In Illinois you need a license as well as the insurance. That doesn't stop the carpenters and handymen from doing electrical work, but it's illegal. That seems to be enough to keep the vast majority of them from doing services.
If these handymen are charging $15-$20 per hour, they're only grossing $30-40,000 per year (if they invoice 2,000 hours per year.) If they are paying for insurance, their overhead might not be any different than yours. That means all their overhead is coming out of $30-40,000, leaving them with $25-35,000 for salary, no retirement benefits, and an aging truck.
Who needs to compete with that? They'll dry up and blow away soon enough.
Dave
