6 Ways to Get More Clients for your Handyman Business

Get the clients you need for your handyman business by following these simple steps, and by signing up with the Calday scheduling system.

One of the best professions you can get involved in these days is being a handyman. There’s no chance an AI robot is coming to take your job; people are still going to need things repaired and companies will need offices for a long time. All in all, the handyman leads when it comes to job security.

That doesn’t mean that you can rest on your laurels, though and you need to work hard to attract potential clients to your business. So if you’re wondering how to get more handyman jobs by attracting more patrons, you’re in the right place—just follow our step-by-step guide.

Make sure you have a strong online presence

If you want to get handyman leads you need to start online, as word of mouth in the “real world” can only take you so far these days. It’s important, for sure, but nowhere near as important as setting up a high-quality website that showcases your skills, prices, and positive feedback from customers.

To make sure your website lands, make sure it includes pictures and videos of your work, highlighting what each project was like at the start and at the finish. Make sure that each page features clear calls to action—such as “Book a Service” or “Request a Free Quote”—that link directly to your scheduling or booking tool (we recommend Calendly, of course).

Don’t forget that you should make sure that your website is optimized for mobile devices as well, as many of your potential clients will be using their phones to look for handyman websites (while the kitchen sink explodes in the background, even!). Any half-decent web designer or site builder should help you achieve this.

Finally, you’ve got to make sure that you optimize your website for search engine optimization (SEO) so that your profile appears as high as possible in Google’s rankings. You can do this yourself by filling your webpages with location-specific keywords like “plumber in Jacksonville” or “handyman in Boise,” so you appear in relevant searches, or you can engage with a professional SEO expert as well.

Optimize your Google business profile

We want to list this separately from the above, as it’s really important to optimize your Google Business Profile—but it’s something that a lot of businesses fail to do. If you successfully optimize your profile, your business is significantly more likely to show up in Google’s search rankings, and you’ll also appear on Google Maps as well.

This boost to your handyman lead generation possibilities will help ensure that your services are put right in front of those who need them most: people living in your local area. You’ll also enjoy increased trust as your business profile demonstrates that you’re real, with positive feedback, and you’ll be able to use it to generate calls and bookings as well.

It’s simple to improve or optimize your Google Business Profile. All you need to do is follow these steps:

1. Claim and verify your listing

Visit Google Business Manager, claim your profile, and verify ownership via mail, phone, or email.

2. Complete all the required fields

Fill in business hours, service areas, phone numbers, and a link to your website. List every service you provide so customers see the full range of your work.

3. Add high-quality photos

Upload images of your team, before-and-after project shots, and your logo. Profiles with photos get more clicks and calls.

4. Collect and respond to reviews

Ask happy clients for reviews after each job. Always reply, and thank customers for positive feedback and address concerns professionally.

Offer free consultations

If you’re wondering how offering something for free is going to help you with “how to grow my handyman business,” then you need to start thinking outside of the box. Handyman businesses thrive on trust and positive reviews, and providing free consultations to potential customers goes a long way toward building that trust.

You can get yourself noticed by offering different variations on consultations and by using technology to your benefit. You could, for example, offer virtual consultations in addition to old-fashioned house visits, as the added convenience this may provide to customers—especially if they have to work during the day—will generate positive brand recognition.

The trick to making these free consultations work for you is employing a streamlined booking process. This applies to the meetings themselves (i.e., ensuring that each appointment is convenient for your customers) and by facilitating simple follow-ups for subsequent callouts if they like what they experience.

I was struggling to get handyman leads for my business; customers just weren’t biting. I signed up with Calday and I was able to increase sales by 23%, simply by providing my potential and existing clients with a streamlined system for bookings. Callouts, consultations, whatever, Calday made it all so much simpler!

Brian, handyman business owner, Dallas TX.

Leverage niche communities and websites

You can get handyman leads in communities and on websites that are specifically targeted at various niches, especially for home improvements and DIY. While doing so means that your services will be seen by fewer people overall, it also means that you’re specifically targeting people that you’re more likely to get a return on your marketing investment from.

Try using some of the following resources to generate handyman leads. Use as many as possible, especially if they’re free, to maximize your brand presence.

1. Yelp – This one is strong for local services and highly trusted for its customer reviews.
2. Angi (formerly Angie’s List) – Popular for home improvement and repair services, making it ideal for handymen
3. Thumbtack – Connects professionals with customers ready to hire, sometimes even the same day.
4. HomeAdvisor – Widely used for contractors, remodelers, repair specialists, and DIY enthusiasts.
5. Houzz – This is a popular resource for design, renovation, and home improvement work.
6. Nextdoor – This one is great for hyperlocal exposure within specific neighborhoods.
7. Facebook Marketplace and Local Groups – Free, effective for local promotions, and easy to use.

Remember, don’t just post about your services; make sure you regularly interact with other posts on these communities and websites. If you know your stuff, you’ll be able to increase perception of yourself as an expert on handyman work and build up trust in your business.

Invest in some offline marketing

We mentioned earlier that you need to focus on your online presence, and that word-of-mouth marketing isn’t as effective as before. While that’s true, and you need to work well online to improve your handyman lead generation, it’s still a good idea to invest in some offline marketing.

Remember your audience: people with money to invest in their property via improvements and repairs are more likely to trend older, and thus are more likely to be tech-averse. Professionally designed materials distributed in the correct manner can be very effective for getting leads from this group.

Design and distribute flyers

Printing flyers is still a proven way of getting handyman leads. The trick is to make sure you’re targeting the right areas. To bring these leaflets up to date with modern technology, consider including a QR code that links directly to your website and your Calday booking page as well.

Draw up business cards

Business cards are very old school, but in some communities they still hold considerable weight. If you attend homeowners’ association meetings, community hall events, etc., make sure you leave some business cards behind, and hand some out to attendees as well.

Whatever you do, always make it easy for your customers to contact you! Add your website, phone numbers, email, etc., to all your offline marketing tools.

Foster regular referrals

Finally, and what’s potentially our most important point: always, always, always foster referrals from your customers, and try to get as many as you can. Ideally, any customer you work with on a frequent basis should be providing you with regular referrals that serve as consistent and reliable free handyman leads.

It’s easy enough to get started with this process. Begin by offering a discount, bonus, or small gift for every referral that converts into a job. If you do this successfully, you can then repeat the process with your new customers, and so on and so forth, until you’ve established such a good reputation that you may no longer need to provide financial incentives for referrals.

You can also add referral prompts to your invoices and follow-up emails to ensure your customers remember referrals, and you can customize your booking pages with referral links too. All you need to do is log into your Calday account to create a custom booking page for your business.

Calday made it really simple for me to remind my customers about providing referrals. The system can send custom automated reminders to make appointments and provide referrals, it’s really simple. This level of customization has really helped my handyman business to grow.

Brandon, handyman contractor, Newark NJ.

Sign up with Calday for Stress Free Scheduling

Ready to take advantage of customizable booking pages, automated reminders and notifications, and a simple-to-use interface? Check our scheduling software for handyman business and take advantage of stress-free scheduling today. It’ll boost your handyman business, help you get new leads, and put you ahead of the competition.