Cash In On Home Repair Business

When you start a handyman business it will take time to build up your reputation. Here is a tip that you can pass along to your potential customers to start building a re pore with them. How many people have not had a problem with a leaky toilet at some point? Most homeowners at sometime or another have to deal with a tank that is leaking from the toilet bowl. You know the kind of leak that flushes the toilet when no one is near the bathroom. Drives people crazy.

Most of the time the problem is probably a bad flapper ball. Just replace the flapper ball and you are good to go. Like I said before, giving people small tips like this will help build a relationship with them, help give your handyman business a good reputation, and who knows you may even get some work out of it.

Let's face it, you can have the shiniest truck and the fanciest tools, but without customers your business is doomed. When you started your handyman business you should have made at least a marketing plan on how you are going to obtain customers. If you did not make a plan, now would be a good time to stop what you are doing and ask yourself some important questions.

Who is my target market? What service do my customers want? Am I meeting my customers needs? What can I do to better serve my customers? How can I stay in touch with past customers?

These are a few of the questions every business owner should be asking themselves, continuously.  In order for your handyman business to survive, keeping up with the needs of your customers, and providing excellent customer service is your number one priority.

Keeping your name in front of your customers or potential customers is critical for your handyman business to succeed. One way to do that is to give helpful tips to home owners. Here is one, if you have a faucet that is clog or has calcium build up on it try this handyman trick. Remove the aerator from the faucet by unscrewing it. be careful not to loose any parts. Take all the parts and soak them in white vinegar. The amount of time it needs to soak will depend on how much build up you have. In fact, you may have to soak it more than once.

For shower heads, if you prefer not to remove the head, take a plastic bag, put enough vinegar in it so that when you put it up to the shower head, the vinegar covers the shower head. Hold the bag in place with a strong rubber band.

You can send this tip out in an email to your customer's, on a post card, or put it on the bottom of your invoices. Giving your customers more than they expect is a great way to help your handyman business grow. 

Business insurance is one of those areas that most business owners would probably rather not deal with. A lot of people who own handyman businesses think they do not need any insurance. Please do not make this mistake. I understand that insurance is expensive, however if you are going to own a business, you will need at least some basic insurance. For instance, the vehicle you use for work will probably need a commercial policy to really cover you in case of an accident. This is escpecally true if you have employees. General liability will also be needed. There is also workers compensation insurance. The state you are doing business in will determine if you need workers compensation.

You will need to make sure that you have a insurance agent that understands insurance for handyman business. You also need to make sure that you know what your state and local rules are regarding insurance for handyman businesses.

Its spring time, as most people start heading back outside, thoughts are turning to what needs to be done around the house. Use this to your advantage for your handyman business. Come up with a check list of items that your existing customers and hopefully new customers should be checking and doing around their home. Put your information on the it so they can contact you if they have any questions. People who do not have the time or knowledge will hopefully think of you and your handyman business when they need something done.

Its an inexpensive way to get your name out there. 

In most areas the handyman business or if you prefer the home repair business has a lot of competition. This may keep some people from starting their handyman business. However, I think you can turn your competition into a benefit for you.

How?

Be learning all that you can about them. Some people will start a handyman business because they think its easy. They will just put signs on a truck, get some tools, and start trying to get work. However, if you plan on being in business for any length of time, you need to to more than that. Learning about your competitors is a great start. What should you try and find out? Start with how do they answer the phone? Do they sound friendly and professional? Are they helpful on the phone? Then I would try and get some pricing information from them. Do they give free estimates? Do they have a web site? A listing in the phone book? Are they a member of the Better Business Bureau?

Yes, this will take some time, especially if there are quite a few handyman in your area. But this is time well spent for the vast amount of information you can obtain be doing the work.

Remember, a handyman business is a business and you need to treat it as such.

The DIY industry is huge, especially now that money is tight.  So, how do you tap into the DIY business?

I believe that if you are patient and work at it you can be the person the DIY person calls when they need help. How do you go about becoming the DIY home repair specialist?

You  will need to develop a rapport with that person. Give them some tips and ideas that you have found are helpful for you. It could be using a certain tool for a certain job they are doing. It could be just a helpful tip. Give the DIY person some ideas that you have found helpful when doing jobs for your customers. You will need to be subtle, bring it up in passing, so they do not think you are trying to sell them.

For instance, spring and fall is time for a lot of people to do some basic home maintenance. A lot of folks will clean out their gutters or at least check them for problems, change their furnace filters, the obvious things.

You should point out maybe something that most people probably do not think about, like cleaning out their dryer vent. This is something that should be done at least every couple years, however most people do not give their dryer vents a thought, until something goes wrong.

Additionally, many of the DIY out there truly like doing the work, but lack the skills or knowledge to perform the task. Offer a consulting service. By offering your knowledge, for a fee, you can provide the DIY with the necessary information to help them in their quest to help themselves.  By assisting them and gaining their trust you will be the one they call for the larger, more profitable jobs!

Be patient, give them good helpful tips, and soon you will be the person they call when they have a job that they cannot handle.

If kitchen remodeling is part of what your handyman business offers, you might want to look into purchasing the Sears pony cabinet claw. I am not receiving any kind of kick back for recommending this tool, we just found that it was a very helpful device when hanging cabinets. It is a time saver, which is always a good thing. You can check it out on their website, www.sears.com go to tool, then clamps.

If you have used this product, or have other time saver tips, post them hear for others to read about.

When you have your own business, keeping current customers coming back and obtaining new ones is always a challenge. Offering incentives for people to do business with you will sometimes give you an edge over your competitor's. This article on Lowe's web site give some tips on reaching out to people. Although it is geared to finding tenants, the concept works for any business.

http://www.lowesforpros.com/marketing-in-a-down-economy

Let's face it, more and more people are using the web in one fashion or another. So as a small business owner should you put up your own web site? The article attach to the link below gives a couple of good reasons for having a web site.

I believe having a web site is something a new business owner should be looking at once you are a little more establish, especially if your competitors have a web page. Now it really is pretty easy to get a web site up and running (or a blog) and it does not cost as much as you might think.

Give it some thought as you are deciding how you are going to reach your customers.

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessEditorsPick/idUSTRE5314NU20090402