Question

Topic: Strategy

Help For Research Of Handyman Industry

Posted by Anonymous on 12/17/2009 at 4:07 PM ET 250 Points
Hi
I started my handyman business over 6 years ago, when there was a few advertising on the internet. I want to find out what the current market potential is, how many handymen companies, what they charge, general customer concerns of hiring a handyman etc. Where can i find this information.

I am looking to put a national company together using my existing branding. I want to get handymen to work together on larger jobs, I can offer handymen work in their areas, customers can find a handyman in their area through our website. I'm not looking to make any money to do all this, It is just an idea that we smaller handymen can maybe all work together, all branded the same and get a household name which conveys trust etc. The bigger business's tend to sell their franchises at huge prices and the few I have spoken too have not been happy with the payment they have to make each year to the franchiser. It seams as though we could work together on this and make out own company, pooling advertising costs, training, etc.

any thoughts on ideas and research areas would be greatly appreciated.

Al
https://www.ourhandyman.co.uk
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 12/17/2009 at 4:37 PM Accepted
    Dear online.myemails,

    Let's take tiny step back here.

    In May of this year you posted a question to this forum asking
    for help on and opinions about your website.

    Back then, most of the links on the left hand column of your site did not work and, having looked at your site again just now, nothing's changed: that is, your links still don't work.

    So, before you begin building "handyman world", with a Mr. Fix It on every high street, might you want to resolve your own website issues?

    The issues consist of dead links, 404 links, and a "test" link at the bottom of your "Contact us" page that took me to a soundless Camtasia presentation of someone opening and saving a Microsoft Word document before typing the phrase:

    "Hello, my name is Alan, I am a web designer".

    Sorry, but I stopped watching after this revelation.

    Fixing these issues will instantly increase your credibility, which will lead to people taking you more seriously.

    I'm telling you this to help you. You have a strong brand with great potential and your idea is sound. But until your execution lives up to your overall vision, you'll make little progress.

    I realize this might NOT be what you wanted to hear, but it's honest and its intention is to help you succeed.

    Good luck to you.

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 12/17/2009 at 4:40 PM Member
    i did a killer biz plan on another co in this industry. Unfortunately it never got off the ground-- the principal was doing it for his stepsons to run- and the stepsons just wanted a six fig job without any actual work.

    But https://www.seniorshousing.us/ was a good source for me. This group (love the baby boomers) are the ones who aren't DIY, have the money to hire it out. They have disposable income and are not price sensitive.

    I also did a SWAT analysis and found some good research of what is wrong with the big boxes and DIY. I found a great letter the new CEO of Depot put out, apologizing for his sales staff! When you think about it, big boxes are your industries main competition.

    ServiceMagic in the US has a lot of handymen. That would be a good source. You can buy a list on handymen but that will be misleading as a lot do not have business lines. Building a co using their model would be a proven model.

    When I was single (and if I had married any of the creeps I dated) I needed a handyman. I would build a plan around marketing to that group.

    So another group is the creeps I dated that couldn't change a light bulb (feeling irreverent today!). These included doctors, lawyers and other professionals who could probly change the lightbulb -- but won't.

    Build your plan around professionals who think the job is beneath them, single women and baby boomers.

    Prices? Secret shop. In the US that can vary by city. Small Town USA can't get the prices of NYC. You can do a lot of secret shopping via the net. A lot of silly gooses put their prices on their website.

    If you want help writing your plan-- put something on the project board. But I am happy to point you either on this board or privately for no cost. I won't do the work, but I will gladly point.
  • Posted on 12/17/2009 at 8:40 PM Author
    Gary - Thanks for advice on website. I have another one waiting to upload soon. I havnt done any changes to origional one as I have been doing the handyman job and this has taken up all my time. (i probably should have paid someone to have it done) and your quite right it looks shabby and part finished and unproffessional.

    I have been doing handyman work for some time and making a decent living from it. Angies is more of a trusted tradesman website. What I was concidering was a large collection of handymen who still run their own business but under the name of ourhandyman. This way we could advertise together, help each other out if problems, learn more from each other, get discounted materials and tools to do jobs because we are bigger thus be able to give customers reasonabe rates etc.
    I love the feed back so please keep it comming.
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