Hiring a Handyman

Florida law (Fla. Stat. 489.103(9)) leaves room for work of a "casual, minor, or inconsequential nature," as long as the total price for labor, materials, and everything else on that one job is under $2,500. That figure went up from $1,000 in 2020, and it is the line most honest handymen work inside.

Inside the line, typical work looks like this: interior and exterior painting, patching nail holes and small drywall damage, caulking and sealing around tubs, windows, and trim, mounting a TV, assembling furniture, hanging mirrors, art, curtain rods, and floating shelves, installing a bathroom cabinet when no water line or drain gets disconnected, putting in a deadbolt or smart lock, hauling debris away, and repairing a wood or vinyl fence or gate that is already there.

Outside the line, and it does not matter how small the job looks: any plumbing, any electrical work including a new light fixture, ceiling fan, outlet, or switch, roofing, soffit and fascia, air conditioning, water heaters, replacing windows or exterior doors, building a new fence or deck, and anything touching the framing that holds the house up. Those need the right licensed trade, and most of them need a permit too.

Three details worth knowing, because they are where people get into trouble:

The $2,500 covers the whole job. Nobody can split one big job into three small ones to stay under the number. The statute says so directly. If someone offers to do that for you, that is your sign to stop.

If a permit is required, the small-job allowance does not help. Permit work belongs to a licensed trade, at any price.

And the allowance goes away for anyone who advertises that he is a contractor or claims he is qualified to do contracting work. So a handyman who tells you plainly what he does not do is not being modest. He is staying inside the law.

A good handyman knows exactly where his line is and tells you before you have spent any money.

That question deserves a plain answer, so here it is. Escobar Solutions LLC is a real Florida company. It does not hold a contracting license and it does not carry liability insurance.

Here is what that actually means for you. A license means the state has tested someone and holds them accountable for permit work in a trade like electrical, plumbing, roofing, or air conditioning. Insurance means there is a policy to pay if something on your property gets damaged or someone gets hurt. Without either one, the honest trade-off is this: the price is lower because there is no overhead behind it, and the work has to stay inside small, low-risk jobs that need no permit.

One thing in your favor. Under Florida law, someone unlicensed cannot put a lien on your house for unpaid work, so that risk is off the table for you.

Who should not hire him. Anyone who needs permit work. Anyone whose condo or HOA requires vendors to turn in a certificate of insurance before they can work in the building. Anyone with a big job or a risky one. For those, hire a licensed and insured company, and ask for the certificate of insurance to be sent to you directly by their insurance company rather than handed to you as a forwarded file.

Who he is a good fit for. The homeowner with a list of small things. Paint the hallway, patch the holes where the old shelves were, mount the TV, re-caulk the guest tub, fix the sagging gate, haul the old dresser away.

Protect yourself the way you would with anyone. Get the scope in writing, even by text. Pay when the work is done rather than up front. Start with something small and see how it goes.

Questions about your own list, call or text 727-421-2344.

There are three ways you will see a small job priced, and it helps to know which one you are being handed.

Hourly is common for a mixed list of little things. Around Tampa Bay, expect roughly $50 to $80 an hour from a one-person operation and $75 to $125 from a franchise or a company with a fleet, plus a minimum. A one or two hour minimum is normal and it is not a gimmick. Driving across Pinellas County in afternoon traffic costs real time.

Flat price per job is common where the work is predictable. Rough local ranges for labor only: a TV mounted on a wood-stud wall, about $100 to $200, and more on a concrete block wall because it takes a hammer drill and longer. Patch and touch up a few drywall holes, about $125 to $250. Install an interior door, about $150 to $350. Assemble a large wardrobe or bed frame, about $100 to $250. Paint a 12 by 12 bedroom, roughly $300 to $600 in labor.

Those are ranges, not quotes. Prices move with the house, the access, and the year, so treat them as a way to spot a number that is wildly out of line rather than as what you should pay.

Materials are usually separate. Ask straight out whether the price includes the anchors, screws, caulk, spackle, and paint, or whether those get added. Some people mark materials up, some do not.

Two tips that save real money. First, batch your list into one visit instead of calling three times, because you pay the minimum once. Second, the lowest number on paper is not always the lowest number at the end, so compare what each quote includes before you compare the totals.

Always get the number in writing, even if it is a text message. A text is a written quote.

Honest answer: plenty of the list is yours if you want it.

Worth doing yourself. Curtain rods, towel bars, and hooks in drywall, as long as you use the right anchor for the weight and follow the number printed on the anchor package. Flat-pack furniture, if you lay out every part first and do not fully tighten anything until the whole thing is together. Hanging pictures and mirrors under about 20 pounds. Replacing a toilet seat. Re-caulking a tub, as long as you are willing to cut all the old caulk out first, because new caulk over old always fails. Changing air filters and smoke detector batteries.

Worth handing off. Mounting a TV on a concrete block wall, which a lot of St. Petersburg houses have, because it needs a hammer drill and masonry anchors, and one hole in the wrong place is permanent. Drywall patches bigger than a dollar bill, because making a patch invisible takes three thin coats with real drying time in between. Matching existing paint, since Florida sun fades color badly and the old can rarely matches the wall anymore.

One safety item, and it matters. If your ceiling has that sprayed-on bumpy popcorn texture and your house was built before the mid-1980s, leave it alone. Those ceilings often contain asbestos. The spray was banned in 1978, but existing stock kept getting used for years after, so age alone does not clear it. Scraping, sanding, or drilling into it puts fibers in the air. Get it tested first, either by a mail-in lab kit or by an asbestos inspector. If it does contain asbestos, covering it is usually safer and cheaper than taking it off, and removal is a job for a licensed abatement company, not a handyman and not you.

About ladders. Ladder falls send a great many people to the emergency room every year, and a lot of them are over 60. If a job needs more than a low step stool and your balance is not what it used to be, that is a good reason to hand it off. There is no prize for doing it yourself.

The money math is simple. Because most people charge a minimum, one visit with six items on the list is far better value than three visits with two items each. Write the whole list down, even the tiny things, and get it all done at once.

And there is no wrong answer here. A job you can do is a win. A job you should not be on a ladder for is also a win.

A permit is the local government's written permission to do certain work, with an inspection afterward to confirm it was done to code. It protects the next owner of the house as much as it protects you.

No permit is normally needed for interior and exterior painting, patching drywall and nail holes, caulking, replacing flooring, mounting a TV, installing shelves or curtain rods, putting in a deadbolt or smart lock, and repairing a fence or gate that already exists.

A permit is normally needed for a new roof, replacing windows or exterior doors, any electrical work, any plumbing work, air conditioning, water heaters, decks, sheds, and additions.

Fences are worth a sentence of their own, because people get this wrong. Inside St. Petersburg city limits, a fence six feet or under generally does not need a building permit, but one over six feet does, and a pool barrier fence does. Height limits and setback rules still apply either way, and front-yard fences are usually held to a lower height, so call before you buy materials even when no permit is needed.

How to find out for certain, for free. If you are inside St. Petersburg city limits, call Construction Services and Permitting at (727) 893-7231 or email [email protected] and describe the work in one sentence. If you are in unincorporated Pinellas County or one of the smaller towns the county serves, call Building and Development Review Services at (727) 464-3888 and choose the permitting option. They answer this question all day and will not report you for asking. Worth knowing: in unincorporated Pinellas, small repairs under about $500 that do not touch wiring, plumbing, air conditioning, or framing generally do not need a permit either.

What happens if permit work gets done without one. It usually surfaces years later when you sell and the buyer's search finds no permit on file, which can hold up a closing until it is resolved. An unpermitted roof or water heater can also give an insurance company a reason to fight a claim, and in Florida that matters a great deal.

If anyone tells you a permit is not needed for roofing, electrical, or plumbing work, get a second opinion before they start.

Hire the licensed trade, not a handyman, for all of this.

Electrical of any kind. This surprises people, but if you are hiring someone to install a ceiling fan, a chandelier, a light fixture, an outlet, or a switch, that is electrical work and it belongs to a licensed electrician.

Plumbing of any kind, meaning anything that opens a supply line or a drain. A water heater, a garbage disposal, resetting a toilet, moving a sink. Call a licensed plumber.

Roofing, and the soffit, fascia, and rafter tails along the roof edge, which is exactly where Florida wood rot tends to show up first. Call a licensed roofer. Painting over soft wood up there hides the problem and buys you nothing.

Air conditioning work. Replacing windows or exterior doors. Building a new fence, deck, or shed. Any work involving the framing that holds the house up. And any damage from a leak or a storm where water has been sitting for a while, because that becomes a specialty job with its own licensing, and it needs to be looked at before anyone paints over it.

You can check a license yourself in about two minutes. Go to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation license search at myfloridalicense.com, type the person's name or company name, and confirm the license is active and that the name matches the name on your written quote. A license number painted on a truck proves nothing by itself.

One caution specific to Florida. After a hurricane, people go door to door offering roof and storm repairs. Do not sign anything at your door, and do not hand over a deposit to someone who showed up uninvited. Look the license up first, and if the person pressures you to decide on the spot, that alone is your answer.

Dominic does not take on any of the work above. If you call him about one of these, he will tell you which trade it actually needs.

Supplying your own materials is normal and often saves ten to twenty percent, because you skip any markup.

Make it work by asking for a specific list, not a general one. Not "get paint," but "two gallons of interior latex, eggshell sheen," with the color name written down. Not "get anchors," but "a pack of quarter-inch by three-and-a-quarter-inch masonry screws." A vague list is how you end up making two trips to the store while you are paying someone to wait.

Things worth buying yourself. Paint, because you are the one who cares about the color and the sheen, and a gallon of good exterior paint is worth the extra money in Florida sun. Cabinet hardware, door locks, curtain rods, and shelves, because you are choosing the look. Your TV mount, so you can confirm on the box that it is rated for your TV's size and weight, and that it lists concrete or masonry if your wall is block.

If you want to pick out a light fixture or a faucet yourself, go ahead. Just know the installation is a licensed electrician's or plumber's job, not a handyman's, so buy the part and line up the right trade.

Things worth letting him bring. Caulk, spackle, joint compound, sandpaper, screws, drywall anchors, drop cloths, and blades. These cost him very little by the box, and buying single packages at retail costs you more than you save.

Two cautions. If you buy the wrong part, that is your trip back to the store, and the visit may have to be rescheduled. And if a material itself fails, the warranty is between you and the store, not him, so keep the receipts and the boxes until the work has been in use for a couple of weeks.

For paint especially, buy one extra quart and write the room name on the lid with a marker. Florida sun fades exterior color fast, and matching it two years from now is close to impossible.

A free estimate is a visit and a written number. Nothing about it should feel like a sales appointment.

A good one covers, in plain words:

Each task on your list, described specifically enough that you both mean the same thing. "Patch and paint four nail holes in the living room, paint supplied by owner" is specific. "Drywall work" is not.

Who buys what.

Whether the price is a flat amount for the job or an hourly rate, and if hourly, the rate and the minimum.

A total, or a range with the reason it is a range.

A rough start date and how long the work should take.

What is not included. This is the part most people skip and later argue about.

How a surprise gets handled, because walls hide things. You want to know you will be called with a new number before any extra work begins.

What should raise an eyebrow. A verbal-only number. A large deposit requested before any work starts. A price that drops sharply if you agree today. Pressure of any kind. For small jobs you should generally be paying when the work is finished, not before. If materials are expensive, covering those up front is reasonable, with receipts.

Also fair to ask: is there a charge to come out and look. Many charge nothing within their normal service area. Dominic does not charge for an estimate.

Keep the written estimate. A screenshot of a text message with the price and the task list has settled more disagreements than any long contract.

Half an hour of prep gets you more done and can cut the bill, because you are not paying someone to move your furniture.

Before the day. Write every item down, even the tiny ones, and put them in the order that matters most to you. If the visit runs short on time, the important things are already done. Find your leftover paint cans and any spare parts. Take a photo of anything you want fixed and text it ahead, especially a wall you want a TV on, so the right tools come on the truck.

The morning of. Clear a working space of about six feet around each spot. Take breakable and sentimental items out of the room entirely rather than pushing them to one side. Pull furniture away from the wall if you are able to. Put pets in a closed room, since doors get propped open and tools get set down. Leave room for a truck near the house, and unlock any gate.

Good to know where they are. Your electrical panel and your main water shutoff. Nobody plans on needing them, but you want to be able to point.

Decisions to make in advance. Exactly how high the TV goes. Which wall the shelf goes on. Which side the curtain rod brackets sit on. Mark it with painter's tape. Standing in the room deciding is the most expensive part of an hourly visit.

Expect dust from any sanding or drilling, so cover what is nearby even when drop cloths are being used, and plan on keeping one bathroom free for your own use.

Then do a five-minute walkthrough together at the start. That one habit prevents almost every misunderstanding there is.

Real timing for common jobs, so you can plan your day.

TV mounting on a wood-stud wall: 45 to 75 minutes, including finding the studs, leveling the bracket, and tidying the cables.

TV mounting on a concrete block wall: 1.5 to 2 hours. Many homes here have block exterior walls, and mounting into them is a different job. Inside, that block is usually covered by thin wood furring strips and drywall, and those furring strips will not hold a TV, so the anchors have to go through the drywall and into the block itself. That means a hammer drill and masonry screws long enough to get through the drywall and furring and still reach about an inch to an inch and three-quarters into the block. A quarter-inch masonry screw about three and a quarter inches long, drilled with the matching bit, is a common choice. The holes go into the solid face of the block, not into a mortar joint, and the mount's own instructions should be checked for what it requires on masonry. It is slower than a stud wall, and it holds far better than anything in drywall alone.

Drywall patching: this is the one that surprises people. A small patch is maybe 30 minutes of actual work, but joint compound has to dry between each thin coat, and in Tampa Bay humidity that takes longer than the bag says. Two or three coats with sanding, then primer, then paint. Plan on two visits a day or two apart. Anyone promising a perfect patch and paint in one hour is going to leave a bump you will see every evening when the lamp is on.

Furniture assembly: 1 to 3 hours for most pieces, longer for a big wardrobe.

Curtain rods: 20 to 30 minutes per window.

Shelves and picture hanging: 15 to 30 minutes per item, once the spot is decided.

Painting a 12 by 12 bedroom: most of a day, plus drying time between coats.

When in doubt, assume Florida humidity adds time to anything that has to dry.

You learn most of what you need before any work starts.

Good signs. He calls back, and he shows up when he said he would, because that is the single best predictor of everything else. He asks questions before quoting, like whether your wall is drywall or concrete block, how big the TV is, or whether the existing paint is flat or eggshell. He puts the scope and the price in writing, even in a text message. He tells you plainly when a job needs a licensed trade instead of him. He has photos of work he actually did himself and can tell you what he did and did not do on each one. He does not ask for a large payment before starting. And he cleans up, which includes hauling his own debris away.

Warning signs. Vague pricing that only gets specific after work has begun. A large cash deposit up front. A discount that expires today. No written scope. Showing up at your door uninvited, which happens a great deal in Pinellas County after a storm. And the big one: someone who says yes to every single item on your list, including the electrical and the plumbing and the roof. That person either does not know Florida's licensing rules or is hoping you do not.

Easy to do yourself. Read the reviews, but read the three and four-star ones rather than the five-star or one-star ones, because that is where the useful detail lives. Ask for one reference and actually call it. And if any licensed trade is involved in your project, check the license at myfloridalicense.com before you commit to anything.

Finally, trust how the conversation feels. Someone who is straight with you about what he does not do is usually straight with you about the rest.

Owner-operated simply means one person runs the business and does the work. No crew, no dispatcher, no salesman.

What you gain. The person who looked at your wall is the person who drills it, so nothing gets garbled in translation. You are talking to the decision maker, so a question gets answered in one call instead of three. The same face comes back next time and already knows your house. Prices are usually lower because there is no office, no fleet, and no commission built into the number. And accountability is direct, because his name is the business and there is nobody else to blame.

What you give up, honestly. Availability. One person cannot be at your house and someone else's on the same morning, so you may wait several days, and emergencies are not really something he can promise. Rain moves outdoor work, which in a Florida summer means most afternoons are a gamble. Big jobs and multi-day crews are out of reach. And if he is sick, the schedule slides.

Who it suits. Homeowners with a list of small things who would rather deal with a person than a phone tree, and who value being told the truth about what a job actually needs.

Who it does not suit. Anyone who needs work done tomorrow, needs it on a large scale, or needs a crew.

Escobar Solutions is one man, Dominic, and he answers his own phone at 727-421-2344. If you leave a message, he is the one who hears it.

This is the right question to ask, and the answer changes depending on who you hire.

If the person carries general liability insurance, damage to your property is exactly what that policy is for. You report it, you get the insurer's name and the policy number, and the claim goes through them. For any large or risky job, that protection is worth paying more for, and you should ask for the certificate of insurance to be sent to you directly by the insurance company rather than handed to you as a forwarded file.

If the person does not carry insurance, and many one-person operations do not, there is no policy standing behind him. What you have instead is his willingness to fix what he broke out of his own pocket, plus your own homeowner's policy, which may or may not cover it and will come with your deductible. Small claims court exists, and for a small amount it is rarely worth the trouble.

So do these things no matter who you hire. Ask the insurance question out loud before work begins, and size the risk to the answer. Take photos of the room and the wall before anyone starts. Move irreplaceable things out of the room instead of to the corner of it. Keep the jobs small, because small jobs carry small risks. And for anything above a ceiling, on a roof, or near water lines, hire someone who carries insurance.

Dominic tells people up front that he does not carry insurance, before the work starts rather than after, and he keeps to small jobs for that exact reason. You should expect that same straightness from anyone you let into your house.

Florida is hard on a house. Heat, humidity, daily summer rain, salt air near the beaches, and sun that fades paint faster than almost anywhere else. Small maintenance done on time is what keeps small problems from turning into big ones that need a licensed trade.

Twice a year, walk the outside slowly. Spring, before hurricane season, and fall, after it.

What to look at.

Caulk lines around windows, doors, and where trim meets stucco. If the bead is cracked, shrunken, or pulling away from either surface, water is getting in behind it. Replace it based on how it looks, not on a schedule, because a good sealant in a sheltered spot can last many years while a cheap one on a sun-beaten west wall can fail in two.

Exterior paint. If it feels chalky when you rub your hand on it, or it is peeling or flaking, it is past due. How long a coat lasts here depends on the surface, the exposure, the color, and how well the surface was prepped, so inspect rather than count years. Block and stucco generally go longer than wood, and wood trim facing south or west usually goes first.

Wood trim, the bottoms of door jambs, garage door trim, and fence posts at ground level. Press a screwdriver in gently. If it sinks in, that is rot, and rot spreads.

Inside, re-caulk tubs and showers when the bead cracks, splits, or will not come clean, which often lands somewhere between two and five years. Cut all the old caulk out first. Look under sinks for any dampness while you are down there.

Lanai screens and door tracks, and the small weep holes at the bottom of window frames. Those holes are how water gets back out, so keep them clear.

What to hand off rather than handle. Soft or sagging wood at the roof edge, the soffit and fascia, needs a licensed roofer, not a coat of paint over it. Any stain on a ceiling needs the cause found before anything gets painted, because the stain is the symptom.

Fresh caulk and fresh paint are cheap. What they prevent is not.