Page 63 - BusinessWest August 22, 2022

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He felt especially vulnerable, having been in business for only six months before the world shut down.
“I was very concerned about making it,” he told Business- West, and the worry is still there. There was little work, but still work to be done. He acquired a job for a Boston hospital, but it has been an on-again, off-again opportunity.
“When COVID hit, of course everything shut down. To this day, they haven’t asked for their project. I have it in the other room, and I’m still working on it. It hurt — but it didn’t hurt much because I was still in the infancy stage.”
He’s also had issues with supply limitations. Brogle explained that, if he needed a lift of plywood, the supplier
wouldn’t sell the lift of 35 to 40 sheets; they, too, were losing out on money. “They would sell 10-12 pieces at a time so they can make more money. If you order a lift, they give you a big discount. They can’t take that price cut, either — suppliers would rather sell 10 here, another 10 there, and so forth. I’ve had to watch what I buy. And sometimes I just don’t get it — it’s just not there.”
Despite the setbacks of COVID-19 and the resulting economic disruption, his business is starting to see a rise in sales. He explained a new job opportunity he received with a friend; he’s building about 50 mall kiosks, and the client is
requesting 30 to 40 more over the next year. “It’s a big job for all of us — the repeat cus-
tomers are there as long as you treat them cor- rectly,” he said. “You can treat a customer pretty badly and think you’re doing a good job. But if they don’t come back or if they tell someone you did a lousy job, you’ll
lose money. It might
The repeat not be a lot, but you
“
don’t get that cus-
customers are tomer back.”
Brogle added
there as long as that he likes to work
with his custom-
you treat them ers to make projects
doable, especially
correctly.”
for residential jobs.
When quoting a job,
he tries to honor the
price if it is within a
certain range of the original estimate.
Milling About
Though there’s a lot of competition in his field, Brogle is excited for the future of Deerfield Cabi- nets and Millwork.
There’s no predicting what the next year or five years will bring, but he is hoping to hire peo- ple that are passionate about the trade.
“I don’t have that crystal ball and all the answers, but this I do know — life is only what you make of it,” he told BusinessWest. “You can either be noticed or sit on your butt the rest of your days. And this is my trade.” u
Kailey Houle can be reached at [email protected]
Kali the ‘office manager’ checks out a kid gym Tom Brogle made.
will do installations only if it is one cabinet that requires a few screws in the wall.
“For most people, when they go to any cus- tom shop, it usually means they have exhausted the options at the stores. They don’t have issues with cost, they’re probably tired of the usual stuff, and don’t want to replace it in five years or so. We will make it to last.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Brogle was concerned for his enterprise, like other owners.
Michael Lynch
Michael Lynch
Barbara-Jean Deloria
Barrbara-Jean DelLorriia
Michael Moriarty
Michael Moriarty
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Henry "Hank" Downey
Henry "Hank" Downey
Joe Doug Kulig Gilbert
Joe Doug Kulig Gilbert
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To us,
James Michael Montemayor Davey
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