Meeting Minutes:
Friday, July 28, 2006
Volume 13; Issue 27

 

Table of Contents


Committee Reports

Membership Report
(Click here to go to the Membership page)

No report.

Social Report
(Click here to go to the Social Event page)

Jim Bache again recommended that we do a social event at Roger Carpenter's Down Under Wines.

Speaker Coordinator Report
(Click here to go to the Speaker Schedule)

Main Speaker

  • 07/28/06     TBD
  • 08/04/06     Guest Speaker Rosie Romero
  • 08/11/06     Keith Miller
  • 08/18/06     Phil Passante
  • 08/25/06     Stuart Schindler

Spotlight Speaker

  • 07/28/06     Dave Crissman
  • 08/04/06     Gary Nelson speaker introduction
  • 08/11/06    
  • 08/18/06     Wayne Unruh
  • 08/25/06     Nick Mawrenko

Treasurer Report

No report.


Leads Report

40-28, 18-20, 18-31, 28-21, 20-45, 31-23, 31-34, 38-32, 24-38, 09-03, 22-28, 22-42, 21-25, 46-38, 46-06.

This week's leads focus...

  • Christopher Curran
  • Ralph Cunningham
  • Jim Crosman 

Notable Mentions

Board elections are coming soon.  We will begin the process with nominations the first Friday in August.

Jim Bache passed around information on the East Valley Business Expo coming to Mesa in October.

Lisa Wolfe has the inside scoop.  Call her now for radio advertising before rates go up.


Business Spotlight

Randy Clark was today's Business Spotlight.  He does primarily residential work.  He will do commercial work for MABE members but please don't refer this side of his business out. They already work enough late nights! 

Business continues to grow for Randy.  He started a referral program about a 1-1/2 years ago. The response has been great.  It is a win-win program for everyone - Randy, the client and the referral.  Customers get other perks as well.  They get a free subscription to his newsletter.  They also get free refills on spot cleaner. 

Randy is frequently asked how often people should clean their carpets.  It depends.  A family of four with pets and young kids should typically clean their carpet a minimum of every 6 months along with vacuuming regularly.  A household with no pets or kids can probably get away with cleaning their carpet once every 12-18 months.  Appearance should be secondary. Clean for the health and safety of your family.  Heat is important.  Heat kills germs and bacteria on contact.  Heat also rejuvenates fibers in your carpets.

Clean tile and grout with plain old hot water.  You can add vinegar every so often.  Oxy Clean (the granulated version) works good on grout lines. 


Main Speaker 

Dave Spiess
Select Security Systems

Personal:  Dave is married to Kathy.  They have two sons and several grandkids.  Their oldest son works as a broker for Smith Barney in Omaha.  Their younger sons works in the family business. 

Business:  Select Security installs all types of security systems including fire, burglary and CCTV.  About 95 percent of their business is commercial.

Contracting:  Dave wanted to focus his discussion today on contracting and the importance of not only using a licensed contractor but a contractor with the appropriate license to do the work.  You need to know who you are hiring.   If the contractor has no license, the customer has no protection.  The same applies if they don't have the "appropriate" license. 

Today you can have a commercial license, residential or a combined license.  There are seven classes of licenses and 238 categories. 

To check on the status of a contractor's license go to www.azroc.gov.  If you have a complaint you also need to go through the Registrar of Contractors.  Unfortunately, it can be a rather involved and complicated process.  But the ROC is better than nothing.

Dave is capable of doing a lot of things including electrical work and plumbing.  But he only advertises what he is licensed to do...security installations.  People that try to do more than their specialty spread themselves too thin and tend not to do the best job.

People hire unlicensed contractors or people with the wrong license thinking that they will never have a problem.  "Never say never."

A general contractor can do a lot. But they cannot do things such as electrical and plumbing..  There are several areas that require a special license.

A word on the Handyman Clause - Arizona has long had a handyman clause to allow for jobs that are too small for contractors.  Anything under $750 doesn't have to be licensed. Don't be misled.  This amount includes the total value of entire job not just labor.  It doesn't matter if you by the materials and they install it.

Roman Okonowski - Also make sure they are insured and have proper workman's compensation.  Otherwise, if a problem arises it is your nickel. 

Bill LaLonde - We use subcontractors.  We have a lady in office whose job is to make sure these subs have current licenses and insurance. 

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