How much do handymen charge per hour?

Commonly $50–$125+ depending on market and specialty — but the quotable number comes from your loaded cost (wage, truck, insurance, overhead, unbillable time) divided into a margin, not from a forum poll.

Should handymen charge hourly or flat rate?

Flat rate for repeatable tasks (rewards your speed, quotes instantly), hourly with written guardrails for open-ended work. Most successful operations run both.

Why do handymen undercharge?

Unbillable time: driving, quoting, supply runs, and callbacks consume 30–50% of the week but only billed hours earn. Loaded-rate math prices the whole week into the billed hours.

Field guide

How Much to Charge for Handyman Services — Price the Week, Not the Hour

The classic handyman pricing mistake is charging for the hour you're visible and eating the hours you're not. The fix is one calculation — the loaded rate — and it changes every number you quote afterward. Here it is, worked.

The loaded-rate calculation

Target take-home: say $70,000/year.
Overhead: truck, fuel, insurance, tools, phone, software ≈ $18,000.
Billable reality: 40-hour weeks are 22–28 billable after driving, quoting, and supply runs — call it 1,250 billable hours/year.
Loaded rate: (70,000 + 18,000) ÷ 1,250 = $70/hr break-even. At a 30% margin: ÷ 0.70 = $100/hr quoted equivalent.

That's why the $45/hr handyman with a nicer truck than you is going broke — he priced the visible hour and donated the rest of the week.

Turning the rate into task prices

Flat prices = your tracked task time × the loaded math: a 1-hour faucet swap quotes ≈ $100 + parts; a half-hour door adjust ≈ $50 inside a list (the minimum covers it solo). Flat pricing converts your speed into margin instead of a discount — the faster you get, the more per hour you actually earn.

The minimum, restated

Trip + setup + first hour at loaded cost sets the floor: commonly $100–$150 by this math. Publish it. Lists bundle over it naturally; lone tiny tasks either wait for a list or pay it.

Keep the math out of sight, in the price

Customers see clean per-task lines; the loaded-rate machinery stays private. FieldSquire applies your saved rates and margin settings automatically from a narrated walkthrough and sends the signable PDF on site — the handyman estimating app is free for 14 days. Run your own loaded-rate numbers on the free margin calculator first; it's ten minutes that reprices your year.

Try it on a real job: FieldSquire's Solo plan is free for 14 days with no credit card — unlimited manual estimates and AI-assisted drafts you review line by line. Start the free trial or see the handyman estimating app guide.