Firm Connects Homeowners With Folks Who Do Home Repairs

Maintenance Made Simple is a locally owned franchise business that provides skilled workers for clients' home repairs and improvements. The company's headquarters is in Scottsdale, Ariz., and there are 31 franchises in 21 states.

West Des Moines residents Cindy Pearson, 44, who co-owns the Clive franchise with husband, Mark Dixon, 45, answered these questions.

Q. What does your company do? A. If a homeowner has just a single repair - or a whole list of them tacked to the fridge that includes repairs, improvements, maybe even a remodeling project - and that homeowner doesn't know who to call, who they can count on or who will take the time to follow through with their need, we can help.

Q. How does it work? A. Our office is home base for a team of 14-some craftspeople with a broad range of skills and years of experience. These are the folks who do the work at our clients' homes. Aside from Mark and me, we have two part-time service coordinators who stay in touch with clients about their projects and keep our craftsmen informed as to where they need to be with the right info and on time.

Q. Which services, specifically, do your workers provide? A. Handymen, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, painting, siding, windows and doors, remodeling, flooring, roof repair, concrete, duct cleaning, heating and cooling, yard and garden, and more.

We're also growing and developing our team of craftspeople as we grow our business.

Q. Is there a minimum size job that you will accept? A. One hour. When a client asks us to do something that takes less than an hour, we always ask what else we can do for them to get the most value from their time with us.

Q. What is the largest job that you've had so far? A. I can think of three jobs offhand that had us at each client's home for several weeks. Two of the three started with a small, limited request, then grew to include some combination of bathroom remodeling, painting, siding, concrete work, heating-and-cooling service and more. It's pretty common for us to start at someone's home with one request and then have them add more requests as they get to know our team.

Q. Who are your clients? A. Our clients are generally homeowners ranging from 20-somethings to elders who don't have the time, equipment, skill or inclination to do the work themselves, or to track down the multitude of skilled craftspeople their work requires.

Twenty-five-plus percent of our client list are second- and third-time repeat customers. We also service business properties.

Q. What are the most unusual jobs you've done? A. One client asked if we could install their Tivo player. We verified that someone on our team was skilled in that area, then said yes and installed the Tivo. Another client asked us to rebuild their fireplace after a mold issue. Mold remediators cleaned up and stabilized the situation, and then we rebuilt the wall with a custom-built mantle, surround and trim to match the original.

Q. What area do you serve? A. The Greater Des Moines metro area, including Polk County and stretching into Dallas, Warren and Madison counties.

Q. What do you charge for your service? A. We charge $65 an hour. We bill in 15-minute increments after the first hour. If someone has a list of projects, or a bigger project, the rate goes down.

Estimates are free, we don't have trip charges and we don't mark up materials - and that's something that's common in our industry.

We accept cash, checks and major credit cards.

Q. What is your background? A. My professional background is as a writer/editor for home-oriented magazines and books. I write about the very subjects that Maintenance Made Simple tackles.

Personally, I've wielded a hammer and nails on many occasions, but I know my limits and have hired out a number of remodeling projects, repairs and improvements.

Mark's background is in cell phone operations. He got into the cell phone business just as it was becoming a consumer service so he constructed, upgraded and managed cellular networks in Iowa and on the West Coast. So while he once created and led teams of skilled folks who made sure your wireless calls went through with no static, he now pulls together just the right folks to repair your siding, or your rotted trim, or the crack in your ceiling, or install your new lighting scheme or all of the above.

Q. Why did you get into this? A. Mark Dixon replies: Our research kept producing stories of homeowners struggling to find reliable home repair help. We decided it was a business that we'd like to patronize ourselves, and decided to bring it to Des Moines.

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