CREATING Harmony

Family businesses, Slide Out Shelf Solutions and Creative Closet Concepts, become Harmony Home Concepts to provide whole-house functionality.

KIM GRONNIGER AARON PATTON

Have you ever felt defeated searching through cluttered kitchen cabinets for cumin, a colander or a cake pan? Does getting dressed in the morning invoke anxiety because you can’t easily assess or access what you want to wear in a messy closet? Could your home office be more attractive and efficient?

Phil and Shelley Davis help customers in Wichita, Hutchinson, Newton and surrounding areas contain the chaos with three businesses: The Best Home Guys, Slide Out Shelf Solutions and Creative Closet Concepts, all of which will be available under one name, Harmony Home Concepts, in 2023 to better reflect the whole-house nature of improving functionality.

“The name reflects our desire to bring harmony to a home with everything we offer in one place and room to add more,” said Shelley. “We already have some new ideas for businesses that will easily fit under our new company umbrella.”

Dedicated to a single-day, whole-house installation philosophy, the Davises and their employees provide immediate relief from aggravations by making it easier to retrieve necessary items for daily living in more inviting environments.

Whether customers need to compensate for their own physical limitations or spatial conundrums in their homes, the Davises can create “a calm oasis,” said Shelley.

“It’s frustrating when you can’t see what you have, and you might only wear 5 percent of the clothes in your closet because it takes too much time to find things. We want to make every day easier and many of our customers wish they’d done the work sooner because it’s such an improvement to their lives.”

Shelley said one customer dreaded cooking until the installation of her slide-out drawers brought renewed satisfaction with spending time in her kitchen.

“We created a closet dressing room, and the client said the transformed space was an oasis not just because it made getting ready in the morning easier, but also because it was a joy to come back to it to shed the chaos of the day,” she said.

Following a layoff as director of a 24-hour call center, Phil purchased a handyman franchise in 2005 that changed to The Best Home Guys in 2015. Shelley, a former elementary teacher and school librarian, has been active with the company’s operations since the beginning and joined the company full-time in 2021. The Davises’ daughter, Kaylee, helped with the family business as a college student and became a full-time employee in 2022, handling the company’s social media in addition to closet design, client scheduling and installation work.

“Now we can pay her a living wage,” Phil quipped. During initial customer meetings, Phil asks about pain points to determine customized solution strategies, which are guaranteed for as long as homeowners remain in their residence.

The Davises also integrate customer feedback to enhance their operations. The idea for the slide-out shelf business originated in 2018 with two retired women living in patio homes with limited storage.

“We started asking ourselves whether we could turn that idea into a primary business,” said Shelley. “Then people asked us about closets, so we added that to our offerings in 2022. We’re always adjusting and adapting to provide our customers what they need.”

She said grab bar installations are becoming a popular service for people aging in place or rehabilitating from injuries and surgeries, resulting in the company’s Grab Bar Install Pro service. The company’s custom closet systems can also accommodate requests for home office and garage makeovers.

Customer feedback even helped facilitate a change to slide-out shelves, which each hold 100 pounds.

“We put in shelves that were 28 inches deep for one client, and when those shelves started to bow, we replaced them with thicker bottoms, which we now use across the board for all of our clients,” said Phil.

All employees are licensed, bonded and insured and adhere to high-quality standards, said Phil.

“We focus on niches in the market we’re good at to assist homeowners on this part of their journey.”

Closet raw materials are made in North Carolina using sawdust to create thermally fused laminate with attractive finishes before being manufactured by a family business in Tennessee.

“We watched a demonstration for one of the closet shelves and they loaded it with barbells and water, and it held 1,000 pounds,” said Phil.

The Davises also provide demolition and painting services with closet installations.

“It’s a rare service in the closet industry, but already having a handyman service made it easy for us to offer a one-stop-shop option for a complete transformation for our clients,” said Shelley.

Both Davises have family businesses in their roots. Phil obtained an accounting degree from Wichita State University and aspired to be an entrepreneur like his father, who worked in a corporate position with a business on the side, and his grandparents, who owned a grocery store. Shelley’s mother was a selfemployed artist and teacher. Although Shelley’s first entrepreneurial endeavor “flopped,” she said she learned a lot from the experience and enjoyed the time she got to spend with her daughters.

To anticipate and overcome the challenges of owning and expanding a business together, the couple sought assistance through the Small Business Development Center, a Mini MBA program, a Vistage executive coach and a local business coach with The Tomcat Group. As they continue to grow their business, the Davises are working with Ford Saeks, a business accelerator coach and owner of Prime Concepts Group, a marketing firm. They continue to benefit from Wichita Independent Business Association member interactions and resources.

Although a family business offers many rewards, Shelley’s advice to other spouses with entrepreneurial aspirations is “hang on because it’s a roller coaster. As an educator, I lived by a bell. I knew when lunch was and when grades were due. As an entrepreneur, you never know what will happen. But be open to the things that come because you never know where they might lead.”

Phil and Shelley acknowledge that being married to your business partner poses challenges because your emotional and economic well-being are so interconnected.

The Davises work with a marriage therapist and with Paul White, a renowned Wichita psychologist who provides counseling for family business partners.

“You shouldn’t feel ashamed that you don’t know how to do it all and you should seek help,” said Shelley.

“It’s important to set communication boundaries because it’s easy to only talk about work when you’re together all the time,” said Phil. “You need to remember to interact as a married couple and not just business partners.”

Two of the Davises’ installers are also family members, though not related to the couple.

“We love that we are families helping other families in the area live better lives,” said Phil. “One day we may take this business beyond Wichita, but for now we’re learning what works here and taking pride in helping our neighbors.”