Photo by Patricia OíBlenes
Macomb Township resident Mary Beth Flint helps homeowners find contractors for home renovation projects.

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — Finding the right contractor to remodel a kitchen, fix a few leaky pipes or replace roof shingles can be a daunting task for any homeowner.

Despite a willingness to shell out hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have such repairs done on their homes, many homeowners can be left out in the cold waiting for a busy contractor to return their calls. Unfamiliar with the process, some homeowners could even be duped by an unscrupulous handyman.

One Macomb Township resident saw this gap between willing homeowners and busy contractors as her chance to shed a 9-to-5 job, start her own business and help out her neighbors in the process.

One-time human resources manager Mary Beth Flint opened the doors on her home-based business called Handy Home Referrals LLC half a year ago. Flint’s mission is to find just the right contractor for any homeowner overwhelmed by the process of seeking out a contractor by taking bids on each project and seeing the work through completion.

“I match up homeowners with contractors for really any kind of home improvement service,” said Flint. “It could be a small job, like more electrical outlets, to a home remodel or a basement refinishing and everything in between.”

Flint said her referral service is not similar to contractor-rating Web sites like AngiesList.com or ServiceMagic.com because she’s local and she provides a face-to-face service. Not to mention Handy Home Referrals does not charge homeowners anything to use the service.

Flint calls it a “concierge service.”

“I do all the legwork for the homeowner,” said Flint. “I check the contractor’s insurance information, license information and references. I’ll come back with a name or two.”

The way Flint makes her money is by signing up contractors to work with her clients and charging the contractors a percentage of the project cost.

“I’m not a general contractor,” said Flint. “I don’t inspect jobs. Once I make the referral, the homeowner and the contractor work with each other at that point. I follow up with both and track the job with both. The homeowner pays the contractor directly.”

Macomb Township-based Promise Construction has picked up a few jobs through the referral service in the last few months alone. Greg Webster, company owner, said the referrals are beneficial to him in finding work week-to-week in the home construction work he specializes in.

“It’s another tool in your arsenal to get jobs, especially in this market,” said Webster. “I advertise with papers, but every once in a while, you get a call from another source that there’s a few jobs to go look at. You get a few, then it works out pretty good.”

Flint, who quit her corporate career in the last year to take up her own home-based business, said the idea for the business was borne out of her own search for a contractor.

“How do you find a contractor?” Flint asked. “You pull out the book and you call people. You call 10 in the hopes that four will call you back. Two might show up. Everyone that I talked to said they found their contractors through referrals.”

You can find out more about Flint’s services on her Web site, www.handyhomereferrals.com.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Adragna at jadragna@candgnews.com or at (586) 279-1101.