The Winnipeg Sun - April 19th, 2004
Brothers raise concrete idea
SlabSetters ease paving block jobs
By Kathleen Martens
SlabSetters hopes to do for sidewalks what Clodhoppers has done for candy. Winnipeg brothers Perry and Don Freiling are marketing a family invention as a must-have landscaping tool.
"I was awoken out of a dream that this is what I should be doing," says Perry of the painless way to lift, install and re-level concrete sidewalk blocks.
"This tool's been sitting around in the family for years. Every time ... we had slabs there's no way we'd touch them without what we called the black hangers."
The Transcona-raised boys are feeling good they followed their entrepreneurial instincts. Both were laid off in the year it's taken to bring their tool to market.
SlabSetters debuted at $24.99 for the set of four lifters in McDiarmid Lumber stores a week ago. Perry admits he and Don, an electrical engineer, have been eagerly awaiting their first sales figures.
"Now, the big question is, 'Will the consumer buy the product?' and that's what we're hoping we're going to see," Perry said, noting he and Don have since found new jobs in addition to forming Freiling Innovation.
Emulate Clodhoppers
The brothers would love to emulate the success of ClodHoppers creators and Winnipeg cousins Chris Emery and Larry Finson, who marketed their grandma's chocolate-covered Graham wafer snacks to global renown.
In this case, the Freilings are trying to do their father proud. Retired CN Rail electrician Erwin Freiling developed the tool one summer when faced with laying more than 100 sidewalk blocks at the cottage.
"My dad's always said, 'Hey, if you want to run with it, you go ahead. Just remember me when you're rich," Perry said with a laugh, explaining the dutiful sons wouldn't have proceeded without their dad's blessing.
The pair have since been blown away by the tool's potential, driving around the city to count how every second sidewalk or so is made of pre-cast blocks.
They got great response, Perry said, previewing SlabSetters to companies that make the blocks and others in the industry.
"One of the landscapers we sat down with, within five minutes of showing him the tool, he bought two of them."
McDiarmid Lumber buyer Hector Munoz believes SlabSetters will click with anyone who's tried to readjust sidewalk blocks.
"You've got to get a shovel and try to dig your fingers or a screwdriver underneath to pry it out. This looks like it would be effortless to use, " he said, noting the tool is available in five McDiarmid locations in Winnipeg and one in Keewatin, Ont.
"As soon as somebody tries it they'll probably be telling their friends and neighbours about it. That's what I'm counting on," Munoz added.
- On the web: www.slabsetters.com.
"I was awoken out of a dream that this is what I should be doing," says Perry of the painless way to lift, install and re-level concrete sidewalk blocks.
"This tool's been sitting around in the family for years. Every time ... we had slabs there's no way we'd touch them without what we called the black hangers."
The Transcona-raised boys are feeling good they followed their entrepreneurial instincts. Both were laid off in the year it's taken to bring their tool to market.
SlabSetters debuted at $24.99 for the set of four lifters in McDiarmid Lumber stores a week ago. Perry admits he and Don, an electrical engineer, have been eagerly awaiting their first sales figures.
"Now, the big question is, 'Will the consumer buy the product?' and that's what we're hoping we're going to see," Perry said, noting he and Don have since found new jobs in addition to forming Freiling Innovation.
Emulate Clodhoppers
The brothers would love to emulate the success of ClodHoppers creators and Winnipeg cousins Chris Emery and Larry Finson, who marketed their grandma's chocolate-covered Graham wafer snacks to global renown.
In this case, the Freilings are trying to do their father proud. Retired CN Rail electrician Erwin Freiling developed the tool one summer when faced with laying more than 100 sidewalk blocks at the cottage.
"My dad's always said, 'Hey, if you want to run with it, you go ahead. Just remember me when you're rich," Perry said with a laugh, explaining the dutiful sons wouldn't have proceeded without their dad's blessing.
The pair have since been blown away by the tool's potential, driving around the city to count how every second sidewalk or so is made of pre-cast blocks.
They got great response, Perry said, previewing SlabSetters to companies that make the blocks and others in the industry.
"One of the landscapers we sat down with, within five minutes of showing him the tool, he bought two of them."
McDiarmid Lumber buyer Hector Munoz believes SlabSetters will click with anyone who's tried to readjust sidewalk blocks.
"You've got to get a shovel and try to dig your fingers or a screwdriver underneath to pry it out. This looks like it would be effortless to use, " he said, noting the tool is available in five McDiarmid locations in Winnipeg and one in Keewatin, Ont.
"As soon as somebody tries it they'll probably be telling their friends and neighbours about it. That's what I'm counting on," Munoz added.
- On the web: www.slabsetters.com.