How much should independent handymen charge?
Most independent handymen price by the hour with a minimum service-call charge, switching to a flat rate for common, predictable jobs (mounting a TV, assembling furniture, swapping a faucet). Your target hourly rate needs to cover drive time, tool wear, and license/insurance overhead, not just time on the tools.
Estimate your rate
A starting point for handyman / odd jobs — adjust to your own numbers.
~$65.50 / hour
Formula: (target income + expenses) ÷ (billable hours/week × 50 working weeks). This is a starting estimate, not a guarantee — adjust for local market rates.
What moves the rate
- Job type: unpredictable or multi-trade repairs are usually billed hourly, while common one-off jobs (TV mount, faucet swap, furniture assembly) are better quoted as a flat rate
- Specialty skill required (basic carpentry/painting/assembly runs lower; licensed-adjacent electrical or plumbing work commands $110-150+/hr even when done as handyman-scope repairs)
- Minimum service-call fee ($75-200, or a higher first-hour rate) to cover travel, setup, and admin time on small jobs that wouldn't otherwise be worth the drive
- Materials markup if you're sourcing parts (typically 20-50% over your cost) versus jobs where the client supplies materials
- Business type and overhead (self-employed solo handymen run $50-80/hr; rates above $100/hr are more common for franchise/corporate operations or big-metro markets)
- Local market (New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles rates commonly exceed $100/hr; smaller towns and suburbs run closer to $50-70/hr)
Base rate set at $70/hr, inside the $65-85/hr national average for a professional-level solo handyman (entry-level runs $40-60/hr, specialty electrical/plumbing work $110-150+/hr). Always price in a minimum service-call fee ($75-200) so a 20-minute job doesn't cost you the drive. The $5,500/yr expense default covers business use of a truck or van for hauling tools and materials (fuel, extra maintenance, and insurance attributable to work use, ~$2,500-3,500/yr), tool purchase and replacement (~$1,000-1,500/yr), general liability insurance (~$500-800/yr), and scheduling/invoicing software (~$300-400/yr) — a state contractor's license, if your jurisdiction requires one above a certain job-value threshold, adds a smaller recurring renewal fee on top and is worth budgeting separately since requirements vary widely by state.