Troy woman turned home start-up into multimillion-dollar business

Original Source: http://www.detnews.com/article/20110602/BIZ/106020364/1001/biz

It's been 17 years in the making, but a Troy woman finally has built a true home-based business into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

Pole-Wrap has become a lesson in what a determined entrepreneur can achieve.

The idea behind Laurie Coleman's company is simple: In Michigan and other places across the country where folks want to finish basements, the poles that hold up the house are great for structure — but they're a real impediment to beautifying a living space. Any serious basement remodeler wants to cover them up.

Pole-Wrap provides kits that allow homeowners to cover the poles easily and aesthetically.

The concept is sound enough that Pole-Wrap has penetrated about 900 Home Depot and 600 Lowe's stores with its wares while continuing to provide them online. Buyers can outfit a pole with a wrap and a base at a suggested retail price of about $70.

Pole-Wrap's eight-foot-long, half-inch wood panels — bonded to a flexible backing — are available at widths from 12 to 48 inches.

Pole-Wrap recently has added line extensions, including a drink shelf that can be mounted on the wrap and extension wraps for basements with high ceilings.

At least one Metro Detroit company that specializes in basement remodeling likes Pole-Wrap. "It's not for every basement, but it's very useful because it allows easy and quick installation," said Steve Iverson, president of Finished Basements Plus, based in Wixom, which also makes custom coverings for basement poles. "And it's always nice that (Pole-Wrap) is pre-finished."

The product taps into the home remodeling industry, which grew modestly in 2010 and is projected to grow an estimated 7.1 percent in the first quarter before dropping to 0.2 percent at year's end, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.

But Pole-Wrap hasn't been an overnight sensation like the Pet Rock or the iPhone. Coleman has worked and worked her startup into a flourishing business since 1994.

"I thought of it when my son was two months old," said the 50-year-old Coleman. "He is 18 now."

The notion struck her when Coleman was at a baby shower in a basement and noticed how the metal support poles fought against the notion of a finished living space.

Coleman converted a basement storage room into a workshop, lined up a manufacturer, began taking orders at home and filled them via mail-order.

She worked to get Pole-Wrap into 75 Home Depots in Michigan after pestering one of the store's buyers relentlessly. Eventually, established companies tried to mimic Pole-Wrap, "but I think the competition helped me," Coleman said.

Eventually, Laurie's husband, Dan Coleman, quit his job to join Pole-Wrap as vice president and take over operations. He is 54.

"He's worked on the company from the beginning, and he thought it was running smoothly," said Laurie Coleman, who is Pole-Wrap's president and handles marketing and sales. "But then he realized, with 1,500 stores, that this had become too big for us to screw up."

Another boon to Pole-Wrap has been the housing bust.

"With more people staying in their homes," Coleman said, "they're realizing that finishing the basement is an economical way to add a room."

Pole-Wrap isn't moving out of the Colemans' basement. They are the only full-time employees, and their inventory is warehoused off-site.

"We thought about renting an office," Coleman said, "but we really don't need to. We have two offices at home."

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110602/BIZ/106020364/Troy-woman-turned-home-start-up-into-multimillion-dollar-business#ixzz1OsSBfB6J