Handy

What: Handy is a marketing platform that promises to connect customers with people wanting to work as housekeepers, handymen, plumbers or electricians

Expected pay: $14 – $45 per hour, depending on the job. (Housekeepers earn between $14 and $22; skilled plumbers earn up to $45)

Husl$core: $$$

Where: Most major cities nationwide

Requirements: Pass a background check; have a smart phone; own or be willing to buy the tools of your trade; have reliable transportation

Review: Normally a company that promises pay at this level would receive a better-than-average Husl$core, but Handy’s score was cut by a lack of upfront disclosure and company policies that penalize workers for problems as banal as traffic or the need to reschedule a gig.

First, let’s address the lack of upfront disclosure. If you want to sign up as a worker on the site, you download the Handy app and plug in your information. You’ll then need to agree to a background check. You are not told that you’ll need to pay for that background check, nor will you know how much you’ll have the pay.  The site itself says only that you’ll be charged “a small fee” that will be deducted from your pay. Some workers also said that they’re pressured to buy cleaning supplies and Handy t-shirts from the company, though the company’s terms and conditions say that workers are not obligated to buy equipment from Handy.

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 seek to cancel because the job was not as advertised — or, as some workers claim, when the app gives them a job that they didn’t agree to. On the bright side, if a customer cancels at the last minute, you’re supposed to be paid for the job. 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.

If you are looking for jobs as a gardener or landscaper, you’d do better off with GreenPal or JiffyOnDemand.

What their workers say: From Glassdoor

From Indeed.com

“I do not recommend this company to anyone to work for no matter how much you need the money. They charge you if you’re late to a job if the customer is unhappy which nobody is ever 100% happy. You get a bad rating it could change your pay rate. It’s ridiculous. 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.”

“You need your own cleaning products which you do not get paid back for by the company, also 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 felt very unsafe 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.”

“Handy has recently been trying to pay me by the 1/2 hour. Where in the entire world do you get paid by the 1/2 hour. These clowns are keeping all the money and screwing over the workers. I drive 30-45 minutes anywhere in Denver and do a $30 job. Then drive back. So 3 hours =$30 and then gas isn’t free so , you make less than minimum wage working with these jokers.”

“Charge you $75 for a background check then proceed to constantly and mysteriously cancel any job you schedule once they collect that $75 from you after completed jobs. 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. Canceling a job has repercussions for you no matter when you do it, your pay rate is reduced, taking even more of your money from you! This is definitely a fee based company. All of their money is made of the backs of their employees with those fees. Need to speak to a live person? Good luck with that. You can send an email that will get you a computer generated response. 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! You don’t know how long they want you for until the last minute and most clients are cheap and opt for the 2 hours when you probably need 3. 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.”

“This company started out great when they came to Vegas over three yrs ago. You could always speak to a person in dispatch who really made an effort to resolve your problem. Pay was competitive and you only needed a talk/text phone. Over time the website via computer was deleted and you were forced to get a smartphone. Then there was NO way for a cleaner or customer to talk to a person. You had to use an app or send an email with mixed results. Finally, they CUT our pay, even for myself, after 3 yrs work and excellent ratings. They do penalize you for everything under the Sun as well. I was more disappointed with each passing month and finally quit a few months ago but not before dissatisfied customers asked me to take on their homes on a personal basis. The customers were always angry at Handy for their horrible customer service. I understand it is even worse now. It is completely evident that whoever runs this company would not know a vacuum cleaner from a frog’s rear. Don’t waste your valuable time or talent with this cheapskate company. They do not reward loyalty or good work.”

“Terrible rating system gives the customer basically 100% control over your pay rate, so if you don’t stay hours late and work for free in order to satisfy their ridiculously high expectations, though they probably only ordered the minimum 2 hour cleaning for their 1 bed 1 bath + (even that takes minimum 3 hours). So if you leave on time to get to your next customers because you’ll have to clean three houses to make $90, you’ll ultimately end up with a terrible rating that controls your pay rate. Don’t forget about travel, supplies, parking etc. Often not enough jobs or enough in a reasonable area.”

“Customers will ignore the recommended times for whatever reason and complain when not everything is not finished.Real life example: A customer can select 4 hours for a 1,714 square-foot 3 story condo, 3 bedroom, 4 bath. Expect that you have to finish it in that time. Even if that’s not an adequate amount of time to finish in and you will be rated poorly. At the very minimum that’s a 5 hour job on any cleaning platform. Customers should not be allowed to rate for unfinished work if they do not select the recommended time. Oh and you can’t actually see this information until you accept the job. Crazy right? It get’s better. If you cancel, you are dinged on your keep rate. If you cancel within 48 hours of the job, you are fined, which I could understand if we could see the job before hand. So you have to blindly accept jobs only knowing the date/time and money you’ll earn, you aren’t allowed to see anything else. Pretty shady way of doing business. Unfortunately your job literally depends on ratings, so when someone does something like the above, it’s incredibly irritating and damaging and you have absolutely no recourse. No supplies discount, must purchase all items yourself. Not really that bad, but still adds up.”

“It started out as a great place to work now everything is crazy They cut our pay. We are offered very few jobs. We cant physically talk to anyone. We have to pay if we cancel even in emergency No paid vacation or benefits. They mislead you on locations of job sites. If it states Evanston it may be in Niles. Its like it’s a big waste of time they blame everything on there demographic team or systems”

“This job was interesting. I loved it. You make your own and move at your own pace. You get nice tips but there’s no benefits. It’s just a problem trying to reach management.”

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