Age UK Handyman service

Never needed the Age uk service we have a Nextdoor.co.uk network here. There are recommendations for any kind of work by local people and they are very reliable. Word of mouth is the best recommendation it is here. Do you not have the network where you are?

Redhead 56 yes I do. Thanks.

We use Trusted Traders, all are in our area.

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I tried to use the AGE ukhandyman service two weeks before Christmas.
To say it was less then satisfactory is a vast understatement.
A man turned up by appointment to look at mirrors and pictures I wanted hanging after a lot of decorating.
He wouldn’t touch any of it as our internal walls are stud partitions.
Except for one new mirror all the things I wanted doing were being replaced on the same walls but in different places as I wanted a change.
They then sent me a list of three independent tradesmen to ask to quote for the job!!
Incidentally AGE uk charge £35 an hour.
I shan’t bother with them again.

We couldn't find one in our area.
They had almagamated with another charity and charged an extortionate amount an hour.

Do you have a local Facebook account? Very useful for all sorts of local information, including excellent recommendations for trades people. As others say, Next-door is also good.

I’ve recently used a system called Bark to put me in touch with work people.
Highly recommended

I can't believe Age UK are charging £35 per hour for their Handyperson Service, particularly when the work they will take on appears to be limited in scope.

I found a local chap who does Handyperson work, plus decorating, plus gardening for £15 per hour just by googling area where I live followed by Handy Man. He's here right now and is an absolute godsend.

Our local council has a handyman service for us oldies. You can have 12 hours a year if you are a couple,or 6 if single. Used him for patio and path cleaning, plus he came another time and changed our kitchen tap. He also asked us what type of tap we wanted and turned up with ‘it, he was all ready to go The rate was £38 per hour but you receive a discount and it brings it down to £15.60 per hour which included vat We are going to use him to paint our little kitchen this year. It was excellent service and work.
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We have a nextdoor site and Facebook site for local areas but gave up using them. The replies are all from people who either work for or are supporting a business, rather than people recommending a business they have used. So funny to see the same list of responses all telling you how brilliant someone is - I once tried to get in touch with some of these brilliant contractors and couldn't even get a call back.

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AreWeThereYet

We have a nextdoor site and Facebook site for local areas but gave up using them. The replies are all from people who either work for or are supporting a business, rather than people recommending a business they have used. So funny to see the same list of responses all telling you how brilliant someone is - I once tried to get in touch with some of these brilliant contractors and couldn't even get a call back.

Sorry you have had no luck with Nextdoor and local Facebook. Both have proved very successful for me (Oxfordshire) on many occasions. Don't know what I would do without them.

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that sounds like an advertisement, not a review.

My window cleaner is my handyman. He charges roughly £12 an hour. But I pay him more, if there’s a ladder involved. Recently, I paid him £60 to clean all the fascias and drain pipes If I were you, I would go by recommendations. Who do your neighbours use ? Ask around. Good luck !

P.S. Not all the fascias….only the ones in front

I tried to use Age Uk Handy service to change a lightbulb for my Mum - 300 mile round trip for me to do it.
They were sorry that they couldn't because is involved 'working at height' - just a normal ceiling height.

Incidentally, just noticed the date on this thread - Dec '21 - so I suspect it has been revitalised by LucasMiller upthread for advertising purposes.

In 2019 I contacted Age UK about having a cleaner. Their charge was £14 an hour, I`d been hoping for around £10-12, but I decided to give it a go. The first thing the cleaner said when she arrived was "I don`t do toilets", I expected anything would be done. After a few weeks I was informed that the charge was going up to £18 an hour, so I cancelled.

Does your town/village/locality have a Facebook page? I found a cleaner by asking for a recommendation on such a page. I had plenty of replies and was able to find a reliable cleaner.

£35 an hour is outrageous.

NextDoor can be very useful but can also be disastrous. We have a person who will offer to quote for just about everything people want done (his friends and wife also recommend him) but he is a nightmare. Naming and shaming disappears after a while so he can just wreak havoc. If I see him offering to quote I drop a quick line to the person saying to be wary. I have found Checkatrade to be a much more reliable service but even that is not without its problems.

I live in Weston Super Mare. I tried to get a handyman from AgeUk with no success. I then found a lovely chap, after a lot of no replies to phone calls. He charges £30 an hour, which I feel is a bit much, but he was the only one to arrive when he said he would, to have a detailed chat about what I wanted, and to actually turn up when he said he would do the job. So far he has hung new doors, moved hefty gates in my garden and is going to gloss paint all the woodwork in my hall and stairs a lovely clean white (painted a disgusting dark brown by previous owner!!). I have to book him weeks in advance, but it gives me time to get the money together. Future jobs include decorating several rooms, building a catio in my garden, helping my husband to fit a new bathroom, and painting the outside of my house.

I looked at their service.

In my area it was £40/£45 an hour.

Went onto Nextdoor app and found a huge amount of recommendations of local handymen.

Much cheaper