Help!

Where can you turn these days if you have a leaky tap, a hole that needs filling or a door that's swollen and keeps sticking?

Actually, let's come clean about this - what if you're really nervous about changing a light bulb? These days householders still have the same needs they always had in terms of repair and maintenance, but don't always know where to turn. Once upon a time for small jobs you could call on the local handyman (Jem or Bill or Joe, last name usually lost in the mists of time) who drove or cycled round with his bag of tools and did the job for a modest fee. Do such people still exist and, if so, how can you get hold of them? In theory the first port of call should still be to look local. Arm yourself with pen and paper and visit the notice boards in your local supermarket and newsagent. Such a trip in my town yielded five relevant professional services - two carpenters, two plumbers, one painter/decorator as well as a household cleaning team and a landscape gardener. The local free newspaper had ads for six - two painters/decorators, one tiler, two carpet and upholstery cleaners and a floor sanding/polishing service. It sounded promising, but ringing around was initially discouraging.

Three local people - two paintersdecorators and one carpenter - were successfully contacted. None has a call-out charge and all offer free estimates with jobs priced on their merits, the cost reflecting the amount of work. "For example, there may be four separate trips involved in painting a hall door, such as sanding and cleaning down, applying an undercoat and two top coats" says painter/decorator Chris O'Neill of Bray, Co Wicklow. "This could cost £80-£120 (€102-152) in total because of the time and travel involved." He's not in favour of the generic handyman, and says householders will be best advised to employ a specialist rather than a generalist.

Local carpenter Doug Smith undertakes all kinds of carpentry job for the householder - including wardrobe, door, and cupboard making and fitting, and fitting hardwood and laminate floors. "I could charge anything from £100 to £600 (€127-€762) to supply and fit an internal door. I'm usually booked up two to three weeks in advance, and get most of my work through word of mouth." What would he charge to free a stuck door? "£20 (€25) and no call-out charge," he says.

In order to use new technology to find an old-fashioned handyman, you need to know what you're looking for. With a membership of 6,500, the National Guild of Master Craftsmen is Ireland's largest trade body of self-employed people. Its website lists 40 categories of professional from air conditioner to plumber, tiler to window fitter.

But click on "general handyman", then "search" and the answer comes back: "0 results". Pat Doyle, chief executive, says this is because the wrong question was asked. "Many of our members involved in property maintenance employ tradespeople who do all kinds of jobs." In other words, a kind of updated version of the old reliable - but with updated prices as well. "The biggest problem with small jobs is mobility. Nobody is going to travel unless they can be properly paid for it. So you could have a damp spot on the wall which needs a bit of plastering, but your plasterer will have a call-out charge of £45 (€57) , and they probably have a minimum charge of one hour's work, about £50 (€63) on top of that.

"Householders can react badly to this. While they are now conditioned to a call-out charge from an electrical appliance company to fix their washing machine, for example, they are not so accepting of an individual doing the same thing." All guild members, Doyle says, are rigorously vetted, are likely to conform to health and safety procedures and have public liability insurance. Householders not online can have a list posted to them.

As well as choosing from such a professional list, another port of call should be the "Building Maintenance and Repairs" section of the Golden Pages. While many of the firms work mainly in the commercial sector, there are sufficient number to choose from who respond to domestic call-outs as well. A typical one is M.P.K., a property maintenance company that offers a complete service including painting, decorating, plumbing, carpentry, electrical, tiling, roofing, plastering and carpet cleaning.

Company owner is Martin Kelly. "One of my sons is a plumber, another is a carpenter and we employ two painters. We can be called out to small jobs such as fixing a gate, mending a leaky tap, an electrical job when all the lights have gone, building a press or painting a room. Once the weather changes, there will be a lot of leaking or burst pipes to fix. There is no call-out charge, except for an emergency in the middle of the night in which case the charge is £50 (€63) and that would include the first hour's work. We're all qualified professionals. I don't like to think of us as handymen because we're often called in to clear up the mess where a so-called handyman has been before us."

The Odd Job Company was set up last March by Anne and Robert Millar because they saw the gap in this market. "It's impossible these days to find someone with a good reputation," says Anne Millar. "Our customers include single people who don't have the skills. I think many of us these days earn money to pay for the jobs we don't want to do ourselves!" The company offers both a commercial and a domestic service, one for landlords who need property maintained on a regular basis and another for householders. They also have an emergency service and a flat-pack assembly service.

"We have people with a broad spectrum of skills. In terms of household maintenance, it can be anything from a leaking tap or shower, exposed electric wires to putting up a shelf to much larger jobs," says Anne Millar. "We have a call-out charge of £55 (€70) plus £35 (€44) per hour, materials extra. "We had one job recently where someone wanted a shelf, a couple of mirrors and some light fittings hung, so it was cheaper for her to pay at the hourly rate. With larger refurbishment jobs, we would give an all-in price."

With the do-it-yourself emergency service their role is that of house doctor, stepping in when things go wrong. "Typically, someone will start a project, such as erecting bookshelves, and for whatever reason finds they are not able to see it through. For example, they may be attempting to hang a heavy object and realise it is on a stud partition wall. We came come in at that point, and either give advice and assistance or finish the job for them." Equally, some people are defeated by furniture they buy to assemble at home, discovering too late that their skills do not lie in reading diagrams.

Finally, a modern version of the real thing. Two years ago Jim Lynch left the world of academia to turn his love and expertise in DIY into the day job. Handyman for a Day is the name of his one-man company, specialising in a wide range of small jobs involving plumbing, electricity, carpentry, tiling, painting and decorating. "No job is too small," he says, adding rather daringly: "I will do all the jobs a husband doesn't want to do - filling holes in walls, a bit of plastering, small electrical jobs - I wouldn't rewire a whole house but I would fit or change light switches, deal with burst pipes, I could make a cupboard, and I love tiling." His minimum charge is £35 (€44), and if the job takes a very short time, he will normally ask if there is any further work he can do in order to give good value for money. "You may be called out for one job and find you're there for a couple of hours as many people have jobs they needed doing for ages but never got around to."