the going rate · dubai
ranges are typical · live quotes in chat
Getting handyman done in Stella Maris shouldn't involve three phone calls and a guessed price. Open tamam, compare verified vendors, pick your slot, done.
one meter · three job sizes
Stella Maris is a mix of residential, commercial and hospitality, so vendors here handle home, office and hotel jobs interchangeably, which shapes how handyman jobs run here — vendors who cover the area already know the access routine, the parking situation and the timing that suits residents.
Demand here is high, so slots move quickly — booking a day ahead usually gets you the window you actually want. Budget roughly 1–3 hours on site for curtain installation, plus a little for access if the building has a lift protocol.
Rails and tracks drilled level, blackout and sheer layers hung.
On block or concrete, the job is straightforward: a hammer drill with a 6 or 8 millimetre masonry bit, nylon plugs matched to the screw, and the bracket pulls up rock solid. Expect 45-60 minutes for a fixed or tilting mount up to 65 inches, including unboxing, levelling and cable tidy-up. On gypsum, the calculus changes. A fixed mount for a mid-size TV can go onto heavy-duty toggle anchors spread across the plate, but a full-motion articulating arm concentrates leverage onto a few fixing points, and on gypsum that demands hitting at least two metal studs or, better, fitting a plywood backing board first. A technician who proposes screwing a swing arm straight into plasterboard with plastic plugs is telling you they have not done this long.
Good workmanship shows in the details you can check yourself: the TV sits level (put a spirit-level app on the top edge), cables run through a trunking channel or in-wall conduit rather than dangling, the mount's locking screws are fitted so the panel cannot be lifted off by a curious child, and the technician does a firm downward pull on the bracket before hanging the screen. Budget 60-90 minutes if cable concealment or a soundbar is involved.
Curtain work is 80 percent measurement and 20 percent drilling, and the mistakes all happen in the first part. The technician has to establish three things before a single hole is made: whether the fixing is face-fix (into the wall above the window), ceiling-fix (up into the slab), or inside the recess; whether the ceiling at that point is actual concrete slab or a suspended gypsum ceiling with a void above it; and how much the finished curtains will weigh. A double track carrying blackout plus sheer across a three-metre villa window is a genuinely heavy, constantly moving load, and it needs brackets every 60-80 centimetres, not just one at each end.
Ceiling-fix into a suspended gypsum ceiling is the classic trap. Screws into the board alone will hold for a few weeks of gentle use and then let go, usually at 6am when someone yanks the blackout open. The correct approaches are either longer fixings that pass through the void into the concrete slab above, or rated hollow-ceiling anchors with the load spread across extra brackets. Ask your technician which one they are using; the answer tells you a lot.
Then look down. Dust and packaging are part of the job, not your problem after it: block-drilling dust vacuumed rather than swept into grout lines, cardboard and offcuts removed, protective film peeled off new hardware. Take photos of the finished work while everything is fresh, they are useful if anything settles or loosens in the first weeks.
Finally, keep the relationship. Handyman work is the most repeat-heavy trade in home services, there is always a next list, and a technician who already knows your wall types and building rules is measurably faster on visit two. If the work passed your walkthrough, rebook the same vendor next time; tamam keeps the vendor attached to your booking history so the same team can come back, and you can coordinate the details over whatsapp rather than re-explaining your building from scratch.
Every vendor on tamam has a verified trade licence with the relevant municipality, checked insurance, and technicians who are ID-tagged in the app.
Rather than publishing one rate, tamam shows what multiple verified vendors charge for curtain installation so you can pick the tier that fits the job and the budget.
Booking takes about a minute. Rebooking takes a couple of taps.
Dubai's tower-heavy stock means the building, not the emirate, sets most of the rules. Marina, JLT, Downtown and Business Bay towers commonly require a work permit or NOC from building management before a technician drills anything, plus contractor access through the service lift during set hours, often 9am to 6pm on weekdays only. Factor the permit lead time into your booking, and remember that post-2005 towers are heavy on gypsum partitions, so brief heavy-mounting jobs accordingly. Anything touching electrical circuits or water supply beyond simple fixtures crosses into DEWA and Dubai Municipality licensed-trade territory.
New silicone does not bond to old silicone, and mould trapped underneath grows straight through the fresh bead. If the technician is not spending most of the job on removal and drying, the reseal will fail within months. Ask to see the joint clean and dry before the new bead goes in.
In permit-controlled towers, a technician stopped at security is a wasted visit that you may still be charged for. Five minutes with building management before booking, asking about NOCs, service-lift rules and drilling hours, protects both your slot and your deposit with the building.
The cheapest quote often prices a different job: silicone over silicone, plugs instead of proper anchors, no anti-tip strap on the wardrobe. When quotes differ widely, ask each vendor how they will do the job. The one who mentions wall type, anchors and cure times without prompting is usually the one worth paying.
Tools, yes, always: drills, levels, anchors and consumables like screws and basic plugs are part of the service. Specific hardware is different: TV brackets, curtain rails, mirrors, shelves and replacement hinges are normally customer-supplied unless the quote says otherwise. Confirm the split when you accept the quote so nobody is standing in a hardware store mid-visit.
Roughly 24 hours. Sanitary silicone skins quickly but needs a full day to cure; running the shower the same evening washes out the bead and shortens its life dramatically. Book the reseal for a morning and plan around the guest bathroom that day.
Significantly. The call-out minimum, typically AED 100-200, is charged per visit, so five separate bookings pay that floor five times. A batched list turns the same jobs into one half-day visit around AED 300-500, and vendors quote batched work more keenly because the travel is amortised.
It depends on whether the scope changed. If you added tasks on the day, expect the price to move, agree the addition before the extra work starts. If the scope is unchanged and the technician simply underestimated, a fixed quote should hold, which is one reason to get quotes against a full photo-documented list rather than a vague description.
Most vendors work Saturdays and many work Sundays, which suits commuting households, but tower rules can override this: plenty of buildings ban drilling on weekends or after 6pm. Quiet jobs, assembly, silicone, door adjustment, are usually fine any day. Check your building's noisy-work hours before booking a weekend slot.
Yes — Stella Maris is covered across Dubai, with vendors who regularly work the area. Availability shows live in the app.
Booking takes about a minute. Rebooking takes a couple of taps.