College HUNKS franchisee relies on easy-to-use hooklifts.
By Tom Feverston
In 2008, Patrick Lombardi was among the thousands of college students graduating into a ridiculously competitive Tennessee job market. However, despite the challenges before him, that is where his success story begins. Instead of spending months struggling to land an interview, he decided he would rather create an opportunity of his own.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
Lombardi discovered the College HUNKS franchise and jumped in without hesitation. College HUNKS is a junk hauling and moving service that started as a small business. Now, it is comprised of many franchise locations across the country. Lombardi opened the Nashville location in 2012 with two trucks and four employees. “I loved everything about the brand. As a recent college graduate, I was excited for the challenge of starting and growing a business,” says Lombardi. Now, he oversees three locations, 22 trucks and 85 full-time employees.
Employees can be trained on the job, allowing Lombardi’s franchise locations to hire based on potential instead of experience. Many employees are college students looking for work over the summer, or young adults filling the gap between jobs. With a workforce primarily between the ages of 18 and 26, Lombardi is given the opportunity to mentor employees and help them navigate things like 401(k) plans, credit scores and car insurance.
College HUNKS is often a steppingstone to other career paths, resulting in a high turnover rate. Instead of seeing this as a disadvantage, Lombardi aims to help employees grow and develop, and help them in the right direction for their future. “We understand doing manual labor and lifting furniture isn’t sustainable, so our goal is for employees to walk out the door a better person than when they walked in,” says Lombardi. “Whether that’s a better work ethic or a better understanding of the world, that’s what we aim to do.”
Photo courtesy of Stellar Industries.
Hauling Never Looked So Easy
Though he may experience turnover in his seasonal staff, Lombardi expects a much longer tenure from his equipment and suppliers. “We’ve gone through a lot of different equipment vendors over the years, and the ones that last the longest are the ones that are always there to support you and deliver a sustainable product,” says Lombardi. From an equipment standpoint, Lombardi looks for strength, productivity, and ease-of-use, and when his long-time truck builder recommended a hooklift from Stellar, he didn’t hesitate.
“Initially, we used cable hoists for our hauling needs, but pretty quickly switched to hooklifts,” says Lombardi. He cites fewer components, better integrations and easier training for the shift to the hooklift.
Stellar was founded in 1990 in Garner, IA, and has since expanded operations to multiple U.S. locations. Stellar is an employee-owned and operated manufacturer of high-quality work trucks and trailers, in addition to service truck and van accessories. Through the innovative, growing product line and an expanding distribution network, the company has gained an international presence and become the number one productivity choice in many markets.
“Pat knows his business,” says Tom Feverston, Director of Demountable Sales at Stellar, “Helping him integrate his winch based cable hoist containers onto the hooklift platform was a privilege. The Flex unit has proven to be a workhorse in the Junk industry, and it’s because we get to work with guys like Pat that we are able to continuously adjust to industry needs.”
Strength and Efficiency
Lombardi and his crew now rely on Stellar’s Flex36-108 Hooklift. The biggest difference between his Stellar Hooklift and his old cable hoists is their strength. “The Flex36-108 is both bigger and stronger. That extra strength works in our favor when picking up and moving dumpsters. Each truck is still in perfect working condition, too, even when being used seven days a week for over a year now,” says Lombardi.
Previously, Lombardi’s crew had to run clutch pump hydraulic systems off the engine, instead of directly out of the transmission with a power-take-off (PTO) and hydraulic pump like the Stellar Hooklift offers. “With the direct system, you hit a switch, turn on the controller and guys don’t even have to get out of the truck. Just drop the hook, grab the container, and put it back on,” says Lombardi. “We’re constantly training new employees due to our high turnover rate, so the increased safety and ease of just flipping a single switch is much better for us,” says Lombardi.
The operator can stay in the truck throughout the entire process. Keeping operators in the cab eliminates the need for them to handle a cable to hook to a container, which can be a task that can lead to potential injuries. The hooklift system offers safer operation, mitigating any worry or uneasiness business owners may have. “The guys love them, they’re easy, they’re strong and they do exactly what we need them to do—their job,” says Lombardi. | WA
Tom Feverston is the Director of Demountable Sales for Stellar and is based out of Boyertown, PA. Tom has more than 15 years of experience in the heavy truck equipment industry in a variety of areas such as sales, parts, service and product management.
Stellar was founded in 1990 in Garner, IA, and has since expanded operations to multiple U.S. locations. Stellar is a 100 percent employee-owned and operated manufacturer of high-quality work trucks and trailers, in addition to service truck and van accessories. Through the innovative, growing product line and an expanding distribution network, the company has gained an international presence and become the No. 1 productivity choice in many markets. For more information, contact Kelsey Batschelet at (254) 291-9370, [email protected] or visit www.stellarindustries.com.