How should a handyman price a small repair visit?
Build a handyman visit price from service mix, paid job time, materials, travel and callbacks, then test a two-worker break-even case.
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A handyman should price the whole visit, including screening, travel, protection, setup, work, cleanup, documentation and callback risk. In the StartFigures two-worker case, a weighted $450 retained ticket and 78% contribution margin require about 2.30 completed jobs per field day to cover $17,500 of monthly fixed costs. Because jobs are whole and variable, the practical target is three.
The staged business starts with a paid working owner-manager and one van, then releases the reserved second used van and hires one technician after the paid pilot clears its backlog, contribution and cash gates. The mature operation performs a narrow menu of small residential repairs, assembly, non-specialty installation, drywall and trim touch-ups within its documented local authority. Paint-disturbing work in covered pre-1978 properties requires applicable EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) certification and lead-safe controls. Electrical, plumbing, HVAC, gas, roofing, structural, hazardous-material and other specialized or permitted work is excluded unless separately authorized and contracted.
The $450 ticket, job mix, time and costs are authored assumptions. They are not a national price, local quote, licensing opinion or promise of profitability.
Define one completed job
A lead, estimate or booked appointment is not revenue. A job counts after the screened scope is completed, cleanup and customer acceptance are recorded, and the retained amount reconciles to collection.
Retained revenue excludes sales tax, tips, refundable deposits and customer-reimbursed materials when those are pass-throughs. Discounts, credits, refunds and callbacks reduce retained revenue or contribution.
Every estimate needs written tasks and property conditions, material responsibility, travel and access, licensing and permit flags, and hidden-condition stop points. A small-dollar job is not automatically exempt from every rule. California's current example uses a $1,000 threshold with conditions including no permit and no workers on the project, while Oregon generally requires a Construction Contractors Board license for compensated construction and explicitly lists handyman work. These examples differ and do not control another state. The RRP program also states that paid work disturbing paint in covered pre-1978 housing generally requires firm certification, trained renovators and lead-safe practices; screen property age and paint disturbance before estimating. EPA RRP contractor guidance, California CSLB bulletin and Oregon CCB licensing.
Build the $450 ticket from a controlled mix
Each job belongs to one primary category so the same visit is not counted several times.
| Primary category | Mix | Retained ticket | Weighted sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small repair or adjustment | 35% | $250 | $87.50 |
| Assembly or non-specialty installation | 30% | $400 | $120.00 |
| Drywall, trim or paint touch-up | 25% | $600 | $150.00 |
| Screened multi-item half-day list | 10% | $900 | $90.00 |
| Weighted subtotal | 100% | — | $447.50 |
| Average retained adjustment | — | — | $2.50 |
| Modeled retained ticket | — | — | $450.00 |
The $2.50 adjustment is arithmetic, not a fee recommendation. Replace the mix with completed paid jobs. Keep quoted labor, actual paid hours, materials, travel, discount, change order, callback and collected net revenue.
Separate contribution from fixed cost
The model assigns 22% of retained revenue to ordinary job materials, payment fees, route fuel and consumables. At $450, that is $99 per job, leaving $351 of contribution.
Year-three fixed operating costs are $210,000: $140,000 payroll and $70,000 of vehicles, insurance, tools, software, marketing and other overhead. The monthly calculator uses $17,500.
The threshold is $17,500 ÷ $351 ÷ 5 ÷ 4.33 = 2.30 jobs per field day. At three jobs, monthly contribution is 3 × $351 × 5 × 4.33 = $22,797.45, leaving a simplified $5,297.45 monthly operating surplus.
The annual forecast uses 50 field weeks rather than 51.96. It produces $53,250 annually, or $4,437.50 per month. The two held weeks cover training, leave, holidays, maintenance and disruption.
Stress the ticket before hiring
| Case | Ticket | Contribution | Daily threshold → plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower ticket | $350 | 78% | 2.96 → 3 |
| Base | $450 | 78% | 2.30 → 3 |
| Higher ticket | $550 | 78% | 1.88 → 2 |
| Lower contribution | $450 | 70% | 2.57 → 3 |
| Higher fixed cost ($20,000) | $450 | 78% | 2.63 → 3 |
Three distant $250 repairs produce $750, while modeled daily revenue is $1,350. Track completions and retained ticket. A visit minimum, zone charge or grouped task list can recover travel and setup without hiding them inside an hourly rate.
Reconcile price to paid worker-hours
StartFigures assigns an illustrative paid worker-hour profile to the same mix.
| Category | Paid worker-hours | Weighted hours |
|---|---|---|
| Small repair or adjustment | 1.5 | 0.525 |
| Assembly or installation | 2.5 | 0.750 |
| Drywall, trim or paint touch-up | 4.0 | 1.000 |
| Multi-item half-day list | 6.5 | 0.650 |
| Weighted worker-hours per job | — | 2.925 |
Three jobs consume about 8.78 worker-hours. Two people provide 16 person-hours in an eight-hour day, leaving 7.22 for driving, protection, materials, estimates, documentation, maintenance and variation when those tasks are not already in the job record. Some jobs need both workers simultaneously, so use the actual bottleneck schedule.
The paid financial model uses customer cohorts, customer-billable hours and hourly rates rather than the public completed-job abstraction. Translate every job category into billable hours and rates, keep nonbillable paid time visible, and reconcile modeled revenue to invoices. Handyman financial model.
Keep materials and changes consistent
Choose one policy for each material: customer purchase, pass-through at cost, disclosed markup, or inclusion in the visit price. Do not record a reimbursement as retained revenue while omitting its cost. Unknown conditions need an allowance and a stop point; a written change order states new scope, price, authority and schedule.
Replace the 22% pool with material invoices, card fees, miles, parking, disposal, consumables, discounts and callbacks. The IRS business mileage rate is 76 cents for the second half of 2026 after 72.5 cents for the first half, but it is a tax-method benchmark rather than the actual cost of two vans. IRS standard mileage rates.
Pay the owner and technician
BLS reports a May 2025 national median of $49,590 per year, or $23.84 per hour, for general maintenance and repair workers. It does not set a local technician offer or owner salary. BLS occupation profile.
Year-three payroll is $140,000 for the paid owner-manager, employee technician and employer-cost allowance. IRS Publication 15 states a 6.2% employer Social Security rate up to the 2026 wage base and a 1.45% employer Medicare rate without a wage base. Add unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, overtime, leave and benefits. IRS Publication 15.
Current retail examples include a $1,349 cordless tool and wet/dry-vacuum bundle and a 300-pound-duty 6-foot fiberglass stepladder around $119. Those are component anchors, not a complete inventory. OSHA guidance supports inspection, intended use and safe setup; it does not authorize excluded work. Tool bundle, stepladder, OSHA tools and OSHA ladders.
Read the five-year case
| Year | Revenue | Operating result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $168,750 | -$48,375 |
| 2 | $253,125 | $2,437 |
| 3 | $337,500 | $53,250 |
| 4 | $395,250 | $84,295 |
| 5 | $456,000 | $114,680 |
| Year | Sales-linked costs | Payroll | Other overhead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $37,125 | $115,000 | $65,000 |
| 2 | $55,688 | $128,000 | $67,000 |
| 3 | $74,250 | $140,000 | $70,000 |
| 4 | $86,955 | $150,000 | $74,000 |
| 5 | $100,320 | $162,000 | $79,000 |
The result is before depreciation, financing, income tax, replacement capital, working-capital timing and owner distributions. The $50,000 opening reserve exceeds the simplified Year-one loss of $48,375 by only $1,625, so monthly cash timing and a committed fallback funding source remain launch gates.
The next test is 25 paid jobs from a narrow accepted-service list. Record screened scope, quoted and actual paid time, travel, materials, change orders, callbacks and retained revenue. Add the employee and second van only when records show a repeatable path to three route-wide jobs.
The Handyman Business case contains the full allocation and forecast. Its evidence register separates sources from assumptions, while the business plan and financial model explain product fit and hour-to-job adaptation.