“Who attends” and the service details on each listing are what the business told us about itself. We do not verify them, and we never work them out ourselves — a listing that did not answer shows nothing and is not included when you filter by it.
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Being listed is free. We ask for your insurance certificate and whichever registration your trade needs, check them, then delete them — your photos stay on your listing. We keep only the expiry dates, and remind you before your cover runs out.
Finding a handyman, and what one can and cannot do
A handyman is the answer to the jobs that are too small to get a specialist out for and too fiddly to keep putting off — flat-pack, shelves, a door that sticks, a curtain pole, a running toilet, a fence panel. Booked as a half day or a day, several of them get done in one visit, which is where the saving actually is: most of a small job’s cost is somebody turning up at all.
Everybody listed here gave us photo identification and a public liability insurance certificate, which we check, record the expiry of, and delete. Handyman work has no register and no licence in the UK, so there is no badge to show and nothing missing when you do not see one. What there is a limit on is the work itself — gas is a criminal offence without Gas Safe registration, and most fixed electrical work has to be certified by a competent person scheme member. A handyman who also holds one of those will say so on their listing, because it is a separate service they ticked.
What we saw
Photo identification and a public liability insurance certificate. That is the honest whole of it: there is no handyman register to check anybody against.
What to book it as
A half day or a day with a list, not a single job. Write the list out before you ring — it is how you find out whether it is one visit or two, and it is what makes two quotes comparable.
Where the line is
Gas work needs Gas Safe registration and most fixed electrical work needs a competent person scheme certificate. If a job crosses that line, the listing should show that service too — and if it does not, get somebody who has it.
Common questions
What jobs can a handyman do?
Assembly and fitting, small carpentry, filling and patching, sealant, curtain poles and blinds, shelves and mirrors, door and window adjustments, fence and gate repairs, tap washers and toilet parts, and swapping like-for-like fittings. The list each person takes on is on their own listing, in their words.
What can a handyman not legally do?
Anything touching the gas supply or a gas appliance, unless they are Gas Safe registered — that is a criminal offence, not a preference. Most fixed electrical work in a home is notifiable under Part P and has to be certified by a competent person scheme member. Structural alterations and anything needing building control are a builder’s job.
How much does a handyman cost?
Usually a half-day or day rate rather than an hourly one, because travel and setting up are most of the cost of a small job. We publish no prices and no averages — ask two or three for the same written list and you will get a real answer for your area rather than a national figure.
Is a handyman insured?
The ones listed here gave us a public liability insurance certificate before the listing appeared, and we hold the expiry date. Cover can lapse between then and the day you book, so ask to see the current certificate before work starts — that is true of every trade on this site.
Should I get a handyman or a specialist tradesperson?
A handyman for a list of small, unrelated jobs; a specialist for one job that has to be right. If the work is notifiable, certified, or the sort of thing a buyer’s solicitor asks for paperwork about, it is a specialist’s job however small it looks.