Feature

Blue-Collar Bonanza

"It's hard enough to build something in the best conditions," says Jeff Salaway, a partner in Nick & Toni's who is in the process of transforming three unassuming Southampton motels into $300-a-night luxury digs. "You need to find someone who won't do a less-good job just because they could find six other jobs the next day. Everybody's busy, so you have to go further up-island to find crews."

"I brought someone in from the city to do my pool deck," says Pamela Gross, executive vice-president of LuxuryFinder.com. "It actually cost less than the bid that came in from a local company."

In some fields, at least, the Bonackers are beating the Manhattanites at their own game. When Mark Casaburi founded At Your Service ten years ago, his Sayville location gave him a leg up on Manhattan caterers. "They were charging for travel time, van rental, all kinds of stuff," remembers Casaburi. "If there was traffic, sometimes they'd completely miss the party. And there was no other catering company out here." This May -- facing local traffic snarls that rival those on the L.I.E. and soaring demand -- Casaburi opened an East Hampton branch office. On a typical Saturday, Casaburi has 300 of his $25-an-hour waiters, bartenders, and cooks working private parties, fund-raisers -- even, last summer, Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger's reception for President Clinton at the couple's Amagansett estate. The last, though, wasn't At Your Service's most unusual assignment: "We sent two people out to a party last weekend just to start the fire in a grill," Casaburi says, sounding genuinely puzzled. "That's the atmosphere out here -- people just want service. It is a little bizarre."

When he opened his East Hampton office, Casaburi expanded into the long-term-help business. Since May, he's placed 40 cooks, butlers, and maids with clients willing to shell out up to $70,000 for a chef and $35,000 for a housekeeper -- plus room and board, benefits, and vacation pay -- who will follow them among homes in East Hampton, Greenwich, Palm Beach, and Manhattan. "Those salaries are a good 10 percent higher this year than last year," says Richard Freilich, who oversees At Your Service's "permanent placements." "The labor market is just so tight."

And Hamptons Survival Guide publisher Phil Keith warns those who do stick with local labor not to try to strong-arm the help. "These guys have an incredible network," he says. "They talk to each other. And they know who to stay away from -- the screamers and the shouters and the ones who want things done yesterday."

In other words, it's a seller's market. And pretty soon, your plumber may have his own IPO.