October 30, 2006
The advocate | Elaine Abel oversees construction projects at vacation homes when owners are far away
By Brendan Hughes
Elaine Abel is a stickler for detail, managing a construction site as if the home being built were her own. Nowhere is this attentiveness more obvious than in the office of her construction management company, Orion LLC in Waldoboro. When she bought the one-room clapboard house on Main Street in 2002, the sills were rotted and the bathroom had no walls. She started by pulling down the wallboards, revealing long-forgotten wide pine boards, each of which Abel numbered, detached from the house's studs, refinished and restored to its original place. "My husband said I was crazy," she says.
Abel's affinity for the finer points of construction, whether during a bathroom renovation or the fashioning of a post-and-beam frame, led her to start her company six years ago with project management in mind. But within months, she found herself increasingly called on to take care of summer houses left vacant in the off season ˆ draining pipes, checking windows, plowing driveways and handling other tasks. "I was doing construction management and [the client] needed a caretaker," Abel says of her foray into property management. "It made sense that I would be the one because I knew all the systems."
For several years, seasonal caretaking became the bulk of her business, known then as Abel Property Management. She never forgot her original goal, though, and gradually began taking on more construction jobs. This June, she sold the caretaking side of the business to focus full-time on construction management, but not without a new focus sharpened during her years working on seasonal properties: Abel geared her construction management business to people "from away," specializing in the building or renovation of vacation homes.
The idea came from working on smaller jobs over the years, when she noticed that seasonal homeowners selecting contractors for off-season work had to take a leap of faith. "There were a lot of people coming from away, and all of a sudden they're hiring somebody that... they don't know if they're reputable," Abel says. "These people need an advocate."
As a construction manager, Abel shepherds every project from start to finish, sitting down with homeowners to establish design and quality standards, selecting subcontractors, providing updates and photographs of the job's progress, and solving problems that always seem to come up over the course of a building project. She even handles billing and bank loan paperwork.
It's that soup-to-nuts service ˆ and the feeling that someone is overseeing the myriad tasks and subcontractors ˆ that customers appreciate. Abel has built two houses in Bristol for Bob Guzas, who lives in southern New Hampshire. "She was more cost effective [than a general contractor]," he says. "Before a problem happened, she was thereˆ we couldn't have built these houses without her."
And contractors also appreciate having an on-site representative for far-flung owners managing the project. Pete Cella, an electrician and owner of Coyote Enterprises in Warren, has worked on many Abel-managed projects over the last two years. "She's been great to work with," he says. "She finds [contractors] she can trust. She comes to me and tells me what she needs."
Abel's seasonal niche potentially is a large one. Almost 16% of Maine's housing stock is classified as seasonal, according to 2004 numbers from the U.S. Census ˆ a higher percentage than any other state. But the territory comes with its own challenges, such as scheduling most work into the fall, winter and spring, when vacation-home owners prefer to have major projects completed. That requires, Abel says, an ability to keep contractors on task, with an ability to keep the communication lines open with what can be far-flung owners.
Eyes and ears
Before moving to Maine, Abel, who has a degree in construction management from the University of Florida, worked for the town of Westport, Conn., as a code enforcement official. For nine years, she helped businesses navigate that town's zoning laws. Then in 1998, Abel and her family visited Camden and fell for the Maine coast. "We felt like this is where we should have been born," says Abel.
Working as a project manager for Maine Coast Construction in Camden, where Abel supervised contractors from all over the midcoast, she began to notice the frustration many out-of-state owners experienced with contractor selection and project oversight.
So with an initial investment of $2,200 ˆ most of which went into the production of a brochure ˆ she started Abel Property Management in 2000. Although she planned to focus exclusively on managing construction work at seasonal residences, Abel soon found herself taking on caretaking jobs as well, and during her first year in business Abel says she, "switched gears, put the other business plan in the file folder and developed property management."
Property management ˆ keeping an eye on vacant vacation homes through Maine's long winters ˆ proved to be a lucrative and time-consuming business. (For more on the business of seasonal caretakers, see "Winter watchmen," page 47.) But Abel also continued to market her construction management services to both her caretaking customers and at business networking events hosted by the Damariscotta Chamber of Commerce. "I always thought business networking was a joke," she says. "It sounds so New Yorkˆ but it worked."
By 2004, her efforts had paid off. That year, Bob Guzas and his wife, Sandy, hired Abel to supervise construction of two post-and-beam houses at a cost of nearly $750,000 on his property in Bristol. "She was our eyes and ears ˆ it was exactly what we were looking for," says Guzas.
He initially was drawn to Abel's code enforcement and engineering experience, but as the project progressed, he was impressed by the way she took on every aspect of the job, from selecting the contractors to quality control. "She was the clerk of the works. If she didn't like the quality of the work, she told [the contractors], and when one walked off the job, she went out and got a new one," he says.
As part of her service, Abel also acted as a liaison between the Guzases and their bank, Camden National. "I had to write the checks on the construction loan and she'd take the check to the bank," Bob Guzas says. "When the bank finished the loan, there were no problems."
Guzas says that using Abel, who charges an hourly rate of $15, was more cost effective than employing a general contractor, who often mark up costs as much as 20%. "Before a problem happened she was there and she could correct it," he says. "[Abel and the contractors] acted as if they were building these houses for themselves."
Quality control
Since 2004, Abel's construction management business has grown steadily. She has taken on one large construction project, such as the building of a house, each of the last two years, while simultaneously overseeing between 15 and 30 jobs at the same time. That growth allowed Abel to sell the caretaking side of her business in June, renaming her construction management company Orion LLC. This year, she has supervised the construction of three houses and worked on a dozen smaller projects ˆ everything from a new deck to a new electrical system ˆ for clients in the midcoast area.
Abel, who manages every project herself from start to finish, has no plans to expand, though she believes the market for construction management is growing as both home owners and builders recognize what she says are her cost and quality advantages over working with a general contractor. "A general contractor will hire subcontractors and mark up [the cost] 15%," she says. "Instead, I look out for your best interest, so you're going to pay me by the hour and I'm going to find the various subs that are right for you."
A general contractor who has a set budget for electrical work, for instance, can select an electrical subcontractor who does the job for well below the budget and pocket the difference. Since Abel charges clients by the hour, she says, there's no incentive for her to do the job on the cheap. "For some people price is a priority, for some quality is the priority," she says.
Recently, Abel supervised a beam replacement in a house, which took two days to complete at a cost of around $1,000. "If I'd been a general contractor I'd have made two or three hundred dollars. Instead I made $97.50," she says. "It's a good deal for [the customer], and I think, more importantly, I'm working in their best interest."
That model also has allowed Abel to build a stable of contractors she can rely on. Pete Cella has been performing electrical work on Abel-supervised projects during the last two years and says he prefers her to a general contractor because he won't be pressured to cut corners. "I can do a quality job knowing that I'm not being squeezed by a contractor," he says.
Cella estimates that 20% of his business comes from jobs Abel manages ˆ and the more work he does for Abel, the more he gets. "As long as I keep Elaine happy by keeping her customer happy, I can depend on bringing in more work," he says. "It's incentive to keep my price competitive and keep my quality above everybody else. It's important to keep that relationship strong."
The building process is a time-consuming one, and less than six months after selling the caretaking business to concentrate on construction management, Abel has no shortage of work. "At the beginning of [a major] project I might put in 20 hours per week, and then as it dwindles down I'm only putting in five or six hours," she says.
Two or three large projects and a handful of smaller ones are as much as she can handle at one time ˆ for now. But as people from away continue to look for the ultimate Maine summer getaway, Abel thinks the demand will remain strong. "Builders don't have time to do a lot of handholding. That's where I come in," she says. "The contractors I use, I've used them in my house or on my own projects. People see that this really is my true love."
Abel's affinity for the finer points of construction, whether during a bathroom renovation or the fashioning of a post-and-beam frame, led her to start her company six years ago with project management in mind. But within months, she found herself increasingly called on to take care of summer houses left vacant in the off season ˆ draining pipes, checking windows, plowing driveways and handling other tasks. "I was doing construction management and [the client] needed a caretaker," Abel says of her foray into property management. "It made sense that I would be the one because I knew all the systems."
For several years, seasonal caretaking became the bulk of her business, known then as Abel Property Management. She never forgot her original goal, though, and gradually began taking on more construction jobs. This June, she sold the caretaking side of the business to focus full-time on construction management, but not without a new focus sharpened during her years working on seasonal properties: Abel geared her construction management business to people "from away," specializing in the building or renovation of vacation homes.
The idea came from working on smaller jobs over the years, when she noticed that seasonal homeowners selecting contractors for off-season work had to take a leap of faith. "There were a lot of people coming from away, and all of a sudden they're hiring somebody that... they don't know if they're reputable," Abel says. "These people need an advocate."
As a construction manager, Abel shepherds every project from start to finish, sitting down with homeowners to establish design and quality standards, selecting subcontractors, providing updates and photographs of the job's progress, and solving problems that always seem to come up over the course of a building project. She even handles billing and bank loan paperwork.
It's that soup-to-nuts service ˆ and the feeling that someone is overseeing the myriad tasks and subcontractors ˆ that customers appreciate. Abel has built two houses in Bristol for Bob Guzas, who lives in southern New Hampshire. "She was more cost effective [than a general contractor]," he says. "Before a problem happened, she was thereˆ we couldn't have built these houses without her."
And contractors also appreciate having an on-site representative for far-flung owners managing the project. Pete Cella, an electrician and owner of Coyote Enterprises in Warren, has worked on many Abel-managed projects over the last two years. "She's been great to work with," he says. "She finds [contractors] she can trust. She comes to me and tells me what she needs."
Abel's seasonal niche potentially is a large one. Almost 16% of Maine's housing stock is classified as seasonal, according to 2004 numbers from the U.S. Census ˆ a higher percentage than any other state. But the territory comes with its own challenges, such as scheduling most work into the fall, winter and spring, when vacation-home owners prefer to have major projects completed. That requires, Abel says, an ability to keep contractors on task, with an ability to keep the communication lines open with what can be far-flung owners.
Eyes and ears
Before moving to Maine, Abel, who has a degree in construction management from the University of Florida, worked for the town of Westport, Conn., as a code enforcement official. For nine years, she helped businesses navigate that town's zoning laws. Then in 1998, Abel and her family visited Camden and fell for the Maine coast. "We felt like this is where we should have been born," says Abel.
Working as a project manager for Maine Coast Construction in Camden, where Abel supervised contractors from all over the midcoast, she began to notice the frustration many out-of-state owners experienced with contractor selection and project oversight.
So with an initial investment of $2,200 ˆ most of which went into the production of a brochure ˆ she started Abel Property Management in 2000. Although she planned to focus exclusively on managing construction work at seasonal residences, Abel soon found herself taking on caretaking jobs as well, and during her first year in business Abel says she, "switched gears, put the other business plan in the file folder and developed property management."
Property management ˆ keeping an eye on vacant vacation homes through Maine's long winters ˆ proved to be a lucrative and time-consuming business. (For more on the business of seasonal caretakers, see "Winter watchmen," page 47.) But Abel also continued to market her construction management services to both her caretaking customers and at business networking events hosted by the Damariscotta Chamber of Commerce. "I always thought business networking was a joke," she says. "It sounds so New Yorkˆ but it worked."
By 2004, her efforts had paid off. That year, Bob Guzas and his wife, Sandy, hired Abel to supervise construction of two post-and-beam houses at a cost of nearly $750,000 on his property in Bristol. "She was our eyes and ears ˆ it was exactly what we were looking for," says Guzas.
He initially was drawn to Abel's code enforcement and engineering experience, but as the project progressed, he was impressed by the way she took on every aspect of the job, from selecting the contractors to quality control. "She was the clerk of the works. If she didn't like the quality of the work, she told [the contractors], and when one walked off the job, she went out and got a new one," he says.
As part of her service, Abel also acted as a liaison between the Guzases and their bank, Camden National. "I had to write the checks on the construction loan and she'd take the check to the bank," Bob Guzas says. "When the bank finished the loan, there were no problems."
Guzas says that using Abel, who charges an hourly rate of $15, was more cost effective than employing a general contractor, who often mark up costs as much as 20%. "Before a problem happened she was there and she could correct it," he says. "[Abel and the contractors] acted as if they were building these houses for themselves."
Quality control
Since 2004, Abel's construction management business has grown steadily. She has taken on one large construction project, such as the building of a house, each of the last two years, while simultaneously overseeing between 15 and 30 jobs at the same time. That growth allowed Abel to sell the caretaking side of her business in June, renaming her construction management company Orion LLC. This year, she has supervised the construction of three houses and worked on a dozen smaller projects ˆ everything from a new deck to a new electrical system ˆ for clients in the midcoast area.
Abel, who manages every project herself from start to finish, has no plans to expand, though she believes the market for construction management is growing as both home owners and builders recognize what she says are her cost and quality advantages over working with a general contractor. "A general contractor will hire subcontractors and mark up [the cost] 15%," she says. "Instead, I look out for your best interest, so you're going to pay me by the hour and I'm going to find the various subs that are right for you."
A general contractor who has a set budget for electrical work, for instance, can select an electrical subcontractor who does the job for well below the budget and pocket the difference. Since Abel charges clients by the hour, she says, there's no incentive for her to do the job on the cheap. "For some people price is a priority, for some quality is the priority," she says.
Recently, Abel supervised a beam replacement in a house, which took two days to complete at a cost of around $1,000. "If I'd been a general contractor I'd have made two or three hundred dollars. Instead I made $97.50," she says. "It's a good deal for [the customer], and I think, more importantly, I'm working in their best interest."
That model also has allowed Abel to build a stable of contractors she can rely on. Pete Cella has been performing electrical work on Abel-supervised projects during the last two years and says he prefers her to a general contractor because he won't be pressured to cut corners. "I can do a quality job knowing that I'm not being squeezed by a contractor," he says.
Cella estimates that 20% of his business comes from jobs Abel manages ˆ and the more work he does for Abel, the more he gets. "As long as I keep Elaine happy by keeping her customer happy, I can depend on bringing in more work," he says. "It's incentive to keep my price competitive and keep my quality above everybody else. It's important to keep that relationship strong."
The building process is a time-consuming one, and less than six months after selling the caretaking business to concentrate on construction management, Abel has no shortage of work. "At the beginning of [a major] project I might put in 20 hours per week, and then as it dwindles down I'm only putting in five or six hours," she says.
Two or three large projects and a handful of smaller ones are as much as she can handle at one time ˆ for now. But as people from away continue to look for the ultimate Maine summer getaway, Abel thinks the demand will remain strong. "Builders don't have time to do a lot of handholding. That's where I come in," she says. "The contractors I use, I've used them in my house or on my own projects. People see that this really is my true love."
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Anonymous
June 27, 2024
So what is Elaine Abel doing now?
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