What if we told you that there are hundreds of franchise brands out there that you have never heard of? These are brands with a very low level investment, low overhead, quick ramp-up times, and easy scalability… all of which can help you create the financial future you are looking for and allow you to finally be your own boss.
In this article, we are going to dive deeper into the broad category of “home services” franchise brands. We will introduce the three subcategories that fall under the home services umbrella and cover the ins and outs of this exciting industry.
The 3 Types of Home Services Franchises
There are almost 40 different niches that fall into the category we call “home services.” And remember, we could switch the word “home” out for the word “business.” If you can do these jobs for a home, typically you can also do them for a business. “Home services” really refers to any type of property.
So, we will take a look at these different sectors. There are three basic categories: enhance, maintain, and repair. Keep in mind that in all three categories, you are rarely the doer. You are the owner.
1. Enhance
As the name suggests, this category means that we are going to go into the home or business and we are going to enhance things. This could be as simple as slapping a fresh coat of paint on the walls… or it could be a complete, massive bathroom remodel. It could be building a deck or something super cool outside.
Franchises in the “enhance” category typically deal in project-based, big ticket items – you will find high-quality, tangible offerings. You might even have the before-and-after “wow” factor.
What about labor? You are going to have more skilled labor here – not exclusively, but these franchises might require a little bit more of a craft or trade. Not everybody can build something or can come in and refurbish it again: Think of a $40,000 kitchen makeover or building a massive outdoor oasis for a client.
Owners of franchises focused on enhancing a property will typically say things like this:
I like big ticket projects.
I want to wow with the quality of this.
I want to work with people that really want to do this as their job.
That is the enhance category. Now let’s talk about…
2. Maintain
Why do we look at maintenance? “Maintain” refers to simple, staple, recurring basics that are never going away: cleaning, landscape, pest control, those types of things.
Our staff here is the opposite of those in the “enhance” category. Maintenance brands are pretty much driven by unskilled labor, for the most part. I can teach my ten-year-old how to mow the grass. He is not the best at it… But we are getting there.
For staffing maintenance brands, we have a larger pool of people to pull from. They are going to, in most cases, be our employees – and we will train them and help them develop. Often, there will be a pathway for this staff to grow in, let’s say, my landscaping business.
Maybe someone is going to start out as the weed whacker boy. Then, they are going to mow. They are going to learn how to excel at more and more tasks. Maybe they will be able to do some hardscapes or some other little landscaping things that you could offer. Maybe as the business grows, they are not just a member of the team anymore: Now they are a team lead. As an owner, you give people a little bit of an opportunity with that.
Maintenance businesses are heavy on the recurring customers. If you are doing a good job, people will come back or have the franchise come back – like the company that cleans my house. They have been doing it for four straight years. They do a good job. They are reliable. They show up when they are supposed to. They are going to have this contract to clean my house forever.
As an owner, you have to like the quality. You have to make sure that the customers are happy if something does go wrong. For example, I might pick up the phone and I call my cleaners to tell the office that they missed a spot. Is it a big deal? No. But to the right franchise owner it will be – you will send someone back out to get that fixed.
Maintenance franchises are all about making that customer happy. You go in knowing you may have a little bit more churn from a staff perspective, but you also know that you have a really wide range of people to recruit from.
That is what we call the maintain category. Now let’s talk about…
3. Repair
Guess what? Something broke. And now, you are going to go fix it. Repair franchises are in-demand, high need, and typically project-based.
Last summer – think August in Arizona – my air conditioning went out. How long do you think it took me to get on the phone and get an hvac company out here? I mean, it was instantaneous. They came out, they were here for maybe 30 minutes. Compressors are broken? $850? Here is my credit card. I would have carved out a kidney. Again, it was 112 degrees out. We needed that A/C now.
Some repair businesses respond to emergencies or urgent needs – like the AC going out in August or a water leak in the bathroom. Those are time-sensitive issues that require help FAST. But there are other repair options that are a little bit less urgent. If your washing machine is broken, you want that fixed – but it is not going to make your house unlivable or cause you harm. You can wait until tomorrow to get the washing machine repaired.
In the repair space, you might get some recurring business. Sometimes you will get some accounts, maybe commercial accounts like property managers – think of things like that. Your staff is typically very highly skilled, trained, and licensed. There are some repair things that we can kind of learn, but for the most part, your staff will already know what they are doing. Your job is to simply plug them in and press play.
Staff at a repair business will be great at doing the work. They love doing the work. But they don't want to find the work. So you are managing people that are absolutely doing things you should not be doing and making sure they have everything that they need. And you get some peace of mind knowing that no matter what is going on in the world, you have a service that brings people to call you when something goes wrong.
As an owner, when you think about those kinds of subtle little differences between home services franchises, these are the details that you are looking for. Often, when we talk to people, they do not know exactly which is better for them or which is the best of the three. They might have a little bit of a preference. A lot of times, we like to show people a couple of these home services franchises at once to really compare and contrast.
The Owner’s Role in a Home Services Franchise
So what is the owner’s role in all of this? Well, managing your staff. Making sure the marketing is in place. A lot of your clientele is going to be driven from inbound leads that the franchise is helping create for you.
This is not a knocking on every door in a subdivision to canvas type of business. Hey, is your AC broken? Is your house a mess? How is your backyard? That is not what owners are doing with these franchises.
The other important job for an owner in the home services industry is being a connector in the community. Connect with other home service brands. If I have a landscape company, I am probably going to make friends with a pool company – and vice versa. We are going to refer people back and forth to support each other’s businesses.
We might also connect with realtors. Realtors are the best referral sources on the planet. They have somebody on call for everything. Property managers, commercial or residential, all of those different types of things – as an owner, you want to connect, build relationships, be that trusted resource, and be a referral partner for them also.
Real Estate for Home Services Franchises
Sometimes you will need an office, but not always. A lot of times, you can start this from a home office – which makes it a low cost option. Again, you do not need much of anything. Maybe there is a small office, maybe there is a storage facility… We have a vehicle or two, we have a couple of people on our crew, maybe we have got a little bit of stuff. You can start with a single territory, but you can expand into multiple territories and you do not really need anything else.
To expand, we just need more turf and maybe a little more money to spend on the marketing in the new territory. We need another vehicle, another crew… and poof! We just doubled our revenue potential with that second territory with a fraction of the cost that it took us to get the first one.
Making the Most of the Home Services Niche
Let’s be honest: The majority of these brands are not going to win the award for the “sexiest business on the planet.” That is, until you look at the financial side of things. These are very low cost, low overhead, quick to ramp up, easy to scale, and offer unlimited potential. There is no ceiling on this – literally or figuratively.
Compare that to a fitness franchise, for instance: There are only so many people and so many classes that you can have in your studio at one time. But with home services, if I have a territory of 50,000 households, I can have all of them as customers if I want to – even though I really only need about 1% or so of the whole population to build a good business, there is no cap. I can keep growing and expanding all within the same territory, plus being able to grow into another territory… or two, or three.
Home services franchises are an absolutely incredible opportunity and an incredible way to get into business ownership. You will get the chance to…
Work for yourself
Take control of your life, knowing you do not have to be the doer
Run your own business
Be in control of your time, freedom, flexibility, earnings, and the decisions that are made in the business
Be accountable to only yourself – the success in the business is based on YOU, your skills, your expertise, and being able to grow your company.
That is how this works. If you have any interest in home services – or any franchise out there – and you want to learn more, do not hesitate to reach out to us. We can help guide your on your journey to becoming a successful franchise owner.
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