There's a fix for that

By Dick Hughes  

MARCH 9, 2011 3:02 p.m. (0)

Need a contractor to add a bedroom, a craftsman for bookcases, a plumber for a stopped drain, an electrician to rewire the house, a carpenter to build a deck, a mason to lay a patio or just a handyman to whittle away at that honey-do list?

A new company, Crescent Home Referrals, aims to help homeowners, Realtors and property managers find well-vetted, licensed and insured contractors, tradesman and handymen at no cost to the user.

The owners believe it is the first service of its kind in the Upstate and unique from similar companies around the country in that the service is free to users.

Crescent was founded by Don Harrison, his nephew John Harrison and John’s sister-in-law Teri Watson, all of whom are in second or third careers.

They spent a year honing the concept, organizing the company, preparing marketing materials, building a website and, most critically, lining up a network of contractors.

“We really bring something to this community that is sorely lacking, filling a void and creating a little niche for ourselves not just in Greenville but in the entire Upstate,” said Watson.

The Crescent network has about 130 contractors, and a growing list, she said. They vary in trade and in size.

“You need a window replaced, fine. You need a gutter replaced, fine.  You need a room addition, fine.  A hole in the dry wall, we can handle that.”

If more than one estimate is wanted, Crescent sends others out.

“We don’t get anything until he sells the job to the customer, sells himself, performs the job, completes the job,” said Don Harrison. “He gives us a copy of the invoice. He knows upfront that if he gets that contract, he will pay Crescent whatever had been negotiated in advance.”

Crescent negotiates its percentage with contractors based on the size and type of job.  The bigger the dollar amount, the smaller is the percentage. Crescent’s cut varies, too, said John Harrison, depending on such factors on whether the cost is mostly labor or mostly materials.

Most contractor referral services, such as those found on the Internet, require payments from contractors whether they get the job or not.

“One of our contractors said he spent $1,500 in two months on leads that didn’t produce one job,” said Don Harrison.

Last summer and fall, Don Henderson said, the three partners spent “hours upon hours doing nothing but interviewing contractors” and then spent hours digging into their credentials and reputations.

“We research them very carefully,” said Watson. “We make sure that if the state requires licensing that they are licensed. If the state requires bonding, we make sure they are bonded. We check their references.  We make sure they are adequately insured.”

Beyond the obvious homeowner market, they see potential in working with Realtors who need to get work done for sellers and buyers and with property managers who always have things needing fixing.

The business originated with Don and John, who were in career transitions.

Don, 77, had sold Harrison Lighting store, which he began and ran for 12 years after 40 years in the textile industry in marketing and sales.  The referral business had been on his mind as his next act.

John, 66, was a teacher and football coach at Parker High in Greenville until it closed in 1985. He then went to Wren High in Powdersville. He got his license and built housing on the side and then full time when retired from teaching in 1997.

When the housing collapse hit, he pulled back from building and independently had the same idea for a referral service as his uncle.

“People call me all the time wanting references.  Who can paint? Who can do some framing? I said there’s some potential here. It was like a no-brainer.”

Lacking financial experience, they turned to Teri, who retired at age 57 in 2007 after 25 years at Builder Marts of America and Guardian Building Product, which had acquired BMA.  Her experience in finance and in building materials was right, and the timing for her was perfect.

“I was too young to retire and too old to keep doing the same thing,” she said. “I really wanted a little adventure in my life.”

She looked at what John and Don had pulled together, got out her calculator and concluded “as a business model we would be successful financially if we work virtually” with everyone working off linked databases from home computers or smart phones.

With an investment of less than $100,000, she said, they “were able to get this business started more economically than probably most businesses because it is virtual.”