Hands on welcomes the arrival of the ‘handyman’

Farewell to sloping shelves, six-inch screws in four-inch walls and cupboard doors that stubbornly refuse to close. Recent surveys show that home-owners no longer want to DIY all those jobs around the house, and that 93 per cent of them will employ a professional handyman in the next 12 months. With the rising cost of houses and increasing demands on home-owners’ time, they no longer want to do it all themselves – they want a professional job and are prepared to pay for it. Two-thirds of the public say they know they will never be able to deliver a quality finish, while a quarter say that they have better things to do than to try for the unachievable.

The beauty of the Handyman course is that no previous experience or qualifications are required. It covers almost all aspects of the building trade including plumbing, plastering, bricklaying, tiling, metal partitioning and drylining, painting and decorating, roofing, kitchen fitting, and carpentry. Students can pick the subjects they wish to cover and the length of course they want to take. Once on a course, if they feel they want to spend longer on a module or wish to change to another, it is easily arranged.

The course suits people who want to move into a new career or anyone who has worked long enough and now wishes to buy their own home and renovate or redecorate it themselves. Anyone who lets out a property in either the residential or holiday home markets, will know the value of having a reliable jack-of-all-trades who can be trusted to attend to all those small jobs that need urgent work but do not call for a specialist.

When it comes to being a handyman and meeting the public, the training and discipline already instilled into the Service leaver are invaluable. When visiting a prospective customer it is important to be knowledgeable, polite and well presented. These are people who will be allowing you into their home and trusting you, in most cases, with their most valuable assets – their house and its contents. It is important for them to see that you know your trade or trades, and that you can successfully complete the jobs on time with a minimum of fuss and at a reasonable cost. A successful job that is completed on time will lead to numbers of referrals. A good and reliable handyman is much in demand and in the happy position of having more work than hours in which to do it.

One of the huge advantages of doing a Handyman course is that it will give you the confidence and training to allow you to become your own boss. While the training you will receive on a course will give you, in most cases, an excellent basic knowledge, only time and experience will make you a skilled tradesman. However, some of the training, like that for kitchen fitting and roofing, is designed to give you the skills to specialise in those fields and will allow you to work within those specific trades.

The government plans to spend £76 billion on capital investment in schools, homes, roads and hospitals over the next five years. Coupled with continuing growth in private-sector development, CITB-ConstructionSkills (the Sector Skills Council) estimates that 430,000 new recruits will be needed over this period to meet demand. With this in mind, there could hardly be a better time to enter the construction industry in any capacity. Once someone has done the Handyman course, they are in a position to decide whether or not they want to specialise in one aspect of the industry. There are then longer courses that will help them to become fully qualified in that field. This can be discussed with their training providers.

Once you have completed your training as a handyman and you are ready to embark on your new trade. One of the best ways to find customers is to place an advertisement in your local free newspaper, which is often published weekly. A good idea is to spread the advertisement over several weeks by running it every second week for two months, instead of running it every week for a month, if the paper is prepared to do this. Once you begin to get responses, do not over-stretch yourself. Be prepared to let clients know how long it will be before you can start a job and do your best to stick to that date. A job well done is a satisfied customer and will be very likely to lead to a recommendation for another job.

For further information on the above courses or any courses in the construction industry, phone Front Range Training Ltd on 01572 820 108, e-mail info@frontrangetraining.co.uk or see the advertisement on page XX.

Building Regulations

The Building Regulations are a set of national minimum standards created by central government that must be observed by anyone intending to carry out major works on a building. They include: new buildings or extensions; structural alterations to a building including roofing; altering the internal layout; installing a WC; installing a heat-producing appliance; cavity wall insulation; and changing the use of a building. Recent extensions to the regulations include electrical wiring.

You are advised to check with your local council building regulation department whether it needs to become involved before undertaking anything more than the simplest repairs around the house.