I’m Ant, a handyman based in Cambridge, and St Ives is one of the towns I regularly work in. Odd jobs and repairs, flat-pack builds, TV mounting, painting, patch plastering and gutter clearing. Local travel is included in the first hour, and anything beyond it is billed in 30-minute blocks, so you’re only charged for the time a job actually takes — my pricing guide shows what that comes to. Quotes cost nothing.
Small outfit, no middlemen — you deal with me and only me.
Working in St Ives, driving over from Cambridge
Worth stating plainly: my base is Cambridge, not St Ives. The town sits roughly fourteen miles north-west of me, up in Huntingdonshire, and I drive out to it. I’d rather you knew that before booking than found it out afterwards.
The upside is that the journey is already paid for inside the first hour, so there’s no surcharge for the postcode. The downside is scheduling. If I’m in St Ives on a Tuesday I’m generally there for the day, which is why a little notice goes a long way.
Anyone who has taken the guided busway into Cambridge knows how tied the two towns are. A fair number of people I hear from in St Ives work in Cambridge and simply don’t have a free weekday to wait in for a tradesman — so we sort the details by message and I get on with it.
Property in the town splits fairly neatly. The older places near the river and the medieval bridge chapel bring the sort of work old buildings always bring: joinery that has moved, doors catching on frames, tired paintwork, patches of plaster that need making good. The large modern estates that have gone up around the town produce a different list — furniture to build, walls to fix things to, blinds and shelves and mountings.
What I can help with in St Ives
Broadly, the jobs that are too small for a specialist and too fiddly to face on a Sunday. There’s a fuller rundown on my list of services, and if you mainly want general help around the house, the odd job man page covers that side of things.
- General repairs — sticking doors, worn hinges, failed locks, tired sealant, draughty gaps
- Flat-pack furniture — beds, wardrobes, storage and desks, assembled square and cleared away after
- Mounting and fixing — televisions, shelving, mirrors, blinds, curtain poles, pictures
- Painting and decorating — rooms, woodwork, filling and preparation
- Patch plastering — small holes, damaged corners, tidying up after removals
- Gutter clearing — plus other modest jobs outside
- Small plumbing and electrical — taps, toilets, light fittings, socket and switch fronts; non-notifiable only
Two firm limits. Gas work of any description belongs to a Gas Safe registered engineer, and notifiable electrical work belongs to a Part P registered electrician. I’m neither, and I’ll tell you that upfront rather than halfway through.
What it costs
Identical to my Cambridge pricing. The extra miles don’t appear on your bill.
How a job is charged comes down to the size of the list — by the hour for a short one, or by the half day or the full day for something bigger. Nothing starts until you’ve had a quote you’re happy with.
There’s a minimum charge of one hour. Any materials I buy are passed on at exactly what they cost me — no markup, no handling fee. I’m not VAT registered, so nothing is added at the end either. For a fuller breakdown of how this compares and what makes a job take longer, see my handyman pricing guide.
Villages around St Ives I cover
The surrounding villages are just as much part of my round as the town. That includes Houghton, Hemingford Grey, Hemingford Abbots, Fenstanton, Needingworth, Bluntisham, Somersham, Holywell and Woodhurst.
In the villages especially, a half-day booking usually earns its keep. Once the van is parked, working steadily through six or seven jobs costs far less per job than calling me out three separate times. Not certain whether you’re within reach? Ask. If I can get to you I’ll say yes, and if I can’t I’ll say that instead.
On the far side of Cambridge I also work in Newmarket and down towards Haverhill, in case you need something sorting at a relative’s place.
Why use a one-person handyman rather than a firm
It cuts both ways, and you should pick with your eyes open.
In my favour: the quote and the work come from the same pair of hands. Nothing gets lost in translation between an estimator and whoever turns up on the day. There’s no call centre, no ticket number, no being passed along. And if you ring me in a fortnight about the same job, I’ll remember it.
Against me: I am one person with one diary. When I’m booked, I’m booked, and I can’t send a colleague instead. A firm with six vans can absorb a last-minute call in a way I simply can’t. So plan ahead if the work isn’t urgent, and if it is, telephone rather than emailing — I’ll give you a straight yes or no about fitting you in.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a call-out charge for coming out to St Ives?
There isn’t. Travel is absorbed into the first hour, so there’s no separate call-out fee on top, and everything after it runs in 30-minute blocks at my standard rate. You pay the same as someone half a mile from my door in Cambridge — my pricing guide has the figures.
I’ve only got one tiny job. Is it worth you coming?
Being straight with you — possibly not. A fifteen-minute task in St Ives still means paying the full first-hour minimum, because the round trip from Cambridge eats most of that time. My pricing guide sets out what that comes to. Nobody feels good about that outcome.
The fix is to batch. Have a wander round the house and note down everything that’s been irritating you: the cupboard door hanging wrong, the picture that’s never gone up, the loo that keeps running, the shelf, the blind, the bit of skirting. Booking an hour or two in one go, or a half day, gets far more done for the money than three individual visits ever would.
How much notice do you need for St Ives?
More than for a job in Cambridge, if you can manage it. I try to bunch work in and around St Ives onto the same days rather than spreading it thinly, so the more warning I have, the better the chance of offering a time that suits you. Tell me if your dates are flexible and I’ll put you on the next run over that way.
Do you cover the Hemingfords and the villages nearby?
Yes. Houghton, Hemingford Grey, Hemingford Abbots, Fenstanton, Needingworth, Bluntisham, Somersham, Holywell and Woodhurst are all on my list. If your village isn’t named there, it’s still worth a quick message — the boundary isn’t a hard line on a map.
When can you come, and how do materials work?
My hours are Monday to Saturday, 8:00am until 6:00pm. Materials go on your bill at cost price, with nothing added, and there’s no VAT. You’re also welcome to buy the parts yourself and have them waiting. To get the ball rolling, drop me a message — a couple of photos usually tells me most of what I need to know.
Looking for a handyman in St Ives?
Send over your list and I’ll come back with a free quote and a frank opinion on whether it’s better done now or saved up with a few other bits. Nothing to sign, nothing to lose.