toledoblade.com --

MARBLEHEAD, Ohio — For years, Charlotte and Mike Kalinoski had considered getting into business by buying a franchise or opening a restaurant.

But it wasn’t until Mrs. Kalinoski was looking at possibilities for landscaping their Marblehead house and came across concrete garden edging laid by machine that the couple became sold on a small business idea.

The firm selling the edging equipment didn’t have an operator in the area, and after the Kalinoskis did some research, Kwik Kerb LLC of Marblehead was born.

“It’s not often something like this falls in your lap,” said Mr. Kalinoski, who had worked as an engineer in the auto industry.

“When things like that happen, you’ve got to jump on them.”

Kwik Kerb’s machine-laid concrete edging can be used around gardens, driveways, and other areas. Workers first remove sod in areas to be edged, and the product can be laid and sealed in a day.

The product is available in different patterns, colors, and profiles, such as sloped or edged for easy mowing. Lighting also can be embedded in the edging.

Jeff Thompson of Middleton Township said he wanted to add a durable landscaping border to increase the value of his two-year-old house.

The firm recently installed a border around his front landscaping and along one side of his house, he said. He selected a light tan.

“It’s appealing,” he said. “It’s a lot better than that black edging you can buy.”

He added: “They did a really good job.”

The installation equipment used by the Kalinoskis was developed in Australia nearly 20 years ago by Edgetec International Pty. Ltd. The concept came to the United States in the 1990s.

After initially concentrating on selling edging in the eastern part of northwest Ohio, Kwik Kerb this year plans to regularly do jobs in the Toledo area, Mr. Kalinoski said. The firm also works on commercial properties, he said.

“This is a big market up here that we can tap into,” Mr. Kalinoski said.

In another effort to increase sales, estimated at $525,000 this year, Kwik Kerb last year added a second product to its lineup, overlays that can be installed on concrete around pools, on sidewalks, and other areas.

The concrete overlays can be stamped and colored to match the texture of patterned driveways that are popular now, Mr. Kalinoski said.

Owners often paint exteriors, change shutters, add porches or make other changes to improve the value of their homes, Mr. Kalinoski said. But it isn’t until they stumble across products as the Kalinoskis did that they consider more grounded details, he said.

“Nobody ever really thinks about adding value to the home through a driveway or a sidewalk.”

Contact Julie M. McKinnon at: jmckinnon@theblade.com or 419-724-6087.

Small Business Profile is a weekly feature on local companies. To be considered, send information about your company to Small Business Profiles, Business News, The Blade, P.O. Box 921, Toledo, Ohio 43697-0921.

Permanent Link