With only his old Dodge Sprinter and a cellphone,Joseph C. Wood, 33-year old owner of Boston Standard, started his company in 2008 out of his apartment in Dorchester, Mass.
Wood put a strong emphasis on his online presence and review sites and was able to grow the business by word of mouth.
About a year later, Wood hired his mother, Mary Lou Wood, and a few good friends to help with the workload. Later that year, the company moved to its first official office in Dorchester. “Since then we have continued to grow,” Wood says. “We just moved to a new and much larger office this year, which should allow us room to grow for the coming years.”
Boston Standard is now a 24/7 company that focuses on service, repair and installation for residential and commercial companies, and does occasional remodeling jobs. Belonging to the Dorchester Networking Group and the Better Business Bureau, the company covers the greater Boston area with 15 employees and eight vehicles, including two 2005 Chevy Express cutaways with Hackney AC1000 boxes, a 2008 Freightliner Sprinter 144-in. high top, a 2010 Chevy Silverado 1500 quad cab with A.R.E. truck cap, a 2012 Mercedes Benz Sprinter 144-in. high top, two 2014 Dodge Promaster 159-in. high-top vans and a 2014 Chevy Express cutaway with a Hackney AC1000 box (pictured above).
“I worked out of a Hackney as an apprentice,” Wood says. “They have an excellent shelving system, translucent roof, standing height and transferable box, so they’re very versatile. I also like that the Chevy van is easily fixable.”
Utilizing the white factory paint of the vehicles as part of the design, in combination with the navy blue highlights and grey seal, makes for a simple, clean-cut look that can be seen on every truck in the fleet. The logo and wrap were designed with Keith Hooley of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Botron Design. The wrapping itself was done by Ron Kitt of Precision Graphics out of Providence, R.I.
“We wanted to combine the elements of fire and water into a logo and make something that looked like a stamp or seal, something official,” Wood explains. “I wanted the wrap to tell a story about us before a customer even called. By seeing our trucks, our clients know that we’re going to be clean, professional and thorough because that is how our trucks look. People have commented that it looks like an older and more established company. They think we’re a bigger and older shop than we actually are — which is generally good.”
Also seen on the truck is the company’s slogan: “The Company You Count On.”
“Our customers are dealing with discomfort, leaks, nonoperating essentials, etc., and I wanted to communicate that above all, we can be counted on,” Wood says.
Boston Standard’s website features a do-it-yourself blog and video list, which has earned the company a seat as a guest speaker on local television station FOX25 and radio guest spots on local radio station WBUR (90.9 FM).
Another video is an advertising spinoff of “Boston’s Finest,” a show about Boston Police detectives. “We’ve had our fair share of challenges,” Wood says, “but our responsibility to our clients never wanes and that thought process runs from top to bottom in our company.”
You can view the “Boston's Finest” video online at PMmag.com and in the August digital edition.
Click here to watch Boston Standard's video.
Check out more Trucks of the Month here!
