Handy

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What: Handy promises to connect customers with people wanting to work as housekeepers, handymen, plumbers, electricians and gardeners.

Expected pay: $14 – $62 per hour, depending on the job. (Housekeepers earn between $14 and $24; skilled plumbers earn up to $45; lawn maintenance people earn up to $62.)

Husl$core: $$

Where: Most major cities nationwide, Canada and the UK

Requirements: 18+; Able to sign a binding contract; experience in the field; legally able to work; background check; smart phone

Want to try Handy?

1. Click here to join
2. Apply to become a Handy pro
3. Start Earning

Or…Need help?

1. Click here to book a helper

Handy Review:

Handy promises to connect clients with people looking for work as cleaners and contractors. However, the site has an obtuse pay structure that appears to pass on only a fraction of the customer’s charges to the person doing the work.

Worse, even though the site requires you to have paid experience in whatever work category you apply to, nearly everyone starts at a low wage — from $14 to about $35, depending on what you do. Notably, the $35 hourly rates are for skilled contractors, such as electricians and plumbers. 

Late fees

But the biggest drawback is the fee schedule that dings workers $15 for showing up late and anywhere from $10 to $50 for having to cancel or reschedule a job. These fees apply even if you cancel because the job was not as advertised — or, as some workers claim, when the app gives them a job that they didn’t accept.

Recommendations:

We think your chance of finding work as a handyman or cleaner are equally good on neighborhood sites, such as Nextdoor. And Nextdoor won’t penalize you if you get hung up in traffic.

Better sites for contractors include ToolBelt and TaskRabbit. If you are looking for jobs as a gardener or landscaper, you’d do better with GreenPal or JiffyOnDemand.

If you prefer to sign up for Handy, you can sign up here.

What their workers say: From Glassdoor

From Indeed.com

“No help whatsoever for pros completing the jobs and all the jobs are super low paying. I would never recommend this company to anyone.”

“I love cleaning and love making my clients happy. With Handy you end up hating what you do. You have no idea what you’re getting into cleaning wise. You can walk into the biggest most disgusting home or apt and expected to clean in 2-3 hrs. I walked into a hoarders home once and was shocked. Thousands of flies and feces on the floor. Garbage everywhere. Impossible to clean. Pay could be better and sometimes they drop your rate depending on what the median is. So you could be making $22 an hour. Then out of nowhere drop to $16. It’s crazy. No matter how high your rating was.”

“They charge the customer triple what they pay you as a contractor here and make it impossible to actually talk to your customer about what they need. Handy charges you huge fees if you cancel jobs. They screw over customers and contractors. RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!!”

Rescheduling charges

“My van broke down and I was one of the top cleaners at the company I had a 10 rating across the board. Well when my van broke down, I couldn’t work. The company charged me $50 per job and I was working 5 jobs a day 7 days a week. Even though all my clients had no problem rescheduling with me, Handy still charged me so you do the math. I don’t work for free. I work hard and I was so unappreciated.”

“The late fees and cancellation fees are outrageous”

“In case of any emergency there is no number to call. I once had to leave a job site because a client left open drugs in the house and I had to email them and wait 15 mins for a response, then fight for myself not to be charged for the job being incomplete.”

Customers can cancel the day before with no repercussions. If you do that, $10 charge. Do it on the day of it can be as high as $50 whether you have an emergency or not. Need to speak to a live person? Good luck with that. You have no idea exactly where you are going until the night before and have no idea what the client expects from you until you are literally walking in their home! They want to charge you for access to a listing to more jobs. Really?!?? Then will cancel at last minute. Try it out and then come back to this post and see if everything said isn’t the truth.”

Updated 1/8/2022

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