What do you do when you need a job done around the house? Or if you need to have something else done, like cutting down a tree, or your chimney cleaned?
On the mainland, it’s simple: you call someone. On an island, it’s much more complicated. Sometimes you can do it yourself. And there are islanders who specialize in work such as surveying or plumbing.
There’s not a big enough population base on most islands to support all the businesses that a homeowner needs. So islanders rely on mainland companies that are willing to cope with the challenges of working on an island. It’s a delicate balance, keeping track of the businesses that will do the various services for you. For islanders, it can be a constant challenge to get work done that mainland residents take for granted.
For Chebeague Island resident Ruth Slagle, the little things were a problem; chores like moving furniture, mowing the lawn or small painting jobs. “There was plain old frustration trying to get things done that I wasn’t able to do myself,” she said. “Another set of hands would be quite useful.”
So Slagle started a group of women, age 60 or older, who could call on each other for help. She talked to some friends about a year and a half ago, and they agreed. “They all thought it was a great idea,” Slagle said. “They were willing to chip in and help.”
So far, group members have scraped and painted, mowed lawns, checked on homes when a group member is away, picked up items from Chandlers Pier or Stone Wharf and moved cars from Stone Wharf when people go off island. It’s rare that the entire group gets together for a job. “It’s frequently one or two people doing things,” Slagle said. “But you have the whole group to call on who are willing to help.”
Then there are islanders who make their living working trades that are crucial for the island community. Chebeague Island resident Beverly Johnson took over her father-in-law’s plumbing business. The business was started by Beverly’s husband Stephen’s grandfather, Will Johnson. W.W. Johnson Plumbing was based in Portland, but Will came out to Chebeague in the summer to do work. Will ended up buying a summer place, and his son Sherman met his wife on Chebeague.
When Beverly married Stephen and settled on Chebeague, she worked at an engineering firm in Portland. “I didn’t want to commute any more — I wanted to work here,” she said. She had been helping her father-in-law, Sherman, out on weekends, and the work increased. Then in the late 1970s, Sherman had a stroke and Beverly and Stephen had to step in and run the business. In 1979, she got her master plumber’s license. Shortly after, her husband wanted to lobster, so she took over the business and gave it a new name, Chebeague Plumbing.
Her decision to take over the family business kept a plumber on Chebeague. About 12 years ago, Beverly hired islander John Rich and began training him. He’s now a master plumber and doing most of the work, Beverly said. “I see this as continuing to evolve — eventually I will be out, and he will be doing it,” she said. And John’s wife, Amy, has started working with him, draining water from the pipes in summer homes.
One of Sherman Johnson’s friends was Hans Hansen. He owned Hansen’s Well Drilling, based in Gorham. Starting in the mid-1970s, Hansen Well Drilling did work on the Casco Bay islands. Back then, it was tough just getting the equipment out, said Hansen’s daughter, Sue Smith, who began working with her father when she was 11 years old. In 1991, she and her husband, Patrick, took over the company. “Now it’s simple — you drive on the barge and drive off, and you’re over on the island,” she said.
Hansen Well Drilling primarily works on Chebeague and Long islands, but it has done jobs on Cliff, Bustins and Clapboard islands. Although it’s easier than it was in the 1970s, island work is still much more complicated than mainland jobs. “It takes a lot to get ready,” Sue said. “You have to load up and plan ahead and figure it all out.”
Transportation is still the biggest hurdle. Getting the 70,000-pound drill rig onto a barge is easier, but it can only be ferried at high tides. When they go to an island, they try to have at least three or four jobs. But well drilling is unpredictable, Sue said, so when they finish, the tide might be wrong for getting the rig and service truck off the island the day they want to. She figures they lose a day going over and a day returning for island work.
In addition, her well crew has to time their work based on the ferry schedule, although sometimes they use water taxis because it is quicker. They also don’t do work on weekends, so as not to disturb people who are on vacation.
Other challenges include bad roads and narrow driveways on the islands. The drill rig is 40 feet long and seven-and-a-half feet wide. “There are places where we put the rig where, when you back it in, you couldn’t even walk on either side of it, there were so many branches and trees,” she said. And the rig has become stuck. To try and avoid that, the earliest they will go out to the islands is mid-July. If there are mechanical problems, repairs on an island are tough. “When you break down out there, it’s not the same as being on the mainland — you can’t just drive to Portland and get what you want,” Sue said.
Because of these challenges, Hansen charges almost double for island work. “If you’re going to go out and lose money, it doesn’t make sense to go,” she said.
Sue and her husband also like working on islands “because we enjoy the people,” she said. “People are always friendly. If you need a ride, people will stop to offer to give you a ride,” she said. “People always wave to you. I always have to remember to wave to people — you’re just not used to that.”
David Tardy, owner of the tree and landscaping company Eagle Tree, does virtually all of his work on Chebeague Island, even though he lives in South Portland. He worked for other tree companies since 1986, occasionally doing jobs on Chebeague. He started his own company in 1998, after the Ice Storm. Islanders Philip and Sheila Jordan called Tardy up to clear several pine trees destroyed in the storm. “They were my first big customers,” he said.
From March until it gets cold in the fall, Tardy is on Chebeague four days a week. He’s a familiar figure on the 8:15 a.m. Chebeague Transportation Company boat, joking and telling stories with other workers. It takes him 75 minutes to get from his South Portland home to Chebeague. He keeps a truck on the island, and the Jordans let him park it on their property.
Not all mainland workers can handle the time it takes to get to an island. “You either accept that as part of the job, or you don’t,” he said of the trip. “That’s what has kept people from going out there.” Tardy said he enjoys the 15-minute ride on the ferry from Cousins Island to the Stone Wharf on Chebeague. “That’s a nice little15-minute-ride,” he said. “You’re talking with people you work with, and with customers.”
Workers also find it difficult to cope with the boat schedule. Tardy said you have to relax, and remember there is always another boat. “You can’t get hung up on making that boat, or you get all frustrated. Once you get out of that mindset, then it’s not that big a deal.”
In South Portland, Tardy said, he doesn’t know who lives five houses away. On Chebeague, he knows numerous people. “It’s not like working in a regular neighborhood,” he said.
Tardy sees his work as taking care of the entire island, not as a series of separate jobs. “It’s all one place, and every single tree is part of that place,” he said. And islanders all know each other, so “it’s like working for one big family.”