tim..... wrote:


That's interesting.

It's just that it's the opposite of what the guy from Cambridge
who came here 3-4 years ago said (I wonder if he's still
lurking?).

Some of you will remember that he moved over to trying out
being a handyman, as he was then finding little work in IT
due to ageism (which is pretty much where I am now).

After about 2 years he gave it up because he couldn't find
enough small customers to make it worthwhile. He said
that there was enough work if he was prepared to take on
the bigger jobs but that he didn't want to (or couldn't) do
that.

I wonder if your high density location is the difference?

A difference yes, I live in a very densely populated area, many of the
people working in London, so they are 'cash rich time poor'.

The area is relatively small so travel costs are minimum.

The real answer is effective marketing. I use two local 'free' magazines
with relatively small circulations, but high readership, a website, a highly
visible signwritten van, corporate clothing, fridge magnet business cards &
several church magazines. What they call a 'multi channel marketing
strategy.

The result is more enquiries than I can handle, so I can pick & choose what
I want & don't want to do, and the customers who will pay what I want and
those who wont.

When I say I don't take on big jobs, I mean that I don't attempt to compete
with specialised kitchen fitters, tilers, bathroom fitters, flooring fitters
etc. They can undercut me by being much more efficient at a single task.

I do often spend an entire day with one customer, sometimes two days,
occasionally three days. During that time I will be doing a huge variety of
different jobs so I can easily justify my daily rate.



--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257