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5 Essential iPhone Apps for Any Handyman Business

I’m a handyman. I LOVE tools. I can never have enough tools. My iPhone is without a doubt my favorite and most powerful tool for my handyman business. Almost every part of my customer interactions are handled through my iPhone including scheduling, taking notes, billing, and tracking payments. I’m also always on the lookout for that new app that is going to make my life even easier. In my quest to find the best iPhone apps for a handyman business, here are the top 5 that I’ve managed to uncover.

#1  Service Call

This iPhone app is the hub of my business. I use it to store all of my client’s information such as name, phone number, e-mail, address, and notes about jobs I’ve completed in the past.

Another thing that makes this app great is the ability to quote and invoice customers. By simply uploading your handyman logo and adding some information about your business, the app creates a professional invoice template. You can then fill in line items for the job you are quoting or billing and it automatically populates the template.  Once you’ve completed filling out the customer and job info, the app allows you to easily e-mail the invoice or quote to your customer.

Service Call also has the ability to sync with the native calendar app on your iPhone so you can schedule through Service Call.

Update
ServiceCall is no longer available for purchase in the App Store. However, this article provides a list of alternatives that are actually better.

#2  Square

Square is an app that gives you the ability to take credit cards through your iPhone. Upon signing up for the service (free, by the way), Square sends you a free card scanner. This thing is pretty freakin’ sweet, too.

The card reader actually plugs into the headphone jack on your phone and gives you the ability to swipe a credit card. Once you’ve swiped the card, a screen pops up and the customer uses their finger to sign their signature. Square then directly deposits the money into your account minus their fee. Done.

Forget your card reader? No problem. Just enter the numbers on the card and you are good to go.

Square doesn’t charge to sign up for the service and instead takes a percentage of each transaction made using the app. As I write this, the rate is 2.75% for swiped transactions, and a little higher for non-swiped transactions.

If you aren’t currently taking credit cards with your handyman business, go set it up now. It only takes 5 minutes.

#3 Evernote

Evernote is essentially a notepad on steroids. It gives you the ability to take notes on your iPhone and have them automatically sync with any PC or mobile device that you choose. There are several other features built-in that you may or may not use, but definitely check this one out.

How I use it:

I primarily use Evernote for taking down job information such as dimensions, lists of materials needed for jobs, and any other information needed for my business. Instead of having to carry around a notepad when consulting with a customer, I simply use Evernote so I can have access to my notes on my phone or computer later. This is really helpful when I need to look into past jobs because I have all of my business info at my fingertips.

I also keep all of my craigslist posts in Evernote. This way, whenever I need to repost something I can simply copy and paste it directly from Evernote. I can then make notes on which ads were successful to help track which strategies are working. It saves me a ton of time and keeps me on top of tasks.

#4  Dragon Dictation

You’re probably wondering why I would ever want to type in Evernote while trying to note dimensions or job info. Well, this is app is why I use Evernote instead of a notepad.

Dragon gives you the ability to simply speak into your phone and have whatever you say accurately transcribed into text on your phone. Whenever I’m taking down notes as I plan for a job, I’ll just say the dimensions as I measure them. Once I’m finished, I simply copy and paste the information into Evernote for safe storage and easy access later.

I didn’t realize how awesome this was until I tried it.  It reduces the time required to produce text by at least 80%. Highly recommended.

#5  Native Calendar App

I use this calendar for scheduling my entire life. Everything from when I go to the gym to when I need to work for my customers. With so much stuff going on – running the blog, my handyman business, and just life in general – this app ensures I get my shit done.

Tip: To help keep different tasks organized, it helps to set up different calendars with designated colors. I have a different calendar for customer schedules, marketing schedules, personal life, and blog. This way I can easily take a look at my week and have a color-coded schedule laid out in front of me to see what I’m spending my time on. Good knowledge if you’re trying to save time.

There you have it. My favorite 5 handyman business apps. What are your favorite apps that you use with your handyman business? List them in the comments below.

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  • Blair M September 26, 2012

    Square is probably one of the best tools. Just signed up and got connected with it. Intuit also offers the same type of tool and their’s looks more professional, BUT they charge more per swipe and they have monthly limits of how much you can charge. In addition, they also do not do direct deposit, but like I said their card reader is a lot more professional looking.

    • Jack Darden October 23, 2014

      I downloaded a newer credit card processing app called Flint. It is available on both iPhone and Google Play. With Flint, all you have to do is use your smart phone’s camera and take a picture of the customer’s credit card. So much easier! No need to carry the portable credit card scanner anymore. Los Angeles, CA

      • Dan Perry October 24, 2014

        Thanks for the tip, Jack. I’ll have to check it out.

  • Steve April 11, 2013

    Hello,

    I just stumbled across your blog yesterday as I was doing some research on marketing my business. I have found it very informative and helpful. Thank you for taking the time to pay it forward. I truly believe that the way to success is by helping those around you (or even in the magical inter-web) on their way to their goals. That is why I love being an independent handyman (among many other reasons).

    I thought I would share a little about the apps I use daily to help run my business (and my life). I run my business with QuickBooks on my pc so I may not use Service Call, but I will check into it. I do however have one app on my phone (and iPad) that integrates the functionality of Evernote, Dragon Dictation, and Calendar. it is called Informant Pro. It integrates with the native calendar and syncs with Outlook so my appointments show up on my phone, iPad, and desktop. It has a location field for appointments and will pull up a map for you. It has a notes section which utilizes Siri to take dictation. It also syncs all the contacts from Outlook. It was the best $15 I’ve spent on my business. I only wish it would integrate with QuickBooks for all my customer information.

    I also use Team Viewer so that I can log into my desktop while I am out in the field and work in QuickBooks or pull technical documents or anything else I might need but not have with me.

    • Big D April 11, 2013

      Hi Steve,

      I couldn’t agree more. Helping people not only feels amazing but it builds connections that can take you much further than you ever thought.

      Also, thanks for the recommendation! That sounds like a great app if you use Outlook. However, I use gmail and not Outlook. I’ll have to look into it and see if I can make it work with gmail.

      Thanks again and stay in touch.

      Big D

  • Allison May 30, 2014

    Thanks for all of the tips you provide Dan! Just getting started and you’ve helped a ton. Do you still use Service Call for all of your invoicing? It doesn’t have the best reviews so I wanted to make sure you still recommend it.

    • Dan Perry May 30, 2014

      Hi Allison,

      Yes, I still use Service Call and have zero issues with it. It’s so simple and effective and it’s great for a one man operation. Thanks for the comment!

  • Kenny Chevalier February 5, 2016

    Thank you all this is very helpful. I use two different software to run my business the one software is called Service CEO this software dose dispatching, gps your truck and much more it doesn’t do bookkeeping at why I also use Quick book to do the bookkeeping service CEO send all the book keeping information to Quick book its a great program for handyman company you should look it up

    • Dan Perry February 5, 2016

      Awesome, thanks Kenny!

  • Kevin September 19, 2016

    Hey I was wondering if anybody has ever used an ‘UBER’ like app to gain clients as a handyman? like quick fixes or to use to gain more work?

    • Dan Perry September 20, 2016

      Hey Kevin,

      Are you talking about apps like Task Rabbit? I haven’t personally used them, but I know of a few handyman that started their business that way.

      They used the app to test the market and get their first few customers. Once they learned a bit more about what people were looking for, they started doing their own marketing and built their business that way.

      Basically, if you need customers, it’s not a bad idea to give them a shot, but just don’t build your entire business relying on somebody else’s platform. Otherwise, you’re basically just an employee.

      Give it a try, but do your own marketing, too.

      Dan

  • Tom Ferguson September 28, 2016

    Dan,
    After reading your reply about using Gmail and not Outlook for your email, I wanted to mention that you can access your GmIl account through Outlook. It is pretty easy to setup…

  • Mark January 31, 2017

    I’m looking for an app that will allow me to record different tasks as I complete them. Isometimes have a need to record tasks separately. For example if I hung a door from 8 to 9:30 then ran crown molding from 9:30 to 11:30, etc. I sometimes have the need to break things down as such AND it also helps me to later record the time certain tasks took so that I may come up with a flat rate for such tasks.
    Anyone know of an app that would work for this? (Preferrably for iOS)
    Thank you!
    (Awesome blog BTW!)

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