For a seasoned construction worker who likes dealing with homeowners, starting a handy man business can be a very satisfying venture. The question of how to start a handy man business has probably been on the minds of many people in the construction industry for the last few years. During early and middle 2000's many construction related jobs were created as a result of the housing boom. Selling prices far exceeded construction costs and contractors and builders couldn't get houses, condos and townhouses up fast enough. And real estate investors, a great many of them people with zero business experience, couldn't snatch them up fast enough either in the resulting building frenzy. With property values rising year after year, seemingly without end, who could not be successful? Unfortunately, and to the great dismay of many, this ended abruptly in the spring of 2008.
For those employed in the construction industry prior to 2008, this probably felt like glory days, with more work available than anyone could handle. With the collapse of the housing market, most of the construction-related jobs created in this time period disappeared. This left a lot of unemployed tradesman. Unfortunately many, many others lost their livelihoods as well.
For many contractors the only solution was to turn to doing smaller home repair and renovation projects. They may have turned their noses up in disdain just a year prior at this kind of work, but now with bills to pay and mouths to feed, it began to seem like this was the only game in town.
For many builders, contractors and tradesman, dealing with homeowners and doing very small repair tasks aren't to their liking. They would sooner be doing new construction or commercial work, and not having to answer questions about 'picky' details, carefully track and follow-up calls & emails, or have to line up small project after small project, when they are used to being on one job for possibly months at a time.
For others this type of work is a dream-come-true. They have no boss or supervisor to answer to whom they may not like. They set their own schedule and work when they want, for instance if they wish to make plans to spend time with their family. And if they do consistently good work, and are able to make this well-known to potential customers, then they deal with homeowners who are delighted to hire them, and who keep calling them back. So for the tradesman or craftsman with the right temperament a handyman business startup can be the perfect solution to the dilemma of how to find enough work in a down economy.
How to start a small business
The question of how to start a handyman business is, to begin with at least, the question of how to start a business...Any business. Starting a small business is not that difficult, but it can seem daunting to someone who has never considered the idea before. The main problem with doing so is finding specific information on what are those first steps. You're not likely to find the exact information you need to start your handyman business in a nice, neat package that you can follow step by step, because every state is different in their requirements for starting a home business (which is what a handyman business comes down to...You don't need to rent an office or warehouse with this kind of home based business. In fact the simpler your handyman business plan, the better.)
However you will find that there are many resources on the internet for every state on how to start a home business. Do a search on Google for 'how to start a small business' plus your state, and you will very likely get in the results web pages from both the state government on the requirements for a small business startup, and also other 'how to' web pages for doing the same. Take a look at both (and bookmark these pages, as you will be referring back to them many times), you are likely to find that the 'how to' pages are a little more concise and clearer on what you need to do, than the government pages, with maybe a little less information, but refer to both types...You will find most or all of the information helpful.