Partners Nail Down New Careers

By LENORA LAKE Tribune correspondent

Published: Jul 11, 2007

USF CAMPUS - When Lance Hans and Pauhl Gazlay finish a garden project, they add their signatures to it.

The partners in Quality Improvement Enterprises build wooden structures that can be used to brace plants, hold hanging plants, anchor vines or accent an outdoor area with a kitchen or barbecue patio.

"We aren't handymen. What we do we consider an art form. We sign every piece," said Hans, 38, who owns the 2-year-old north Tampa company.

Quality Improvement is a licensed builder for GardenStructure.com, an international network of garden carpenters and woodworkers. It is a Canadian company, founded by a master woodworker. Quality Improvement Enterprises is the company's only licensed affiliate in the Southeast.

Members of the network can build anything at the GardenStructure.com Web site, as well as other individually designed structures, Hans said.

"If there is something they come up with in their head, we can translate for them and bring it to life," Gazlay said.

The craftsmen specialize in pergolas, which are Roman in origin and include columns with lintels (crosspieces). They also build trellises, fences and carved palm trees and totems to hold hanging plants.

They will be among about 40 vendors at this weekend's Tropical Plant Fair at the University of South Florida Botanical Gardens. The fair draws commercial growers that will have hibiscus, palms, gingers, orchids and other plants for sale. The event raises money to support the nonprofit gardens.

Hans and Gazlay, who met when they attended the University of South Florida, founded the company in 2005 after careers in other fields.

Hans, who grew up in South Carolina but graduated from high school in Port Charlotte, taught social studies at Burns Middle School in Brandon. He said he left the field "because I couldn't make the money needed to support my wife and child."

Gazlay, originally from Syracuse, N.Y., was in corporate management. He said he felt the work "was unsatisfying. I wanted to get into something I enjoy."

Hans also has seven years of experience in the remodeling business, restoring old houses. Gazlay had promotional, organizational and business skills.

"I think that attention to detail is what catapulted us into this," Hans said.

The craftsmen recently built a custom fence in New Tampa that was a tribute to the homeowner's father, a master woodworker. It took a week to complete.

"The neighborhood rubbernecked to see our fence," Gazlay said.

"It gives us great satisfaction when you can go out and complement their motif," Hans said.

They work in cypress, cedar, Southern yellow pine and other woods. Pergolas cost $25 to $50 per square foot, depending on the type of wood, design and details in carvings. A simple pergola would be about $2,500 and a detailed one $4,500 or more. They create projects for homeowners and commercial establishments.

This is the second time the partners will participate in a USF Botanical Gardens event. The first time, in the spring, resulted in several leads that developed into projects, Hans said.

Gazlay said: "It was a great opportunity to get feedback from informed people. Our main medium is the Internet. People go there, but we don't get any feedback as to whether they liked what they saw, thought it was too expensive or what."

Kim Hutton, the gardens' special events manager, said she expects about 3,000 people to attend the fair. Saturday, the first 300 attendees will receive free basil and milkweed plants.

"This is one of our smaller events. We get the real die-hard plant people because it is a little warmer now," Hutton said.

"This event is where we actually get plants for our [the gardens'] collection because they bring such different things."

Sunday, there will be lectures every half-hour about growing tropical plants. Also Sunday will be the Pepper Beauty Contest, in which participants can enter decorated peppers of any kind. A children's activity area is planned for both days.

The Tampa Tribune is among the fair sponsors.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Tropical Plant Fair

WHERE: University of South Florida Botanical Gardens, at Pine and Alumni drives on the USF campus

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Open to USF Botanical Gardens members at 9:30 a.m. both days.

HOW MUCH: $4 for ages 12 and older, free for ages 11 and younger and USF Botanical Gardens members. (On Sunday, bring a decorated pepper for the Pepper Beauty Contest and admission is free.)

INFORMATION ABOUT THE FAIR: Call (813) 974-2329 or visit www.cas.usf.edu/garden.

INFORMATION ABOUT QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS ENTERPRISES: Call (813) 505-5638 or visit www.gardenstructure .com.

Correspondent Lenora Lake can be reached at (813) 865-4851 or llake@tampatrib.com.