Handyman work is a volume trade: a lot of small tickets, most of them priced on the spot, half of them with a second thing the customer thought of while you were there. Here is how working handymen put a job on paper without spending the evening on it, a worked estimate you can copy, a calculator that runs on your own rates, and the app that writes the estimate in about 60 seconds from the driveway.
The handyman's problem is not one big estimate. It is forty small ones, and the time it takes to write them properly is time you do not get paid for. So the estimate turns into a text message with a number in it, the number forgets the trip charge and the materials run, the customer adds "while you're here" work that never gets written down, and at the end of the month the bank account says you worked hard for less than you thought.
The fix is a repeatable structure that takes a minute: a trip or minimum charge, labor by the hour or the half day, materials with a markup you can defend, and a per-task price list for the things you do every week (a ceiling fan, a faucet, a door). With that in place, the "while you're here" job becomes a line you add on your phone and the customer approves before you pick up the drill.
Eight lines, in the order the customer will read them.
A real-shaped job priced line by line. The rates are examples in the ranges handymen commonly quote around the country. Your area, your speed, and your overhead set the real ones.
| Line item | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trip charge and first half hourCovers the drive and the walk-through. | 1 | $75 | $75 |
| Replace bathroom faucet, customer supplies faucetFlat task price from the list. | 1 | $150 | $150 |
| Install ceiling fan on existing box, customer supplies fanFlat task price. Existing box, existing switch. | 1 | $165 | $165 |
| Patch and paint two drywall holes, fist-sized, texture matchedPer patch, paint supplied by customer. | 2 | $95 | $190 |
| Rehang and adjust interior door, replace two hingesLabor by the hour, 1.5 hours. | 1.5 hr | $85 | $127.50 |
| Materials allowance: hinges, wax ring, patch compound, hardwareReceipts attached, marked up 20%. | 1 | $60 | $60 |
| Haul-off: old faucet, old fan, debrisFlat. | 1 | $35 | $35 |
| Estimate total | $802.50 | ||
That is $802.50, priced in the driveway in about a minute, and when the customer says "while you're here, the closet door sticks," that is a change order at $85 an hour that they approve on their phone before you touch it.
Put in your own rates. The urgency multiplier applies to the labor lines.
Example rates only. Change every number to what you charge. Small tickets are paid on completion, so the deposit line is hidden; set one on the bigger jobs. Put these rates in SayEstimate and the app prices the next one from a spoken walkthrough.
Everything below is included. No modules, no add-on pricing, no sales calls.
"Trip charge, swap the bathroom faucet, hang a ceiling fan, two drywall patches, rehang the bedroom door." The AI drafts the lines from your price book. About 60 seconds, start to send.
Fan, faucet, toilet, door, TV mount. Your flat prices live in a price book and land on the estimate by name.
The closet door sticks? Add the line on your phone; they approve it before you pick up the drill.
The customer opens a clean link and signs on their phone. You are emailed the moment it happens.
Card and bank from the customer's phone, or cash and check marked paid in two taps with how they paid. Payments settle to your own account with 0% markup.
Every ticket on the calendar, on my way texts from the truck, and finished jobs marked done and paid from the same screen.
Written by Terry "Hoss" Tenison runs an insulation business in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, and built SayEstimate because the estimating software out there was made for companies with an office staff. The pricing structure on this page is how working handymen put a job on paper; the example rates are illustrations, and your market sets the real ones. More about Hoss →
Work out your real hourly rate, run the numbers on any job with the job price calculator, read whether to charge for estimates, or grab the free estimate template. Related trades: Carpentry · Drywall · Painting · all 38 trades.
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