Brian Wolf
President and Broom Pusher
KBD Inc.
(419) 756-5004 (8 AM - 8 PM EST)
It all started in the summer of 1992. The Brian Wolf family began
building their "American Dream" (a new home). The structure began as a
sketch on a napkin from a local watering hole the summer of the previous
year. By June of 1992 the first story was rising out of the ground and
the second story began taking shape. Each day after a long day at work
the whole family would pile into the car and head to the job site. What
a thrill to see the progress as each day passed.
One day there were bulldozers, and back hoes, and other heavy equipment
carving out a driveway. The next, more equipment shows up and the
basement hole is dug and blocks and mortar and sand and more stuff
showed up. The next day the garage was blocked up and then the
basement. Soon, piles of lumber began to arrive and the basement was
capped off. Each day was truly a thrill to turn the corner and see the
dream jumping out of the ground.
The day the contractors "roughed in" the steps leading out of the open
foyer to the upstairs was the real beginning of KBD Incorporated. That day I
realized we were going to have a problem with the chandelier that would
be hanging in front of the big window in the second story of the open
foyer. The steps would be in the way of the the huge ladder (that I didn't
have yet) I would need to change the bulbs and knock the cobwebs
off the chandelier we didn't have either. Just a small oversight on my
part. Not a problem. I hold a job as a salesman in the electrical
field. I will just buy the "thingy" at one of my customers (the
electrical distributor).
It wasn't long before the house was "dried in", meaning the windows,
doors, and roof were all installed and the guts of the house were taking
shape. I was still beating on doors to find the "thingy" that would lower
the chandelier so the wife could clean and polish to her heart's
content. Not a one of my customers stocked or even knew of such a
"thingy". Then one day I stopped at a light shop in Akron, Ohio. As I
explained my situation the salesman just smiled and said he had just the
"thingy" I needed and he had them in stock. Perfect. I'll take it.
When he was ringing me up for the sale I then realized why he was
smiling so. $699.00 plus tax - OUCH!!!. I walked out in shock and
without the unit.
Our home is in Morrow County Ohio, a predominately Amish county.
Knowing that our building permits didn't require any electrical
inspections, I figured I could come up with some sort of device that
would work. I scrounged some pulleys and a boat trailer hoist and some
other hardware and headed to the rafters of the house. In a
couple of days I had a lowering system that I felt would work.
After each evening of "thingy" construction the snickers from the sub-
contractors were getting a bit more obvious. All I had to do was test
the system. I found 3 cement blocks left over from the basement and I
hung them from the "thingy". It held. Ha, I thought. I raised the
blocks into position of the chandelier. It held. I cranked them up and
down a hundred times. It held. After a week of testing and I am sure
huge amount of daytime laughter from the subs, I decided it would work.
I wired the thingy and waited for the house to be ready for paint and trim.
The electrician wanted me to install the chandelier. He wanted no
part of that "thing" coming out of the ceiling. I wired the chandelier
and slowly cranked it into position. We hit the circuit breaker and the
thing just glowed beautifully. I was pretty proud of the thing and it
is still working today.
We moved in and had the obligatory house warming and months of
visitors and everyone was dragged up to my son's room to see the "thingy"
in the closet. The "thingy" I scrounged together at the local hardware
and Wal-Mart to come up with. The light bulb went off in my head, pardon
the pun. We should market the "thingy". After all it worked for us, it
would work for the hundreds of homes in our area that needed just a
unit. I had less than $150.00 in stuff to make it work. We decided to go
for it.
Our business name was easy. KBD Inc. (first letter of Wife and Kids
names.) The "thingy" would be tougher (I thought). Now my wife, who
doesn't have a creative bone in her body, out of no where blurts out the
"Chandelease". Perfect, this business stuff was going to be easy.
Well, the stuff you don't think about while building a home is small
potatoes to the stuff you don't think about when starting a business.
The lawyer to draw up documents for the governor. The accountants say it's
the lawyer's job to advise on what kind of business. The lawyers say it's the
accountant's job. The UL red tape. The National Electrical Code requirements.
The product liability insurance salesman (speaking of smiling salesman).
The Bureau of Workman's Compensation guy, he was fun. January 1, 1995 we
became Incorporated with the State of Ohio. We hadn't sold the first one.
The very "American Dream" of ours was in "hock" to finance some
wild idea we had. And it was all because I didn't want to hear the
noise from the wife about the dirty and dingy chandelier. Today
February 1, 2000 we began selling direct to you via "E Business" thingy.
The house isn't in hock anymore. My day-time customers, the electrical
distributors, still don't have a clue about the "Chandelease" and they
had them in stock. We offered to buy all inventory back when we
announced our intentions to sell direct. We are running an up-front,
successful business that we hope continues to grow.
This story is ongoing and legitimate. KBD Inc. is too. It's still just me
and the wife and kids and some guy called a webmaster (a good friend Bill).
We are simply trying to offer a good product at a fair price to a reasonable
customer. The E-business venture brings many questions of legitimacy to mind.
Give us a call if your still a bit wary. We understand.
Sincerely,