Raising rates on office handyman contracts - clients acting like I owe them

Been doing handyman work for a bunch of small offices in the Chicago area my whole career, mostly fixing door hinges, patching drywall with 3M compounds, and swapping out those flickering LED bulbs in conference rooms. Last year I bumped my hourly from $65 to $85 because material costs went through the roof, like DeWalt tools ain't cheap anymore and I gotta eat. But these commercial clients are giving me hell, saying they'll go to some kid on TaskRabbit who patches walls with whatever. Saw a thread on r/handyman where guys said to just walk if they push back too hard, and someone in Handyman Nation group mentioned using option sheets to show value. I'm frustrated as shit, been loyal to these spots for years but now they're nickel and diming me. Anyone else dealing with this crap on commercial gigs?

Print up a simple one-pager showing your rates with what you cover, like emergency fixes vs scheduled maintenance, and email it out before their next contract renews. I've used something like that with my landscaping side gigs and it smoothed things over.

Man, same shit here with wiring touch-ups in retail spots. Clients always think handymen are interchangeable.

These corporate types treat us like vendors they can squeeze dry, no appreciation for the late-night cabinet installs or whatever.

PE firms buying up properties make it worse, they just pass down the pressure to cut costs on maintenance.

Insurance hikes are killing us too, and they expect us to absorb it on handyman calls.

Felt that, just lost a strip mall contract over a $10 rate bump on toilet repairs.

Hit 'em with a value add, like quoting a full year of quarterly inspections for the new rate. I do painting touch-ups in offices and it keeps 'em hooked.

Screw the cheapskates, start targeting bigger commercial like warehouses where they need reliable guys for pallet racking fixes and don't bitch about rates.

Haha, I raised mine and the client said 'but you're just a handyman!' Now I charge extra for the attitude adjustment.

Bro, been there with tile jobs in lobbies. Hang in there, the good clients stick around.