THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605290605
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, SPECIAL TO HOME & GARDEN
LENGTH: 155 lines
BROKEN LEGS. Burns. Scars, scrapes and scratches.
You name the ailment and chances are one of four doctors in Hampton Roads has the remedy close at hand. Best of all, these docs usually cure their patients with one quick, painless house call.
But this emergency room on wheels is not for people. It's for their abused furniture: backless chairs, legless pianos and the like.
Area residents in need of repairs can now call Furniture Medic, a 3-year-old national network of mobile shops that provide on-site furniture repairs and restoration.
``As long as people have pets, kids and things like silverware, furniture is going to need repairing,'' said Mike Mousetis, whose Furniture Medic franchise serves Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Suffolk. ``Most of us can't afford the price of a new piece of furniture every time a piece gets a little bit damaged.''
So what do you do about that almost new cherry dining room table that was perfect - until your 6-year-old son raced his Matchbox cars across it?
Or the elegant oak sideboard that survived three generations with nary a scratch, only to be scarred with a water ring two weeks after you inherited it?
Most people choose to ignore their furniture's dings, nicks and little imperfections, perhaps trying to hide or disguise them.
After all, that's easier than stripping the piece, fixing the flaw and refinishing it - an expensive, time-consuming and smelly task.
A group of Atlanta entrepreneurs saw the opportunity, and, in January 1993, created Furniture Medic Inc. By marrying new technology and old-fashioned customer service, the company made furniture restoration safer, more convenient and more affordable.
Before the first franchises were granted, the company developed a line of environmentally friendly, water-soluble wood strippers, sealers, lacquers and the like, which representatives now use for 95 percent of their refinishing work.
``That means less odor, quicker drying time and that I can get in and out of a customer's house much faster than in the past,'' said Steve Williams, owner of the Virginia Beach Furniture Medic. ``Everything about this company is geared to providing convenience to the consumer.''
Convenience is delivered in a white van emblazoned with the company's orange logo. ``You would not believe the attention that van gets,'' said Charlie Price, who owns the franchise for Hampton, Newport News and Norfolk. ``You stop at a red light and people start rolling down their windows asking for business cards.''
Jim Wilson, owner of the Furniture Medic franchise serving Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and northeastern North Carolina, drives his van to a rambling farmhouse near Smithfield to examine a recent patient: an elegant Queen Anne-style end table crowned with a water ring.
Wilson's diagnosis: ``Moisture has been trapped under the surface of a lacquer film. The lacquer needs to breathe again.''
So the furniture doc goes to work in his customer's antique-filled living room. He rubs layer after layer of grainy compounds - each finer than the other - into the rich cherry wood. After the rings are removed, Wilson applies a coat of polish to protect the table.
``We didn't used to be able to do this,'' Wilson said, carefully moving the shining table back into place 20 minutes later.
``If this had happened in the past, this whole tabletop would have had to be refinished,'' he said. ``This process saves people between 30 and 50 percent over the cost of refinishing.''
When the owner, Hunter Jones, examined the tabletop shining in the late afternoon light there was no trace of the ring.
``I think what Jim does is really needed around here,'' Jones said. ``Frankly, I can't think of another soul I could have gotten to do a little job like this right here in my house.''
Hauling furniture to the repair shop is a thing of the past, Mousetis said. Less than 85 percent of the furniture being repaired leaves the customer's house, and what needs to be be worked on at the shop, Furniture Medic reps pick up and deliver for free.
``A whole lot of the work is done on site, using materials we take into the home,'' he said. ``I have replaced broken glass in china cabinets and repaired cracks in tabletops.''
Even darkened cherry cabinets can be rejuvenated and lightened without removing them from the kitchen wall and with little odor, said Angela Wilson, who assists her husband, Jim, in the business.
The Furniture Medic representatives, many of whom were woodworking hobbyists before going into the business, also will reglue broken joints, fill cracks, and, as a last resort, make new pieces.
In addition to salvaging favorite pieces in people's homes, the representatives offer on-site service to moving companies, furniture retailers, antique dealers, interior designers, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, churches, banks and offices.
Furniture Medic's patented restoration products and techniques also are kinder to the pocketbook than traditional refinishing methods, said public relations coordinator Allison Green. The company estimates a customer saves nearly 80 percent by using their services and products, she said.
Cost of a house call varies depending on the job, but the minimum is around $35, according to the local representatives.
The company has granted 486 franchise licenses in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. A franchise currently costs $13,900, not including the van.
Training includes a home-study course, which takes about 10 days, and two weeks of study at Furniture Medic headquarters in Atlanta.
And the business world has taken note. Furniture Medic was ranked as the country's fastest-growing franchise in the March issue of ``Income Opportunities'' magazine. It also was named the No. 1 furniture restoration franchisor in ``Entrepreneur'' magazine's Franchise 500 list in January.
Business is growing just as rapidly here in Hampton Roads, company representatives agree.
Pausing from the tedious task of repainting wood grain lines on a hotel door he had repaired, Williams said, ``I just expanded my shop, and I foresee myself having two or three vans on the road within the next couple of years.''
Charlie Price, who bought Hampton Roads' first Furniture Medic franchise in January 1994, knows how rapidly the business can grow.
After six months working as a nuclear operations supervisor at Newport News Shipbuilding by day and a furniture doc by night, he quit his job of more than a decade to fix furniture full-time. His wife, Susan, handles the administrative end of the business from a home office.
``It only took me six months to realize the potential of the business,'' Price said. ``That first year, (1994) we grossed $32,000 from Furniture Medic.'' By the end of 1995, Price had more than tripled his first year's earnings, bringing in $111,000 from his Furniture Medic business.
Price, Wilson and Mousetis share a two-story garage in Newport News, where they bring pieces needing more extensive, time-consuming repairs. They are considering merging into a single operation.
``Between the three of us, we can turn out a lot more business a lot faster,'' Price said. ``We are going to need to be able to do that soon. Real soon.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
CANDICE C. CUSIC/The Virginian-Pilot
Jim Wilson quickly rubs out a water ring from an antique table in an
Isle of Wight home. Like most Furniture Medics, he does most work on
site.
Mike Mousetis repairs a chair at the Newport News workshop he shares
with Charlie Price and Jim Wilson.
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Steve Williams touches up a door at the Ramada Oceanfront Tower at
57th Street in Virginia Beach.
Photo
CANDICE C. CUSIC/The Virginian-Pilot
Charlie Price bought the first Furniture Medic franchise in Hampton
Roads in January 1994. by CNB