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Morning News

Rent-A-Husband: Tall, Dark and Handy

Aired February 15, 2000 - 10:53 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A good husband may be hard to find. But what if that perfect husband was just a phone call away.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: If so, would you rent one?

CNN's Susan Lisovicz has that story of a man who turned a catchy name into a bustling business.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAILE WARREN, CEO, RENT-A-HUSBAND: Hi, how are you doing? My name is Paul. I'll be your husband for the day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to meet you. I am Leigh.

WARREN: I really think I've really created the perfect husband. They're all tall, dark and handy.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kaile Warren rents his husbands all across America. These guys may not be sexy, but they sure can saw. Warren grew up working with his hands and helping out with his mother's construction company. But while working as a home builder in 1993, a serious car accident left him penniless.

WARREN: I lost my business, I lost my home, in fact, I even lost my wife. I ended up living in an abandoned warehouse in the Portland waterfront. And I prayed for intervention, and it was that morning at 3:00 a.m. that I awoke with rent-a-husband for those jobs that never get done idea, and ever since then this company has just taken off like a rocket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you have a list of things you want us to do?

LISOVICZ: Started in 1996 with just $500, Rent-A-Husband is projecting $8 million in revenue this year. But Warren isn't just interested in money. He wants to restore some respectability to his craft.

WARREN: The handyman industry has a horrible reputation right now, and quite frankly, its worked very hard to earn that reputation,

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We also have a problem with the stripping in here, there's quite a draft. LISOVICZ: To help improve customer relations, Warren demands that all of his husbands be excellent communicators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened is, the old screw's rusted up. So I put new stainless steel screws in.

WARREN: We want that consumer to know what we're going to do before we do it, what we are doing while we are doing it, and why we did what we did.

JOAN ADLER, RENT-A-HUSBAND CUSTOMER: A regular handyman sometimes won't explain things to you. It is just will be fixed, and then maybe a month later it is broken again.

LISOVICZ: With more than 30 franchises in the U.S. and England, Rent-A-Husband is doing the work many real husbands don't mind handing off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a husband who doesn't do much of this stuff.

LISOVICZ: Tom McKenna is a husband at home and on the job. But his wife tells folks, he is in a very different line of work.

TOM MCKENNA, RENT-A-HUSBAND: She tells people I'm in the witness protection program, she doesn't tell people I work for Rent-A-Husband. not that I'm her husband. Not that she's ashamed of it, it is just too hard to explain to people.

LISOVICZ: Kaile Warren's rags-to-riches life sounds like a movie, and it may be on the big screen soon. He's negotiating with Hollywood to sell his story.

WARREN: When you find your passion, you also have to find the courage to pursue it. I think that just about everybody in America has the capability of creating a Rent-A-Husband in their own life.

LISOVICZ: Susan Lisovicz, CNN Financial News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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