Handyman gift cards -- in the name of veterans
Jonathan Norman quietly made the rounds this morning, slipping a tiny flier on every table in the Morgantown Mall food court.
He may be selling the most unusual gift at the mall: handyman gift cards.
Unlimited Services Available is a handyman service available in West Virginia, parts of western Maryland and Fayette, Greene and Washington counties in Pennsylvania. The company's logo features Mr. Norman's two-year-old daughter Charlotte in a utility belt with the slogan "Repairing homes, rebuilding lives. We were born to do this."
About $8 of every hour of service the company bills for -- and all the proceeds of gift card sales -- helps provide free services to veterans and single mothers.
Mr. Norman served in the Marine Corps from 1985 to 1993 but found his skills were not easily transferable when he returned home. A disabled vet himself, he started the business in 2008 to help veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan install adaptive housing, among other services.
"We need to provide that assistance to them to help ease that transition," he said.
Buy a gift card at any value and next time the pipes leak, call Unlimited and one of Mr. Norman's 14 handymen will make the repair within 24 hours, he said.
The pay model "apparently has never been done before," Mr. Norman said. Workers bring a laptop, smartphone or tablet and card reader on the job and customers swipe their cards when the service is performed.
"It's not like going to an Outback," he said.
He set up the kiosk in a coveted spot near Gloria Jean's Coffees. Foot traffic has been good so far, he said.
The company completed $80,000 worth of services for vets so far this year.
He may be selling the most unusual gift at the mall: handyman gift cards.
Unlimited Services Available is a handyman service available in West Virginia, parts of western Maryland and Fayette, Greene and Washington counties in Pennsylvania. The company's logo features Mr. Norman's two-year-old daughter Charlotte in a utility belt with the slogan "Repairing homes, rebuilding lives. We were born to do this."
About $8 of every hour of service the company bills for -- and all the proceeds of gift card sales -- helps provide free services to veterans and single mothers.
Mr. Norman served in the Marine Corps from 1985 to 1993 but found his skills were not easily transferable when he returned home. A disabled vet himself, he started the business in 2008 to help veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan install adaptive housing, among other services.
"We need to provide that assistance to them to help ease that transition," he said.
Buy a gift card at any value and next time the pipes leak, call Unlimited and one of Mr. Norman's 14 handymen will make the repair within 24 hours, he said.
The pay model "apparently has never been done before," Mr. Norman said. Workers bring a laptop, smartphone or tablet and card reader on the job and customers swipe their cards when the service is performed.
"It's not like going to an Outback," he said.
He set up the kiosk in a coveted spot near Gloria Jean's Coffees. Foot traffic has been good so far, he said.
The company completed $80,000 worth of services for vets so far this year.