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For handyman work: a list of small jobs on one quote

A door that sticks, a hole in a wall, a tub to caulk, a gate that drags: handyman work is a list, and it is quoted by the hour with the parts beside it. TailGateBid puts the whole list on one quote your customer signs on their phone, and whatever they think of while you are there is approved by link before you do it.

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The work

Repairs and small jobs around a house, one after another: a door to hang, drywall to patch, a tub to caulk, shelves to put up, a gate to rehang, a fence board to replace. The federal handbook of occupations describes general maintenance and repair as work that may fix or paint roofs, windows, doors, floors, woodwork and walls, on tasks that are not complex enough to need the specialized training of a licensed tradesperson, such as a plumber or electrician: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: General Maintenance and Repair Workers. What needs a license where you work is your state's to say. Ask it before you quote plumbing, electrical work or a large job.

How a list of small jobs is sized

  1. Write down every job on the customer's list, each on a line of its own.
  2. Put your hours beside each one and add them. The total is the labor on the quote.
  3. Count the trips. A wall patch is not finished in one: USG says its joint compound should dry in about 24 hours at 70 degrees and 70% humidity, and more slowly when it is colder or damper. With a compound like that, a second coat is a second trip.
  4. Parts and materials are lines of their own, counted as you buy them.

An example with made-up numbers, not a going rate

Say the list is 4 jobs: a door to hang, a hole in a wall to patch, a tub to caulk again and a gate to rehang. Say they take you 2, 1.5, 1 and 1.5 hours, the patch over two trips. That is 6 hours of labor on the quote.

Four small jobs, worked through

Sample

Sample Handyman Co.

Four small jobs: a door, a wall, a tub and a gate

  • Labor for the 4 jobs on the listQty 6 hours$420.00
  • Interior door, prehungQty 1$145.00
  • Gate hingesQty 2$28.00
Subtotal
$593.00
Sales tax (7.25%)
$12.54
Total
$605.54

Only you see this part. Your customer never does.

What it costs you
$387.00
What is left for you
$206.00

You keep about $35 of every $100

A sample with made-up prices, which are not a going rate. The labor is one line by the hour, 6 hours for the 4 jobs, so a longer list is a bigger quote. The door and the hinges are counted, and they are the lines ticked as taxed: 7.25% of $173.00 is $12.54. At these made-up costs you keep $206.00 of the $593.00, about $35 of every $100.

What TailGateBid does for a handyman

  • The whole list on one quote

    Every job on the list is a line, and the ones the customer is not sure about can be add-ons they tick or leave before they sign, on their own phone. How a quote is put together.

  • "While you are here"

    The job the customer thinks of once you are in the house goes on a change order. They approve it by link before you do it, and it is added to the final invoice. Receipts from the hardware store can be photographed onto the job as you go.

  • A draft from a photo of each job

    Take a photo of each thing on the list and say in a sentence or two what needs doing. Bid Partner, the AI tool in TailGateBid, is built to price work in any trade, and hands back a draft quote priced from your rates. A price that is its own and not yours is marked "Typical"; correct it and that is the price on your next quote too. You read it, you change it, and you press Send, or nothing goes.

  • Customers who call back

    A landlord with six addresses is one customer: each address is kept with its own notes for getting in, and the history of quotes, jobs and invoices sits with the customer. From their own private page they can ask for new work, and you are told. The approved quote becomes a job waiting for a day on the schedule.

  • A handyman website

    Looking for a handyman website? Each account has one of its own, hosted at no extra cost. A handyman's list of services is long, and you write it in your own words. A visitor sends a request with photos of what is broken, and the reviews you approve sit beside it. What goes on the website.

Your hour

On small jobs everything rides on the hour: the drive, the trip for parts and the quote you wrote without charging are all paid for by the hours you do bill. The hour calculator works out what one of those hours costs you, and the job price calculator shows what a price leaves once the parts are paid for.

Then put the price on paper: what goes on an estimate, in order, with one filled in.

This page is about one trade. TailGateBid works the same way for any other, and Bid Partner is built to price a job in any of them: how it works for your trade.

Sources

Related

Write the list down and send the quote before you unload the tools.

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