Handyman Services in Dubai: Small Repairs, Fixed Properly

Handyman services in Dubai: what we repair

People use general handyman services for everything from hanging a picture to rewiring a kitchen. We keep to repairs on the finish of a home. These are the ones we get asked for most, and each row points to the page that explains the method in full.

The filler is the easy part of a small repair. What decides whether it disappears is everything on top: sanding it flush, priming it so the paint does not soak in unevenly, and painting to a natural break in the wall instead of dabbing on a patch. A hole that is filled and touched up with leftover paint shows in the side light from a window. Most repairing work on a wall is won or lost at that last stage, which is why one team does the repair and the painting.

Doors and fittings

A door that rubs is often a hinge problem. Loose screws let the door drop, and tightening the hinges or packing them out with thin shims can cure it without cutting anything. Planing the edge comes last, because wood that has been removed cannot be put back. We also fit replacement handles and hinges like for like, and repaint the door afterwards so the repair does not show.

Grout, sealant and a few tiles

Grout cracks first where water sits, and the silicone around a bath or sink fails before the tile does. We cut out worn sealant completely, clean the joint, let it dry and seal it again, because new silicone does not grip old silicone well. Cracked grout lines are raked out and regrouted. A few loose or cracked tiles can be lifted and replaced, and where the spare tile is from a different batch, we tell you before we start.

What a handyman can fix, and what needs a licensed trade

A handyman in Dubai can be a person with a toolbox or a company with ten trades behind it. General handyman services in an advert often include plumbing, electrical and AC work. We do not do those, and you should know that before you book. We also do not do furniture assembly, TV mounting, curtain rods or locks.

What we do is repair the damage those trades leave behind or find. The table shows four common cases.

If your job is one we leave out, this is the trade to look for:

When a problem sits across two trades, we do our part and agree the order with the other trade. The plumber or electrician comes first, then the plasterer, and the painter comes last. Your building may also say who is allowed to work on its pipes and wiring, so ask the management before you book a trade.

Handyman, painter, tiler or renovation contractor?

Choose by the size of the damage, not the size of the room. A small repair done on something that needs a bigger job costs you twice.

When a small repair turns out bigger

Three things change a small job once the wall is open or the stain is looked at properly. A wall that is wet, or has been wet, needs its cause found before anything goes on it. Plaster that sounds hollow when tapped has let go of the wall behind it and has to be cut back to sound plaster. A crack that reopens after it has been filled usually means the wall is moving or the plaster was poorly finished, and a plain filler will not hold it. If it looks structural, we say so, because that is a question for an engineer. We tell you which of these we find before we go further, and the quote changes in writing. Our wall painting page shows how each is handled. Our plastering services page covers the plaster itself.

For the painting side of the question, our painters in Dubai guide explains when one room or more calls for a painter. For the larger jobs in the last row of that table, our home renovation page maps the rooms and the trades. If you would rather have small faults found on a schedule than by accident, our annual maintenance contract page explains how a yearly check of the finishes works. For the whole home, including which jobs are ours and which belong to the plumber, electrician or AC contractor, our home maintenance page sorts them room by room.

How a small repair job runs

A small job runs in the same order as a large one, only faster.

Step 1: Send photos. Send a close photo and a wider one, with the building or villa name and the floor.

Step 2: We say whose job it is. If it is ours, we say so. If a plumber or an electrician must come first, we tell you that and what to ask them. If it is bigger than a repair, we say that too.

Step 3: Inspection and written quote. The inspection costs AED 100. After the visit you get a written quote with the repair, the finish, the date and the price before 5% VAT.

Step 4: Building access. We deal with building paperwork, including NOCs where a building requires them. Tell us the building name, and we tell you what we need from you.

Step 5: The repair. We cover the floor and furniture, repair the surface and sand it flush. Filler and primer must dry before the paint goes on, so a repair with a painted finish can need a second visit. The quote says so.

Step 6: Finish and snag walk. We walk the job with you with a light held flat against the wall, correct what we find and clear up before we leave.

Handyman cost in Dubai: how small jobs are priced

We do not publish a price list for small repairs, and any list that does not say what is in the price deserves a question. What a Dubai handyman charges for the same hole changes with the wall (plasterboard, plaster or concrete), the height, and whether the price includes a painted finish. Home repair services in Dubai are priced in four ways, and each has a catch.

For other repairs, the written quote after the inspection gives the price, before 5% VAT.

What a small-job quote should show

Whoever you hire, ask for these in writing:

1. The exact spot and the surface. A hole in plasterboard and a hole in a block wall are different jobs.
2. What the finish includes. Sanding, primer and how many coats of paint, or none.
3. Who buys the materials, and what allowance is made for them.
4. Whether the paint is matched, and to what. A patch on old paint can show even when the colour code is right.
5. Access. A ladder, a scaffold or a lift, parking and lift booking.
6. The date, and whether drying means a second visit.
7. VAT and exclusions. What the price leaves out, and what happens if the repair turns out bigger than it looked.

If the price for a patch is very low, ask what it leaves out: the sanding, the primer or the paint, and whether the person who turns up is the person who quoted.

Choosing the best handyman services in Dubai: what to ask

Before you hire a handyman service in Dubai, ask these eight questions. The best handyman services Dubai owners can hire answer them plainly, and we are happy to.

1. Ask what they do not do. A company that says yes to plumbing, wiring, AC, painting and tiling either has all those trades or is passing some of the work on. Ask who does each one.
2. Ask who turns up. Ours is an employed team. An agent may send whoever is free.
3. Get the price in writing, with VAT shown as its own line.
4. Ask what the finish includes. A repair without its paint is half a job.
5. Ask about materials. Who buys them, and is the cost listed?
6. Ask who deals with the building. Someone should be named for the permit, the NOC and the lift booking.
7. Ask how they protect your home. Floors and furniture should be covered, and sanding dust cleared up.
8. Ask what happens if the patch shows. A handyman Dubai owners and tenants hire a second time walks the job with you and corrects what they find before leaving.

Renting? Small repairs, who pays and the handover check

If you rent, the first question is who pays, and the answer sits in your tenancy contract before it sits in the law.

What Dubai's tenancy law says

Dubai's tenancy law, Law No. 26 of 2007, sets the default. Article 16 makes the landlord responsible for maintenance and for repairing any defect or damage that affects your use of the property, unless the contract says otherwise. Article 17 puts defects, damage and wear and tear that are not your fault on the landlord. Article 21 says that at the end of the lease you hand the property back in the condition you received it, apart from ordinary wear and tear and damage that was beyond your control.

The words "unless the contract says otherwise" matter. A tenancy contract can say who pays for minor repairs, so read the maintenance clause before you decide who calls the handyman. Where a mark counts as ordinary wear and tear, and where it counts as damage, is a point on which landlords and tenants tend to disagree. We are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice. If you and your landlord cannot agree, the Rental Disputes Centre handles those disputes.

Before the handover inspection

• Read the maintenance clause in your contract.
• Report faults in writing as they appear, and keep dated photos. A phone call leaves no record.
• Walk each room with the light of your phone held flat against the walls. Marks that hide in daylight show up at once.
• Fix what you caused: nail and screw holes, scuffs, a chipped tile, a door damaged in a move.
• Do not paint over a stain that is still wet. Tell the landlord so the cause is fixed first.
• Check whether a full repaint is expected. If the contract or the landlord expects the unit repainted, a touch-up will not satisfy it. See our move-out painting page.

If you are the landlord or agent

Between tenants, a unit often needs a list, not a renovation. Walk it room by room, write down the holes, marks, chips and failed sealant, and send the list with photos. We quote the repairs as separate lines, so you can see what is a repair and what is a repaint, and you can decide which to do before the next tenant moves in. If you look after several units or a building, our property maintenance page covers how we work for managers.

Handyman work in villas, apartments and offices

The jobs are the same in every kind of property, and the conditions are not.

Villas

A villa has more surfaces to go wrong: outside walls, boundary walls, double-height stairwells and high ceilings. A small repair high on a stairwell wall is not small if it needs a scaffold or a lift, and any access equipment is listed in the quote. For an outside wall, see our exterior painting page, and for a full repaint, villa painting.

Apartments

An apartment sits inside a building with rules of its own. Many towers want contractors to hold a work permit or fill in an access form, and they set the hours for noisy or dusty work. Give us the building name when you message. We tell you what the building needs, and we follow its hours. More is on our apartment painting page.

Offices and shops

A handyman service Dubai offices can book needs to work around the business. Tell us the opening hours and the landlord's rules, and we plan the repair for the quiet hours where the building allows it. Larger jobs are covered on our commercial painting page. Our office fit out page covers the finishing trades in a new unit.

Areas we cover and how to book

Our handyman services Dubai-wide cover apartments, villas and offices. We do not work in other emirates. Tell us the building or the villa community and the floor when you write, so that we can check access before we visit.

To book, send photos on WhatsApp at +971 55 209 9785 or use the quote form. We tell you whether the job is ours, and if it is, we book the site inspection.