Hasco

From building and project management to interior design, procurement and shipping, Hasco Construction, Hasco Home and Hasco Imports have got it covered amongst them.

“People really appreciate the fact that we’re a one-stop shop,” says Martin Hassell, the company founder. “It takes so much pressure off the average person in what can be a stressful experience for them.”

The company’s mission is “to provide our clients with exceptional personal service and quality building.” Achieving that goal, says Lynn Hassell, Martin’s wife and Hasco’s business manager since 1999, requires getting to know their clients so well that they can create an environment in which their clients can thrive and enjoy the life they want.

“We take the approach that we’re not the ones who will be living in the house—the customers are,” Lynn Hassell says. “We need to understand them and know what they want. We listen to them and ask a lot of questions in order to learn about their lives. We try to get an idea of how they want to use their space, whether they entertain or have animals, whether they want a home office, whether they want their kids to eat at a table or at the kitchen counter.”

Sometimes, clients come to Hasco even before they go to an architect, in order to help formulate ideas of what they want from their new home. This has the added advantage of discussing building costs at an early stage, helping clients to design a home that fits within their budget.

Hasco Home has two distinct parts—a design centre, which provides interior design services, and a home improvement store, which offers items such as sinks, doors, windows and flooring. Customers can access a much greater choice than what is in stock, however, through Hasco Imports, which ships items in containers from the US twice weekly. The operation is run out of northern Virginia where Hasco Imports has a warehouse, conveniently located close to some of its suppliers, and employs two workers. Clients are invited to shop online, copy the link for each item they would like to purchase and send it to hascoimports@hasco.bm. The company will then order the item, ship it, clear it and let the customer know when it’s ready to collect.

Supply-chain issues have caused delays and disruption for much of the construction industry during the pandemic. With the help of their imports operation and experience in project management, Hasco has been able to minimise the impact. “We tried to have plenty of choices available and then we would advise people on where they would find issues and where they wouldn’t,” Lynn Hassell says. “So people could make their decisions based on whether they were able to wait or not. We didn’t have supply-chain issues like some of the horror stories we heard.”

Hasco Home is based on Middle Road, Southampton, while Hasco Construction is located in the same parish on Industrial Park Road, where one of its features is a mill shop where carpenters make custom items, including doors, cabinets and shutters. Hasco recently added a coffee shop to its enterprises, by the junction of Chapel Road and Middle Road.

Martin Hassell is proud of the growth of the business, which now employs 32 people, and of the many homes, from luxury abodes to condominium developments, Hasco has built in Bermuda over more than four decades. He firmly believes that building a house can be fun for the customer. “I tell them to enjoy the experience by getting involved and by watching what is happening. Clients who do that have a new appreciation of what it takes to build a house.