Most of these get asked on the phone before a quote, so they may as well be written down.
The short version: we do repair and maintenance on houses that already exist, we work between Helensburgh and Batemans Bay, and there is a clear list of work we will not take on because it legally belongs to a licensed trade. Being straight about that line is most of what makes this worth reading.
If your question is specifically about NSW licensing — which trades need one, how the threshold is worked out, what to ask a contractor before work starts — the licensing post covers it properly. The services pages have the detail on each type of work, and if none of this answers what you wanted to know, ask us directly.
Straight answers
What sort of work do you actually do?
Repair and maintenance on houses that are already standing. Handyman jobs, tiling and regrouting, interior and exterior painting, tiled roof repairs, house and gutter washing, and ongoing property maintenance for owners and agents. The common thread is that it is upkeep and repair rather than building something new.
What can't you do?
Electrical, plumbing, drainage, gasfitting and air conditioning, at any size. Those trades always require a licensed contractor in NSW and there is no dollar threshold involved, so swapping a light fitting, moving a tap or adding a power point is not a job we can take whatever the invoice says. We will tell you that up front rather than doing it anyway.
Do you need a licence for the work you do?
The work we take on sits under the threshold where one is required. In NSW a contractor licence is needed for general building and trade work valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials including GST, and our repair and maintenance jobs sit below that line. The trades listed above are the exception, because for those it is the trade that decides rather than the value.
Can you work on my roof?
Tiled roofs, yes. Cracked and slipped tiles, ridge capping, re-bedding and repointing are roof tiling work, and it sits under the same $5,000 threshold as the rest of what we do. Metal roofing, guttering, downpipes and flashings are roof plumbing in NSW, a separate trade category we do not work in, so those go to a roof plumber whatever the job is worth. Clearing out a gutter is maintenance and we do that; repairing or replacing one is not ours.
Where do you work?
Helensburgh down to Batemans Bay, across the Illawarra and the South Coast. Wollongong and the northern suburbs are the bulk of it, and we are down the coast regularly.
Do you charge extra to travel to the far south?
No. Jobs at the southern end of the run get grouped through the week so the travel is not passed on to you as a premium. It does mean a job at Batemans Bay is more likely to be scheduled around other work down there than done the same week you call.
How does quoting work?
Tell us what the job is, with photos if you have them, and we will either quote from that or come and look. Anything with an unknown behind it — a leak, a wall that has to come apart, a roof we cannot see from the ground — gets looked at in person, because a number guessed off a photo helps nobody.
Do you charge for a quote?
No, quotes are free and there is no obligation attached to one.
Can you quote from photos?
Often, for straightforward jobs. Send the whole thing rather than the close-up — the full run of a splashback including both ends, the whole wall rather than the crack, the roof line as well as the stain on the ceiling. Close-ups on their own hide the parts that decide the price.
Is there a minimum job size?
There is a minimum call-out, which is why it pays to save jobs up. A single small item is the most expensive way to buy this work and a list of eight is the cheapest, so write things down as they annoy you and call when the list is worth a visit.
What happens if the job turns out to be bigger than expected?
You hear about it before we keep going, not afterwards on the invoice. If opening something up reveals more than we quoted for, we stop and talk about it. If it turns out to need a licensed trade, we stop and tell you that instead of pressing on.