Entrepreneur gets a handle on paint-can discomfort

When we last contemplated Mark Bergman's entrepreneurial hustlings, he had transformed a 1-pound coffee can and a roll of duct tape into a $2 million business.

In less than two years.

Four years later, sales have tripled to a 2008 total of $6.5 million, thanks to the success of Bergman's patented invention and the addition of intriguing new products inspired by that first brainstorm.

Better yet, revenue has continued to grow at about a 5 percent clip so far in 2009, even as recession has hammered the home improvement products industry into a sharp decline.

Bergman, 52, is founder and chief executive braintrust of Bercom International, a Chanhassen-based company that peddles the quart-sized HANDy Paint Pail with its adjustable hand-strap, the first in a growing line of plastic containers that are easy to hold and convenient to use, move and clean.

It's a line that can be found in 15,000 stores across the country, including Home Depot, Lowe's and Sherwin Williams and Upper Midwest stalwarts Hirshfield's and Menards.

No cramps in his brain

His solution was to haul out the duct tape and fashion a loop through which he could put his hand. As an afterthought, he added a lip on the inside of the rim to help remove excess paint from the brush.

Voilà! Replace the coffee can with a recyclable plastic container, the duct tape with a leather strap and add a built-in magnet on the inside lip to hold the brush while changing painting positions and you have the beginning of the HANDy product line introduced in 2002.

Six years and 4 million sales later, the Paint Pail remains the jewel of the Bercom line, accounting for 60 percent of total sales. It retails for $9.99, plus $4.99 for a six-pack of disposable plastic liners that Bergman added for the handyfolks who dislike cleaning their paint containers.

But there was more to come. In 2005, Bergman introduced the half-gallon HANDy Roller Pail, a $12.99 number that can accommodate a large brush or a mini-roller. The liners for this item cost $4.99 a four-pack.

Bercom is selling more than 200,000 of these supersized containers a year, generating more than $1.2 million, or 18.5 percent of total sales, Bergman said.

As someone who has spilled more than his share of paint while hanging perilously onto a tall ladder, I regard the Ladder Pail as the best invention since the Jucy Lucy double-cheeseburger.

"People who buy it rave about it," Bergman said. "But sales have been disappointing," most likely because "it's hard to understand how it attaches unless you see it in use." Alas, most retailers don't have the room to include a ladder on which to hang the Ladder Pail.

"We're still trying to figure out the best way to market it," Bergman said.

Another addition late in 2007 has been much more popular. Dubbed the HANDy Paint Cup, it's a pint-sized, disposable container with a built-in handle that retails for $2.99 and is aimed at what Bergman calls "the smaller paint projects." In 2008, its first full year on the market, the Paint Cup generated another $1.2 million in sales.

"It was the easiest product introduction we've had," Bergman said. "Lowe's and Home Depot both rolled it out nationally, with no testing, no regional buys."

"Nobody had figured out how to reinvent the old metal paint tray until they did it," Pete Morine said approvingly. He's a buyer for Hirshfield's, the first paint-products retailer to carry the original HANDy Paint Pail.

While Morine said he's "impressed with the entire line," it's the HANDy Paint Pail that attracts most of the plaudits that show up on the Bercom website.

•"It's light and easy to hold -- no more tired arms," said Carolyn in LaVonia, Ga.

•"This product is very good for someone who has arthritis," said Cheryl in East Bend, N.C.

•"The best part is the magnet -- no more brushes sliding into the paint," said Mrs. Yates in Moline, Ill.

•"I walked into a store and saw an employee eating chili out of a HANDy Paint Pail," reported Carl in Portland, Ore.

• "I fill my HANDy Paint Pail with flowers and use it as a centerpiece on my dining room table," said Linda in Missoula, Mont.

Then there's Bubba from Bentonville, Ark.: "I attach the HANDy Paint Pail to my belt and put BBQ sauce in it when I'm cooking ribs on the grill."

Doesn't everybody?