Start a Handyman Business
Job Scope & Change-Order Card
Companion to the lessons "Licenses, Boundaries, and Paper" and "Your Service Menu and Scope Discipline." One page, every job. Hand the client a copy or text a photo before you start.
Client: Address: Date:
Scope (the exact tasks, in plain words)
| Example: "replace kitchen faucet with client-supplied fixture; reconnect existing supply lines" | |
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Price basis
| ☐ Flat rate for the listed scope: $ | ☐ Hourly $ + materials, not-to-exceed $ |
Estimate assumptions stated (worst-case time quoted, not the lucky version; contingency line built in).
Exclusions (what you found but are not touching)
| Example: "supply valves corroded; replacement quoted separately if they fail" | |
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Materials
| Client-supplied: | Yours, markup stated (10-30% over retail): |
Payment
| ☐ Due at completion (small jobs), card reader ready | ☐ Deposit of ~half materials cost (material-heavy jobs): $ |
Change orders (new requests get a new quote before work starts)
| Added request | Quoted $ | Schedule change | Approved |
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Late-fee terms in writing up front for the exceptions (big-ticket materials, net-30 property managers): a flat $25-50 first-month fee, then ~1.5%/month is the residential-trades convention. First late invoice gets a friendly reminder; the second gets the fee.
The three scope-discipline sentences (say them out loud, every time)
"That's outside what we quoted, which is normal, houses hide things. Here's the price to add it, and here's what it changes about the timing. Want me to include it?"
"I can do that while I'm here. It runs about the same as the first item. Should I add it to today's ticket?"
"Good catch, and that one I don't do. It needs a licensed trade, and I know who does it well."
"While you're here" requests are your highest-margin work; operators who track tickets describe them swelling tickets by 30-50% (field consensus, no published benchmark). The mistake is not saying yes; it is saying yes for free. Walk the job and narrate before quoting; write the list on paper in front of the client.