h o usi n g “And I carefully screen the people I hire, so nobody has to worry. Like I said, we take this work seriously, and I have excellent employees.”
Gardening/Landscaping aping Service
Finalist: Mastercare
Kitson Landscape Management 5787 Thornwood Dr.,
Carpet Cleaning
Coleman Carpet Cleaners
Goleta, 681-7010
This one is a bit of a puzzler even to the super-nice family that runs it. Around since 1969, the Kitson family business is now in the hands of daughter Sarah and her husband, Dave Fudurich. Everybody agrees that the clan couldn’t be nicer and the workers are excellent. So what’s the problem? The Kitsons do commercial accounts — there are no little suburban love nests or even McMansions getting the famed touch. But the family name is so well known, the readers give the Kitsons a green light for their thumbs year after year.
Finalist: Orchard Supply Hardware
275 Orange Ave., Goleta, 683-2305
Flexibility is the watchword at Coleman’s, with a fleet of cleaners who specialize in very big jobs, from mansions to corporate HQs — which is not to say that they don’t work small. If anything, they prefer to be known as detail-oriented workers whose handiwork ensures lots of repeat business, and the readers do not reward those with spotty résumés.
Finalist: Enviroscaping
Finalist: Naturalist Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning
Housecleaning Service
Hardware Store
Karen’s Kleaning
the best thing is how little the place has changed. You walk in and, assuming some familiarity, head right over to where what you want is, assuming you don’t run into a bunch of friends and neighbors on the way. If it’s not where you thought, an employee is always standing by who can direct you to it inside the store, order it for you, or let you know who in town is likely to carry that screen-door spline or recessed thumbscrew. If it has changed over the years, it just got subtly better.
564-1444
Home Improvement Center 415 E. Gutierrez St., 963-7825
Now in its 30th year, Karen’s Kleaning thinks of itself as a midrangepriced service that has one large distinction.“We care very much about what we do,” said owner Karen Laurie, who is keenly aware that her workers are going into strangers’ homes and must prove themselves.
On Home Improvement Center’s website, owner Gary Simpson writes that the store has grown and changed with the times. (Simpson’s dad opened the big store in 1967; the son took over operations in 1983.) Maybe that’s true, but as very regular shoppers there will tell you,
Tile Shop
Tileco
7 N. Nopal St., 564-1868 “We give the same attention to someone who wants to tile a whole house as to a person with a tiny tile they have to replace. We will find it,” laughed Mimi Campbell, who works for a whole lot of people she respects at Tileco — the owners, Margaret and Mike Burchiere; the“captain”(and daughter of the Burchieres), Gina Flint; and the manager (and son of the original owner) of whom she speaks in awe, “Bert Muscio, a tanned man who likes to go on vacation.” All of them, she said, are completely committed to making your dreams in tile come true. They have a better chance of helping you on the spot after moving into their new headquarters, at North Nopal Street. “We go above and beyond the call of duty,” said Campbell. “And we’re very glad your readers recognized us for that.”
Finalist: Buena Tile + Stone
Serving g The Santa Barbara Area Since 1999
(805) 569-9188
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