Ever try reaching a handyman service by phone? Rick Hibbs has. Actually, he’s called every service listed in the Des Moines yellow pages.

“It was amazing to me,” said Hibbs, who was able to reach two or three live people out of about 20 listings, with the remainder of the calls going to answering machines or left completely unanswered. In one instance, “you could tell the guy was under a sink working on something, because he was real short with me and asked me to call back and leave a message on his machine.” A few others told him the soonest they could book a job was next winter.

It confirmed what he’d been told: The work is out there for handymen in Greater Des Moines.

Last week, Hibbs launched a Handyman Matters franchise to serve the Des Moines area, becoming the 96th person to buy into the enterprise, which Entrepreneur.com has ranked No. 27 on its 2005 list of Top New Franchises in the country.

Hibbs, who had raised corn and soybeans on 3,200 acres near Conrad for the past 24 years, sold the farm and recently moved to Ankeny after deciding to buy the franchise.

“The thing that attracted me to it on the business side is that you can get to break-even very quickly,” said Hibbs, who began sending three employees out on jobs last week. “I fully expect to be breaking even in month four. I’m convinced that the work is out there.”

Besides attempting to always have their phones answered by a live person, Handyman Matters is also different in that each franchisee’s job scheduler is a woman — in this case, Hibbs’ stepdaughter, Kelly. The reason? The majority of people calling who need work done are women.

The company, which nationally has found carpentry work, minor plumbing repairs, bathroom remodels and drywall patching to be among its most popular jobs, has developed a Web scheduler program that enables customers to obtain telephone cost estimates based on a detailed series of questions about the job.

“If the job is to install a ceiling fan, we’ll ask you questions like, ‘Is there electricity already in the ceiling?’ ‘How tall is the ceiling?’ ‘Does furniture have to be moved?’ so that we can price the job similar to how an auto mechanic costs out a job,” Hibbs said. “Everybody wants to have an idea of what a project’s going to cost.”

The company charges a $25 trip fee, with a $58 charge for the first hour. Subsequent time is then charged at that rate in 15-minute increments.

Handyman Matters’ high-octane founder, Andy Bell, began franchising his concept eight years ago after finding a niche in sending out clean-cut handymen who call the night before to confirm their jobs, and guaranteeing the results. Bell discovered a need for handyman services after starting a business to install evaporative coolers in people’s homes. His customers would invariably ask him to do other odd jobs around their houses.

Though each franchise owner hires experienced handymen and craftsmen, the owners themselves are a diverse mix of business people, Bell said.

“We have former bank presidents, information technology professionals, a lot of different people with a lot of different backgrounds,” he said. “They typically have some experience in the construction world, but predominantly they’re business professionals. And a lot of people are buying because of (the desire for) core values that aren’t being demonstrated in corporate America.”

Besides performing licensed and bonded work for residential owners, the franchisees also specialize in renovations that allow elderly residents to stay in their homes longer, working with a program called Healthy Aging Initiatives. Typical work includes installing wider doorways to grab bars and non-slip showers. Handyman Matters also holds commercial accounts with dozens of national retail businesses, specializing in preventive maintenance for restaurants, hotels and buildings that are typically under 5,000 square feet.

Hibbs said he’s received an enthusiastic reception from established home improvement businesses in Des Moines, which he said typically would rather not be bothered with many of the small jobs that he will handle.

When he tells carpeting companies, for instance, that he’d be glad to cut doors or remove and reinstall molding for their flooring jobs, “they just look at you and blink and say, ‘Give me your card.’ And then they’d say, ‘Do you have any more?’ We’re not a threat to anybody.”

Handyman Matters can be reached at 279-7575.