"One Call" a one-stop service

It’s an idea so good that Patrick McGuiness and Cory Starkweather were stunned to discover someone else hadn’t thought of it first. But when that initial shock wore off the longtime friends turned their idea into a business.

One Call Property Care is the manifestation of that idea. The Woodbury-based business offers single-family homeowners something they couldn’t previously get anywhere, McGuiness said: complete property care.

The business, which has been up and running since May, aims to make all-encompassing property care service available to single-family homeowners, a service that is usually included with town homes and condominiums that belong to a neighborhood association.

“We cover pretty much anything you can think of that is a home maintenance-type of service,” said McGuiness, who recently earned a law degree at William Mitchell College of Law, but decided a career as an attorney wasn’t his beckon call.

From any and all degrees of yard care, to seasonal exterior home care such as seal coating to snow plowing, to interior cleaning and maintenance services, McGuiness said One Call Property Care offers to bring in and manage trusted contractors to perform any number of services for residents.

“The idea behind this business is that we basically take care of everything for you,” McGuiness said. “So many times people hire out different services to any number of different businesses. We take care of all that for you.”

As a part of their service, One Call Property Care works with clientele to go over a checklist of what the customer wants done in or around the home. Then Starkweather and McGuiness said they delegate the requested services to sub contractors with good ratings on business rating services like the Better Business Bureau and Angie’s List. A monthly fee is calculated based on the number of services performed.

“We take care of all the work involved in making sure you get a quality service, and the best part is that if customers have any questions about the service there’s no calling around. They call us and we take care of it,”

First-hand experience

McGuiness and Starkweather grew up together in Hastings and remained friends throughout their college years. While McGuiness was attending law school, he started his own landscaping business in Woodbury. He said his background in law and landscaping provided the backbone for One Call Property Care. But the idea for the business actually came from his mother, who currently lives on her own in a single-family house in Woodbury.

“She was thinking about moving into a condo, because she said she loved her home, but it was so much work to keep up,” McGuiness said. “That’s when I said there has to be a way single-family homeowners can get the same services they would get if they lived in a town home or a condo. There was none out there. So Cory and I started one ourselves.”

McGuiness’s mother and Starkweather grandfather, who also lives in Woodbury, were there first customers.

“I think when it’s all said and done, people realize life is short and it should be enjoyed,” McGuiness said. “We think if you streamline home maintenance you can have much more time to enjoy what’s important to you. We can help you do that.”