what do you pay your handyman?

[Adam Christopher Zaleski]

I have two rentals. One in Fort Collins, CO and the other in Fort Myers, FL. My handyman in Fort Collins is awesome. He is on time, reliable and does good work. His work is better than mine.

He recently replaced a kitchen sink for $200. This includes making some new cuts on my counter top because the new sink was 2 inches bigger. He picked up the sink at Home Depot. I think this equates to about $50/hour.

It seems like the going rate is $50/hour in Fort Myers, FL. However, I haven't found any handymen that are actually worth that rate. I recently called a handyman service to replace a screen door. They want $40 to show up, another $180 for the install and a $40 mark-up on the door. This is a total of $260 for a screen door install. I called Lowes and they do it for $127 + tax.

I make $60/hour at my day job. However, if a repair is easy, I would rather do it myself and pay myself $50/hour. I have extra time to do repairs.

When I listen to the biggerpockets podcasts, it seems like they make fun of landlords that do their own repairs. They often say, "just pay someone else $15/hour to do that" If there is a 4 hour job, I can't pay someone $60 to show up and fix something. It's more like $200.

What hourly rate do you pay your handyman? What factors are involved when you make the decision to do it yourself or pay someone else to do it?  

[Steve Johnson]

I pay my top guys $25.00/hr, then I have work comp, benefits.  That generally adds 50.00/day or an additional 6.25/hr.  Now we are at 31.25/hr.  We also have fully stocked work trucks.  Insurance, Fuel, Maintenance.  Lets say we are at 35.00/hr.  Then we have shop overhead, general liability insurance, electricity, gas, water. Thats an additional 600.00 Day / 10 guys = 60.00/Day or 7.50/hr.  Now we are at 42.50/hr  and we are just keeping a guy employed and keeping the lights on.  No profit, no room for a down day, no room for a **** up/mistake (i.e. warranty, slow time/winter)  

There's alot more to "hourly" charges than just what the guy doing your work is taking home to his family.   It's one of the reasons we don't do the little "honey do" jobs.  When Frank/Manny in a van have nothing but their mortgage and some vistaprint free cards we can't compete.  But he can't compete with us on quality/warranty/service or he would be making alot more than 25.00/hr.

I get it in the industry it's important to crunch and save, but as I do in my contracting I do in my real estate.  I have no desire to compete with bottom feeders or lowest dollar.   Bit of a rant, I apologize.