Find a trusted handyman in Adelaide

Doors that stick and cracks that come and go

Reactive clay under much of Adelaide means houses shift a little with the seasons. As the ground dries out over summer and swells again with winter rain, doors that closed fine in spring start to bind, gaps open under skirtings, and hairline cracks appear in cornices and above door frames. It’s one of the most common reasons Adelaide homeowners book a handyman.

Most of it is a quick fix. A handyman can plane or rehang a door, adjust the strike plate, and fill cracks with a flexible filler that copes with a bit of movement. What a handyman shouldn’t do is paper over structural trouble. If a crack is wider than a few millimetres, keeps growing, or steps through the brickwork outside, have a builder or structural engineer check what’s happening underneath before anything gets patched.

Gutters, flyscreens and fire season

Gutter clearing is best booked in autumn, because Adelaide gets most of its rain in winter and blocked gutters overflow into eaves and walls. Single-storey gutters are a regular handyman job. Anything steep or two storeys up may need a roofer with proper height safety gear.

In the Adelaide Hills, clearing leaves out of gutters is also part of getting ready for the fire danger season, and the CFS lists it in its bushfire preparation advice. Come summer, the list usually turns to torn flyscreens, sagging security doors, tired door closers and shade sails that need re-tensioning.

What a handyman can legally do in SA

South Australia doesn’t license handymen as such, but it does license the work. Repairs and improvements like carpentry, painting, tiling or fencing count as building work, so a handyman doing them for pay needs a CBS building work contractors licence that covers that work, whatever the job is worth. Electrical, plumbing and gas work need a licensed contractor in that trade, however small. Jobs like assembling flat-pack or hanging pictures generally don’t fall into either group. Our guide to SA licence checks shows how to look one up on the CBS register.

Handyman rates in Adelaide

Expect most Adelaide handymen to charge around $60–$110 an hour, with a minimum of about $80–$150 for a short visit. A half day usually costs $250–$500 and a full day $450–$900, which works out cheaper per hour for a long list. Mounting a TV is typically $100–$250 plus the bracket, and clearing single-storey gutters $150–$350. More jobs and prices are on the handyman price guide.

Getting your Adelaide to-do list sorted

Write down every job and tell us your suburb, from Para Hills to Hallett Cove or up to Aldgate, and we’ll match you with one vetted local handyman. We check insurance, ABN and reviews, plus the right CBS licence when the list includes building work. One booking, one person, no sales calls.

Not in Adelaide? Handymen in other cities are on our handyman page. If part of your list needs a licensed trade, the Adelaide page shows who else we match. Get a free quote and we’ll take it from there.