But either way, there is a call out fee involved (which is just the cost of the first hour's labour charge and taken into consideration for the quote if labour is more than 1 hour) if the quote is proceeded with on the day or in future.

 

I really appreciate it when a handyman at least attempts to clean up after himself.

I don't mean spit-polish level, but at least having a dustpan and brush (or even better, a vaccuum cleaner - maybe a little rechargeable dust-buster?) to sweep up the brick dust when you've just drilled through walls etc etc. Would much rather they asked "where's the bin?" than just leave piddly little scraps of wire or whatever, scattered around. Even bringing a bucket+lid, in preparation to take away your own rubbish, could be a good point of difference.

 

That's understandable.
But in the instance where I know what the issue is, and I'm calling for different quotes over the phone, one guy gives me the price of a call out fee, I'm going with the other guys who don't give the call out fee.

 

Kinnon, can you send me his business details? I'd be happy to try him out via my PM.

 

Not reporting back cause of issue (to help with directing / justifying the invoice)
Not sorting all the issues in their visit (Multiple visits for multiple callouts)
Quoting PMs higher prices than general public

 

Trust!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

What is this trust you speak of???

 

Hmmm, I may have a different (or incorrect?) understanding of a call out fee. For us the call out fee isn't on top of what would be quoted for the job it's just incorporated into it so the quote would be the same whether there is an official call fee out for or not. So say job is 2 hrs labour + materials then there would be 1 call out fee + 1 hour labour in quote as opposed to 2 hours labour in quote.

Will do, cheers.

1. Good point, not sure if Aaron does this in his quotes/invoices or not. What about identifying potential future issues? Such as "while fixing hinge on kitchen door noticed minor leak on S bend which may lead to water damage of chipboard underneath. Recommend fixing leak by blah blah blah" How would something like that be viewed?
2. Noted
3. Definitely not cool. Now I've done a bit of research realise this is the case with some which sucks. But we're also LL's ourselves and intend on having pricing consistency across the board.

Ha, yes, tricky one. We'll have to earn that one over time. We're hoping to get to the WOM stage where trust is a lot easier to earn as opposed to if the client just googled the business.

 

Hi Kinnon, damn would have used him twice last week, can you pm me contact details as well and i'll get our pm to test out on our properties here (cairns) when the need arises.
edit: @Kinnon Bell

 

Some guy i know either through experiebce. Or reputation or through the pm that isnt going to charge 300 for a 80 dollar job. Is going to turn up when he says he willl and if its a per hour job . That he isnt going to milk it

 

I used to use a guy who charged a flat rate per hour. And did good jobs quickly. I offered him cash and he didnt want it. He actually wanted to go through the agent.

 

Ha, damn! Will do, cheers.

Yep, and that's the stage we want to get to which is what I think any business wants (I know I do with broking). Have ol' mate from down the road say he needs something done to another mate who says "Oh, you should give Aaron a call at Cairns Handyman as he's great etc" and that's not going to happen if you're providing a poor service for a premium and milking it for all it's worth.

Maybe we need to rethink calling out the 'service fee' as Aaron just charges a flat (pro-rated) per hour rate. Odd that he wanted to go through the agent though.

 

I would prefer if the handyman gives me a call on the spot. We can quickly discuss the matter and possibly solve the issue then and there.
Sometimes, making two visits to do a small job is kind of pointless.

 

Crazy talk
It's very, um, handy having a contact for interstate properties.