Neighborly Home Service Companies

Don’t Juggle or Struggle

Neighborly Home Service Companies Provide a One-Stop-Shop This Spring

By Jennifer Paire

Springtime is “go time” when it comes to updating and refreshing homes.

It’s enough to give any homeowner spring fever: excitement for renewed living spaces and anxiety over making repairs, scheduling maintenance, and enhancing living spaces.

Enter locally owned and operated companies Molly Maid, Mr. Handyman, and Five Star Painting, all part of Neighborly, the world’s largest home service organization known for connecting consumers with local experts and backing their work with the Neighborly Done Right Promise — “If the job’s not done right, we’ll make it right.”

Supported by an app that streamlines searches for providers, Neighborly’s network includes more than 30 brands and 5,000 franchises that serve more than 12 million customers in six countries. From top to bottom, Neighborly company employees are vetted with background checks and drug tests.

Living out Neighborly’s motto, “Your Hub for Home Services,” owners Jim Lang, David Thompson, and Dan McMillan have teamed up locally to fix, maintain, and refresh homes throughout Cherokee County. 

Five Star Painting

This award-winning painting franchise is creating a stir among clients locally and peers nationally.

Five Star Painting of Woodstock and Kennesaw was voted “Best Painting” company in Family Life Magazine’s Best of Life 2024 contest for the fourth year in a row. The honor comes on the heels of top recognition by the franchise. Owner Dan McMillan was named 2023’s Franchise of the Year out of more than 220 territories in the United States and Canada.

“The main value our clients get from Five Star Painting is a positive experience from the time they engage for an appointment all the way through payment,” said McMillan, citing the company’s satisfaction guarantee. “If we encounter a challenge, we work hard to find a way to make things right for the customer. We feel this is a true differentiator for us versus our competition.”

Five Star’s services include repainting interiors, exteriors, decks, fences, and kitchen cabinets for both residential and commercial properties. If the area is scoped for painting, the company repairs any damaged or rotten wood and offers a two-year written warranty on workmanship. 

“The first step in evaluating a painting project is to have our estimator measure the structure and utilize a proprietary software system to generate an on-site quote. Once complete, our estimator will review the quote with the customer and answer questions. During this review, we explain techniques, coating options, and maintenance strategies, which can extend the life of the painting job,” said McMillan."

Once a job is scheduled, clients receive an introduction to their project manager whose daily oversight ensures a five-star experience. 

“Having project managers is a big differentiator for us,” McMillan said. “We don’t ask for any deposits up front, we just ask for prompt payment at the end of the job when the project manager has walked the job with the customer to ensure satisfaction.”

Five Star Painting is fully insured and uses premium coating products manufactured by Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, and PPG.

Five Star can be found in commercial projects as well including fire stations, churches, offices, and schools. The company recently painted the City Hall in Acworth and the Apple Store Break Room at Cumberland Mall in Atlanta.

Five Star Painting believes strongly in supporting the community and contributes to Must Ministries. Specifically, they offer a $50 discount to customers who donate new socks and/or underwear to Must during their painting projects.

Whether homeowners are planning to list their homes this spring or not, a fresh coat of paint breathes new life into any space. 

Please call Five Star Painting to schedule an estimate or for more information.

404-969-4602
FiveStarPainting.com

Molly Maid 

Molly Maid of Cherokee County, Kennesaw, and Marietta offers a family friendly culture for customers and employees alike. Some of Molly Maid’s cleaning teams have served the same families for more than 15 years in all phases of life.

“We work very hard at consistency in staffing, and we treat people well,” said owner Jim Lang. “Several of our employees have been with our company greater than 10 years, and when we gather and hear staff talk about their customers, you know it’s genuine and not fake. What impresses me most is how personal these relationships become.”

Molly Maid offers free in-home quotes for services, and often it is Lang who goes into homes to determine which customized services are needed. Both recurring cleanings and occasional or one-time cleanings are options. He anticipates an uptick in move-in and move-out cleanings, as homeowners plan to list homes for sale when school ends in May.

“Most will need service on a biweekly basis and want the entire house cleaned. However, when the kids get older and go off to college, needs change,” Lang explained. Molly Maid excels at customizing a cleaning plan for individual households. “Maybe a homeowner wants their main floor cleaned regularly, but every other time they want the upstairs cleaned. Everyone is different, and customization is where we are able to add additional value and develop long-term relationships.”

The importance of the relationships between Molly Maid staff and customers cannot be underestimated.

“Our cleaners become part of their customers’ families. They see children entering the world, being raised, along with all the family milestones,” said Lang.

Once on the schedule, cleaning reminders are automated and notify customers two days before their scheduled cleaning. Molly Maid’s more than 24 full-time employees work weekday hours, arriving in uniforms and the company’s well-known Molly Maid cars, which are fully stocked with cleaning supplies.

“Our teams focus on coming in and doing quality work,” Lang said. “Along with cleaning, we are a big help to our customers. As the population ages, we find people rely on us. We become a ‘have-to-have’ service versus a ‘nice-to-have service.’ There are some things they cannot do, and I think people truly appreciate the efforts of our cleaning teams. They go above and beyond.”

As part of Neighborly’s “Done Right Promise,” Molly Maid offers a 24-hour warranty on all services. If a homeowner is not satisfied, they can call within 24 hours and have the affected area cleaned again.

“We want to make it right,” Lang assured.

A portion of each cleaning fee is donated to the Cherokee Family Violence Center through the Ms. Molly Foundation. In addition to aiding the Cherokee Family Violence Center, Molly Maid also backs cancer support programs through the local nonprofit Gathering of Friends.

“Unfortunately, I run into this so much out in the field,” Lang shared. “I mention these organizations, and it’s heartbreaking to hear, ‘I was a victim, thank you so much for doing that,’ and it makes you feel very good. Who doesn’t know someone who has been affected by cancer?”

For more information or to schedule a free in-home quote, please give Molly Maid a call.

770-926-0036
MollyMaid.comMollyMaid.com

Mr. Handyman 

As March weather breaks up winter’s dreary hold on Cherokee County, homeowners dream about spending warmer days in their outdoor spaces.

“That’s when people start thinking about their decks and getting ready for summertime,” said David Thompson, a veteran and owner of Mr. Handyman of Canton and Woodstock. “And people are thinking about anything that has occurred or that they’ve noticed over the winter that needs fixing.”

Thompson’s team of five technicians, each with at least 10 years of experience and cumulatively a whopping 100-plus years helping homeowners, are prepared to help.

“We can pressure wash, get decks stained, and get them fixed,” added Thompson, noting Mr. Handyman will get lots of calls for interior services, too, such as repairing water leaks, updating bathroom and kitchen fixtures, installing or painting cabinets, and hanging new televisions.

Mr. Handyman offers its services to local homeowners and businesses alike — the company recently changed about 70 light bulbs for the Books-A-Million store in Canton. The lion’s share of requests come from homeowners looking for anything from furniture assembly and minor home repairs to exterior and interior remodeling. Services are vast and include carpentry, painting, window and door repairs, drywall repairs and finishing, stair installations, plumbing repairs, and caulking services.

“In the handyman industry, you will get requests all over the place, especially here in the Woodstock and Canton areas,” Thompson said. “A lot of homes — mostly in Towne Lake, Eagle Watch, BridgeMill, River Green, Great Sky, Laurel Canyon, and Harmony on the Lakes — those communities are 20 and 30 years old, and they are starting to need some TLC. We get a lot of requests for wood siding, and many times it needs replacing.”

“Also, I recently received the Senior Home Safety Specialist certification and became a Grab Bar Training graduate,” Thompson added. “This training is focused on those seniors who want to safely stay in their own home for as long as possible.”

A logistics consultant to large corporations by trade, Thompson says he has learned many things as a Mr. Handyman franchise owner. More than half of his customers are women, making Mr. Handyman’s commitment to transparency and safety more relevant than ever.

“Everything we do is paperless and contactless with the use of a smartphone and iPads,” he explained. “When we schedule a technician, the customer receives a message confirming the appointment with a photo of the technician. We want to make sure they have a warm and fuzzy feeling from a safety perspective, that the person coming to their door is a trustworthy individual.”

Mr. Handyman’s techs are full-time employees, and the company does not subcontract. Like those of other Neighborly companies, employees must pass background checks and drug screenings and have proven driving records before they are hired.

Depending on the scope of work, Mr. Handyman’s friendly office staff typically offers quotes over the phone. When on-site quotes are necessary, the handymen come equipped with an iPad to take measurements and calculate costs in person. Mr. Handyman employees wear uniforms and drive company trucks equipped to handle 99% of any client’s needs, and they bring along Neighborly’s satisfaction guarantee.

“One project we’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback on is wainscoting or shadow boxing in homes,” Thompson said, referring to a combination of decorative boards or panels and molding that extend partway up a wall’s face. “It’s decorative and it looks very nice.”

For more information or to obtain a quote, please call Mr. Handyman.

404-301-8848
MrHandyman.com/Canton-Woodstock