Home Services Shop News
May 14, 2006
May 19th - The Home
Services Shop of Pleasantville will celebrate its 5th Anniversary.
Established in 2001 to be a highly reliable provider
of services to homeowners, the company is about to complete its 15,000th
job in Westchester County. The Home Services Shop sets out to
distinguish itself from the single handyman or small contractor by
letting homeowners know there is a company behind every job performed.
“Very often the business side of performing small jobs
overwhelms the typical small job provider. Scheduling and cash flow
often become too difficult for an independent handyman and reliability
soon suffers. Our office staff takes care of scheduling and materials,
leaving the people in the field focused on what they do best.” says Vice
President Kurt McKinney.
The company, provides the insurance, license, and,
bonding; and focuses on hiring the right “technicians,” painters and
carpenters. Each employee is thoroughly background-checked and is hired
as much for their customer services skills as their technical skill.
Through an ongoing evaluation process, the quality of staff – both in
the field and the office – continually improves.
“Five years is often said to be the threshold when a
small business makes it and Home Services Shop sees no end to the demand
for their “high touch” service. As homes get larger, homeowners get
busier and the stress of balancing work and private life becomes even
more difficult there is a significant market for these small jobs. Just
as homeowners routinely hire house cleaners and landscapers, getting
regular visits from a “handyman” has an equal appeal.
McKinney says, “People want to enjoy their families on
the weekend and often the jobs we perform require special tools,
materials, knowledge and/or a lot of time.”
Shortly after opening the business, a Home Maintenance
Program was established which offers half- and full-day visits in
exchange for a discounted “day rate.” These annual contracts provide
seasonal maintenance (power washing, deck “set-ups,” gutter cleaning,
a/c filter changes, etc.), small painting jobs (one or two rooms a year)
and routine repairs (door adjustments, caulk and grout, gutter
cleaning). The Home Maintenance Program customers now account for over
50% of the business.
The Maintenance programs come in 2-, 4-, and 6-day packages.
Other services have been created to meet the demands of homeowners.
“House Checks” is a pre-determined number of visits to homes when the
homeowner is away. The 12-day “Super” program is one in which Home
Services Shop visits monthly to make sure everything stays in top shape.
“Room Makeover” is the newest service where Home Services Shop has
teamed up with a decorator to take a single room and enable the
homeowner to consider changing everything from the paint color to closet
doors to crown molding to the curtains and bedspread. Given the interest
in such TV shows and knowing the potential thrill a child or spouse
might get from participating in creating a new look to a room, this is a
natural extension of Home Services Shop! McKinney says, “You don’t have
to have an addition built just to change the look of a room or two!”
The Home Services Shop, established in 2001, provides seasonal
maintenance and general repairs, carpentry, painting, plumbing, tile
work and electronic assistance. They are licensed (WC-14428-HO3), bonded
and insured.
Please visit www.homeservicesshop.com or call Kurt
McKinney at 769-1100 for additional information about the company and
its services.
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December 19, 2002
Dodging the Drafts: Save
Money and Keep your House Warm
By Lori Tripoli
For the Patent Trader
The average house has leaks equivalent to leaving a 3-foot by 3 foot
widow open all year round, according to a spokesperson for the New York
State Energy Resource and Development Authority. With losses like that,
homeowners might want to do a little more than don a turtle neck and
extra sweater this season, area home service providers suggested.
Indeed, Mary Ingram-Schatz, a NYSERDA spokesperson said a
home can be improved so that it uses up to 40 percent less energy.
Although a stormy winter already seems to be making itself known, there
are protective measures to prevent damage and minimize utility bills
that can still be taken. “Proper attic
insulation will allow you to not throw away so much money” on that
utility bill, said Elizabeth Franklin, author of “The Franklin report:
The Insider’s Guide to Home Services” (AllgoodPress, 2001). The Zagat-like
guide evaluates providers of home services, such as plumbers,
contractors, decorators, and air conditioning and heating services. The
New York City edition of the book covers some Westchester-based
providers, and Franklin has a Connecticut/lower New York State edition
planned for publication in late 2003. Placing an
insulation collar around pipes and placing insulation behind walls that
always feel cold is one way to both keep cold rooms a bit warmer and
minimize the risk of a burst pipe, suggests Home Services Shop, which
has locations in Pleasantville and Mount Kisco and services communities
from Valhalla to Katonah and thereabouts. Wraps to keep cold air our can
be purchased for window -unit air conditioners left in place over the
cold winter months. Hot water can account for
“about 15% of an overall utility bill,” Franklin said. “Wrap a water
heater blanket around your hot water heater “she suggested. “It only
costs about $15, and you can get them at the hardware stores.” This
chore can result in a savings of $50 a year, she said.
Be Clever with Caulk Small
openings in a house for things such as plumbing “can create significant
heat losses, said Anthony Marmo, owner of Clover Heating and Cooling in
Sleepy Hollow. Spaces around, windows doors and even outside electrical
outlets might also benefit from a bit of sealing.
In addition, “Make sure your filters are cleaned and
replaced “on your furnace, Franklin suggested.
Check your Thermostat NYSERDA
suggests installing programmable thermostats, so that you can leave your
home cooler when your not there but warmer when you are. The temperature
level for those times when you’re not present will vary “depending on
whether or not you have plaster walls,” said Clover Heating’s Marmo. His
company services homes in northern Westchester and has been certified as
a building performance contractor. “If you have a leaky house, 55
(degrees) may be too cold,” he explained. It’s possible that a house at
which the thermostat is set at 55 may freeze. Some may opt to keep the
temperature at a safer 58 or 60 while they’re away, he said. Thermostats
are know available allowing a homeowner to call it up, check the
temperature of the home and using the telephone key pad raise or lower
the setting, Marmo said. Clean Your Gutters
“Make sure they are not clogged “Franklin advised. If
rainwater backs up and freezes, it can crack your gutters.”
Worse, water blocked by frozen gutters can then back into
your roof and create a leak. Such ice dams are less likely to be formed
if gutters are leaf- and debris –free. If you’re disinclined to tackle this job
yourself, professionals can still be hired even though winter snows have
already arrived. “I watch to see when the
weather clears up” Nugent said. It may take longer (to clean) if the
gutters are wet, but I have crews out today, “she said on one rainy
morning. Home Services Shop suggests tightening
loose shutters and storm doors so they’re not thrashing about during the
windy nights of winter. Schedule a Home Audit
AN expert can inspect combustion safety, such as carbon
monoxide levels, test the flow from your heating system into chimney and
the efficiency of heating equipment, and measure how much air is moving
through your house and how air tight the home is, Marmo explained. “We
do an audit for $100 for any sized house, “he said. Insulation will be
rated, and any recommendations for energy saving measures will be made.
I f you are to make energy efficiency improvements,
NYSERDS recommended asking contractors about their certification.
Contractors involved with NYSERDA’s home performance with ENERGY STAR
program, such as Marmo, are trained and certified by the building
performance institute.
If you can’t afford to make changes, you might qualify for a low
interest ENERGY STAR financing. For more information call 1-877-NY-SMART
or go to www.GetEnergySmart.org.
Be Prepared Make Sure you
have some emergency supplies on hand should the electricity go out,
Franklin suggested. Candles and matches, flashlight and batteries, and
battery operated radios should be on hand. Home owners might want to
keep nonperishable foods for a couple of meals, containers of bottled
water, hand operated can openers and paper plates and eating utensils.
It’s also a good idea to stock up on snow shovels before your driveway
is blocked. Think About Next Season
“Winter is a really good time of year to have your air
conditioning checked,” said Franklin, noting that it can be difficult to
get prompt service on the steamiest days of August.
Before it gets too cold “is the time to give your deck or
out door furniture and additional coat of sealant, ‘Franklin said.
It’s too cold, though to stain your deck now. “You need
49degrees,” Nugent explained. “Chemicals are temperature sensitive”.
The same is true with driveway sealing. Ideally,
homeowners” should start scheduling driveway sealing (and other
winterizing work that needs to be done before it gets too cold) between
August and September,” Nugent said. TOP
JUST THE LITTLE THINGS: HOME SERVICES SHOP
AIMS TO FILL THE GAPS
By Amy Kelley
The Patent Trader
Anyone who owns a home knows that the littlest home improvements can
be the biggest hassle. First of all, there’s the feeling that we should
do them ourselves. Fix a cracked pane? Paint one room? Clean the gutters?
These tasks hardly seem worth calling someone in. Surely one’s husband,
one’s neighbor, one’s grown child could take care of such a task.
And yet, while the roofer comes to do the roof, the contractor is hired
for the addition and the plumber puts in the plumbing for a new bathroom,
the little things are left undone. And it can turn out that these small
tasks aren’t worth the time for many contractors.
So, the pane is still cracked and the dining room is still unpainted
and people are coming for Memorial Day. Stress. Now there’s a local business
that aims to solve this problem. Home Services Shop opened in Pleasantville
last spring and now has an office on Main Street in Mount Kisco as well.
“I was removing a stairway and installing a fireplace, so I had them
come and do that,” Jeff Lupica of Pleasantville said. “I didn’t want to
deal with the hassle of hiring a contractor. A lot of times contractors
don’t want to come in for the small jobs; they just want the big jobs. These
guys will come and do a job that’s one, two, three or four days. I think
these guys did a good job. They were quick, and really neat and clean. I
was impressed.”
Mike Gilfeather and Paul Brown, both Pleasantville residents, opened
Home Services Shop last spring. “It started, I would say, in my first branch
manager assignment in Bronxville,” said Gilfeather, a former executive at
The Bank of New York. He noticed that people, especially older people, needed
little jobs done and didn’t know where to go. Because they trusted their
bank, they’d ask Gilfeather.
“Their fear was always that they might be taken advantage of,” said Gilfeather,
who was recently re-elected as a village trustee. “I though there was a
business out there for just this much — the small jobs around the house.
We want to be a one-stop shop for those. We don’t want to compete with contractors.
We want to refer to contractors, and hope they refer the punch list to us,
in time.”
Home Services Shop focuses on small jobs, like replacing windows, cleaning
gutters, faucet repair, driveway sealing, light carpentry and the like.
Usually, though, little jobs come in lists, so they do several at a time.
Gilfeather calls his technicians “generalists.” They can do most of the
jobs, so homeowners don’t have to wait for the plumber, then the painter,
then the electrician. The shop also offers personal computer training, for
people who want to learn how to use their computers but don’t want to take
a course somewhere.
Most jobs cost $65 per hour. “We’re an open book,” Gilfeather said. “You
can go and see what our pricing is on the Web site and we have an administrative
staff to back us up.”
Home Services Shop offers a home maintenance program. They’ll send people
out seasonally to do what needs doing, like adding fresh paint to risers,
cleaning gutters and changing filters on air conditioning units. Customers
with home maintenance contracts get a cheaper rate on other services. “The
plan is that we will send the same guys back, you’ll get to know them and
trust them and go grocery shopping while they’re there,” Gilfeather said.
Gilfeather said his goal for the first few years is to build trust. That’s
why Home Services Shop has a storefront staffed by a receptionist. Customers
know they won’t be evaded. “They can wring our necks if we don’t do it right,”
Gilfeather said. “We stand behind our services and we want to build long-term
relationships.”
Most of Home Services Shop’s customers come from Pleasantville, Briarcliff,
Chappaqua, Armonk and Mount Kisco. Gilfeather and Brown plan on opening
more shops, depending on where the interest comes from.
“They’re reasonably priced, and the first time we called them we needed
something in a pinch and they were very nice and they did a good job,” Grace
Lobello, a former Pleasantville resident who is soon moving to Armonk, said
of Home Services Shop. “All three things that they did for me were electrical.
These were things that were important to us even though they were small.”
Men from Home Services Shop secured a chandelier for the Lobellos in
one case, and another time they switched light fixtures. “They were on time,
clean and quick and courteous,” Lobello said.
Copyright, The Journal News 2001
For other interesting Westchester articles, visit:
www.thejournalnews.com
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February 24, 2002, Sunday
WESTCHESTER WEEKLY DESK IN BUSINESS: A LITTLE HELP
AROUND THE HOUSE
By Susan Hodara (NY Times)
From replacing a floodlight high atop the garage or repairing a few cracked
tiles in the bathroom, there are inevitably jobs around the house too big
for the homeowner but too small for a traditional contractor.
Which is where Home Services Shop, newly opened in Mount Kisco and in
Pleasantville since last May, steps in. Home Services offerings encompass
the gamut of home-oriented tasks, including carpentry, plumbing, painting,
maintenance and electronics.
''Even if you're able to do the job yourself, there's always some aggravation
that accompanies it,'' said the shop's president, Michael Gilfeather. ''Once
you decide to have someone else do it for you, your life just gets better.''
Key to the success of Home Services is trust, said Josh Dorfman, manager
of the Mount Kisco operation. Employees are insured and their backgrounds
are checked.
''Our employees enjoy doing the work,'' Mr. Gilfeather said, ''and prefer
to let us handle the business end.''
For information, in Pleasantville call (914) 769-1100; in Mount Kisco,
(914) 244-6666.
Susan Hodara
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
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ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER SERVICES NOW OFFERED!
Coinciding with the opening of its Mt. Kisco location on February 14,
2002, The Home Services Shop announced the expansion of its services to
include electronics and computers.
Electronics:
Included in the electronics services are cable TV wiring, DVD and VCR connection,
stereo wiring, telephone wiring, and general electrical work. Computer installation
and setup include the attachment of monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner,
digital camera (as well as other peripherals) to the central processing
unit.
Personal Computers:
You can work with one of our attentive trainers to develop your computer
skills. The sessions, conducted in the privacy of your own home, are geared
to your pace and comfort level. We train basic beginners to those with intermediate
computer skills in these areas:
- Computer Essentials: Become familiar with using the mouse and the
Windows desktop, as well as managing files and basic programs.
- Internet Overview: Master this powerful communication tool. Learn
to create, send, and manage e-mail, to use search engines surf the Web,
use hyperlinks, shop online, establish parental controls and use instant
messaging.
- Microsoft Word: Learn the basics of word processing – how to format
text, vary fonts and formats, add page numbers, create bullets, and insert
tables and clip art into your documents.
- Microsoft Excel: Learn to use cells, formulas, and functions and to
create charts. Whether you want to maintain your household budget, develop
Little League schedules, or manage your financial portfolio, we’ll teach
you how, using Excel spreadsheets.
- Microsoft PowerPoint: Create memorable presentations using text and
sound effects, professional backgrounds, charts, graphs, and animation.
- Computer Performance Tune-Up: Learn how to organize your files, remove
extraneous files and programs, reclaim disk space, empty the recycle bin,
“defragment” the hard drive and learn other helpful tips to maximize your
PC’s performance.
Click Here for information on fees
for electronics and computer services.
Coming Soon!
Software Installation: Upgrade your Windows operating system or add new
software applications. Learn to download software from the Internet, to
install firewalls and virus protection programs – as well as other applications
which you require.
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HOME SERVICES SHOP NOW ACCEPTING PHOTOS OF THE
“GREAT LIVING AND DINING ROOMS” OF THE PLEASANTVILLE – MT. KISCO AREA
Last Fall, Mike Gilfeather of the Homes Services Shop and Chris Cornell
of the Cornell Gallery joined to display photos highlighting the many uniquely-designed
and decorated rooms the Pleasantville and surrounding area. This “Great
Rooms” program started with the “Great Doors” of Pleasantville, currently
on display at the Home Services Shop’s Pleasantville office at 78 Washington
Ave.
With this month’s expansion of the Home Services Shop to a second location
in Mt. Kisco, the program is now being extended to include living rooms
and dining rooms in the towns (Pleasantville, Mt. Kisco, Armonk, Chappaqua,
Briarcliff, Thornwood, Bedford, Bedford Hills, Katonah and surrounding area)
served by the two offices.
Residents should bring an 8” x 10” photo (kitchen or living room) of
their own home or a neighbor / friend’s home to the Cornell Gallery (25
Wheeler Ave., Pleasantville - 741-1203) for complimentary matting. To arrange
to have a photo taken at no charge, call Mike Gilfeather at the Pleasantville
office (769-1100) or Josh Dorfman at the Mt. Kisco office (244-6666).
The current “Great Doors of Pleasantville” display, includes ten unique,
beautifully-decorated front doors. To see sample photos of two of these
“Great Doors,” go to the Pleasantville Web site at:
www.pleasantvilleny.com
- Click on Professionals and Services
- Then click on Shops and Stores
- Then select Home Services Shop
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