Justin Oakley and Michael Vieira share a work history that dates back decades.
As 16-year-old entrepreneurs, they sold quahogs door to door in the Narragansett area. The teenagers also worked together at the Adventureland go-kart track, a short distance from where the showroom for their latest business venture is today.
Drawing on their expertise in very different fields, the two men, now 37, formed a company that offers advice on home adjustments for people living with mobility issues, and builds and installs specialized equipment to make home life easier and safer.
Oakley Home Access LLC, officially formed in late 2015, melds Oakley’s background in occupational therapy and Vieira’s construction skills.
“We consider myself, as an occupational therapist, the expert of the human body and how it interacts with the environment, and he, as the construction expert, is the master of the environment and how we can safely modify it,” Oakley said.
The company, which now employs 10 people, took off after Oakley and Vieira realized the value of partnering with medical facilities and other health care businesses for referrals.
“One challenge for us was that we realized that marketing towards the health care providers is far more beneficial than marketing towards the end user. The hospitals and rehab facilities speak our language,” Oakley said. “We were doing a lot of wellness fairs, and we would talk to a lot of people who needed it, but they didn’t think they needed it now. It’s a big deal when we’re going into someone’s house and making changes when they’ve had a setback. We needed to establish that trust with both the older people and the hospitals.”
The company’s headquarters and showroom in Narragansett gives potential customers a look at the ramps, lifts, bars, railings and other modifications that Vieira and his team build and install.
‘They’re really just making it safe for the elderly to age at home.’
ELIZABETH BERMAN, Southern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce executive director
A second location in Walpole, Mass., currently serves as a warehouse, but a showroom there is expected to be completed this summer. Oakley and Vieira hope to eventually open sites across New England before expanding nationally.
The two were both named 2019’s Small Business Person of the Year in March by the U.S. Small Business Administration Rhode Island Office.
A nomination by Rep. James R. Langevin, D-R.I., put Oakley and Vieira into the running for the honor, but they were chosen based on a number of different factors, including resiliency, company growth and community presence, SBA R.I. District Director Mark S. Hayward said.
“They’ve grown in employees and grown in revenue pretty consistently over the past five years. Their revenue has grown from $150,000 [annually] to over $1.2 million,” Hayward said.
Strong community ties and diligent local advertising have supported the company’s growth, he added.
“They’ve been very diligent in their marketing, they’ve gone to members of the Elks, the YMCA, they support youth sport leagues. … They’re very concentrated in the area of making life stable and to allow people to age in their own homes and their own communities,” Hayward said.
The two men are filling a growing need in the Narragansett area, where a large percentage of the population is older or nearing retirement age, according to Elizabeth Berman, executive director of the Southern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce.
“They’re the only ones that we know of doing [home-safety work] specifically in South County,” she said. “It’s been wonderful to see their growth. They’re really just making it safe for the elderly to age at home. … I think what really sets them apart is the knowledge that they brought into their business.”
Although older folks struggling with mobility make up the bulk of the company’s client base, its expertise extends to making homes accessible for children with disabilities and people who have been injured.
“We’re really passionate about working with children too because they’re going to be having their challenges all their lives, and we want to make sure they have a nice quality of life at home,” Oakley said.
After earning a degree in occupational therapy, Oakley started working at a rehabilitation facility in South Kingstown. He watched as patients returned home following an injury or illness, many times equipped with nothing more than advice on home safety and accessibility.
“I looked at that as a disservice that we were preaching about what they should do, but there were no services to help them,” he said. “We saw a need in the community and we just kind of went for it.”
Vieira was running a construction and maintenance company when Oakley came to him with an idea for a collaboration.
The partners grew their fledgling business on the side for about a year before it evolved into a full-time venture.
“Drumming up business is always difficult for anyone … but once we realized, really we’re just a resource and we’re just a piece of the puzzle, that sort of tied things up,” Vieira said, adding that customer recommendations have been particularly profitable.
Over the past three years, the company has made countless visits to homes for safety assessments and completed thousands of projects.
The company does face competition from national firms that offer ramps, lifts and other similar equipment.
“There’s definitely a national presence that certainly serves a need and provides a solution at times, but I think we go above and beyond,” Vieira said. “Anytime we’re held as apples to apples with those types of folks I think the conversion rate is pretty high.”
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Graham@PBN.com.
