The side of general contractor Buddy Laflin’s truck says it all: “Handyman Services, Small Home Repairs.”
Laflin is a one man business. He takes on jobs of all sizes, ranging from changing light bulbs to putting on decks to remodeling kitchens and bathrooms. When you hire Buddy Laflin LLC, Laflin is the person who does your repairs. If for some reason he cannot do it, he guides his customers to someone properly qualified.
“I do pretty much everything,” Laflin said. “I am not licensed for plumbing and electric. I do remodeling, decks, painting. A little bit of everything.”
Laflin draws the line at putting on additions, because “it takes too long for me to do alone when they can hire a crew to do it faster.”
Laflin is a life-long Ewing resident. During his junior and senior years at Ewing High School he attended Mercer County Vo-Tech for general building construction.
Unfortunately, upon graduation in 1991 he could not find a job in construction, so he worked as a dental technician full-time, and construction “on the side – evenings and weekends.”
This went on for 14 years, until he found his niche and followed his passion. Friends would tell Laflin “no one would call me back for the little jobs.”
He makes it a priority to call everyone back and give them an estimate based on the particulars of the job. “I like to come out and look at jobs. I don’t like to give estimates without seeing things. I don’t have an hourly rate,” he said. Instead he charges what he thinks is fair based on the particulars of the job.
This approach works for him, and for his clients. Laflin does not have a website, nor does he advertise often. Much of his business is repeat customers and word of mouth.
About 10 years ago, in 2005, he turned his spare time business into a full-time business. “I like being my own boss,” Laflin said. “I take off and do things with the kids when I want to.”
The kids are his two daughters, a 14-year-old and a 17-year-old, both students at Ewing High School.
A large portion of his business comes from rental property owners. “My father-in-law is the manager of Pennington Weidel.” Prior to that, his father-in-law worked in Ewing, home to many properties rented to college students, which tend to need repairs.
“My first few years, 75 percent of my business was from inspections,” he said. Not all of the rental property owners live in the area, yet they often need someone responsible to handle repairs between renters. “I like doing that stuff because it is easy to go into an empty house to do work.”
He also works with future home owners to inspect houses before making a purchase to help them understand what work will need to be done.
“No job is too small. I like going and bouncing all over the place. I prefer to do a few smaller jobs than one big one.” He receives a lot of satisfaction from making his clients happy.
This is Buddy’s favorite time of year. “I like summertime work. I like being outside. Anything outside, such as building decks.” His first passion is carpentry, something he still enjoys doing today in the form of making custom trims.
“It is pretty simple. There is not a whole lot. It is just me,” Laflin said.
Buddy Laflin’s Construction, LLC, General Contractor, fully insured. (609) 468-0585.
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