How to organize a business “Husband for an hour”? How to open a company “Husband for an hour” Open a master for an hour

An employee of the “Husband for an Hour” service anonymously told The Village how to earn 300 thousand on household repairs, what to do with dishonest clients and whether it is possible to hammer a nail sexually.

Gaya Marina Garbaruk May 31, 2012
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A little bit about yourself

I am 33 years old, I was born in Tajikistan, grew up and studied in Altai. My mother is Russian, and my father is Uzbek-Tajik. I also recently graduated from a technical school in absentia - I studied refrigeration and compressor units, and now I was immediately accepted into the university for the third year of MGSU, so I will be an engineer. Someday I’ll open my own business, but for now I’m working for someone else’s uncle. In general, since the third grade I worked part-time, repairing watches: I already had a student at the age of ten, a 40-year-old man, he still earns his bread in Tajikistan with this craft. I untwisted it, repaired it, put it back together - and now I can do the same with any thing: figure it out, think about it, fix it.

Recruitment

The first time I saw the expression “husband for an hour” on stickers in the subway was as soon as I arrived in Moscow, six years ago. I thought then: “What a nightmare, probably pornography under the guise of a hammer.” About a year and a half ago, I came across an advertisement on the Internet: the company was looking for craftsmen to carry out household repairs of varying degrees of complexity, we provide clients. So I turned out to be this “husband for an hour” - however, I still don’t introduce myself to acquaintances so that stupid questions don’t arise. The office didn’t ask for any documents, didn’t sign any contracts - it was all unofficial. You also have to take care of taxes yourself, although, to be honest, I don’t know anyone who pays. You need to register as an individual entrepreneur - this is a lot of hemorrhoids.

Competition in the market

Now, if you Google, you will find fifty such services in Moscow. Someone makes an expensive website with the expectation of a wealthy client with claims, but most do not bother with the site at all, the main thing is that the phone number is indicated. Moreover, everyone’s filling is stupid - continuous repetitions, so that they appear higher in searches. In some offices, foremen work for a salary, regardless of whether they worked well or poorly. Then they have clear prices. And there are companies organized like a social network, we call it a guild among ourselves: there is a system of titles, and a rating based on reviews, and the opportunity to earn decent money depending on efficiency. This is exactly what I work in. And which master you will come across is a pure lottery.

Hierarchy

I know the owner of the company only by his voice. I suspect that he is from St. Petersburg. Probably a cool person: he once warned that he could listen to all our conversations. Otherwise, in our guild there is real capitalism that encourages competition. At first you are just a master. Based on the rating, the number of completed orders and the money brought in, you can be assigned an expert. The rating is based on customer reviews. The higher the position, the greater the chance that you will be sent an application. We sort of buy orders via SMS. First, the call center and the client agree on the approximate amount and scope of work, then the craftsmen who work in the area receive an application, and they participate in the tender: who will throw 100 rubles for the order, who will throw 150. Whoever paid the most takes the order. That is, in fact, the guild is an intermediary to whom you give 10–15%, and the rest you work for yourself.

Clients

In Moscow, people constantly don’t have enough time to do some small things, it’s easier for them to pay, so the demand is consistently good. You won’t call a construction company to hang a cornice for you. And the master came, hung it in an hour, and earned a thousand or two. Most often, single girls over 25 call us. I’ll say right away: I’ve never heard of office romances amid renovations. There are no handsome men among us, and the process itself is not very attractive, to be honest. Male clients are rare - usually when something difficult needs to be done that you can’t do alone, for example, assembling a huge cabinet. Pensioners call the housing office in the old fashioned way, although I do not advise anyone to contact them. The people who work there are usually illiterate air traffic technicians who are not hired anywhere else. After the housing departments, I redid the electrics a bunch of times, but they had fewer problems with the plumbing. They come, swear, they are so dirty. Very rude, boorish people. They behave as if the whole world depends on them.

Community

Of course, we have neither a trade union nor corporate events. We don’t really know each other, there are only a few stories when I came to clients, told them about our company, and then they also got a job with us. The rating of masters is also good because we are still men - just let us defeat someone. Therefore, in the top 10 best masters there is constant movement: people gain experience, receive good feedback from clients and go on the warpath. I quickly entered the top five. It’s not like we lock ourselves away on the weekends with books on “How to hammer a nail in a sexy way”, everything only comes with experience. By the way, our women also work: as painters and cleaners. They are called “wives for an hour” - not at all humane.

Prices

Sometimes you can come, ask for a minimum price and do everything superbly so that the client is satisfied, leaves you a good review and recommends you to friends. It is important not to be rude, not to say too much, and to do everything quickly. Another plus is if you clean up after yourself. The client is generally watching you, counting how many ridiculous movements you make there. One day, my brother and I were working for a guy, I was hanging shelves in the kitchen, and I sent him to the bathroom. So the client was surprised: they say, why does it cost you 150 rubles to drill a hole, and for your brother it costs 120. I then say: well, look at how he works - like a pig, there is dirt all around. And I use a vacuum cleaner - and it turns out faster and cleaner. There is not a single speck of dust on my carpet or furniture. That's the difference in price.

Earnings

I make at least three thousand rubles a day, and if you start working before lunch, you’ll have time to make 6–8 thousand. But here you have to get up early and ride the subway with a backpack with tools, and not stand in a car in traffic jams. The only problem is that you have to carry kilograms of tools on yourself: you don’t know what order will come. My brother had the earnings record - more than 300 thousand a month, but he was the one who seriously ran.

Communication

According to statistics, 80% of people are pleasant, but there is always a margin of unpleasantness. I wasn't really deceived, but there were cases. If you feel that the client is in trouble, you write everything down on paper, all types of small work and the cost, because people are used to freebies and strive not to pay. I usually do this if the order is over 10 thousand, so that there are no misunderstandings. There was another story when a rich client asked him to glue the leather on the sofa at the same time, he gave me superglue, but it left black marks. So I ruined his furniture. But he realized that it was his own fault, he did not swear. Here, of course, everything depends on the level of human culture. Another master worked with me at the same time, older, bigger - so the client shouted at him, but he treated me very respectfully. Well, apparently, how you position yourself.

Philosophy

It is important not to disdain work and not to bend your fingers - they say, I studied, I have a higher education. If you're an idiot, you'll be an idiot with a diploma. I was also offered a job in an office, but I realized that this was mortal boredom. And so I constantly move around the city, meeting new people. And the brain is constantly working, it’s always such a puzzle: not only how to do it technically correctly, but also quickly, aesthetically beautiful, without noise and dust.

♦ Capital investments – from 400,000 rubles
♦ Payback – from 8 months

Women get married not only because they fall in love and want to connect their lives with a specific man, but also to save themselves from having to worry about minor repairs, installing plumbing, installing lighting equipment and much more.

Many modern men are either too busy with their main job or no longer know how to do all of the above, and the number of single women is in no hurry to decrease.

That is why business idea “husband for an hour” so promising today.

If you have several handy acquaintances, and you yourself can easily cope with male household work, then you will be able to return your capital investment in a short time.

Advantages and disadvantages of starting a business “husband for an hour”

You need to start drawing up a business plan for your startup by weighing all the pros and cons in order to understand whether the advantages of the “husband for an hour” business outweigh the disadvantages.

Advantages:

Small capital investment.
There are a large number of unoccupied niches in this field of activity, because this idea is relatively new.
Quick return on initial investment.
You don’t need large office space to open a company in a small space.
High demand among the population.

Flaws:

But there is only one serious drawback to the “husband for an hour” business: you won’t be able to earn huge sums of money, because the cost of the work that your craftsmen will perform is relatively low.

If this doesn’t bother you, then you can safely start a business.

What services does your husband provide per hour?

Entrepreneurs, trying on this business, often put forward as an argument against the fact that a “husband for an hour” will not be able to compete with large construction companies or even individual construction teams.

But the whole point is that the craftsmen who will work for you will not have to compete with them.

Construction teams do not undertake minor repair or installation work; they prefer to take one object and completely build or repair it.

While your “husbands for an hour” will do other things:

repair and install plumbing and household appliances;
carry out installation and dismantling of furniture;
install switches and lighting;
cut locks;
hang curtain rods;
install interior doors;
configure and install satellite dishes;
carry out minor repair work, for example, leveling slopes after installing windows, etc.

Does the “husband for an hour” business need an advertising company?

Needed!

It will be quite difficult to form a client base only from among your acquaintances, and the sooner you have regular clients, the faster you will recoup your capital investment.

You can tell people about your company “husband for an hour” using:

newspaper advertisements;
television (advertising in the form of a creeping line indicating telephone numbers is sufficient);
business cards that you will hand out in public places;
Internet: local forums, social networks.

Calendar plan for opening a business “husband for an hour”

“Even the most beautiful and powerful idea is completely useless until we decide to use it.”
Richard Bach

Launching this startup does not require lengthy preparatory work.

Once you have an idea, registering a business, searching for premises, recruiting staff, purchasing tools and an advertising campaign will not take you more than 5 months with due diligence:

Stage	Jan.	Feb.	March	Apr.	May
Registration and obtaining necessary permits
Rent of premises and repairs therein (if necessary)
Purchasing tools for craftsmen’s work
Recruitment
Advertising campaign
Opening

Stages of starting a business “husband for an hour”

If you seriously intend to open a “husband for an hour” company, then you need to start by indicating specific calculations.

Then you should begin to implement it stage by stage.

Registration

The most beneficial form of business registration for you is individual entrepreneur.

In this case, you can pay taxes according to a simplified scheme: UTII.

When registering your company, indicate all possible codes so as not to waste time and money on redoing documents in the future: 36.14, 45.31, 45.33, 45.42.

The registration procedure for the “husband for an hour” company will take you about two months.

Room

Decide on the profile of your business: if you want to repair household appliances, then you will need a room of at least 50 square meters. meters, so that it would be enough for the administrative premises, and for the repair shop, and for office offices.

If you do not want to open a repair shop on the basis of your “husband for an hour” company, then a small room with a total area of 25–30 square meters is enough. in order to place there a control room, a closet for storing tools and a room where the craftsmen will change clothes and relax.

The idea of opening a workshop for repairing household appliances is not bad, but competition in this sector is much higher than in the “husband for an hour” business, so decide for yourself how profitable it is.

In order for the business to pay off and not require large capital investments, you need to rent premises for your company in a densely populated residential area. This is how you can reduce rental costs and quickly build a customer base.

Tools and equipment

In order to open a “husband for an hour” company, you will definitely need to rent or buy office space. And any office needs to be equipped.

This stage involves the following expenses:

Expense item	Qty	Amount (in rub.)
Total:		160,000 rub.
Indoor repairs (the amount depends on the condition of your premises)		30,000 (light cosmetic repairs)
Table (for the dispatcher, for the director, dining for staff)	3	20 000
Chairs and work chairs	6	15 000
Service bathroom equipment		10 000
Laptop	1	18 000
Printer+scanner+copier		20 000
Telephone set		1 000
Lockers for changing clothes and storing personal belongings of staff	5	20 000
Rack and tool storage	1	8 000
Other		18 000

Even if you hire excellent craftsmen, if you give them bad tools, you will incur costs because these tools will not withstand the daily load.

You should purchase professional tools from trusted manufacturers.

The number of tools directly depends on the number of “men for an hour” who will work for you.

Each of them needs:

Expense item	Amount (in rub.)
Total:	90,000 rub.
Screwdriver	3 000
Drill	7 000
Hammer	30 000
Jigsaw	5 000
Bulgarian	8 000
Glue gun	2 000
Set of tools (wrenches, hammers, pliers, screwdrivers, meter, nails, screws, different sizes, etc.)	20 000
Workwear set	5 000
Other	10 000

Now multiply this amount by the number of craftsmen you are going to hire.

Refuse the temptation to buy one set of tools for two craftsmen, because your business will suffer because specialists will have to work in turns, which will affect the number of orders they complete.

Staff

The number of employees you have to hire directly depends on the size of your man-for-hour company.

If you don’t have too much start-up capital, then to begin with you can limit yourself to hiring two generalists and a cleaner.

At the initial stage, you can perform the functions of a dispatcher (accept orders) yourself.

But you can entrust bookkeeping to an outsourcing company or hire a part-time accountant, which will help reduce business costs.

How you will pay the masters is up to you.

You can give them a fixed rate, or you can give them a rate + percentage.

The idea of financial remuneration for craftsmen depending on the number of completed orders is more profitable for the owner of a “husband for an hour” company, because this will encourage specialists to do their job better.

Keep in mind that “husbands for an hour” will have to go to the call along with all the tools and in uniform.

It is impossible to travel on public transport with all this luggage.

Purchasing cars and keeping drivers on staff is unprofitable for a new business.

It is better to hire craftsmen who have their own cars and issue them coupons for gasoline.

How much does it cost to open a “husband for an hour” company?

It is quite difficult to say definitively how much money you will have to invest in starting a business, because everything depends on the scale of your idea.

The more services your company will provide, the more employees you plan to hire, the more money you need to have to launch a startup.

If, for example, you decide to hire only two craftsmen, take orders yourself and not provide services for repairing household appliances, you can get by with 400,000 rubles.

But the stated amount for opening a business “husband for an hour” may be different:

lower if you can cut costs, for example, by renting rather than buying tools for work or using your own apartment or house as an office;
higher if you are going to provide an expanded range of services and need a large premises.

The table of current monthly expenses of the “husband for an hour” business looks like this:

The amount of expenses for employee salaries depends on what percentage of the profit you pay to your craftsmen and how many orders they complete during the month.

where to start creating a “husband for an hour” business:

How much can you earn by opening a “husband for an hour” company?

Keep in mind that there are different services and different clients.

It’s one thing to install an outlet or make slopes, and the client himself clearly explains what he needs. In this case, you can take a fixed payment for the work performed.

But there are clients who themselves don’t know what they need, or who list a long list of work for their “husband for an hour,” then you can charge an hourly rate.

Include in the price list a service such as “consultation”, let it be inexpensive, but visiting people’s homes, wasting time and money, and earning nothing at the same time is wrong.

It all depends on the number of your customers and the cost of the orders themselves.

If we take the average indicators of such companies, they earn from 150 to 500,000 rubles per month.

As you can see, in any case you will not lose money.

When trying out such a business, you are probably thinking: husband for an hour - is it profitable? this business, will it bring me profit?

It will pay off if you create competent competitive advantages and quickly form a client base.

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Lovers of high-quality work and tight deadlines prefer a specialist - “a husband for an hour” to mechanic Kolya from the housing office with an eternal fume and a cigarette in his mouth. He quickly responds to calls, while many construction and repair companies are ready to provide assistance late in the evening, at night and on holidays.

Comprehensive custom-made household services have been in demand for more than 10 years. Help is needed not only for single women, but also for pensioners, young married couples and even men themselves. They call a specialist as an assistant, with whom it is faster and easier to lay laminate flooring or install a sink.

Both large construction and repair companies and individual entrepreneurs provide household services. The latter, naturally, value their work at almost half the price. At the same time, the craftsmen provide a guarantee for their work - from 6 months to two years.

“Husbands for an hour” are universal - they are capable of several types of activities at once, as well as highly specialized ones - electricians, plumbers, masons. First aid costs more.

What does a “call husband” do?

Plumbing work (replacement of pipes, taps, installation of plumbing, repair of the water supply system);

Electrical installation work (replacement of old wiring, installation or repair of sockets and switches, installation of light bulbs, chandeliers);

Electrical and communication work (connection of cable television, Internet, installation and configuration of household appliances, repair of faulty household appliances);

Carpentry (furniture assembly or repair);

Repair work (wallpapering, laying flooring, tiles, whitewashing or painting the ceiling, replacing worn furniture upholstery);

Also, the “husband for an hour” can clean the room, take out construction waste, mow the lawn in the garden, cut down or plant a tree.

How much does a “husband earn per hour”

On average, monthly “husbands” receive from 20,000 rubles in the regions and from 40,000 rubles in the capital. A master can earn from 3,000 to 8,000 rubles per day. Moreover, all proceeds, if we are talking about a hired employee, go to the “piggy bank” of the construction and repair company. In many organizations, “husbands for an hour” have a clearly defined salary and a percentage of completed orders that supplements it.

If a master works independently, without intermediaries, then he takes everything honestly earned for himself with a clear conscience.

What does a master’s earnings come from? Standard services - wiring, installation and repair of sockets, replacement of burnt out light bulbs - are paid according to a fixed tariff established by the company or by the master himself, if we are talking about an individual entrepreneur.

For example, for installation work the “husband” receives from 100 to 1,500 rubles, depending on the type of activity (100 rubles for drilling a hole in a brick wall, 1,500 rubles for assembling and installing a ceiling cornice).

Most construction and repair companies set an hourly wage for the work of a craftsman. After all, he may be delayed on the task due to force majeure circumstances that arose when eliminating the customer’s domestic problem. In Moscow, calling a handyman costs from 300-500 rubles and more.

“Husband for an hour” can come to the call, independently purchasing the materials necessary for the customer (screwdrivers, dowels, mixers). Such care will cost the owner of a house or apartment approximately 500 rubles.

A consultation with a specialist prior to repair work costs on average from 500 to 700 rubles. This includes call charges.

If a master is forced to waste time due to the fault of an unscrupulous customer who interferes with work, then he has the right to demand payment from the client for downtime. On average, for 60 minutes of downtime, a “husband for an hour” receives 300 rubles.

How to become a “husband for an hour”

In order to try on the role of a “husband for an hour”, a higher education is not necessary, but the ability to wield a hammer, screwdriver and roller is worth its weight in gold. This profession involves specialists who have graduated from a vocational school, college, and various advanced training courses.

The master most often does not need specific documents permitting a certain type of activity. The exception is electrical installation work. Electricians are required to have the appropriate level of clearance and certificates of passing the certification commission.

The list of requirements for those who go to work for hire includes the absence of bad habits, pleasant appearance, sociability, and in most cases also the presence of their own car (working on the customer’s territory requires constant travel, and only large companies cover the costs of the master’s movement ).

The hired “husband” does not need to worry about promoting his services on the market, finding new orders, purchasing and repairing building materials and tools.

The working life of craftsmen and private entrepreneurs is less calm. They work for themselves, and therefore are constantly looking for orders and independently working on the technical component and image of their “company”, which, by the way, can be located at the home of an individual entrepreneur.

The advantages of individual entrepreneurs are obvious: all proceeds go into the master’s pocket; flexible work schedule; the ability to eliminate long-distance travel and serve customers in their home area.

The “husband for an hour” business, compared to other types of entrepreneurial activity, is quite simple to organize. It does not require licensing, additional costs for renting an office or purchasing equipment. The only thing that is required from the entrepreneur is the purchase of tools: a drill, an angle grinder, screwdrivers, screws, nails, a chisel.

Some even rent the most bulky and expensive tools.

For those who doubt their business inclinations and do not want to start a business from a completely clean slate, franchises are offered in different regions of the country. For example, the “Husband for an Hour” franchise with training from scratch in Voronezh - 49,900 rubles; “Home Master” franchise with training from scratch in Sochi - 165,000 rubles.

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The “Husband for an Hour” business ideas in a fairly short period of time managed to gain great popularity and occupy a worthy niche in their service sector. On the one hand, such a business cannot bring in a lot of income - approximately 50 thousand rubles in one month. On the other hand, this amount can be considered quite good. Especially considering the fact that organizing such a business does not require any super-knowledge.

Ease of implementing the “husband for an hour” idea

What are the main advantages of a business plan? “Husband for an hour” is a service that does not require a huge initial investment.

We can safely say that the initial payments will be fully repaid within two months of active work. Although you can recoup all expenses in a shorter period of time. It is worth understanding in more detail how such an entrepreneurial idea works.

The main advantage of an entrepreneurial idea

Regardless of small orders, the main advantage of such a business is the uniformity of the tasks to be solved. To put it another way, the need for things like nailing and wallpapering can arise on a daily basis. Basically, similar problems can arise in every person, and more than once. This should be taken into account when designing a business plan. “Husband for an hour” is a service that includes a set of tasks that any man should cope with.

Why has the service become so popular?

The service that will be provided by your company, namely “husband for an hour,” is quite popular in the modern world. The following reasons contribute to this:

The area of activity in which services will be provided is currently insufficiently developed. Based on this, we can say that there is practically no competition in it.
With each new day, the number of wealthy people who do not know how or simply do not want to do anything in the house with their own hands is growing rapidly.

Why can a business idea begin to generate high profits?

Many companies that operate in this service sector generally set very high prices. However, they do not provide the required range of work performed. Some entrepreneurs believe that their companies have no analogues. That's why they work, as they say, carelessly. In many cases, clients simply have nowhere to go. Therefore, they are content with the services that are already provided in the market.

This is probably a fairly important reason that provokes companies, in particular, to not complete some minor work to the end. Typically, rearranging furniture or fixing that dripping faucet simply isn't part of the service we provide. For such organizations, these are too small tasks that do not require spending free time.

This should be taken into account when drawing up a business plan. “Husband for an hour” provided by your company, thanks to this approach, can bring quite high profits. You just need to understand that to gain popularity among clients you need to work with pleasure and a smile. In addition, to improve the company’s reputation, it will be necessary to perform absolutely all types of work, regardless of their complexity. After all, for some, even changing a light bulb is an impossible task.

Purchasing Basic Tools

What does it take to write a quality business plan? The “husband for an hour” will not be able to do anything in the time allotted to him without the appropriate tools. It should be understood that it is very important to take on any work without disdain. Otherwise, it will be difficult to earn a positive reputation and achieve proper popularity.

In addition to a set of keys, you must purchase the following tools:

Hammer.
Screwdriver.
Pliers.
Hammer.
Drill.

All these tools will come in handy, since not all people have them available. Additional devices such as a grinding machine and glass cutter will also not be superfluous. And if there is such an opportunity, then you should take them with you. A suitcase with tools must be carried with you at all times, as it is a mandatory attribute for organizing an entrepreneurial idea.

Additional tools can be purchased over time or rented

Most likely, every man has a set of basic tools in stock. The only thing missing is some devices that can be purchased after receiving the first profit. Their set should constantly increase in connection with the growth of the company.

Some tools are best rented. With this move, you can save on initial capital and get more income from the work performed, which is very important at the very beginning of the formation of a business. In the modern world, a service that involves restoring parquet has become especially popular. If you receive such an order, you must immediately decide on the volume of the order and make a choice in favor of a specific tool.

Must take on any type of work

As in any other business field, an organization called “Husband for an Hour” should provide services of various types: repair of plumbing equipment, assembly or disassembly of furniture, installation of equipment and electrical wiring, not too large repair work, etc.

To earn your first profit, such services are quite enough. Basically, many companies working in this field started with this. Setting prices for all types of work is not so difficult. And monitoring competitors can help with this procedure.

What expenses will you have to face when implementing the entrepreneurial idea of a “husband for an hour”, in addition to purchasing all the necessary tools? The main ones are described below. There is no way to do without such expenses, since this is a business, and without investments it will be impossible to organize the “Husband for an Hour” company. Income, however, will not take long to arrive.

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