You've got a sticking door, a splashback to tile and a wardrobe you want building into the alcove. Who do you ring? Search around and you'll find joiners, carpenters and handymen all promising to help, and it's not always clear which one you actually want. Here's the plain version, and what someone like me takes on day to day around Nottingham.
Joiner vs carpenter, what's the difference?
In this country the two words get used almost interchangeably, and most good tradesmen do both. The old distinction is that a joiner makes and works with timber in a workshop, the doors, frames, stairs and fitted units, while a carpenter fits and fixes that work on site. In practice, around Nottingham, if someone calls themselves a joiner or a carpenter they'll generally turn their hand to both ends of it.
So when you see "carpenter near me" or "joiner Nottingham", you're usually looking at the same kind of person. What matters more than the label is whether they do the actual job you've got and do it properly.
Where a handyman fits in
A handyman is a generalist. Flat-pack assembly, a shelf up, a leaky tap, a bit of everything. For genuinely small odd jobs that's often exactly who you want, and it'll usually cost less than a trade specialist.
The catch is that "a bit of everything" has limits. Hanging a door so it sits square and shuts with an even gap, tiling a wall that stays level and doesn't crack, building a wardrobe scribed into an out-of-square alcove, these are skill jobs. A handyman might give them a go, but you can end up paying twice when it's not right. For those, you want someone who does that work all day.
What a joiner like me actually handles
I sit in a useful spot for a lot of people: a qualified joiner who takes the smaller, careful jobs that bigger firms talk themselves out of. No job is too small here, that's the whole point of how I work. Here's the range:
- Door hanging. Internal and external doors hung square and swinging true, with locks, latches, handles and hinges fitted to match. Tired doors eased and re-hung so they shut properly again.
- Tiling. Walls and floors, kitchens and bathrooms, splashbacks and feature walls, with proper surface prep and clean, even grout lines.
- Fitted wardrobes and alcoves. Made-to-measure storage scribed to your room so it looks built-in, because it is.
- Worktops. Measured, cut and joined so you can't see the join, with sinks and hobs cut in clean and sealed against water.
- Kitchens and utilities. Full fits or fit-only, units set level and square, worktops, sinks and appliances all sorted.
- Repairs and second fix. Sticking doors, dropped hinges, skirting, architrave, shelving and the small fixes that finish a room off.
Most of those are jobs people put off for months because they're too small to feel worth a callout. They're not. They're exactly the work I want.
When you do need a specialist instead
Being straight with you matters more than chasing every job, so here's where I'd point you elsewhere. Anything that needs to be signed off by a registered trade isn't mine to do. Gas work goes to a Gas Safe engineer, mains electrics and consumer units go to a qualified electrician, and notifiable plumbing into your heating or waste should go to a plumber. I'll happily work alongside them, fit the kitchen while the sparky does the spurs, but I won't pretend a job is mine when it isn't.
Structural work, big extensions and roofing are builder territory too. If you tell me what you're planning, I'll tell you honestly whether it's a job for me or whether you want a different trade, and I can often point you toward someone good.
So who do you call?
For odd jobs around the house with no real skill to them, a handyman is fine and usually cheapest. For anything in timber, tiling, doors, wardrobes, worktops or a kitchen, call a joiner. For gas, mains electrics or structural work, call the registered specialist.
If your list is a mix of the careful stuff, doors, a bit of tiling, an alcove unit, the odd repair, that's me. One pair of hands from quote to finish, tidy every visit, and no job too small. Take a look at the gallery to see the kind of work, then send me your list and I'll tell you straight what I can take on.
