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It's All in the Name
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Business New Haven
2/5/2001
By: Priscilla Searles
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It takes more than a great idea to launch a company. It takes a lot of research, bucketfuls of sweat and creative problem-solving.
Mike DiNello, owner of home-repair service Husband by Hour, hit paydirt with the concept that people needed a reliable and honest company to do repair jobs, from small to large. The owner of a landscape design business for 19 years, DiNello began the new company about a year ago. Today the company employees five full- and two part-time workers.
Expanding into the field of repair and restoration work was a logical step for DiNello. “We've built up an excellent reputation over the years as a service-oriented business,” he says. “People have always put their trust in us, asking us for other quality contractors, but I've always been hesitate to refer to someone [another contractor] unless I know them personally and their reputation is well-known.
“I saw a niche in the marketplace for a service-oriented contractor to satisfy the needs of residential and commercial property-owners to secure a contractor to complete small to medium-sized projects on schedule and on budget.”
The concept of Husband by the Hour came into focus two years ago. “One of the first goals was to trademark the name and the logo, which is now protected around the world,” says Dinello. “The ultimate goal is to franchise the system that we have established, including a team of accountants, lawyers, leasing people, training people, classroom training and salesmanship training and marketing.”
DiNello initially put about $20,000 into the new business, a sum used for vehicles, trademark, equipment and advertising.
“The name was part of the marketing, something that people remember, whether they need the service now or might need it later,” says Dinello. “We get people who call us months after they have seen our vehicles, which are hard to forget. It sticks in people's mind.”
DiNello is referring to the distinctive graphics package designed for all the Husband by the Hour vehicles. The logo, a 16-by-eight-foot tool box, is indeed hard to miss. In effect it's a mobile billboard whose teal-and-burgundy color scheme really jumps off the white background. The company also placed 20,000 brochures in various business locations.
According to Dinello, the company's jobs are distributed among residences, restaurants, doctor's offices, condominiums and other businesses. “We get a lot of repeat customers,” said Dinello. “The scope of residential projects ranges from hanging pictures to full renovations including bathroom renovations, kitchens, tile work and sheet rock.”
DiNello says he's surprised at the makeup of his customer base, which he originally assumed would be older people seeking help around the house.
“What we have found is that service suits the needs of elderly, single parents, duel income households, people who don't have any repair experience, or generally speaking people who can not secure a responsible reputable firm to do a house repair,” DiNello explains.
”At present time we are primarily covering southern New Haven County, but we plan to expand in the very near future. We hope to be franchised during this year but will concentrate primarily in the Northeast in the beginning. We want the business to grow with a controlled growth.”
DiNello says a business plan was integral to his planning process. As to the future, DiNello believes the need for a company like his will only grow in the years to come as baby boomers retire or slow down and the average age of the population continues to rise.
Not merely content to see what might happen in the future, however, DiNello has retained a franchise-development corporation from Boston to develop the legal and marketing strategy of Husband by the Hour. If positive thinking is a major contributor to the success of a new company, Husband by the Hour is on its way up.
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