The single price that keeps a 20-minute door fix from losing money after drive time, gas, and setup. Enter your hourly rate, drive time, and dispatch fee — get the rounded floor that stops the "quick job" from eating your day.
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Someone calls: "Can you come over and fix a squeaky door? Quick job." You drive 15 minutes, spend 20 minutes on the fix, drive 15 minutes back. On paper that's 20 minutes of work at your $75/hr rate — bill $25 and go home. On the actual clock it's 50 minutes plus 5 minutes of scheduling and 5 minutes of writing the invoice. That's $25 for a full hour of your working day, which is $25/hr, not $75.
The minimum service call is the fix. It's a single price that says "every visit costs at least this much" — enough to make the tiny jobs pay for the time they actually consume. Without it, small jobs quietly bleed you dry while looking like easy wins.
| Min service call | Market context |
|---|---|
| Under $100 | Rural / low cost-of-living market, or handyman new to pricing discipline. Easy customer acceptance, low margin ceiling. |
| $100 – $150 | Standard suburban solo handyman. Absorbs drive on 15–20 min trips, dispatch fee $15–25. |
| $150 – $250 | Premium metro market or high-drive-time territory. Requires clear positioning — "master handyman" or licensed contractor, not "the guy with a truck". |
| Over $250 | Very premium — either genuine specialist market (high-end urban, custom work) or the math is showing you're driving too far. Consider tighter service radius before raising min. |
No minimum at all. "I just charge my hourly rate." Sounds fair — is actually a slow-motion loss. A $75/hr rate on a 20-min job = $25 revenue for 55+ minutes of your day. Do three of those a day and you've booked 3 hours of the day for $75 total. Rent a garage, put on the truck insurance, keep the tools sharp — for $75/day.
Minimum too low. "$50 minimum, that seems fair." $50 doesn't cover 15 min drive + 30 min job + gas + tool time + admin. The minimum has to reflect the actual time cost of showing up anywhere, not just the on-site labor. If your minimum is under $75, you're likely losing on every trip.
Waiving the minimum "just this once". Regulars who "only need a small thing." Neighbors who "know it'll be quick." Referrals from a big job. Every carve-out re-trains customers that the minimum is negotiable — and small jobs start creeping back in. Hold the line or don't have one.
Don't hide it. Put it in the first phone call: "My minimum service call is $[X]. If the job takes longer than [Y] hours, we go to my hourly rate of $[Z]/hr from there. Materials extra." Customers who balk aren't your customers. Customers who understand it's the cost of professional service become long-term clients.
For repeat clients, offer bundle visits: three small jobs on one trip absorbs the same minimum but delivers more value. That's how you say yes to the "quick job" without eating the cost — schedule it for when they have their next handful of items.
Say yes to good jobs, say no to money-losing "quick fixes", and hand every customer a clean scope + invoice that makes you look like a professional. Everything a solo handyman needs to run the business side of the toolbox.