In Down Economy, Man Expands Business With Help of Out-of-Work Tradesmen

When Manhattan businessman Mark Ritter was 7, he skipped past a kids' typical lemonade stand and instead carted soda around a construction site, selling it to the workers there. 

Now, Ritter is making lemonade out of the sour economy by hiring out-of-work tradesmen while expanding the services his own business offers.

The business, , provides property maintenance and construction services for homeowners and businesses, including site selection and development, new construction, remodeling and additions. 

We have a huge resource of talented people sitting at home here.

Growing a business is something Ritter is accustomed to. When he was 9, he started mowing neighbors' lawns, building 15 clients. That continued throughout high school.

"It just kept growing and growing," Ritter said. "That kept me busy."

He went on to study horticulture at Joliet Junior College, and at 19 he got a loan from First Bank of Manhattan to start his business. Throughout the years, the business has grown in the number of services it offered. But facing new challenges, Ritter hopes to offer even more. 

"When the economy fell on its face, we had to reinvent ourselves," he said. "It got to the point where we didn’t get a lot of customers to survive. I realized we have a huge resource of talented people sitting at home here."

Since August 2011, Ritter has taken on painting and carpentry specialists to help manage the jobs Ritter Services handles. Most notably is the addition of Matt Kojs, who founded here in 1989 but was forced to close shop in December.

"Business dropped off completely," Kojs said. "I went almost a year and a half without paying myself."

"There isn’t enough painting work for a company to survive," Ritter added. "But if we can cross-market, we can all benefit. Now he feeds us a pretty steady amount of work."

Not only does it bring more painting work, but it also allows Ritter to market his business as a one-stop shop to clients who need multiple tasks completed.

, established in 1868, is a historical landmark and needed a number of remodeling gigs—fresh paint, waterproofing, carpentry work, new garage doors and more. And the church hired Ritter for the job.

"That was one of the reasons I used him, because he offers so many different services and reasonable prices," said Joel Powless, who is on the church's grounds committee. "I’d have to hire five or six people otherwise."

Ritter is a busy guy. He pulled up to Grace Episcopal in his truck, drinking a Red Bull, and said he's constantly on his phone coordinating jobs, checking in on projects and networking to see if he can keep growing the business. So he appreciates the additional workers he's gotten, and he said they reciprocate that feeling. 

For the longest time, he said, many laborers were "just extra hands." But being out of a job has made them learn new trades.

"People really care about how they do things more than ever now," Ritter said. "The attitude has completely changed. The slowdown in the economy is forcing people to work on their skills."

This expansion is just the beginning for Ritter. He's recently added Salt Services and Survival Shelters of Illinois and Wisconsin to his arsenal, and he's always looking for more out-of-work tradesmen to come aboard. He's posted ads on Craigslist and is communicating by word-of-mouth to find what he can add. 

Ritter said he's interested now in adding janitorial/cleaning and street sweeping to the list of services he can provide. He would love to bring on more carpenters, but said a lot of the guys he knew are now home watching the kids.

"Unless I can start a babysitting service, I don’t know if I can get more carpenters," he said, half-jokingly. "But the New Lenox area in general is occupied primarily by different tradesmen," he said. "We’re trying to branch out. We want to do everything you need."