On October 26-28, Kaufman Homes and Kaufman’s Home Maintenance had a combined booth at the 23rd annual Salem Home & Remodel Show at the Oregon State Fairgrounds.
Home and remodel shows are a chance for companies to interact with the public talking and educating people about services offered.
The goal at this show, for Kaufman’s Home Maintenance, was to find customers and to continue educating and informing the public about this new company, the concept, its services, which to our knowledge have never been offered anywhere else!
We also wanted to see how the public would view this new concept and to see if the general public could understand that what Kaufman’s Home Maintenance offers is proactive preventive maintenance whereas Kaufman Homes is reactive after a problem has been discovered.
Things we observed
- Kaufman’s Home Maintenance had great credibility because it’s display was next to its well known parent company Kaufman Homes.
- By going over our information brochure, people easily understood the idea of keeping the home maintained by consistent, scheduled, maintenance service by a professional construction technician, who knows all the areas that need to be checked, serviced and maintained.
- People understood when we compared Kaufman’s Home Maintenance to going to the dentist and servicing our cars on a regular schedule, minimizing long term and major problems.
- No one had heard of anyone, anywhere offering these kinds of comprehensive, consistent scheduled services.
- People have witnessed or heard of extensive problems with homes that have not had professional or consistent preventive maintenance.
- After hearing what these services consist of and what they do, there was an understanding that a home is complex and better maintained by a professional.
- Single women, who own their home, were concerned, about whom they would let come in their home to do anything. They were really receptive to the concept offered by a reputable company developed by the owners of Kaufman Homes, Dean and Duane Kaufman.
- We talked to many children of older parents, who try to help, but would gladly pay for the service or part of it, to know that their parents are well taken care of and to relieve everyone’s burden. Peace of mind for all.
- Along with the fire, life and safety, scheduled maintenance services; we can do the honey-do-list. This was a really important concept, especially to wives as I heard their frustration that their accumulated list doesn’t always get done by their husband because of time, skill or having “other” things they would rather do. These things often just go undone until something can no longer be ignored.
- The price of the maintenance services for a quarter is $199.00 or $67.00 a month. This did not seem expensive to people, especially considering it may keep them from paying for a costly future repair and create a healthier and safer environment and give peace of mind.
- People liked having a reputable company, responsible for all these services and they do not have to pay until after the quarterly service is done and they are happy with the services.
- A common theme was; I don’t always know who to call for any kind of home services. Just calling out of the yellow pages or newspaper doesn’t always guarantee a good company as they were concerned about licensing, bonding and allowing just anyone to come into their home.
- Others said I can do maintenance now but in the future I am sure I will need this service. The more we explained our extensive maintenance services and the reasonable cost, the more receptive they became as they realized how complex a home is.
- People liked the idea that a home would be brought to a high level making it ready for possible future selling.
I am sure we all know people who need these consistent, scheduled preventive maintenance services to relieve the burden of home ownership maintenance and give peace of mind.