Find a licensed handyman on Long Island

What handymen do

A handyman takes on small repairs and installs: patching, hanging, assembling, caulking and the odd jobs that do not need a specialty trade.

• A list of small repairs.
• Fixtures, shelves or doors to install.
• Touch-ups before a sale or a move.

Who licenses handymen on Long Island

• New York's General Business Law defines home improvement as the repairing, remodeling, altering, converting or modernizing of residential property, or adding to it.

Suffolk County

• A handyman business in Suffolk falls under the county's home improvement law whenever it repairs, remodels, alters or adds to a home, unless one of the law's exemptions applies.
• Suffolk Consumer Affairs calls home improvement a very broad term that is not limited to the areas of work it lists.
• Suffolk's law exempts an employee, other than a salesman, who performs labor or services for wages or salary for a licensed home improvement contractor.

Nassau County

• Nassau's home improvement definition opens with the repair, maintenance, replacement, remodeling or alteration of land or buildings, and a home improvement business in the county must be licensed.
• Someone who performs labor or services for a Nassau licensee as an employee is among the exceptions to the county's home improvement licensing.
• Nassau separately licenses home service businesses, whose work includes window treatment, gutter cleaning, window cleaning and general cleaning, but work done by licensed home improvement contractors is not a home service.
• Subcontractors on a Nassau home improvement job, other than plumbers and electricians, must hold a valid Consumer Affairs license, the county's application says.

Step by step: how to check a handyman's license in Suffolk or Nassau.

Town by town

Each town page quotes that town's own rules for small repairs and handyman work, with the date we read them.

What it costs

Labor is a large part of any price. Long Island maintenance and repair workers, general earn a median $63,265 a year, from about $44,546 at entry level to $74,358 with experience. (New York State Department of Labor, wages updated to the first quarter of 2026.)

Handyman prices turn on the number and kind of jobs, the time they take, and materials. See the handyman services cost guide.

What to ask before you hire

• Your county license number, so I can check it before I sign?
• A certificate of insurance sent to me by your insurer, not a photo?
• Do you hold the county home improvement license for this work?
• Which jobs on my list need a licensed plumber or electrician instead?
• Is the price by the job or by the hour?
• What insurance covers your work?

How Revival helps

Request a free call. Revival goes over the job and the permit with you, checks licenses and insurance, and introduces up to two vetted, licensed handymen as they join our network. You choose who to hire, and you never pay Revival.