By Jenny Callison
Enquirer contributor

Welcome Home owner Lisa McLaughlin reviews notes for furniture placement in a room at Llanfair Retirement Community in College Hill as Mitch McLaughlin (left) and Dave Davis bring in furnishings. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

MACK - Lisa McLaughlin is a lifelong organizer who trained as an interior decorator. Over the past 14 years, she has developed a business that combines her two strengths with a commitment to serving others.

After spending some years out of the job market raising her three children, McLaughlin wanted to use her professional skills again. She had a revelation.

"I woke up one night with the concept and the name of the business: Welcome Home," she recalled.

McLaughlin realized that many senior citizens who were moving into retirement homes or otherwise downsizing needed more than a conventional moving company. She launched a business that would help them plan for the move, get rid of unwanted furnishings, organize, pack and move their belongings, then settle everything into the new home.

During Welcome Home's first year, McLaughlin worked alone, contracting with a moving company for the actual loading and moving, but doing the rest of the work herself. The second year, she hired someone to help her. The two women worked hard, often finishing after dark.

Said McLaughlin: "Not only were we exhausted; our clients were, too, because it would be 9:30 at night and they would be ready for bed. And there we were, still working."

McLaughlin realized her business needed organizing.

NEW HOME

After accepting a job, Lisa McLaughlin meets with clients to get to know them, identify their most important possessions, measure and catalog those items, and sell or give away the extraneous. She then helps clients determine how to furnish their new space with the familiar and beloved in a way that shows off prize possessions to best advantage. Company and client agree on a floor plan. On packing day, everything is organized into cartons according to its destination. The next day, everything is unloaded, unpacked and arranged according to the plan. Pictures are hung, linens are washed and beds made up. The Welcome Home crew leaves chocolates on the pillows and flowers in a vase. When the job is complete, Welcome Home employees do a final walk-through so clients know where everything is. Welcome Home's services range from several hundred to several thousand dollars. Information: 922-6054 or www.welcomehomemoving.com.

"The light bulb went off: I needed to hire more people, so we could work efficiently and quickly," she said.

She has since put together a crew and a routine.

"We pack and load one day, and unload and settle the second day," McLaughlin explained. "We get our clients settled as early as we can - around 3 p.m. - so they can rest and get ready to meet new people in their new environment. We are professional organizers: Everything is cleaned and polished, dusted and vacuumed. The old place is cleaned, too."

"It was marvelous for me," said Barbara Donovan, whose recent move from a house to an apartment in Sycamore Township was accomplished by Welcome Home. "They shrink-wrapped my bed with the linens on it, so I could sleep in my apartment that same night, even though the rest of my things weren't there yet."

Donovan was part of the 20 percent of McLaughlin's customers who are not moving into a retirement home.

To improve the moving process, McLaughlin recently invested in her own moving van and hired a few men: off-duty firefighters, a former engineer, and her own son.

"They handled everything very carefully," Donovan said.

McLaughlin said that getting the right kind of employee is key to Welcome Home's success.

"It really takes a mature soul," she said. "I feel like you are morally responsible for people's belongings. We don't sell insurance, so we cover any cost when we make mistakes."

Many of Welcome Home's packing and settling-in employees are older women - women who "know how to set up a home," as the company owner says. They also understand clients' emotions as a familiar home is left behind and another style of living looms.

"They were delightful women," Donovan said. "They brought me flowers, and later I got a note from one of them, saying how much she enjoyed meeting me. Lisa gave me all kinds of ideas I never would have thought of."

"They help people through a very difficult transition," explained Jim Conway, director of marketing at Maple Knoll Village in Springdale, many of whose residents have used Welcome Home's services. "Lisa helps clients create a new vision of their home. She doesn't just move them; she interviews them first and determines what's most important for them to bring with them as they move into the retirement community.

"Some moving companies have thought they could replicate this kind of service, but Lisa approaches it very differently from the way they do. It's a calling for her. Her passion about what she's doing has led to her success."

Welcome Home undertakes about 350 moves each year. Demand has increased and McLaughlin is currently considering expanding her company. Growth would require purchasing another van and finding just the right people for a second crew. It would mean more delegation and less hands-on involvement for McLaughlin.

She may take another route: attracting entrepreneurs who want to establish Welcome Home locations in their own areas. McLaughlin has already helped start an offshoot in Dayton, Ohio.

"We would sell the concept and show them how to do the paperwork, training, and marketing and let them train with us for two weeks so they will know how to do everything the 'Welcome Home way,' " she said.

E-mail jcallison@zoomtown.com.