West of downtown Portland, an hour of handyman time goes for roughly $95-120 these days, and plenty of us won't come out for less than two hours (market data, November 2026). You'll find our own numbers on the price list .
What do Portland-area handymen charge by the hour?
Type the question into Google and the answers disagree, because they were collected in different places and different years. National cost sites mix in rural towns and old reports, so we work from one Portland-area figure instead.
| Where the number comes from | Figure | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| The planning rate in our price sheet (Portland rates, November 2026) | $95-120 an hour | an estimate, not yet our confirmed rate |
That Portland figure lots of cost sites repeat is roughly five years old. Ours is , and each job we price shows up in our list of prices.
Why is a billed rate so much higher than a handyman's wage?
Job boards put what a handyman employee earns at around $25 an hour nationally (ZipRecruiter, November 2026). That's take-home pay for one person. A billed rate also has to keep a whole business running behind that person.
Oregon sets part of that cost directly. On top of that come the van, gas, the drive between houses, worn-out blades and bits, store runs, and the unpaid hours spent looking at jobs and writing up numbers.
Will I pay a minimum or a trip charge?
Locally, two hours is the common floor, and some outfits tack on a trip charge as well. Here's why: loading the truck, getting to you, hauling tools inside and laying down drop cloths uses most of an hour before a ten-minute fix even begins. Ours: .
You get around the minimum by waiting a little. Tape a list to the fridge for a month: the sagging hinge, the cracked caulk, the chirping alarm, the shelf nobody has hung. Then have one person handle the whole list in a single trip. Our small jobs service exists for exactly that.
Folks also wonder what a whole day runs. It's plain multiplication: 8 hours at $95-120 equals $760-960, parts not counted (planning rate from our price sheet) . We only drive to the 14 neighborhoods we list as our area.
How long do everyday handyman jobs take, and what does that come to?
I'd want this table in hand before phoning anyone. For each job it gives a normal time on site for one worker, the dollar figure those hours make at $95-120, and the range local customers really pay. Every row is labour, no parts.
What Portland-area customers paid as of November 2026, parts not included.
| Job | Hours on site | Those hours at $95-120 | Market range | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Putting up battery smoke/CO alarms | 1.5 | $143-180 | $120-350 | $200 |
| Swapping or fixing door hinges | 1.5 | $143-180 | $120-300 | $200 |
| A transition strip or threshold between floors | 1.5 | $143-180 | $100-400 | $200 |
| Hanging art, frames or a heavy mirror | 1.8 | $171-216 | $120-450 | $225 |
| Mounting blinds, shades or a curtain rod | 2 | $190-240 | $100-500 | $250 |
| Fresh weatherstrip around an outside door | 2 | $190-240 | $150-400 | $250 |
| Re-caulking a tub or shower | 2 | $190-240 | $150-400 | $250 |
| Mounting one TV | 2 | $190-240 | $195-438 | $315 |
| Flat-pack furniture | 2 | $190-240 | $120-500 | $200 |
| Gutter cleaning | 2 | $190-240 | $175-450 | $285 |
| Rental unit check-up, booked one visit at a time | 2 | $190-240 | $150-400 | $250 |
| Hanging one interior door | 3 | $285-360 | $200-450 | $300 |
| Drywall holes and cracks | 3.5 | $333-420 | $175-450 | $295 |
| Stripping wallpaper | 6 | $570-720 | $300-1,500 | $700 |
Most of our sheet, 173 out of 226 rows, came from this exact multiplication. The others (TV mounting, gutters, drywall and furniture among them) use figures from Angi, recommended.app and Thumbtack. Quick jobs usually come in over the simple math, since the minimum and the drive ride along with a one-hour task. Bigger jobs settle near hours multiplied by rate.
A few comments on the rows. Two-storey gutters take more ladder time than ranch gutters. Joint compound needs to dry before the next coat, so a patch can mean a second trip . Doors, drywall and wallpaper in a pre-1978 home may fall under Oregon's lead paint rule, explained further down.
Time also runs over on west-side houses from the sixties, seventies and eighties. Pull off a door casing or a piece of trim after a wet winter and the wood underneath can be soft, and then the job grows . Each job in this table has its own page among our services.
Hourly or a set price: which is better for you?
Paying by the hour suits small fixes, and jobs where nobody can see what's behind the drywall yet. Anything with a clear scope, or anything lasting more than a day, should come with a fixed figure in writing once I've looked at it .
Here Oregon has a rule the national cost sites leave out. ORS 701.305 says a contractor needs a written contract for residential work priced above $2,000. When a job billed by the hour begins below that and climbs over it, the contractor gets five days after realizing it to give you the contract on paper. Past $2,000 the state also requires three notices, among them one on construction liens and a consumer protection notice. Our guide to contract rules in Oregon walks through them.
What I'd tell a friend: get an hours estimate up front on any hourly job, and ask to be called if it's about to run over.
What's left out of a handyman's hourly figure?
Parts usually go on the bill as their own line. If the work calls for a permit, that fee gets passed along . Scraps and offcuts we create: .
We don't haul junk or old furniture for any price; that's one item on our page of jobs we pass on. A plus for Oregonians: there's no general sales tax here, so no tax shows up on parts or on labour.
When does comparing handyman rates mislead you?
So an electrician's or plumber's hourly figure belongs to its own market and shouldn't be held up against a handyman's.
Old paint in pre-1978 homes. A state rule kicks in once work disturbs at least six square feet of painted surface in a room, or twenty square feet outdoors, and it covers all window repair and replacement too. We don't take that work on.
Trades we're not in. Landscaping, gas lines, garage doors and some others belong to other companies. Our page of jobs we pass on lists every one.
What warning signs should you watch for with an hourly handyman?
- Oregon's exemption for tiny jobs (a single project under $1,000 in total, minor work only) is off the table for anybody who advertises or hands out a card or sign.
- No paper contract once a job passes $2,000.
- A rate per hour but no guess at the hours, and silence when that guess is blown.
- A large cash deposit up front. That's no law, only my own opinion .
What keeps an hourly bill small?
- Text photos and sizes ahead. One picture of the old hinge, or a tape reading across the window, can save a run back to the store.
- Buy your parts before the visit. If the fixture or the blinds are yours to get, have them sitting in the house when I show up.
- Make room. Slide the couch out, empty the sink cabinet, and leave a clear path in from the door.
- Hand over a list. A handful of small fixes split one minimum.
- Save outdoor paint and stain for summer. Coatings want dry wood and dry days, and from October into spring we don't get many of either.
Short answers
Average hourly handyman rate near Portland? Roughly $95-120 (market estimate), frequently with two hours as the floor (market data, November 2026). Ours is on the price list.
Is a quote visit charged? Depends on who you call.
Does Oregon tax handyman labour? No, the state has no general sales tax.