February used to terrify me. After the holiday rush of people wanting projects done before guests arrived, January and February would flatline. Some weeks I had two jobs. Some weeks I had zero. Then I signed my first property management contract — 14 units, quarterly maintenance visits — and February stopped being a problem. That single contract was $2,800 every three months, guaranteed, rain or shine. It changed the entire financial structure of my business.
The Math That Makes Recurring Work Superior
A one-time customer costs you money before you ever pick up a tool. You spend time on the initial phone call, the estimate visit, the quote preparation, the follow-up, and the scheduling back-and-forth. For a typical $300 job, that pre-work eats 45 minutes to an hour of unbillable time. Your effective hourly rate drops significantly when you factor in customer acquisition.
A recurring customer skips almost all of that. They are already in your system. You know their property, their preferences, their access codes. You show up, do the work, invoice, get paid. The acquisition cost is zero because you already acquired them. On recurring maintenance visits, my effective hourly rate is 25 to 35 percent higher than on one-time calls — same quality of work, dramatically less overhead.
Seasonal Maintenance Packages
Most homes need the same maintenance every year, and most homeowners never get around to it. Package these tasks into seasonal visits and you have a product that sells itself:
- Spring: Check and replace HVAC filters, clean dryer vents, touch up exterior paint and caulking, inspect deck and fence for winter damage, test smoke and CO detectors, clean gutters
- Summer: Service outdoor faucets and hose bibs, check weatherstripping on doors, inspect and clean window tracks, tighten loose hardware throughout the house, check attic ventilation
- Fall: Clean gutters again, winterize exterior faucets, seal gaps around windows and doors, check furnace filter, reverse ceiling fans, inspect roof for missing or damaged shingles
- Winter: Interior maintenance — fix sticky doors, adjust cabinet hardware, touch up interior paint, caulk bathrooms, tighten loose fixtures, check for drafts
I price each seasonal visit at $175 to $275 depending on the size of the home. A full-year maintenance agreement for four visits lands between $700 and $1,100 per customer. At 20 maintenance customers, that is $14,000 to $22,000 in predictable annual revenue — work that is pre-scheduled, pre-paid, and takes minimal coordination.
Property Management Contracts
Property managers are the holy grail of recurring work. They manage dozens or hundreds of units that constantly need repairs, turnovers, and maintenance. One good property management relationship can fill 20 to 40 percent of your schedule.
The key to landing property management contracts: reliability and responsiveness. Property managers do not care about the cheapest price — they care about the handyman who answers the phone, shows up when promised, and handles tenant-occupied units without generating complaints. Be that person and you will never run out of work.
Negotiate a monthly retainer or per-unit rate rather than per-call pricing. I charge one property management company $45 per unit per month for up to two service calls per unit. On 30 units, that is $1,350 per month guaranteed. Some months I visit every unit. Some months I visit five. It averages out, and the predictable income is worth far more than maximizing revenue on every individual call.
Pricing Recurring Work Correctly
A common mistake is discounting recurring work too deeply. Yes, recurring clients get a better rate — they deserve it because they are giving you predictable volume. But the discount should be 10 to 15 percent off your standard rate, not 30 or 40 percent. If your standard rate is $85 per hour, recurring clients pay $72 to $76 per hour. That is a meaningful discount for them while still maintaining your margins.
Do not fall into the trap of racing to the bottom on price to lock in a contract. A contract that loses you money on every visit is worse than no contract at all. Run the numbers: if a quarterly maintenance visit takes three hours at $75 per hour, that is $225 per visit. If you quoted $150 to win the contract, you are making $50 per hour — and you could have spent those three hours on a one-time job at your full rate.
Automating the Schedule
Recurring work only works if the scheduling runs itself. You cannot manually remember to call 20 customers every quarter to book their maintenance visit. Set up recurring job templates in HandyBook with automatic scheduling reminders. The system creates the job, notifies the customer, and puts it on your calendar without you lifting a finger. That is the difference between a maintenance program that grows and one that falls apart after two months because you got busy and forgot to follow up.