Find a trusted handyman in Newcastle

Rentals, students and end-of-lease fixes

The suburbs around the University of Newcastle’s Callaghan campus, like Jesmond, Waratah, Shortland and Birmingham Gardens, have plenty of rental housing that turns over every year. Between tenancies, landlords and property managers need a reliable handyman for the usual list: patching holes from picture hooks, fixing doors and latches, replacing torn flyscreens, re-siliconing the shower and touching up scuffed paint. A handyman who can clear the whole list in one visit saves several separate call-outs.

Smoke alarms are part of the routine too. NSW landlords have to check their rental’s smoke alarms are working every year, and a handyman can test them and swap batteries. A hardwired alarm that needs replacing is electrical work, so that goes to a licensed electrician.

Owners getting a house ready to sell are in the same spot, with a list of loose handles, chipped paint, sticky sliding doors and tired silicone to clear before the photos and open homes.

Salt, storms and older cottages

Close to the water at Stockton, Merewether, Swansea or Nelson Bay, salt air gets into the hardware. Flyscreen mesh corrodes, hinges and latches seize, and outdoor screws rust out faster than they would inland. Swapping to stainless or marine-grade parts during a repair costs a little more up front and lasts much longer.

Storm season is the other regular trigger. Clearing gutters and downpipes before the summer storms, securing loose fence palings and fixing gates that have dropped are all jobs worth getting done before the weather turns. Inside older homes across the region, doors and windows often stick and cornices crack as the house moves, which is fiddly work a handyman handles well.

What a handyman can and can’t do in NSW

NSW doesn’t license handymen as such, so the rules come from the work itself. Anything worth more than $5,000, labour and materials included, needs a contractor licence in the right class, which you can check on the Verify NSW licence check. Electrical, plumbing, gas and air-con work needs a licensed tradie no matter how small the job, so a new power point behind the TV or a tap that needs moving is a job for a sparky or a plumber. In older fibro homes, ask before anyone drills or cuts: it may contain asbestos.

Our NSW licence checks guide explains which work needs which licence.

Handyman rates around Newcastle

Hourly rates of $60 to $110 are typical, with a minimum charge of about $80 to $150. A half day runs about $250 to $500 and a full day $450 to $900, which suits a long list. Clearing the gutters on a single-storey house is usually $150 to $350, and fixing or replacing a flyscreen $80 to $200. For homes in Port Stephens, the Hunter Valley or the far side of the lake, ask how travel is charged.

The handyman price guide has more fixed-price jobs.

One handyman for your list

Send us your job list and suburb, and we’ll match you with one local handyman whose insurance, ABN and reviews we’ve checked. It’s free, and your details go to that one handyman only.

If part of the list turns out to need a licensed trade, the Newcastle trades page has them in one place, and our handyman page covers other cities. Got your list together? Get a free quote.