Chapter 2 - WARD HOME SERVICES
Ward Home Services was not a glamorous family empire.
It began with Michael’s father, Thomas.
Heating repair.
Small plumbing jobs.
Emergency maintenance for landlords.
Thomas started with one van and a borrowed ladder.
By the time Michael was twenty-five, the company employed fourteen technicians and three office staff.
Evelyn handled billing.
Thomas handled field work.
Michael joined after college and eventually took over operations.
Then Thomas died from a heart attack seven years earlier.
Michael became majority owner.
Evelyn kept a minority interest and remained informal family adviser.
The company was stable.
Not huge.
Annual revenue usually hovered between $3.8 and $4.4 million.
Margins were thin.
Every administrative salary mattered.
Clara had never planned to work for Ward Home Services.
She had been an office manager at a commercial flooring supplier.
Good salary.
Health insurance.
Predictable schedule.
Then Lily was born.
Childcare cost more than expected.
Michael’s schedule became worse after Thomas died.
And Ward Home Services lost its bookkeeper within the same month.
Evelyn asked Clara for help.
“Just until we hire someone.”
May you like
Clara agreed.
That sentence lasted four years.
