How to price handyman jobs so every hour on the truck gets paid
To price handyman jobs, start from what the business costs to run for a year, divide by the hours you can actually bill, then divide that break-even rate by one minus your profit margin. A solo handyman with $102,000 in yearly costs and 1,200 billable hours breaks even at $85 an hour and should charge $100. From that one rate you set a minimum charge, flat prices for repeat tasks, and day quotes, with materials priced separately at their own margin.
Step by step
- Add up what a year in business costs. List every dollar the business has to cover, starting with your own pay. In this example that is $65,000 in pay, $13,500 in self-employment tax and health insurance, $10,800 for the truck, $2,400 for liability insurance, $3,300 for tools, $4,800 for phone, software, and advertising, and $2,200 for licensing, bookkeeping, and card fees. The total is $102,000, and your hourly rate has to recover all of it.
- Count billable hours, not hours worked. A full-time year is 2,080 hours on paper, and no handyman bills close to that. Take out two weeks of vacation and two of holidays and sick days and you have 48 working weeks. Out of a 40 hour week, driving, unpaid supply runs, estimates, invoicing, and callbacks leave about 25 billable hours, which makes 1,200 a year.
- Divide cost by hours for your break-even rate. $102,000 divided by 1,200 hours is $85 an hour. That is the rate at which you make your salary and nothing more, with no cushion for a slow January, a dead transmission, or a customer who never pays. If it looks high next to what the guy down the road charges, he is either billing more hours than you believe or paying himself less than he thinks.
- Divide again for profit. Profit is what the business keeps after you are paid, and it buys the next truck and covers the bad month. To earn 15 percent, divide the break-even rate by 0.85, which turns $85 into $100 an hour. Adding 15 percent to $85 gives $97.75, and that is only a 13 percent margin, so it is the division that actually delivers the 15.
- Set a minimum charge that covers the trip. Every stop costs you drive time, loading, setup, and cleanup before the clock starts. A minimum of an hour and a half, $150 at this rate, makes a 20 minute door latch fix worth pulling out of the driveway for. Say it on the phone when they book, because a minimum that surprises the customer at the door costs you the review.
- Turn repeat tasks into flat prices. Customers say yes to a flat price faster than to an hourly one, and you keep the gain when you get quicker. Time yourself on the tasks you do every week, multiply by your rate, and add the material at its sell price. Hanging a prehung interior door at 2.5 hours is $250 of labor plus a $148 door sold at $185, a $435 flat price, and a storm door at 2 hours with a $268 door sold at $335 is $535.
- Price materials at a margin and bill the pickup. Buying, hauling, returning, and standing behind parts is work. Divide material cost by 0.80 for a 20 percent margin, so a $33 closet shelf and rod sells at $41.25, and charge the supply run as billable time when the trip is for one customer. If the customer wants to supply their own parts, fine, but put in writing that a wrong or defective part means a return trip at your hourly rate.
- Know your state's dollar limit before you quote. Many states cap what an unlicensed handyman can take on, and the limits differ widely. California's minor work exemption covers only jobs under $1,000 for labor and materials combined, raised from $500 on January 1, 2025, and it does not apply if the work needs a building permit or you employ a helper. Look up your own state board's rule, because one full day of mixed tasks can cross the line by itself.
The handyman rate formula
Break-even rate equals yearly business cost, your own pay included, divided by billable hours. Hourly rate equals break-even divided by (1 minus profit margin). A job quote is hours times that rate, supply run included, plus material cost divided by (1 minus materials margin): with the numbers here, $102,000 over 1,200 hours is $85, over 0.85 is $100, and three lever sets that cost $72 sell for $90.
One customer, one punch list, eight hours on site. Tasks and time: hang a prehung interior door, 2.5 hours; swap three passage lever sets, 0.75; patch a drywall hole, 1.5; install a closet shelf and rod, 0.75; hang a storm door, 2; caulk a run of baseboard, 0.5. That is 8 hours, plus a 1 hour supply run, so 9 billable hours at $100 is $900. Materials at cost: door allowance $148; three lever sets at $24, $72; a sheet of 1/2 inch drywall at $17, setting compound at $13, and mesh tape at $7.10, $37.10 together; shelf and rod $33; storm door $268; two tubes of painter's caulk at $4.85, $9.70. Materials cost $567.80. Divide by 0.80 for a 20 percent margin and they sell for $709.75. The day totals $1,609.75, so quote $1,610. Behind the rate: $102,000 in yearly costs over 1,200 billable hours is $85 an hour to break even, and $85 divided by 0.85 is $100.
Cost factors handymen price for
Drive time and service area
Billable hours are the scarcest thing you own, and windshield time eats them. A job 45 minutes out costs an hour and a half of rate you cannot bill unless you charge a trip fee or raise the minimum for that zip code. Pulling your service area in by ten minutes can be worth more than a rate increase.
Small calls versus full days
Three one-hour calls in a day mean three drives, three setups, and maybe five billable hours. One customer with an eight hour punch list means eight. That is the case for offering a half-day or full-day booking for lists, and for a minimum that makes the single small call pay for itself.
Unknown conditions in old houses
A door that will not latch may be a ten minute strike adjustment or a sagging header. Quote the task you can see and name the rate for anything hidden. In a home built before 1978, federal lead-safe rules can apply to paid work that disturbs more than 6 square feet of paint in a room, and they cover handymen as well as remodelers.
Consumables and tool wear
Blades, bits, shims, screws, and sandpaper never make it onto an invoice one by one. A tube of painter's caulk is $4.85 and a pack of sandpaper and sundries about $8.20, small until you count every stop in a year. Either carry them in overhead, as the $3,300 tool line does here, or add a flat shop-supplies charge, but not both.
Licensing, permits, and trade limits
Past any dollar limit, states and cities also restrict who may do electrical, plumbing, gas, and HVAC work, often at any price, and work that needs a permit is usually outside a handyman exemption. Know where the line sits in your state and turn down what crosses it. Keeping a licensed plumber and electrician you can refer is better business than guessing.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a handyman charge per hour?
Whatever your own costs say, which for many insured, full-time solo operators works out between $75 and $125. Add up a year of costs including your pay, divide by the 1,100 to 1,300 hours you can realistically bill, and divide that by one minus your profit margin. A rate copied from a competitor only tells you what someone with different costs decided to charge.
Should I charge by the hour or by the job?
Use both. Flat prices fit tasks you have timed, like hanging a door or mounting a TV, because the customer knows the number and you keep the gain from being quick. Hourly with a stated minimum fits open-ended lists and troubleshooting, where a flat price forces you to guess at what is inside the wall.
How much should I add to materials?
Price them at a 15 to 25 percent margin by dividing your cost by 0.75 to 0.85. A $24 lever set sold at a 20 percent margin is $30. That pays for the time spent buying, the fuel, the returns, and the callback when a part fails, none of which your hourly rate was built to cover.
What is the most a handyman can charge without a contractor license?
It depends entirely on the state, and so do the trades the limit covers. In California a license is required once a job reaches $1,000 in combined labor and materials, and the exemption below that amount is lost if the work needs a building permit, if you employ a helper, or if a bigger job is split into smaller contracts to get under it. Check your state licensing board before you quote, and count the whole job, not each task.
What does Staxen cost for a one-person handyman business?
Each Staxen AI employee is $59 per month and all three are $149 per month, with the first 7 days free in the app. A solo handyman usually starts with Eddie, who turns a spoken task list into a priced line-item estimate the customer can e-sign from a text, or with Ivy, who sends invoices, takes card and ACH payments, and follows up on overdue ones with reminders. Plans are month to month and you can cancel any time.