What Do People Hire a Handyman For? 55 Real Florida Requests, Sorted

Doors, drywall, and bathrooms, in that order. Between August 12 and September 3, 2026, 55 estimate requests came through the quote form on this site: 50 from homeowners and 5 from businesses and property managers. We put each one in a category by the work described. A request can land in more than one, because a lot of people asked for two or three things at once.

The table is the closest thing to a handyman services list written by customers instead of by a handyman business, and it doubles as a list of the most common handyman services in Florida. Each row links to the page that explains that kind of work in full, and most rows are the minor home repairs and interior repairs a skilled handyman finishes in a visit.

Three of the things people asked for were not handyman work at all: a roof, a washer and dryer repair, and a lanai full of furniture to haul off. Those got a straight answer on the first call, which is what you should expect from anyone you ask.

Yes, and it is the most common reason people call. Thirteen of the 55 requests were doors or windows: three bi-fold doors to install, an exterior door and its frame in a garage that had to be replaced together, a sliding glass door a lawn crew had broken, a kitchen door frame rebuilt after old water damage so new doors could hang, ventilation louvers cut into a utility closet door, and a window to replace. Florida humidity swells wood, sun cooks exterior doors, and builder-grade hinges give out, so a sticking or sagging door is usually a hinge, strike, or frame problem with a known fix. Door repair and window repair are the same visit for us, and the service page for doors walks through each fix.

The one door we will not repair is a sliding glass door. When the rollers, track, and glass have all aged out together, a repair buys a season, so we convert the opening to French doors instead.

Yes, once the water has stopped. Twelve requests were drywall repair, ceilings, or water damage, and most began with a leak: a ceiling sagging under a roof leak that the homeowner had propped up, wet drywall to cut out and replace, a kitchen wall with old water damage. The rest were everyday: a knockdown texture to strip and redo, a cut-out in an exterior wall to fill, a wall that needed repair because curtain hardware kept pulling out of it.

The order never changes. A roofer or plumber fixes the leak, then the water damage repair crew cuts back to dry framing, hangs new board, matches the texture, and paints. A small patch on a flat wall is a fair weekend job, and our drywall repair guide shows how. A ceiling, a textured wall, or anything bigger than a dinner plate is a call.

Both, depending on the job. Ten requests were bathrooms, and nine were repairs rather than remodels: a glass shower door off its hinge with the glass intact, a shower door to install, another to repair, mold in the grout of a walk-in shower, a vanity swap where the customer supplies the vanity, two faucet replacements with the faucets already bought, and a question about refinishing a tub.

A handyman handles minor plumbing, meaning fixtures in place: a faucet, a cartridge, a vanity, a garbage disposal installation on existing connections, or a toilet that connects where the old one did. Those bathroom upgrades are handyman work; plumbing services that move a drain or a supply line belong to a licensed plumber or a remodel. Tile and grout repair covers the moldy seams, and when the list turns out to be a walk-in shower with new tile, it becomes a tub-to-shower conversion with its own price.

Yes, and these are the jobs people are most surprised to be calling about. Eight requests were hanging and mounting: a 70 inch TV going where a smaller one used to hang, curtain rods three separate times, and wire closet shelving to replace with wood rods and shelves. One homeowner had tried the curtain rods several times and could not keep the hardware from falling out of the wall.

That last one is the whole story. The hard part is not the hanging, it is what the screw goes into. A stud, a proper toggle, or a masonry anchor in a block wall holds for years; drywall alone does not. If you want to try it yourself first, finding the stud without a stud finder is the guide to read. TV mounting, curtain rods, closet systems, and furniture assembly are the installation services a handyman finishes in one visit, and assembling furniture is the one people forget to add until the boxes are in the garage. Professional installation is mostly about the anchor, not the item.

Anything below the roof. Seven requests were exterior: wood rot around a garage, soffit and fascia starting to rot, a stucco flower box that had let water into the wall behind it, facade and window trim to repair, a screened porch to rescreen with rotten wood replaced, gutter cleaning under a big oak, a gate and a double gate to fix, and a chimney to paint.

Wood rot, stucco, and siding (repair page), soffit and fascia (repair page), gutter cleaning and gutter repair (page), screen installation and screen repair (page), fence repair and gate repair (page), deck repairs, and exterior painting are all handyman work, the outdoor spaces version of the same list. The roof itself goes to a roofer, pressure washing and window cleaning are not things we offer, and holiday light installation is one of the seasonal services we leave to others. The exterior and storm repairs page draws the line clearly.

Yes, as like-for-like swaps. Six requests were fixtures: three garage exterior lights and a hanging outdoor light, a new light fixture, three ceiling fans plus a batch of ceiling lights, and fans and fixtures with a question about a bathroom exhaust fan. Installing light fixtures (page) and ceiling fans (page) is minor electrical work when the new fixture goes on the same box and the same circuit as the old one: fixture replacements, not rewiring.

New circuits, new wiring runs, under cabinet lighting that needs a new wire, security cameras, and smart home upgrades that touch the panel are electrical services for a licensed electrician. A good handyman says so at the estimate instead of discovering it on the ladder.

Painting and flooring, yes. Five requests were painting (a bedroom with the paint already bought, garage walls, the second half of a house interior, two office walls, a chimney) and five were flooring and baseboards (LVP taken up and reinstalled with new baseboards, a gap between a door casing and a new floor, subfloors in a house the previous owner left rough). Interior and exterior painting (page) and flooring installation (page), including tile flooring and laminate, sit on nearly every handyman services list because they finish the other repairs.

Kitchens are the exception that proves the rule. Five requests were kitchens, and they were the biggest jobs in the set: a full renovation with cabinets, counters, and flooring; a drop ceiling demo with new insulation and lighting before cabinets; cabinets to replace; wall tile and cabinets in a commercial space. Those are larger projects and contractor work, the home improvement projects that stop being handyman tasks. The reason a kitchen refresh with backsplash installation (page) or a full remodel (page) can still come from one crew here is that the company holds Florida contractor licenses, which a solo handyman does not.

Send the list. Eighteen of the 55 requests, one in three, described two or more separate jobs in a single message: faucets plus curtain rods plus grout, painting plus ceiling fans plus ceiling lights, a shower door plus a slider. Four people said they had already bought the materials, from paint to a TV bracket to a closet system, and just needed someone to install them.

A list that crosses trades is exactly what a professional handyman is for. A plumber will not hang your curtain rods and a painter will not swap your faucet, so the same service list is either three appointments with three specialized services or one visit from one crew. That is also what separates handyman service companies from a solo operator: the crew carries every trade on the list. On our side the whole list goes on one written price and the visit gets scheduled long enough to finish it. Property managers run the same play at scale, which is what the property managers page covers.

Anything the state defines as contracting. Florida has no handyman license; it licenses contractors, and the line between a minor repair and contracting is where a lot of handymen get into trouble. Roofing, load bearing walls, moving plumbing or electrical, and most permitted work are on the far side of that line. Our Florida handyman license requirements page cites the statute and explains it plainly, so this post will not repeat it.

Whatever handyman business you hire, ask for general liability insurance and proper licensing for the work, and know that local regulations in your county decide the permit side. Household appliances like washing machines go to an appliance tech, not a handyman, and grab bars and safety gates are handyman work under aging-in-place. Ours holds state certified contractor licenses CRC1336072 and CBC1258366, which is why the kitchen jobs, the wall conversion, and the door frame rebuilds above were all work we could quote.

The price they were quoted and whether the crew showed up when it said it would. Requests tell you what people need; reviews tell you what they judged the work on afterward. We counted the themes across 822 Google reviews with written text from our six Florida offices.

• 249 mention the estimate, the quote, or the price. People remember whether the number they approved was the number they paid.
• 224 mention that the crew was on time or prompt.
• 165 describe a list of several jobs finished in one visit, which matches the one-in-three who send a list.
• The work people mention most: bathrooms 80, doors 76, painting 75, flooring 71, drywall 61. The reviews rank the work almost exactly the way the requests do.

If you are weighing whether to do a job yourself or make the call, handyman versus DIY runs the five questions we would ask, and the full list of what a handyman can do covers the jobs that did not show up in these three weeks.

Send the form on any page of this site or call 800-931-1106. There is no online booking calendar; a person calls back, looks at the job, and puts the price in writing before any work starts. Give the job details in as much depth as you like and attach photos if you have them. Estimates are free, the crews are our own employees, and every job carries a one year warranty. Six offices cover Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Clearwater, Sarasota, and Melbourne, the handyman technicians are the same at each, and the handyman services page lists the maintenance work and repairs each one handles.