From The Sunday Boston Globe

Hub Plumbing and Mechanical Co. plumbers John Clary (left) and Elijah Crist put on booties before entering a Milton home. (GEORGE RIZER/GLOBE STAFF)

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff | October 16, 2005

At a time when homeowners often feel they are at the mercy of contractors and tradesmen who may or may not show up for appointments and will likely leave muddy boot prints in their wake, some businesses are finding it easy to distinguish themselves by providing killer customer service.

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For example, at Hub Plumbing and Mechanical Co. in Boston, plumbers lay down red carpet and pull booties over their work shoes to avoid tracking mud into clients' homes.

''It really says a lot to the customer when you show up: 'I'm not going to track mud. I am aware that this is your home and not just a workspace for me,' " said Hub Plumbing founder and chief executive John Wood. ''They're just small things, but you had to see the expression on the customers' faces when we first started doing it. They're astounded."

Wood's ''service technicians" -- a.k.a. plumbers -- wear bright red uniforms of button-down or polo shirts, with photo ID name tags to show they are legitimate. The plumbers must have clean-shaven or neatly trimmed facial hair, and can wear no jewelry -- not even wedding rings -- to prevent finger injuries on the job. Wood said he got the idea after a plumbing job he did when he was just 19 -- when a woman alone in an apartment building looked extremely uncomfortable with the strapping plumber wearing a Red Sox T-shirt and working pants.

'So now I try to make the guys look downright dorky," he joked.

Hub also sends each customer an e-mail with a photo of the plumber who will be coming to their home, so the homeowner will recognize the person at the door. Hub also conducts drug tests and background checks on all its workers.

All of the extra attention to customers' needs can be costly for a company, but Wood said his costs are offset by customer loyalty. He estimates that 50 to 60 percent of his business is from repeat customers. Hub Plumbing's annual gross revenues, logged at $700,000 in 2003, are expected to swell to $1.5 million this year, he said.

Dave Eldred's worst experience with plumbers was when he was renovating a Washington, D.C., brownstone. Instead of professional tradesmen, a team of teenagers showed up and left shoddy work and their cigarette butts behind. When he spotted one of Hub's trucks emblazoned with the motto: ''Setting the Standard in the Service Industry," he hired them, and was thrilled with how precisely Hub's pros replaced the sod and rocks in his yard after performing an excavation.

Hub Plumbing and Mechanical Co. plumbers John Clary (left) and Elijah Crist put on booties before entering a Milton home. (GEORGE RIZER/GLOBE STAFF)

Similarly, Claire McNally knew of bad customer service. The laborers who installed her wood floor several years ago showed up without a tape measure and asked to borrow hers. They not only left a botched job, but they also apparently left with a piece of her Waterford crystal.

So when she replaced carpeting this month, McNally headed to Harry's Carpet One in Quincy, which promises over-the-top customer service. Salesmen give free estimates in customers' homes and call twice after the job to make sure the work was satisfactory. They even send customers big baskets of goodies to thank them for their business.

First-time home buyers are often dismayed to discover that the joys of ownership include missing work to catch the cable guy's four-hour time window or hanging around all day to accommodate the electrician. So some companies are inverting the old model by offering to show up on the homeowner's schedule.

Peter Needham Electrical in Dorchester will perform estimates or even do work at night if it suits the homeowner. ''What is going to separate me and my company from anybody else is the flexibility of coming to your house," said Peter Needham, the company president.

Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the uniformed electricians carry cleaning supplies and vacuum cleaners and promise to leave your home as they found it -- or cleaner.

Humboldt Storage and Moving in Canton uses satellite and global positioning systems on its trucks so its dispatch center can let customers know if the movers are going to be delayed.

''People are time-stressed. It's that simple," said Humboldt chief executive Howard Goldman. But if the drivers got tied up in an accident, and won't make their appointment, he said, ''we call the customer and say, hey, we know we told you 8-10 but it's not going to be 2, why don't you go out and run some errands?

From The Sunday Boston Globe - October 16, 2005
Going out of their way to provide good service
Companies seek to distinguish themselves from their competitors