Everyone needs a handyman at some point in their life. Perhaps your toilet broke in the middle of the night or you have an electrical short.
For anyone who rents, the solution is pretty simple: Call the landlord, and he takes care of it.
But what if you need to find a handyman yourself? Where do you start to look and how do you know if you can trust them and won’t scam you?
Read on to find out how to pick a handyman as well as how to avoid handyman scams.
Step 1: Where to Find a Handyman
The first step is probably the hardest. At the beginning of last year, we also didn’t even know where to look for a Handyman. A quick search on the internet provided only spammy-looking websites and pay-per-click ads. So we took to the streets and discovered the most popularly used ways of finding your own handyman.
Handyman App Services
Scam Risk: Low
A growing number of customers are starting to switch to the on-demand handyman services that can be booked instantly through a website or app.
Takl is one such service. All jobs on the Takl app are pre-quoted (i.e. no uncomfortable haggling or feeling scammed), and allow you to review a few recommended providers easily. All of the providers are background checked by Takl itself, and your job is guaranteed to go well or Takl will work to make things right.
You can also view the star ratings of the handyman and leave your own rating after the job is done.
The one slight downside to places like Takl is that they might not be available in smaller towns and cities.
View the full list of Handyman app services we recommend here and find one in your area. Or start by downloading the Takl app here (on android or iPhone).
P.S. Use the discount code C2A74 for 10% off.
Word of Mouth
Scam Risk: Low
If you’re not ready to try out an app, perhaps the most trusted way we found to hire a good handyman is by hearing from a friend. However, this method only works if a friend actually knows of a good handyman.
There is still also the issue of haggling with the handyman for price, which can always be a bit uncomfortable. And another potential downside occurs if the suggested handyman ends up causing you a headache. There’s no way to leave them a review, and may put a strain on your trust in your friend.
Yelp
Scam Risk: Low-Moderate
A lot of people swear by Yelp when it comes to finding a good handyman. Unlike Craigslist, Yelp allows customers to give ratings to the handymen.
There are unfortunately a couple of problems with Yelp. For one, some of the best handymen are the quiet ones who don’t focus on self-promotion. So you might sometimes get someone who is better at promoting themselves than actually doing the work.
For two, there have been reports that Yelp lets businesses pay to remove bad reviews.
So if you’re going the Yelp route, we recommend finding someone that has so many reviews that they can’t possibly be fake or filtered.
Craigslist
Scam Risk: Moderate
Craigslist seemed like one of the largest repositories for finding labor very locally. No matter where you live, Craigslist most likely has someone promoting their services near you.
However, Craigslist is fraught with some of the issues we explain in the following “how to avoid handyman scams” section.
Step 2: How to Avoid Handyman Scams
After having gotten a decent overview of the options out there, our next step was to chat with friends and family about prior scammy handyman experiences and find out what exactly went wrong (and how we can avoid the same thing happening to us)!
1. Don’t Pay by the Hour
Seriously: Don’t do it.
This was probably the most frustrating scam that we heard about, and one of the most common ones. You hire someone to redo your bathroom and agree on an hourly price that seems totally reasonable. He mentions how long he thinks it will take, which also seems reasonable.
After a few days you notice he seems somewhat behind schedule. When pressed, he always has a reason why this or that had broken or taken longer. You start to take note of what he’s actually getting done each day and realize he’s purposefully moving at the speed of a snail to increase his final payment.
Many of our friends found that they had already gone over budget when the contractor was only half way through the project.
Takeaway Lesson: Settle on a price you will pay for the entire project, rather than an hourly rate.
2. Don’t Pay Everything up front
Because upfront payments are a scammer’s best friend.
Say you hire contractors through a service you find on Yelp to paint your kitchen. You are already smart enough not to pay an hourly wage, so decide on a project price.
But then, you go ahead and pay them the entire amount, before work has begun. What happens? Well, here are some possible scenarios.
In the lucky scenario, everything goes fine. Your handyman is honest and reliable, and completes the job on time, with high-quality work.
In a less lucky scenario, your contractor might still complete the job, but having already been paid, they aren’t incentivized to do a good job. You might find the work completed in a sloppy or rushed way.
Less lucky still, the contractor may either not show up at all, or will just not put you as a priority for scheduling. If another well-paying job comes along, they might go ahead and schedule that job before you (or two jobs, or three, and on and on—while you still have an unpainted kitchen).
Takeaway Lesson: Pay half of the job price upfront, and the second half upon a job well done.
3. Don’t use Unskilled Labor for important jobs
Make sure you require proof of experience or skill.
Some things are just too important to hire some random person off of craigslist. Anything that involves structural changes to your house, electrical wiring, or any other type of dangerous business is worth getting right, the first time.
Takeaway Lesson: It is worth investing a few extra dollars hiring a verified skilled worker. (Hint: Places like Takl and Thumbtack background check them for you).
Our final thoughts On Avoiding Handyman Scams
There probably isn’t a simple, perfect single solution for everyone. But if you have a handyman booking app that services your your area, it’s our top choice.
The apps have real reviews by other customers, and the overarching service has got your back in case anything goes wrong.
If none of those apps are in your area, ask your friends for recommendations. Word of mouth is, after all, an age old tradition!
*Bonus Advice*
This isn’t going to be appealing for everyone, but we have also found that the best way to save money and avoid handyman scams (at the same time) is to combine hiring contractors with a bit of a DIY approach. Granted, DIY usually only really works for the “easier” handyman tasks (that can’t go as badly wrong). But many of these fixes you might think you have to hire for turn out to be really simple when you understand how things work.
How to learn: The best way is to watch someone live, in action. So whenever you call the plumber to fix something, watch him doing the fix and ask him questions about how and why he’s doing what he’s doing. We’ve usually found that people enjoy explaining their craft, as long as they understand you are there to learn and not to criticize.
And the next time you have a similar issue, you’ll be ready to deal with it right on the spot.
