No one can accuse Joseph Galli of having too much time on his hands.

Galli’s business, the Maine Homeowners Association, was born out of family discussions about the high price of heating oil. He refined the idea in his dorm room and this fall he’s rolling it out to the public on the Web at www.mehomeowners.com.

The concept is simple enough. To join, a resident pays $125 and gains access to discounts and special offers from the 25 vendors Galli has recruited.

The association is geared toward homeowners, Galli said, because the idea originated from an oil buyers’ group organized for his family’s neighborhood. Oil dealers will sometimes offer a special price to homeowners in a neighborhood because it provides a concentration of customers and saves costs by consolidating delivery times.

It doesn’t cost anything for a vendor or service to become part of the association’s list of businesses, but they have to provide some sort of break for members, Galli said. Fielding’s Oil in Scarborough, for instance, is offering $100 worth of free oil and a burner cleaning for a customer who remains with the company for a year.

Skillins Greenhouses is providing a 10 percent discount because the company believes it will allow them to reach new customers, said Sally Bolstridge, who manages the Falmouth store.

“I feel that once we get our name out there, once we get the value of this product out to folks, I think that folks are going to join in large numbers,” he said.

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