New handyman business focuses on quality
Linda Sappington
Mission Mountain Maintenance is a new handyman business. Owner Pat Collicott brings more than 30 years experience to his clients.
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POLSON — Every day, millions of Americans wake up, eat breakfast, and go to work. Jobs range from working for a major company, teaching, or even just being a stay at home parent. A few of these million people do something incredible — they work for themselves.
That is what Pat Collicott decided to do just a few months ago. After working in construction for more than 30 years, Collicott decided to start his own business as a valley handyman.
“He’s real confident because he knows what he is doing,” said Carolyn Bailey, whose bathroom he recently remodeled. Under the name Mission Mountain Maintenance, Collicott offers a variety of services that range from small painting jobs to fixing sinks to hanging up a ceiling fan. As a single man business, Collicott is focusing on smaller jobs from Ronan to Big Arm, aiming for quality of work instead of quantity.
“He’s pretty meticulous,” Bailey said. “He won’t do anything halfway.”
The biggest challenge so far, according to Collicott, has been getting his name out there. His van, which is white with a blue mountain logo on it, has the name and his phone number, and he has business cards, but it is still been a difficult task to spread the word that he is in business. Collicott is planning to create a website or Facebook page soon to help advertise. So far, good reviews and word-of-mouth are his main source of jobs.
His business is small right now, but he is optimistic it will one day grow.
“I would hope that it would expand and that I would have a couple employees,” Collicott said.
Collicott believes his experience is what sets him apart in the Mission Valley. His years in construction include big projects such as building military bases and schools in California and more recently, maintenance work for a local hotel.
Collicott charges $30 an hour for his services, and estimates that at the most, jobs are an hour long, depending on what it is. According to him, an advantage of choosing a handyman such as himself is that they have a broad base of skills, instead of just a specialized skill such as a plumber or an electrician. So while they can’t do the major jobs, for a smaller fix, they are two or three times as cheap.
“He knows a little bit about everything,” Bailey said. She also appreciated that he explained every process he did so she could understand what he was doing, and said she would highly recommend him to anyone needing maintenance work done.
For more information, call Collicott at 406-249-6132.
