About Handyman Sunderland

Who We Are

Handyman Sunderland is a small, owner-run handyman business based in Sunderland and covering the whole of Tyne and Wear. We are not a national chain, not a franchise, and not a call-centre that subcontracts to whoever is nearest. We are a handful of skilled trades-people who live and work locally, and who pick up every enquiry ourselves.

We set the business up because — like most people in Sunderland — we kept hearing the same complaints. The handyman who didn't turn up. The quote that doubled when the invoice arrived. The job left half-finished, with dust over everything. The text messages that went unanswered. None of these things are difficult to fix. They just require turning up, doing the job properly, charging what you quoted, and clearing up after yourself. That is the whole business model.

What We Believe

Turn up when you say you will. If we say 8.30am, we are there at 8.30am. If something has gone wrong and we are going to be late, we send a text the moment we know — not when we are already an hour overdue.

Quote honestly, in writing. Every job over a single call-out gets a written, fixed-price quote by email before any work starts. If the job turns out to be bigger than expected, we stop and explain — we never carry on regardless and then surprise you with the bill.

Do the job properly. We use the right tools, the right materials, and we take the time to do it well. There are no half-measures and no "that'll do" finishes.

Clear up afterwards. We dust-sheet floors, protect skirting and furniture, vacuum before we leave, and take rubbish away with us. Your house should look like a handyman has tidied up, not like a hurricane has been through.

Be honest about what we don't do. We are not Gas Safe registered, so we don't do gas work. We are not Part-P registered electricians, so we don't do notifiable electrical work. We are not roofers, plumbers, sparkies or builders — we are a handyman service, and our skill is doing the small-to-medium jobs that fall in the gaps between those trades. If a job is outside our remit, we say so, and where we can we will recommend a tradesperson we trust.

Our Background

Our team has many decades of combined experience in construction, joinery, plumbing and decorating. We have all worked for bigger firms in the past — building contractors, kitchen-fitting outfits, property maintenance teams for local letting agents — and we have all reached the same conclusion: we'd rather work directly for the people whose houses we are in, charge a fair price, and be properly accountable for the result. That is what Handyman Sunderland is.

We are registered with HMRC and can provide VAT receipts on request. We are happy to work with letting agents, landlords, and small commercial customers on a regular basis, as well as one-off jobs for homeowners and tenants.

Why Sunderland?

Because this is where we live, where our families are, and where we have always worked. Sunderland is a city of strong, friendly communities and tough older housing stock — Victorian terraces in Hendon and Roker, post-war semis in Pennywell and Pallion, 1960s estates at Hastings Hill and Doxford Park, newer builds out towards Washington and Houghton. Each generation of housing has its own quirks, its own common failures, and its own little tricks. After years in and out of every kind of property in the city, we know them all.

How to Get In Touch

The fastest way to get a quote is to fill in our contact form. Tell us what needs doing, where you are, and (if possible) attach a photograph or two. We respond within 24 hours on working days, often much sooner. We don't take phone calls because we are usually on a job, on a ladder, or under a sink — but email gets the same response with a written, fixed-price quote attached.

The Kinds of Jobs We Do

To give you a flavour, here are the categories of work that fill our calendar in a typical month. Door and window work is probably our single biggest category — dropped hinges, sticking doors, broken handles, lock changes, draught proofing, replacement seals on uPVC frames. Bathroom and kitchen jobs come next: resealing baths and showers, regrouting tiles, replacing toilet seats and flush mechanisms, fitting new taps, swapping out old extractor fans, installing accessibility grab rails, replacing dropped cupboard hinges and worn drawer runners. Outside, we do a steady volume of fencing, gates, garden tap installation, jet-washing patios and drives, repairing guttering, and small-scale garden tidies. Painting and decorating is busy through spring and autumn. Flatpack assembly is busiest in January (post-Christmas IKEA runs) and August (new term, new student digs, new bookshelves). And throughout the year, the steady drumbeat of small repairs — squeaky floorboards, loose handrails, picture hanging, shelves, TV brackets — keeps the diary ticking over.

Why People Stay With Us

Quite a lot of our work is repeat work. People who used us five years ago for a single sticking door come back when their fence panels blow over, then again when they need a bathroom resealed, then again when their parent needs a grab rail fitted. That repeat business is, more than anything else, what keeps us in business. We don't run heavy advertising; we don't pay for leads; we don't subcontract our work. We rely on customers being happy enough to come back, and happy enough to mention us to a neighbour. So far, fingers crossed, that has been enough.