Home & Garden
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Lest you think everything is perfect in Mr. Fix-It's house, his wife of 28 years will tell you different. A flair for repairs
City Mill's versatile Mr. Fix-it tackles
home projects so well that his wife
wishes he'd buy something new"Well, let's see what I want fixed around here ..." says Wanda Suster, looking wistful as she stands in his extraordinarily clean and organized workshop filled with whirligigs, ukuleles and other objects that have been occupying his spare time.
After a quick mental inventory of all that may be wrong in their Ewa Beach home, her verdict is: "What wouldn't I want fixed? Everything in this house I want fixed."
Frank Suster, the ultimate do-it-yourself poster boy who has been dispensing handyman advice for City Mill for more than 20 years, buries his face in his hands and mutters, "Oh, no, don't start."
The home is modest, he admits. If he had the time -- he puts in 10 to 12 hours at work -- he would build her a show house with a swimming pool and a slide leading from the second floor directly into the pool. But the pool scheme is on his wish list, not hers.
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"I never get what I want. The colors I like are green and lavender -- can you imagine a room all in green! -- but what color does he paint the house? Off-white," she says, half joking about the universal color of choice for men.Kidding aside, everything in their five-bedroom, two-bath home is in working order. There's no denying that she's married to a man who's not only proficient with tools, but also can't pass up an opportunity, however minute, to exercise his skills.
"In this house if there's a leaky faucet, it doesn't stay a leaky faucet for long. I fix it. I'm the type who will always try to fix it myself. If I can buy the part for it, whatever it is, then I will attempt to fix it," he says.
He fixes the family cars, all four of them. With a little help, he has added a second-floor addition to the home: two bedrooms, one bath, a television room and a balcony with a million-dollar view to the neighboring golf course. He taught himself to build ukuleles and guitars from scratch.
"When we bought this house, he painted the whole thing in one day," Wanda recalls. "He was like crazy, going around painting everything. Most people take days or weeks to paint their house, but not him. 'Gee,' I told him, 'we're going to be in this house for the rest of our lives. What's the hurry?'"
Just for once, though, she wishes he'd quit fixing things and buy her something new. "Everything we have in this house is old," she says.
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He adds proudly that except for the living-room rattan set (inherited from her grandmother) and a few other items, "everything came from City Mill," his employer for 33 years.If Wanda could have her way, she'd want new woodlike laminate flooring to replace the short-shag, rust-colored carpet that came with the house when they purchased it in 1983.
The new flooring is on his list, too. He'll get to it as soon as he can schedule vacation time. And, needless to say, the laminate flooring -- "I know all about it, don't worry," he says -- will come from City Mill.
SUSTER, WHO began working for the home improvement firm when he was in high school, has been the chain store's best walking advertisement. A combination of growing up with a father who also likes to fix things and the ability to experiment with products on the job gave him the expertise to tackle any home improvement project. His natural ability to ham it up before the television camera, his people skills and sense of humor helped turn him into a celebrity.
"We call him our Bob Villa," says Carol Ai May, vice president of City Mill. "Frank is a great asset. He's so multitalented. He's not just Mr. Fix-It, he's also a good writer, a good speaker, great with people and a patient teacher."
Suster, 50, writes an advice column as advertisement for City Mill in this paper every Friday. He also appears on the morning news program on KHNL, the "Hawaii Home Show" on Sunday on Channel 5, and writes a column for Hawaii Home magazine.
He's managed five of the eight City Mill stores at least twice, May says. He hasn't managed the other three because they opened after he was promoted to oversee all the stores' safety, equipment, facilities, maintenance and training.
Although he's no longer in a position for direct customer contact, the public still seeks him out for advice. Recently, an elderly widow brought in a termite-eaten table that even Suster thought was beyond fixing.
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"That thing should have been thrown in the trash," he says, but his soft heart didn't allow him to do that. Because the table held sentimental value for the owner, Suster fixed the wobbly legs and put on a new top, and only billed the woman for $14 to cover the cost of materials."If anybody comes in with a problem, or something they want fixed, I or the City Mill sales associates -- and we have a lot of very knowledgeable associates -- will help them," Suster says.
Don't expect the busy Suster to be doing the fixing himself. The table repair was an exception. But he always is willing to offer advice, which he hopes will give his employer an edge over mainland conglomerates that are able to sell products for less.
Home improvement projects aren't nearly as difficult as people make them out to be, Suster assures. They take common sense, a little knowledge or guidance and the right tools.
"Do-it-yourself has become very popular. I think it's always going to be popular. It has changed over the years. It used to be all men who came into the store. Over the years, women have been coming in more and more, and sometimes I see there are more women than men."
Suster isn't saying whether women are better at it than men. All he's saying is that whatever project he completes at home is subject to inspection by his wife.
The one activity over which she has absolutely no control is his musical enterprise. Suster, an Elvis fan, also is a talented singer and songwriter who will belt out a tune at the drop of the hat. His creamy voice and outrageous costumes are legendary among City Mill employees. Last Halloween, he appeared as a superhero, with a flag as his cape, and sang a song ridiculing Osama bin Laden. It brought down the house.
Gardening Calendar
Suzanne Tswei's gardening column runs Fridays in Today.
You can write her at the Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, Suite 7-210, Honolulu, HI, 96813
or email stswei@starbulletin.com
