It is not easy to avail quality and reliable handymen services for small and varied home repair and maintenance jobs in India. However, today with the rise of many professionally managed companies that offer home maintenance and repair services in several cities in India, hiring an electrician, plumber, carpenter, painter or an appliance repair technician is at the push of a button. You no longer need to compromise on quality or unfair prices of local individual providers or depend on friends, relatives or neighbors for contact details of unreliable service providers.
Let me share a real life experience! A few days ago, a long lost friend of mine had some issues with his microwave oven. It had some sparks coming out and it stopped working. He called up a local technician who lived fifteen minutes away from his residence. But the technician was busy with some work and denied his request of repairing the oven. He then looked up online for some handyman service providing companies. He booked a request on the mobile app with one of companies. He was relieved to find this service nearby his locality and was extremely contented with the entire process of booking, pricing and the repair service of the trained technician provided by the company. The next minute he was reheating food in his microwave oven!
However, finding an appropriate handyman company for home repair jobs is a crucial task. You need to keep in mind a few aspects with respect to their skills, handling charges, their minimum visiting fee and so on. So here is an overview of what to do and a handy guide on how to hire an appropriate home maintenance and repair service provider. Are you ready?
Task Specific
At first, be specific with regards to the service you need. When it comes to home services it is a broad category and it could mean services ranging from electrical work to appliance repairs, plumbing to civil works or painting to deep cleaning your house. It’s important to be as specific as possible so that you don’t end up with the wrong service provider. All electricians may not have an expertise in repairing all kinds of appliances or all home repair service companies may not even offer specific repairing or cleaning services.
It’ll make more sense if you could explain your repair and maintenance job in detail whether online or offline to the concerned company. This might help the handyman sent by the company in assessing the task in a better way.
Skill, Experience and License To Work
It is wiser to look for companies providing trained professionals who possess experience of 1-2 years working in his or her respective field. It is also significant to check if the professional possesses a proper license or else you may be putting your appliance at risk!
Photo ID Proof
When hiring a service provider, always make sure to check the Photo Id proof of the technician unless you know him personally. This is for your own safety.
Good handyman companies usually do a background check before they recruit the professionals and get police verification to ensure safety of their clients. But it is also your responsibility to check the photo identity card of the person before allowing him or her to enter your premises.
Charges Of Handyman Services
If you hire a local electrician or a plumber randomly, chances are s/he will charge you depending on the face value, perhaps not the actual fees. This is an unorganized sector and charges are never transparent and fixed. However, most online as well as offline home services companies in mega cities like Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Chennai and similar others have a transparent billing process. They will offer both cash-on-service and payment by credit card options. Therefore, before you finalize a handyman, check their respective rates and if in a dilemma, do not hesitate to contact their customer service.
Visiting Sharges Of Service Pros
Some companies may charge you a nominal flat fee; they call it the booking charge or visiting/inspection charge. Inspection charges could be anywhere between Rs. 100 to Rs.300 and some of it may be adjusted in the overall service bill. Do not forget to check with the handyman company if they charge anything for mere inspection. It’s better to check this beforehand than repenting it later.
Rates Including Materials
A professional home services company would give you two options. You buy the materials and they offer the service. Or you may ask them to buy the materials and get it repaired/installed.
It makes more sense to ask for both kinds of price quotes for comparison and of course, to know what you have to pay once your job is done to your satisfaction.
Reviews and Ratings
It is very useful to check the concerned company’s reviews and ratings online before finalizing the work to the company. It can help you evaluate them better.
I hope this guide was useful and will help you choose the right service provider! Remember, it is all just a click away! My repaired microwave oven is dinging with ‘your dinner is ready’ sound. What are you eating for dinner?
