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How much to charge for handyman work: hourly rates and flat prices

Charge by the hour for open-ended work and a flat price for the jobs you do every week. Small handyman businesses publish a median $95 an hour with a $150 visit minimum; HomeGuide puts a self-employed handyman at $50–$80 an hour and a company at $75–$125. Flat prices run a median $129 for TV mounting and $146 for a ceiling fan swap.

Calculate a price

Starting point: $65.00 per hour. Self-employed handyman (US guide): $50.00–$80.00 per hour. Our midpoint of that range, rounded to cents. Labor only; materials additional. HomeGuide: handyman prices, checked 2026-10-15.

Extras, travel and minimum

Use the minimum charge for a service call or minimum visit. Include shopping time in labor or travel once, and list parts under materials.

Job price before tax—

Enter labor-hours.

Handyman price list: published rates

Job or unitPublished priceWhat the price coversSource and date
Self-employed handyman (US guide)$50–$80 per hourLabor only; materials additional.HomeGuide: handyman prices · Checked
Handyman company (US guide)$75–$125 per hourCompany labor rate; materials additional.HomeGuide: handyman prices · Checked
Small repair job, 2–5 hours (US guide)$100–$500 per jobSmall repair jobs taking roughly two to five hours.HomeGuide: handyman prices · Checked
Residential work (Los Angeles)$70–$160 per hourResidential handyman labor; materials and trip charges may be additional.The Handy Geeks: Los Angeles and Bay Area rates · Published · Checked
Residential work (San Francisco Bay Area)$80–$180 per hourResidential handyman labor in the Bay Area; commercial work priced separately.The Handy Geeks: Los Angeles and Bay Area rates · Published · Checked
Minimum service charge (Los Angeles)$110–$210 per visitPublished minimum; trip charges may also apply.The Handy Geeks: Los Angeles and Bay Area rates · Published · Checked
Toilet installation (US guide)$120–$230 per jobToilet installation; fixture and other materials may be additional.HomeGuide: handyman prices · Checked

Should you charge by the hour or by the job?

Both. Publish flat prices for the five or six jobs you do every week and quote everything else by the hour with a minimum. HandyBandi in Chicago prices every job flat, Las Vegas Handyman Services has no hourly rate at all, and GoldKey Repairs’ job prices are its own time estimates at its hourly rate.

A flat price answers the customer who searched “mount my TV” before they call; an hourly rate covers the punch list nobody can price ahead. Keep the two from contradicting each other: a flat job should land near your hourly rate times your real time.

What minimum and trip fee should you set?

A minimum near $150 is the middle of what small businesses publish; the middle half set $100–$167. Rocky Ridge in Denver charges $95 an hour with a $190 minimum, Boston Handyman Co. $100 with a one-hour minimum, and Ideal Handyman in Las Vegas a $200 floor on the visit total.

Trip fees are optional. Boston Handyman Co. and GoldKey charge none and fold the trip into the first hour or minimum; Grandma’s Handyman near Denver charges $50 and JP Handyman in the Twin Cities $65 on short jobs. Pick one way and say it on the quote.

How do you price the jobs customers ask for most?

Start from the medians on published price lists: TV mounting $129, ceiling fan replacement $146, faucet replacement $174, light fixture swap $100, small drywall patch $150 and furniture assembly $125. Most assume the customer supplies the fan, faucet or bracket.

Add a step for height and hard walls. Fan Handyman in San Antonio charges $125 to swap a ceiling fan and $200 when the ceiling is over 12 ft; Ohio Handyman charges $99 to mount a TV on the customer’s bracket and $149 with a full-motion mount supplied.

Should prices include parts?

Say which, every time. Ideal Handyman and GoldKey publish labor-only prices; Husband for an Hour in Fairbanks builds standard-grade parts into its economy tier, so its $485 kitchen faucet replacement includes the faucet. Superhandyman near Atlanta includes small materials but not the fixture, and charges no markup on what it buys.

If you buy the parts, list them at cost or with a stated markup; if the customer buys them, say what model and when they need to be on site.

How do you set your own hourly rate?

Add up what a working hour costs you: your pay, insurance, the truck, tools, and the hours you spend driving, quoting and buying parts that nobody pays for directly. Divide by the hours you actually bill in a week, then by one minus your margin.

Check the result against the published range. If it lands under $74, you are cheaper than about three quarters of these businesses, and the unpaid driving and parts runs are usually why.

Three worked prices

Each price uses a business’s published hourly rate, minimum or flat job prices.

Two hours of small repairs plus a trip fee. Two hours at Grandma’s Handyman’s $95 rate and its $50 trip fee.

Handyman labor: 2 hours × $95 = $190.

Trip fee: 1 visit × $50 = $50.

Example total: $240. Rate source: Grandma's Handyman Service: Aurora / Denver metro, CO prices, checked 2026-10-15.

A TV and a light fixture on one visit. Ideal Handyman’s labor-only prices for both, above its $200 minimum.

TV mounting up to 65 in: 1 job × $150 = $150.

Light fixture installation: 1 job × $125 = $125.

Example total: $275. Rate source: Ideal Handyman LLC: Las Vegas, NV prices, checked 2026-10-15.

A ten-minute fix at the minimum. Half an hour at Boston Handyman Co.’s $100 rate, with its one-hour minimum.

Handyman labor: 0.5 hours × $100 = $50.

Apply the $100 minimum instead of $50. Example total: $100. Rate source: Boston Handyman Co.: Melrose / Boston and North Shore, MA prices, checked 2026-10-15.

Frequently asked questions

Should I charge for estimates?

For quick jobs, no; for diagnosis, often yes. Husband for an Hour charges $200 for an onsite diagnosis that is reduced when it books work, and Servicebly $99 for an onsite estimate, while Boston Handyman Co. quotes drywall and painting free after a look.

How much more for evenings and weekends?

Superhandyman charges $110 an hour for evenings and Saturday rush work against $68 normally, and Las Vegas Handyman Services sets a $200 after-hours minimum against $125 in the day.

What if the job takes longer than the flat price assumed?

Stop and talk before you go past it. A flat price is a promise for the work described; anything found behind the wall is a new line, priced and agreed before you do it.

Sources