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July 27, 2015 Silver Tsunami

Stonemason finds new niche moving seniors

HBJ PHOTO | John Stearns Scott Walker found a business opportunity helping Connecticut's aging seniors move into smaller homes or assisted-living facilities.
By John Stearns

It was by accident that Scott Walker fell into his moving business helping seniors relocate.

About six or seven years ago the longtime stonemason contractor was low on work in a bad economy so he was looking for a way to utilize his trucks and keep his crew busy.

A friend in an elder care placement company asked him if he could help move clients who had no family in the area. He said he would.

“That's how it started,” Walker, 50, said of what became Move Mom & More, based in Manchester. “We did one and I think that day that we moved somebody in, some woman asked me if I could help her move. I said, 'Yeah' — and it all started from there.”

Move Mom & More, officially launched in 2012, specializes in senior and elder-care transitioning, said Walker, the company's member and owner.

“The idea was to help people transition from a larger home into either a smaller home or into assisted-living communities,” Walker said.

The business transition was timely with the economy floundering, the senior population growing, Baby Boomers retiring and Walker's body feeling the effects of decades of “beatin' on rocks all day long.”

Business has been good, and Walker's looking to expand. He moves numerous people to the Carolinas and Florida, so he wants to set up Move Mom & More offices in those states and establish a network up and down the East Coast.

After starting Move Mom & More, Walker last year also bought a traditional moving company, A&A Movers, and Handle With Care Packaging Store, which specializes in packaging and shipping, including furniture and valuable artwork and antiques. The three businesses work well together, he said.

Walker mostly markets his Move Mom & More through assisted-living facilities in New England, he said.

He also taps his years of contracting experience — he still operates Innovative Stone and Water Works — and many contracting connections to provide handyman services to seniors or refer reliable contractors to them.

“The problem is we all have our lives,” he said. “I may not have all the time in the world to go take care of my mother's stuff,” or someone may live many hours from their mom, he said.

Part of the inspiration for wanting to offer handyman services to seniors emerged from an incident with his mother, who, not wanting to bother her son, hired a contractor who took advantage of her, Walker said.

“There are guys out there that may not all be up and up,” Walker said. “Unfortunately, in our society, the senior population is an easy target for people to take advantage of. And I don't want that to happen with my company. So I make sure that the people I refer to them for any services are going to be quality, licensed people.”

He knows his referrals reflect on his company, too.

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