C. Alexander Building & Maintenance
Jason Mangone

After three decades of serving the Jersey Shore, C. Alexander Building & Maintenance expanded its second-home-management business to Avalon and Stone Harbor with Your Home Concierge. Both companies offer peace of mind to summertime Shore residents once they’ve returned to the mainland by keeping a watchful eye on unoccupied homes in the off-season.

“We have four core values: hospitality, dependability, competence and kindness,” explains CEO Jason Mangone. “Our business is making members’ lives easier by maintaining great relationships with them, our team and the vacation communities’ subcontractors.”

Mangone spoke with House & Home about why homeowners should trust investments like second homes to professionals they enjoy a strong relationship with—professionals who provide services ranging from home checks to basic maintenance to major renovations.

How do you help homeowners manage their Shore houses in the off-season?
We offer two things. One is peace of mind: For a membership fee, you get a weekly home inspection while you’re not using your home. We watch and walk through your house, and we send you a report—with pictures—detailing any issues.

The second is convenience. We allow you to completely outsource the care of your second home. When I say we watch your home and do everything else, we literally do everything else, whether it’s fixing a leaky faucet, securing a loose railing, servicing your HVAC, fixing a plumbing issue, or if you want new bathrooms and a new kitchen, we can do all of that, too. Some work we fulfill in-house, some we subcontract out. One of the benefits of membership is a reduced rate on the management fee for any subcontractors we bring into your house.

We have a list of vendors we deal with in about 40 categories. A luxury homeowner at the Jersey Shore might deal with between 12 to 20 different service-providers for the basic upkeep of their home. What that means is a dozen bills, relationships and people to hold accountable; with us, rather than manage dozens of contractors, you build one long-term relationship.

The additional wrinkle in maintaining a second home is trusting who has the keys: It’s easier for folks if it’s someone they have a relationship with rather than someone with whom they only have a couple interactions per year.

What’s the benefit in working with C. Alexander’s preferred vendors?
Chris Alexander, the “C” of “C. Alexander” and who we bought the company from about a year ago, agreed to stay at least through the end of 2023. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from him, it’s that you need deep, genuine relationships with vendors you’re letting into members’ homes.

The Jersey Shore is a series of barrier islands. That means its networks of vendors usually serve one island, at most two, and tend to be relationship-driven. Because we have an ongoing presence in those communities, we interact with the best, most reliable vendors in any category in a particular market.

Do you help homeowners find a vendor, or do you handle their existing contracts?
We’ll do either. It’s your home, so if there’s someone you’re used to dealing with, that’s your decision. But if you say, “Hey, just get my HVAC serviced and my toilet fixed,” we’ll figure that out for you.

What’s the advantage of working with a professional home-care service?
It boils down to having one person you call for everything, whether it’s an HVAC, plumbing, pool or landscaping issue, or anything else. Member feedback always focuses on our relationship. We’re paid to allow our members to relax in their home because they trust who cares for it. If they feel great about the relationship and they have a great service experience, then it means they’re enjoying the home with their family. That’s everything to us.

If we’re calling our members, it’s often not for a reason they want to hear (it’s never good to find out the roof in your expensive home is leaking). But when you get off the phone with us, you should feel confident that there’s a plan—and a relationship—in place to take care of that issue so it’s not another thing on your plate.

Your Home Concierge
Ventnor City | (609) 823-9200 | YourHomeConcierge.com

Published (and copyrighted) in House & Home, Volume 21, Issue 11 (Fall 2021). 
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