Another distinction between "handyman" and "contractor"

[smoochaz]

Just make sure they are insured - if anyone hurts themselves on your property and they're not licensed or bonded they'll be looking to you to pay for their pain & suffering and loss of future work...

[barca12]

Ideally, you would want to hire a contractor. The quality of work is much better with contractors. The challenge is contractors are far more expensive, busier and take longer to complete jobs. I called two contractors in August and they were not available until December. That is how booked out they were.

There are times when it is wiser to hire a handyman. If you are making smaller changes (replacing a vanity), hire a handyman. But for major rennovations, I would not risk going with a handyman.

My opinion is be your own general contractor and hire small businesses who specialize in one thing. I've found success doing this. Hire the flooring company to do the floors, the countertop company to replace your kitchen countertops, the kitchen cabinet company to replace the kitchen cabinets, the closet company to redo your closets, painters to paint. Most of these companies are well run, efficient and do excellent work. If you hired a GC to manage all of this, it would take 3 times as long.