When Mark Berman and his wife, Betsy, relocated to Jacksonville from Boston, they immediately noticed two missing amenities in Florida homes: attics and basements.
So where do the yard tools, pool toys, boat supplies and golf clubs – not to mention the mementos and memorabilia, kids’ toys and trinkets, and all those boxes of rarely used items go?
The garage, of course, quickly banishing the cars to the driveway or the street.
From the start, the Bermans thought this was a unique approach to home storage. They thought hard about starting a website business they would call Garage- Envy.com, helping people to transform their garages by giving them a one-stop place to find organization tools and plans to make room for their cars.
“We had a hard time thinking about leaving our cars outside but putting all our things in the garage,” said Berman, a Jacksonville resident now for seven years. “And the first thing I always felt when I saw a well kept garage was envy. So we thought it would be a great name for the website.”
But a new baby and career responsibilities put the idea on the back burner, where it was forgotten for nearly five years.
Their brainstorm was resurrected last August when Berman was flipping through the pages of the Wall Street Journal. An ad with a photo of a brilliantly organized garage jumped out at him — he was immediately transfixed by the possibilities of GarageTek, a Long Island, N.Y.-based company that was launching a franchise program with this hot concept.
“I saw this gorgeous garage and called them because I wanted that product in my house,” Berman recalled. “My daughter’s Manifest Destiny had taken over the house and we needed help. That picture in the ad was similar to my vision, and I just fell in love with it.”
Shortly after that first call, he realized there was something more in it for him than just an organized garage.
As for his plans with GarageTek, Berman says, “We’ve got this huge market here that is probably one of the few remaining hyper-growth markets. There are over a million people in a big area, and there are new homes everywhere, as well as a lot of established homes. Probably 70-80 percent of those don’t have basements or attics.”
Berman knew from his own experience that in a city going through huge growth like Jacksonville, in which people and businesses are relocating from places like New England and other northern states, there is a demand for companies like GarageTek.
People new to the area have tons of stuff from their previous attics and basements and suddenly they have nowhere to put it, except in the garage.
Berman also cites the area’s “Garage-centricity” as a critical component of why GarageTek should do well here.
“In our area, people use the garage as the front door. It’s always open and people always walk through it. There is no reason it can’t be as neat and presentable as the rest of the home. We want to put an end to the phrase, ‘Don’t mind my garage, the rest of the house looks great.’”
This is where the GarageTek system comes to the rescue, he says.
GarageTek’s foundation is a patented paneling which is mounted to the walls of the garage. From there, the system accessories easily attach by brackets and hooks – not unlike a slot wall in a retail store. GarageTek designers, with the customers, then custom-design their system, choosing from cabinets, racks, shelves, workbenches, hooks and lifestyle accessories like bike racks, surfboard hooks and skate racks or lawn and garden equipment.
Because everything rests on brackets, every component can be easily reconfigured. And all of the accessories can be removed and taken with the owner when they move. The system’s base colors are neutral in order to blend with any décor. Because the system is primarily made of thermo plastic and steel, it is designed to resist Florida problems such as pests, heat, humidity and moisture.
It is also rated Class A Fire Resistant by the Underwriters Laboratories and comes with a 10-year limited warranty. It is color fast and UV stable, meaning it will never need painting and will never fade. It comes with a 10-year limited warranty on parts and service.
Riding what he believes is the next wave of home organization, Berman asserts that a neat garage spills over into other areas of people’s lives.
“I truly believe that what makes this garage system valuable is that it simplifies your life because it gives everything a place,” Berman said. “Because it’s the last thing you see when you leave your house and the first place you see when you come home, when someone’s garage is a mess, they immediately feel like their life is a mess. GarageTek makes life more functional, and when it looks organized, you feel better.”
Berman drew up his business plan for GarageTek while completing his master’s in Business Administration at Jacksonville University, getting an assist from his professors who enjoyed exploring his venture. After graduating on December 1, he and his brother-in-law and business partner, Steve Laveck, began the final planning and fundraising for the business. They closed on the franchise on December 14 and opened the doors on February 1.
The franchise doubled its projections and has already secured relationships with North Florida Builders, Whitehurst Builders and Legacy Builders of North Florida. They have installed in communities such as Jacksonville Golf & Country Club, Glen Kernan, Queen’s Harbor, Old Palm Valley, Arlington, Fiddler’s Marsh and St. Augustine Beach.