Not Every Small Job Is a Service Call

"What do you charge to come out?" is the most common question we get, and the honest answer is that it depends on what you can tell us before we leave the shop. Someone who can photograph the exact problem and the exact part is buying something completely different from someone who says the lights keep flickering. Here is the whole structure, with the actual numbers.

You can point at it: a single item

$195 + material if needed

You know exactly what you want done. You can photograph it. If it needs a part, you can photograph that too, sitting on the counter.

Replace a doorknob. Hang one shelf. Swap one light switch. Pull one soft deck board and put a new one down.

That is $195. It is our minimum to put a truck in your driveway, and it exists for a specific reason: one small thing should not have to sit on your list for four months until you have collected five more.

What makes something a single item is not its size. It is certainty. The scope comes from you, backed by photos. There is nothing for us to work out — we are coming to do a thing you have already defined.

You know something is wrong, not what: a service call

$275 + material

One technician, onsite for up to an hour. That hour is not a rate — it is a container. We find the problem. If it can be fixed in that visit, we fix it and you are finished for $275. If it turns out to be bigger than one visit, you get a written estimate for the real scope, and that $275 bought you a diagnosis instead of a guess.

The breaker that keeps tripping and you do not know why. The stain on the ceiling that might be the roof and might be the shower. The door that closed fine last spring and does not now.

You are not supposed to know what is wrong. That is the entire point of a service call. Diagnosing it is the work you are paying for.

It cannot wait until Thursday: an emergency service call

$395 + material

Same structure, different clock. A technician onsite within four hours, up to an hour to stop the bleed and put a long-term fix in front of you.

Water somewhere water should not be. No power to half the house. An exterior door that will not lock, at nine at night.

The gap between $275 and $395 is the response window. Same people, same tools — you are buying the four hours.

It is one item, and it is a big one: flat-rate work

Some jobs are genuinely a single item and still nowhere near a $195 item. We have done them enough times to have already priced them, so you do not sit through an estimate for something we could quote in our sleep.

Water heater replacement — $2,175. Dishwasher replacement — $495.

One item, one number, known before we come out. This is also the honest answer to why we do not put every single item at $195: we are not going to pretend a water heater and a doorknob are the same errand.

When the photos did not tell the whole story

Sometimes you pull the one soft deck board and the joist underneath it is soft too. Sometimes the switch is fine and the circuit is not.

When that happens, we stop. We call you. We explain exactly what we found, and we put an estimate in front of you for the full scope, so you are deciding with the same information we have.

If you decide not to move forward, the original amount is still due. We came out, and that is what the number covers. Nobody is upset about this when it is said in advance, which is why we are saying it here.

Materials, and the part that trips people up

Either way works. If we pick up the material it runs through markup, and the job stays efficient because the right part arrives with the person installing it. If you would rather buy it yourself, we will install what you bought.

The one that causes trouble is a single-item job where the part you bought turns out to be the wrong one, or something needed is not there. The job stops, for a reason that is not our error, and there are only two ways it goes from here.

We go get it. We price the trip and the part and show it to you as a change order, exactly like any other change in scope. You approve it or you do not. Approve it and the job gets finished that day.

Or we come back. If you would rather source the part yourself, or the right one is not to be had that afternoon, we reschedule. The $195 you booked is due, and it carries to the rescheduled visit as a credit against the same job — you are not paying for it twice. A $50 fee covers getting back on the schedule. The job lands at $245 instead of $195.

That is the whole decision tree. There is no third outcome and no technician standing in your kitchen inventing one. It applies to single-item work, where the part you supply is the whole scope. A service call is a different animal with its own rules.

Which one is yours?

Single item, $195 — you can name it, photograph it, and the part is already there.

Service call, $275 — something is wrong. You need us to find out what, and fix it if we can.

Emergency, $395 — it is doing damage or it is a security problem. Four hours.

And if the answer is "all of the above, plus eleven other things" — that is not any of these. That is a list, and a list is priced by the job. It is also, per item, the cheapest way to hire us, for reasons we laid out in How Handyman Pricing Actually Works in Greenville.

Common questions

What is the minimum charge for a handyman in Greenville, SC?

$195 plus material, for one item you can define and photograph. It is the minimum to get a technician to your door.

Is the service call fee separate from the repair?

No. The $275 covers the visit and the diagnosis, and the repair itself if we can complete it in that visit. If the work is larger than that, you get a written estimate before anything else happens.

What if I supply the part on a single-item job and it turns out to be the wrong one?

The work stops, through no error of ours. We can go get what is needed and price it to you as a change order to approve or decline. If you would rather source it yourself, or the right part cannot be had that day, we reschedule: the $195 is due and carries to the return visit as a credit against the same job, plus a $50 fee to get back on the schedule. Service calls work differently.

Do you price by the clock?

No. We price by the job, the full price is agreed before work begins, and estimates are free.

What if I am not sure which one I need?

Send photos and describe it. We will tell you which one it is before you book, not after we arrive.