We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Steven Moore a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Steven, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

The hardest challenge of finding profitability as a handyman is figuring out the middle ground of self-value when comparing skill level, speed, and quality of work; all while not wasting other peoples’ time or money. As your skill level increases, your proficiency will increase and generally speeds up the process of most jobs. This equates to increased prices and profitability. If it takes a more experienced handyman half the time to install something as a less experienced handyman, each can charge the same price, however the more experienced handyman will technically get twice the pay. It is not always easy to get a client to understand this. Over the years of offering Handyman services, I have been able to sharpen my skills enabling me to offer fast, reliable, and quality services at an increased price all while completing tasks faster than a less experienced person.

The other challenge is figuring out the sweet spot of how much to charge while not underselling yourself and not overcharging a client. I have realized there will always be someone offering similar services to mine charging less than me and someone charging more than me. I do not get every bid or project that is asked of me. I started offering handyman services in 2016 and since then my prices have increased, not only from higher quality services but the increased value of this trade service. When I hear comments like “you’re charging more than my last handyman” and inquire why they are not using them, I get the response of “they won’t return my calls” or “they are too busy for me”. Generally speaking, it means the other handyman has increased their prices and the client does not agree the increased price is fair. Hiring the cheapest person is not always the best option. I believe I have found a comfortable price range enabling me to make a comfortable profit while keeping my clients happy and not overcharged. I can confidently say this because the only advertisement I currently offer is posting photos of completed projects on my social media pages, which means all of my clients come from word of mouth and repeat clients.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My background for a handyman is probably a little different than most. I never would have thought of myself as a “handy” person, or someone that can make a successful business out of it. I mostly grew up in the St. Louis, Missouri area moving around quite a bit because of family. I do not necessarily recall working on projects, building or fixing things, or even working with my hands. I cannot say there were never those opportunities during childhood, but none that would put me in the category of being a handyman when I grew up. During school I took interest in music and started playing the trumpet in 6th grade school band. I continued with music through high school and studied trumpet performance in college receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from the University of Missouri Columbia. After college I decided to pursue the business side of music, accepting a paid internship with the Yamaha Corporation Music Division in Buena Park, California for six months. Shortly after returning to St. Louis I began work for a smaller family-owned business called Mozingo Music selling musical instruments. For nearly the next 10 years I was able to showcase my love of music and help others pursue their new passion. However, I was still not fulfilled, and l felt a deeper desire and purpose for life, firefighting! I began volunteering at a local fire department for several years and taking the appropriate classes to pursue a new career. In 2015 I accepted a position as a fulltime Firefighter/EMT at a fire department in one of the towns I grew up in, where I am currently employed.

My business (First Responder Handyman) kick started in 2016 with the purchase of a foreclosed home in Webster Groves. I had been looking for a house to buy (and live in) but did not want to have a big mortgage payment and have all my money going towards living expenses. Remodeling your own home or working on your own projects can really push your motivation, not only for quality but it will make you feel accomplished. When I bought this house, I had no clue what I was doing, nor the tools and experience to complete such a task. I would consider myself a self-taught handyman; thank goodness for YouTube, friends and colleagues! After remodeling my house, I took my first handyman job scraping and painting old wood windows. Word of mouth referrals led from one job to the next, but nothing big and really only getting one or two jobs a week. Someone suggested I start posting on social media, so I created a Facebook and Instagram page to post pictures of jobs I completed. Clients started recommending me, people are “liking” my posts, people started calling me, and now all of a sudden, this part-time side job has become a full-time side job. With my firefighting schedule of 48-hours on and 96-hours off, I was able to start working four days a week and booking out a few weeks which turns into booking out a month in advance sometimes.

My handyman services specialize mostly with the upkeep and maintenance of a clients’ house, apartment, condo, or even business. Most of my clients just need a few things done and take just a few hours. I have learned it is very hard for people to find someone willing to come over for just a few hours to knock out a “honey-do-list” versus taking large, contracted jobs. However, I have repeat clients that come up with a list every month and I will gladly spend an entire day with them.

Some examples of the more common jobs I complete include … changing out or upgrading light fixtures, ceiling fans, outlets, and switches. Installing bathroom sinks, vanities, faucets, and toilets. Installing LVP/LVT flooring, baseboard, and trim. Interior painting of walls, ceilings and trim, along with concrete wall waterproof painting, concrete basement floors, and basement stairs. Installing new kitchen countertops, sinks, garbage disposals, dishwashers, and backsplash. However, I am not limited to just those bigger items. I have clients wanting furniture assembled or items hung on their walls such as curtain rods, artwork and mirrors. Refinishing, power washing, staining, and painting of porches and decks. Sometimes it is as simple as installing a few smoke detectors or carbon monoxide detectors to more elaborate privacy fence building. My motto is “no job too small”!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Communicating, dependable, honest and reasonable rates is what builds a great reputation as a handyman; it is also what sets me aside from others. The biggest complaint I hear from a client is that it is hard to get someone to call them back. More than not, a client will thank me for just calling them back and committing to a time and date. There are times I have to schedule a client several weeks or even a month out and they are happy to do it simply because I returned their phone call. Great communication is key. Not every client can wait days or weeks or even months to have a project complete. I will politely tell them I am booked out for however long but keep them on a list to call them if I have a last-minute cancellation and if they are still interested then I’ll schedule them.

Being dependable is equally important. The number of times I hear complaints of another handyman not showing up is unreal. Most of my clients understand that life happens, people get sick, an emergency comes up, or I am running late because of a previous client, which goes back to communication. I always stay in touch with my clients no matter what.
Not being honest with someone will spread your name faster than being honest. If you rip someone off or do a bad job, that bad referral business spreads faster than a good business referral. Being honest and knowing your limits is crucial. I don’t have every skill so if I am not comfortable with a specific task, I will turn down that job because I do not want to waste my time or a clients’ money. I have a lot of connections and will easily refer someone else if I know they will do a better job and at a fairer price.

Having reasonable rates is a big deal as a Handyman. You have to realize you are never going to get every job and I am okay with that. I don’t have enough time to accept every job, nor do I want every job. Figuring out the sweet spot of how much to charge can take time. You don’t want to sell yourself short, but you don’t want to overcharge and not get referrals. Plus, not every job is the same and sometimes it takes longer than expected so I’ll give the client a choice of how much to pay. I’ll tell them it took me an extra however many hours, and normally it would be a certain price but I’m okay taking a lesser amount because of the issues I ran into – and then let them make the choice.

My goal is to make every client happy and feel good about trusting me to come into their house. I enjoy turning a house into a home with a few simple upgrades that did not cost them a fortune.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

My two sources for clients are social media and word of mouth. When I first started my business, I used handyman apps to look for jobs. Apps similar to Angie’s List, Takl, Handy, etc but you basically pay for leads. For example, if someone needs work done, they can use these apps to post what they need done and then you can accept a job from it. However, there is a fee associated with it, which I completely understand. Then I started using NextDoor to post ads with my services and business card. Now I strictly use Facebook and Instagram to post photos of jobs I’ve completed with descriptions to basically use as a website. Facebook offers Community Connect Groups or Handyman Groups, and it basically acts as the previous apps I mentioned, but with no fees. Someone can post they need a garbage disposal replaced (or whatever job) and I will comment with my business card along with a tag to my Facebook Page. I would probably say it’s about half and half between social media and clients referring my name. This all goes back to doing a good job for someone and then they tell a friend or family member.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firstresponderhandyman
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/firstresponderhandyman
• Other: https://nextdoor.com/pages/steven-moore-webster-groves-mo/
  Email: frhllc20@gmail.com
  Phone number: 314-384-2279