How to quote a handyman job

A handyman quote wins when every task has its own price or time, and when you know the job is one you may take on.

Scope the punch list task by task

Walk the list with the customer and write each task down with its location and what finishing it means: “patch and texture two nail pops, hall ceiling; paint by owner.” Name what you won’t do, such as matching old paint, repairing damage hidden behind a wall, or warranting a fixture the customer bought. Say who buys the parts. Add a line that covers growth: if a task turns out bigger once opened, you stop and requote it before going on.

Hourly, per task, or both

Charge	Priced as	Show on the quote
Labor	Hourly	Rate and billing increment
Minimum	Per visit	The time it covers
Trip charge	Per visit	Whether it’s credited to the work
Flat-rate task	Per task	What the price includes
Materials	Each	Who buys them, and any markup
Haul-away	Per load	What goes

Flat rates suit tasks you’ve done a hundred times, like mounting a TV or swapping a faucet; hourly suits open-ended ones, like tracing a sticking door to a sagging header. For hourly work, give a time estimate for each task, not just a rate, so the customer can compare your quote with a flat-price one.

In Pennsylvania, a home improvement contract with a time-and-materials provision needs a written initial cost estimate before any work starts, and the contract must state that estimate in dollars, the total potential cost in dollars including 10 percent over it, and that the cost won’t go past the estimate plus 10 percent without a written change order signed by the owner and the contractor (73 P.S. §517.7). HICPA’s home improvement means work at a private residence priced above $500, new homes and emergency work excepted, and its contractors don’t include anyone whose home improvements totaled under $5,000 in the prior tax year.

California: which jobs you may take without a license

Without a California contractor’s license, the minor-work exemption in B&P §7048 applies only when every one of its conditions holds (B&P §7048):

• the aggregate contract price for labor, materials and all other items on the project, under one or more contracts, is less than $1,000;
• the work doesn’t require a building permit;
• it isn’t only part of a larger or major operation, whether by you or a different contractor;
• the operation hasn’t been divided into contracts under $1,000 to evade the chapter or otherwise;
• you don’t advertise or put out a sign, card or other device that might indicate to the public that you are a contractor or qualified to engage in the business of a contractor;
• you don’t employ another person to perform, or help perform, the work.

Advertising has a second rule. Under §7027.2, a person not licensed under the chapter may advertise for construction work it covers only if the project’s aggregate price is under $1,000 and the advertisement states that the person is not licensed; the statute gives no set wording (B&P §7027.2). That section permits the ad; it doesn’t make the work exempt, so check your ads against both sections.

Work within the exemption falls outside the whole Contractors chapter, so California’s home improvement contract rules, which sit in that chapter, don’t attach to it. Rules outside the chapter still do, including the FTC Cooling-Off Rule and the Civil Code’s right to cancel, below. If you do hold a license, your license number must appear in every construction contract, subcontract and call for bid, and in all your advertising (B&P §7030.5).

Deposits within state limits

On a small job, ask up front only for a special-order part you must buy, if anything. Homeowners hear from the FTC not to pay the whole amount up front, and that some states limit how much a contractor can ask as a down payment (FTC). In Maryland, a home improvement can’t be paid for before the contract is signed, and the deposit received by signing is limited to one-third of the price (Bus. Reg. §8-617); the definition leaves out new homes and apartment buildings with four or more units. In Massachusetts, a residential contracting agreement for more than $1,000 must be in writing, and a deposit before work begins can’t exceed one-third of the total or, if greater, the actual cost of special-order or custom materials that must be ordered in advance to keep the project on schedule (c.142A §2); that chapter reaches work on pre-existing, owner-occupied buildings of one to four dwelling units (c.142A §1).

Written, signed, and the right to cancel

In New York, a home improvement contract over $500, made by a contractor whose home improvement contracts with all customers pass $1,500 in any 12 consecutive months, must be in writing and signed by all parties (GBL §770, GBL §771). Among other things it shows your name, address, phone and any license number, approximate dates, the work and materials with make or model, the price, and a notice that the owner may cancel until midnight of the third business day after signing (not where the owner called you for a bona fide emergency and waived it in a separate, signed and dated statement in their own handwriting); the owner gets a copy you’ve signed before work begins (GBL §771). Installing removable appliances, such as a room air conditioner, isn’t home improvement there.

Where you sell in person and the customer agrees at home, the FTC Cooling-Off Rule can cover consumer sales of $25 or more, whether or not they invited you, unless one of its exclusions fits (16 CFR 429). The buyer then has until midnight of the third business day to cancel. You owe them an oral explanation of that right, the rule’s cancellation statement in 10-point or larger bold next to their signature, a completed copy showing the date and your name and address, and the Notice of Cancellation form, completed, in duplicate; on a valid cancellation, all payments go back within 10 business days.

California’s Civil Code adds its own right, and it reaches work within §7048’s exemption: a buyer can cancel such a home solicitation contract until midnight of the third business day after signing an agreement that complies with Civ. Code §1689.7, or the fifth for a senior citizen (Civ. Code §1689.6).

Lead paint in homes built before 1978

Sanding, patching and replacing trim or windows can disturb old paint. EPA’s general rule is that paid work disturbing paint in pre-1978 housing or child-occupied facilities needs certification, and carpenters are among the trades it names (EPA): certified under EPA’s program or your state’s, since some states run their own program in its place (EPA, firm certification). Minor repair and maintenance is excluded when it disrupts up to 6 square feet of painted surface in a room, or up to 20 square feet on the exterior, and uses none of the prohibited or restricted work practices; window replacement and demolition of painted surfaces are covered at any size. A covered renovation needs EPA’s Renovate Right pamphlet given to the owner no more than 60 days ahead, with their written acknowledgment or a certificate of mailing obtained at least 7 days before the work, and an adult occupant gets one too when the owner lives elsewhere (40 CFR 745, subpart E). An unplanned call is exempt from that pamphlet step only as an emergency renovation, caused by a sudden, unexpected event such as a non-routine equipment failure that, if not immediately attended to, would present a safety or public health hazard or threaten equipment or property with significant damage, and even then the rule’s cleaning requirements still apply.

Three mistakes that lose the job or the margin

1. One hourly guess for the whole list. A single “about six hours” gives the customer nothing to compare, and every overrun becomes an argument.
2. Forgetting the minimum and the supply run. A short visit or a second trip for parts eats the day’s margin unless the quote priced it.
3. Saying yes to a job you can’t take. A California job that fails any of the conditions above, such as one needing a building permit, puts you outside the exemption.