Handyman or Licensed Contractor? What Your Job Actually Needs
Hire the wrong one and you either overpay for a twenty-minute job or you get unpermitted work you'll have to disclose when you sell. The dividing line in Florida is clearer than most people expect — here's where it falls, and where we sit on it.
How each option actually works
A state- or county-licensed trade professional who pulls permits, schedules inspections, and is legally required for regulated work.
Anything structural, anything behind the wall, and anything that needs a permit or an inspection.
Non-permitted home help — mounting, assembling, installing, swapping, delivering, and hauling.
The small jobs that pile up, and the ones most contractors won't book because the trip charge outweighs the work.
Point by point
Typical scope
Structural work, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, roofing, additions, anything requiring an inspection.
TV mounting, furniture and BBQ assembly, shelving, mirrors, curtain rods, smart-home devices, doorbell cameras, deliveries and hauling.
Licensing
Licensed for their specific trade. Florida requires it for the categories above — that isn't optional or negotiable.
We handle the work that doesn't require a trade license, and we tell you plainly when your job crosses that line.
Lead time
Often weeks, and longer in season when every crew in SWFL is booked.
Often same-day or next-day.
Small jobs
Most won't quote them. A minimum call-out can cost more than the work itself is worth.
Small jobs are the entire business. Starting at $99.
Getting a number
Site visit, written estimate, sometimes a fee for the visit itself.
Text a photo and a sentence. Flat quote back, usually within the hour.
Permits and inspections
Pulls the permit, meets the inspector, owns the paperwork.
We don't take permitted work. If yours needs a permit, that's a contractor job and we'll say so.
When each option wins
Call a licensed contractor — not us — when
The job touches wiring beyond a like-for-like fixture swap, opens a wall, moves plumbing, alters the roof, changes anything load-bearing, or touches your HVAC system. Also call one when the work needs a permit or an inspection, when you're remodeling and want a single party coordinating trades, and any time an insurance claim or a future disclosure depends on the work being documented. Unpermitted work on a regulated system is the kind of savings that shows up as a problem years later, at closing.
Call us when the job is real work but not trade work
A 75-inch TV that needs to go on the wall properly and the old one hauled off. A flat-pack wardrobe with 140 parts. Shelves that need to hit studs. A Ring doorbell, a smart lock, a mesh router that actually reaches the lanai. Boxes to the storage unit. These are the jobs that sit on the list for months because they're too small for a contractor and too annoying for a Saturday.
What these jobs cost with us
Our published starting prices, against real jobs. Where a job isn't ours, we've said so.
Mount a TV above the fireplace, haul the old one away
One visit, one price, and the old set doesn't live in your garage for a year.
Assemble a bedroom set delivered in six boxes
Flat-rate assembly, packaging broken down and taken with us.
Add a circuit for a new lanai kitchen
That's a licensed electrician with a permit. Not us — and anyone who tells you otherwise is a reason to hang up.
Half a day of scattered small jobs
Shelves, a doorbell camera, two furniture pieces, and a dump run. Booked as a block instead of five separate call-outs.
The bottom line
If it needs a permit, an inspection, or a trade license, hire the licensed contractor — no exceptions, and we'll be the first to tell you. If it's mounting, assembling, installing, moving or hauling, a contractor is an expensive way to buy an hour of work. Not sure which side yours lands on? Send us a photo. Telling you 'that one's a contractor job' costs us nothing and saves you a wasted appointment.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my job needs a permit?
Your city or county building department is the only authority that can answer it for your address, and thresholds differ across Lee and Collier. The reliable rule of thumb: if the work changes structure, wiring, plumbing, HVAC or the roof, assume a permit is required until the building department says otherwise. Cosmetic and surface-level work generally isn't.
Is a handyman cheaper than a contractor?
For small non-permitted work, substantially — mostly because you're not paying for licensed trade time, permit handling, or a minimum call-out sized for much bigger jobs. For regulated work the comparison doesn't exist: a contractor is what the law requires, and the cheaper quote isn't a real option.
Will you tell me if my job actually needs a contractor?
Yes, and we'd rather do it on the phone than in your driveway. We turn down work that crosses into licensed trades. It's a short conversation that saves you a wasted appointment and saves us a job we shouldn't take.
Can you work in a gated community?
We work across gated and HOA communities throughout Lee and Collier daily. Many of them want a certificate of insurance on file before a vendor is badged in at the gate — mention it when you book so it's handled before the truck is sitting at the callbox.
Can you handle several small jobs in one visit?
That's usually the cheapest way to buy our time. A half-day block covers a run of small jobs for less than booking each one as its own call-out, and there's only one trip charge in it.
Other comparisons
Need it fixed, moved, or hauled?
Call, text a photo, or send a quote request. Most jobs quoted same day.