Welcome to North Van Handyman: What We Do & Our Standard
Meet North Van Handyman: the repairs we tackle, the code we work to, and the standard that keeps clients on Lonsdale calling us back.
North Van Handyman is a licensed home-repair crew based off Lonsdale Avenue, serving the North Shore since 2016. We handle drywall patching, door and lock fixes, deck board swaps, fixture mounting, tile touch-ups, and the odd 40-item punch list before a house sale. Our flat rate is $95/hour, minimum one hour, quoted before we start.
What kind of jobs do we actually take on?
The honest answer: the small and medium stuff most contractors won't return your call about. A leaking hose bib. A closet door off its track. A ceiling fan that needs mounting into a joist, not a plastic bracket. If a job needs a full building permit or structural engineering, we'll tell you and refer you out. Everything else is fair game.
Last April, a client on East 19th called us because a general contractor had ghosted her mid-reno. She had a bathroom vanity sitting in the hallway, a mirror in bubble wrap, and a toilet flange that wasn't level. Two of us finished it in a day and a half. Total: $1,420, parts included. She's called us four times since.
We also do what we call "one-visit safety rounds" for seniors: grab bars, smoke alarm batteries, tripping-hazard fixes. According to the CDC, one in four adults over 65 falls each year, and most of those falls happen at home [1]. A $180 visit prevents a $40,000 hospital stay. Do that math once.
How do we price the work, and why hourly?
Most handyman outfits quote per job. We tried that for our first two years and stopped. Here's why: per-job pricing punishes the client on small tasks (a five-minute fix priced at $150) and punishes us on the surprise stuff behind the drywall. Hourly, tracked to the quarter-hour, is fairer both ways.
| Pricing model | What you pay | Best for | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly ($95/hr) | Time on site + parts | Multi-item lists, unknowns | You watch the clock |
| Flat per job | Fixed quote | One clear task | Padded for risk |
| Day rate ($680) | Full 8-hour block | Punch lists, move-outs | Wasted if job is short |
For jobs over four hours, we cap the estimate. If we quote six hours and it takes eight, you pay for six. That's in writing on every work order. More on how we scope jobs is in our approach to picking the right partner.
What standard do we hold ourselves to on every job?
A standard is only real if it costs you something to keep it. Ours costs us time and occasionally money. Here's what we commit to on every visit:
1. We arrive inside a two-hour window, not a "sometime that day" window.
2. We text a photo of the finished work before we leave, even for small jobs.
3. We warranty our labour for 12 months, in writing, on the invoice.
4. We carry $2 million liability insurance and WorkSafeBC coverage, and we'll email you the certificates before we start.
5. We clean up. Vacuum, wipe, take the debris. You shouldn't know we were there except for the thing that now works.
6. If we break something, we fix it or replace it. No arguing.
7. We tell you when a job is outside our lane, and we recommend someone we'd hire ourselves.
Try this: next time you get three handyman quotes, ask each one what happens if they damage your floor. The answers will sort themselves.
Why does a small local crew beat a big service app?
Big platforms route your job to whoever picks up the ping first. You get a stranger, a rotating cast, and a support line in another time zone. We're four people. You'll meet at least two of us within your first two visits, and the third if the job runs long. That's the whole company. You can see a bit more about how we work on the site.
Consumer protection data from the Government of Canada shows home-service disputes are one of the top complaint categories every year [2]. Almost all of those disputes start with vague scope and no written warranty. We fixed that by making our scope boring and our warranty short enough to read.
FAQ
What areas do you serve?
North Vancouver (District and City), West Vancouver, Deep Cove, and Lynn Valley. We'll cross the bridge to Burnaby or East Van for jobs over four hours, but there's a $60 travel add-on. Anywhere on the North Shore, no travel charge.
Do you do emergency call-outs?
Yes, for water leaks, broken locks, and windows that won't close. Emergency rate is $140/hour with a two-hour minimum, and we aim to be on site within 90 minutes during business hours. After 8pm we're honest: call a 24-hour plumber or locksmith first.
Can you handle electrical or plumbing?
Minor work, yes. Swapping a light fixture, replacing a faucet, installing a dishwasher. Anything requiring a permit, new circuits, gas lines, or main-stack plumbing we pass to a licensed electrician or plumber. It's not worth your safety or our insurance.
How do I get a quote?
Text or email photos of the job with a short description. We'll come back within a business day with a time estimate and hourly total. For anything under two hours, we usually book directly without a site visit. See our welcome page for contact details.