Guides · Twin Cities homes
Should I hire a handyman or a plumber for a small plumbing job?
The short answer
In Minnesota, plumbing is a licensed trade: anything involving supply or drain piping, water heaters, or gas must be done by a licensed plumber — or by you, on your own home. A handyman can legally change a washer or a flapper. For most "small plumbing jobs," a licensed plumber is the legal, insured option, and usually costs about the same.
Where the legal line falls
Minnesota licenses plumbers through the Department of Labor and Industry, and the state plumbing code applies to essentially all work on a home's water supply, drains, vents, and water heaters. A handyman without a plumbing license is limited to what the code treats as minor repair and maintenance — washers, flappers, tightening a fitting. Replacing a water heater, installing a softener, running or rerouting pipe, working on a sewer line, or anything with a gas connection is licensed work. Cities enforce this through the permit system: a permit for that work is issued to a licensed plumber or to the homeowner, not to a handyman.
Why it matters even when nobody's checking
- Insurance. If unlicensed work fails — a water heater floods, a fitting lets go inside a wall — insurers can and do deny claims for work that wasn't permitted or licensed.
- Resale. Minneapolis and St. Paul point-of-sale evaluations, and any buyer's inspector, flag unpermitted plumbing. Fixing it then costs more than doing it right did.
- Gas. A water heater is a gas appliance with a vent. Wrong venting is carbon monoxide. This one isn't about paperwork.
- Accountability. Our license number is on every job. If something's wrong, there's a state board behind that number — and a plumber with a reputation to protect.
The honest cost comparison
The assumption is that a handyman is cheaper for small jobs. For a faucet or a shutoff valve, the truth is closer than people expect: a plumber who quotes flat-rate, shows up with the parts on the truck, and finishes in one visit often lands at about the same number — with the license, insurance, and a guarantee attached. Where a handyman genuinely makes sense is the non-plumbing parts of a project: the cabinet under the sink, the drywall behind the shower, the tile. We work alongside good ones all the time.
Try it yourself, or call?
Worth trying first
- Washers, flappers, aerators, a loose handle — genuinely handyman or DIY territory
- Ask any tradesperson for their license number before they touch supply, drain, or gas
- Use a handyman for the carpentry, drywall, and tile around a plumbing job
Time to call
- Water heaters, softeners, gas, sewer lines, or any new piping — licensed work by law
- Anything behind a wall or under a slab
- You want the work permitted and documented for resale
- A previous handyman job is leaking — we'll fix it properly and tell you what we found
Common questions
How do I verify a plumber's license in Minnesota?
The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry has a public license lookup. Ask for the license number — ours is PM652496 — and check it. A legitimate plumber will give it to you without hesitation.
Is it legal to do my own plumbing in Minnesota?
Homeowners can do certain work on their own primary residence, and in most cities can pull the permit for it. Gas work is the exception that many cities don't allow, and we'd urge caution on anything involving venting. The inspection still applies.
My handyman says he's done hundreds of water heaters.
He may well have. The issue isn't skill — it's that the work is unlicensed, unpermitted, and uninsured, and every one of those becomes your problem, not his, the day something goes wrong.