4/2/2008 Rakow Homes offers new service to homeowners Rakow Homes Ltd. headquartered on Old Ocean City Blvd. in Berlin, MD was established in April, 1998, by Bill Rakow, now familiar to many area residents for his involvement as a member of the Ocean Pines Board of Directors and with the Worcester County Veterans Memorial Foundation. In 2000, Bill was joined by his son, Steve, and began a transition toward retirement. In summer 2003 Steve and business partner Mike Poole took over the reins of the company. Steve Rakow is a 1987 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and retired from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in 2007 as a lieutenant colonel. Upon leaving active duty with the military he attended law school and served as a prosecutor in Ohio before making the move to the Eastern Shore to join forces with his dad, also a retired Marine in the construction business. Steve was already familiar with the area due to frequent visits dating back to the early 1990s. Steve, along with wife Kelley and their three daughters now reside in Bishopville. Among his professional credentials, Steve has served as a vice president for the Eastern Shore Builder's Association and as a board member of the Maryland State Builder's Association for two years. Mike Poole is originally from Montgomery County and attended the University of Maryland. Mike spent about eight years working for a national home building company on the Western Shore. His background also includes running businesses in the financial, wholesale and retail industries. He moved to Ocean Pines in 1995 and successfully operated two local businesses before joining Rakow Homes. Mike served for four years as a director and one year as President of the Ocean Pines Area Chamber of Commerce and has also served as the Vice President of BNI (Business Networking International) in Berlin. He currently resides in Bishopville with his two sons. According to Steve and Mike, their business has established an excellent reputation in the area based on their mutual philosophies toward customer satisfaction and strong business ethics. They both consider honesty and integrity in dealing with customers as paramount to their future success. Because of this relationship with their customers, they have no qualms about referring potential clients to see their work and to speak firsthand with those who have already experienced working with the company. Although they are managers, they both say that they will never hesitate to strap on a tool belt if that is what it takes to get the job done right and on time. Steve and Mike are now excited about a new service they are bringing to the area called the "Rakow Homes House Checkup," described as "a non-intrusive visual observation of the condition of a home and its operating systems." They compare the service to a routine physical at the doctor's office. Priced at about $95, the service assesses 85 critical points, takes about two hours to complete and provides the customer with a written report. Upon completion, a "clean bill of health" would deliver peace of mind that everything is okay, while any problems uncovered might serve as a check list for any necessary repairs. It goes without saying that Rakow Homes is able to provide estimates and complete any needed repair work, but the customer is not obligated in any way to further utilize their services. As another analogy, Mike notes that people will religiously take their car to the shop for an oil change every 3,000 miles, but on what is likely their single largest investment, their home, they wait until a problem manifests itself before taking a hard look at its condition. In some cases, an owner may not have taken a close look at the home in 10 years or more. If caught early, minor discrepancies such as deteriorated caulking that could eventually result in rotted wood, are both easier and cheaper to fix. Not to be confused with a re-sale inspection, the intent is not to verify a home's condition for a purchaser, but to help the homeowner keep what they have in good repair and avoid costly repairs somewhere down the line due to neglect. They describe the inspection as going from the crawlspace to the attic and everything in between. While they will not focus on electrical and plumbing systems to the extent they are assessed in a re-sale inspection, any visible defects and/or suspected problems with these systems would be pointed out for the homeowner to investigate further. Rakow Homes website, located at www.rakowhomes.com provides a background on the company and information on the services they offer.
By Bob Lassahn
Uploaded: 4/2/2008
