Twenty-eight questions. Twenty-eight straight answers.

Most weeks we book three to five business days out. The first two weeks of October and the week after Thanksgiving fill up faster — those book a week or two ahead. Emergency plumbing calls before noon are often same-day. When you book, you’ll get a specific day and a two-hour arrival window, not a vague “sometime this week.”

We give you a two-hour arrival window — morning (8–12), afternoon (12–4), or late afternoon (4–6). You’ll get a text from the handyman when they’re about twenty minutes out. We don’t do exact arrival times because the job before yours sometimes runs long, and we’d rather be honest about the window than promise a specific minute.

Yes. If you’ve worked with one of our handymen before and want them on your next job, mention it when you book. We’ll schedule around their availability if we can, and tell you upfront if we can’t. About 40% of our repeat customers request a specific handyman.

Call or text at least 24 hours before your appointment at no charge. Same-day cancellations are billed at half the first-hour rate — that covers the trip we’ve already made but not the full visit. If you need to reschedule for a genuinely unexpected emergency (hospital, family, etc.), we waive the fee.

Flat $95 for the first hour, $65 for each additional hour in the same visit. No trip fee inside our service area. Materials are bought at cost with your approval before we buy — we share the receipt, no markup. For defined jobs (heated driveways, deck rebuilds, multi-room drywall), we quote a fixed price after a site visit or photos. Full breakdown on our pricing page.

No. Phone, text, and photo estimates are always free. On-site estimates for larger projects (heated driveways, deck rebuilds, multi-room jobs) are also free inside our standard service area. If you’re outside the map, we quote a travel add-on before you commit to anything.

You pay the flat $95 regardless. Most homeowners use the remaining time on a second job — replacing a light switch, tightening a cabinet hinge, or adjusting a sticky door. We always ask before we do extra work, and it’s always your call.

No. We buy at retail and share the receipt with you at cost. If you’d rather source your own parts, that works too — we install what you buy. We only buy something on your behalf after you’ve approved the price.

Card (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover) via tap or chip on site, ACH for invoices over $500, personal check, and Zelle for repeat customers. No deposits for standard visits — payment is due when the work is done and you’ve walked through it with us.

Roughly: anything that doesn’t require a permit, a licensed trade, or structural work. Fixture swaps, small plumbing, outlet and switch replacement, drywall patches, door adjustments, deck boards, fence pickets, and the long list of small things. If a job crosses the line into licensed territory, we tell you upfront and hand you a name.

No. Panel work, new circuits, service upgrades, and anything requiring an electrical permit goes to a licensed electrician — we have two we work with weekly and can hand you a name and a text intro. We handle fixtures, fans, outlets, switches, dimmers, and smart devices on existing circuits.

Anything behind the wall or under the slab, water heater work, main line and sewer issues, gas appliances, and permit-required work in Minneapolis or St. Paul. We handle homeowner-side repairs: toilets, faucets, shower heads, disposals, P-traps, shut-off valves, drain snaking on branch lines, and caulking.

Standard-size replacement in an existing rough opening — yes, that’s a handyman job for us. Full door reframing, new construction windows, and anything that changes the rough opening goes to a carpenter. We’ll tell you which yours is after looking at a photo or the door in person.

No. Full bathroom and kitchen remodels, room additions, and anything requiring a building permit go to a general contractor. We handle repair and maintenance work, not new construction — and we’re happy to refer you to a GC we trust if you’re planning a bigger project.

Yes. MN Residential Building Contractor license #BC-771204, WI Dwelling Contractor credential #DC-1198842, $1M general liability through Acuity, and workers’ comp coverage for every W-2 employee. Certificates available on request — your HOA, landlord, or insurance company can have copies before we start.

No. Every handyman who comes to your home is a W-2 employee of NorthStar. That means background checks, workers’ comp coverage, and a real person accountable if something goes wrong. We do partner with licensed trades (electrician, plumber, carpenter) for jobs outside our scope, but those are separate bookings with their own insurance.

We’re insured for it. If we break something, we repair or replace it at our cost — no arguing. It’s happened fewer than a dozen times in twelve years, and every time we’ve handled it the same day. We take before and after photos of every job for our records, which helps in the rare case there’s a dispute.

Yes, and we get this request regularly — especially from HOAs and property managers. Text or email us and we’ll send you a current certificate of insurance within one business hour. If your HOA needs to be named as an additional insured, we can do that too — just give us their address.

Hydronic (PEX tubing + boiler): roughly $18–$24 per square foot installed, or $11,000–$16,000 for a 600 sq ft two-car driveway. Electric (heating cable or mats): roughly $12–$18 per sq ft installed, or $9,000–$14,000 for the same driveway. The full numbers, including operating costs, are on our heated driveway page.

For a 600 sq ft system over a typical Twin Cities winter: $200–$400 on hydronic natural gas, or $470–$700 on electric. Smart controls cut both numbers by 30–40% by running only during actual snow events, and not when the slab is already warm. Real numbers vary by winter severity and fuel rates.

Technically yes, but the labor cost is high — you have to remove and replace the existing surface. In practice, retrofits usually use electric systems because hydronic retrofit is cost-prohibitive. If you’re already planning a driveway replacement, that’s the ideal time. Retrofits are best done in late summer or early fall, before the ground freezes.

Very rare with proper installation — we pressure-test hydronic lines and continuity-test electric cables before the pour, and the failure rate at that stage is near zero. If something does fail later, the repair involves cutting into the slab at that section, which is why we document the layout with photos and give you a printed system diagram at handoff.

Yes — about 20% of our annual work is property manager and landlord accounts. We offer a dedicated account rate, priority scheduling within 48 hours, monthly consolidated invoicing across properties, and photo documentation for every completed job. Property managers with three or more units qualify.

Yes. We can invoice the property address, the management company, or the owner — whichever is cleanest for your records. For accounts, we consolidate all jobs into one invoice per month with line items per unit and per job. No per-job paperwork.

48-hour scheduling guarantee for account holders. For turnover support on rental flips, we can often schedule same-week even on short notice. Emergency plumbing calls before noon are same-day for account holders, and we prioritize existing customers during extreme-cold snaps.

One-year workmanship warranty on every job we do. If something we fixed breaks within a year due to our work, we come back and make it right at no charge. Parts carry the manufacturer’s warranty, which we hand you at the end of the visit. In twelve years we’ve issued fewer than twenty refunds and never refused one.

Tell us. Call or text within seven days and we’ll come back to address whatever isn’t right — no charge. If we can’t fix it, we refund the labor cost for that job. We’d rather spend an extra hour making something right than have an unhappy customer.

Yes. Rachel (our scheduler) sends a check-in message the day after every job — just asking whether everything still works and whether anything came up after we left. It’s not automated; she reads every response. If you flagged a problem, she’ll get a handyman back out.

You’ll get an email the day after your visit with a one-click link to our post-visit survey. If you’d rather leave a review on Google, you can do that too — we don’t filter or remove anything. We publish every review we receive, including the critical ones, on our reviews page.