# Is franchising a reality?



## BDiamond (Nov 2, 2009)

lawndart said:


> What is it that you're doing differently than Window World? I have a close friend that owned a local Window World franchise. I'm familiar with their business model and could perhaps help you.
> 
> BTW, if you want to turn your business into a franchise, I would advise you to speak to a local attorney that specializes in franchise law.


Lawndart,

That help would be awesome. That's the initial reason for the post. Obviously franchising an exteriors company works but what makes people get bought in? Low initial investment? Turnkey? Backend support from corporate? Unique Selling Proposition "$189 installed"?

I think ours would be that the margins are better, you don't have to sell as many units, you can scale quicker, and because of our model you can add other services easily.

If I get to that point I'll probably hire an outside firm specializing in franchising and then bring some people in-house for sales and support. 

If you could get us connected that'd be great. Thanks!


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## Roofcheck (Dec 27, 2011)

FrankSmith said:


> Do I understand you correctly that you will personally sell 2 million in work this year?


In the roofing world this isn't a crazy number.


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## lawndart (Dec 3, 2006)

BDiamond said:


> Lawndart,
> 
> That help would be awesome. That's the initial reason for the post. Obviously franchising an exteriors company works but what makes people get bought in? Low initial investment? Turnkey? Backend support from corporate? Unique Selling Proposition "$189 installed"?
> 
> ...


PM sent


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## lawndart (Dec 3, 2006)

Roofcheck said:


> In the roofing world this isn't a crazy number.


In the NYC and NJ market I've seen a bunch of window sales reps selling between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 a year for Pella and Andersen Renewal.


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## Roofcheck (Dec 27, 2011)

Did you just watch an episode of Shark tank? BD I havent seen you here in quite awhile, seems like you've been banging on quite a few doors good for you. 

I looked into a Roof Roof franchise a few years back. The thing I don't see you touching base on that 
franchisers rely heavily on- Presence and Marketing. The franchise I looked into was Atlanta based roofing contrcator, 
who you bought a business plan with a really professional logo and paraphernalia to go with it. 

After investigating more into this particular business I decided the basis was too much Insurance Restoration roofing the work so I backed away.


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## BDiamond (Nov 2, 2009)

Roofcheck said:


> Did you just watch an episode of Shark tank? BD I havent seen you here in quite awhile, seems like you've been banging on quite a few doors good for you.
> 
> I looked into a Roof Roof franchise a few years back. The thing I don't see you touching base on that
> franchisers rely heavily on- Presence and Marketing. The franchise I looked into was Atlanta based roofing contrcator,
> ...


Good point...

I'm investing about $20k this quarter to wrap up a very interactive website (employee AND customer logins, customers scheduling and resetting appts on the website, indexed before and after photos and testimonials etc) as well as a revamp on the logo, colors, and fonts for consistent branding across all marketing channels. New shirts, truck wraps, etc. 

Honestly this will be the first year we invest any money in marketing. We haven't spent a single dollar on billboards, radio jingles, print, tv mailer, etc. 

The beauty of this is that you don't need a presence to rocket out of the gate. 

If an owner wanted to get into several marketing channels out the gate I'd have everything available for them. 

We'll hit all the home shows, get involved in alot more community projects, and sponsor some events this next year coming up.


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## Roofcheck (Dec 27, 2011)

Oh I know, knocking doors so cheap and effective.


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## builditguy (Nov 10, 2013)

Your making $100,000 a year plus profiting $200,000 a year and only working 4 days a week. And now you are wanting to sell franchises that "rocket out of the gate." Sounds too good to be true. Where do I sign up?

Obviously you are trying to promote yourself on here and using this as a way to solicit your franchise.

This is the impression I get. If I am wrong, I apologize.


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## BDiamond (Nov 2, 2009)

builditguy said:


> Your making $100,000 a year plus profiting $200,000 a year and only working 4 days a week. And now you are wanting to sell franchises that "rocket out of the gate." Sounds too good to be true. Where do I sign up?
> 
> Obviously you are trying to promote yourself on here and using this as a way to solicit your franchise.
> 
> This is the impression I get. If I am wrong, I apologize.


Thanks for the apology. I'll think you'll see in my previous posts I rarely start a thread and mostly post responses of advice or opinion in an attempt to use my little experience to help others or offer an alternative view. 

My post is really to find out 1. Why people would consider a franchise in the first place 2. What they think that model would look like to be successful selling them 3. Does it sound like a legit idea?

(Damnit. I should have asked those questions in the first post. Smh)

I'm pretty straight forward...if I wanted to promote myself, which I'd have no problem doing, I'd just say "Hey! I'm making good money with my business model and am looking for guys who might be interested in franchising it. PM ME!"

Not even close to pulling that trigger so I'll save that for next year.


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## GarageDoorNC (Nov 14, 2015)

I have discovered that setting up a legit franchise system is ~ $1M investment. There are other models that might get you to where you want to go, perhaps look at licensing model like CrossFit does. 

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck!


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## angrywaffle (Nov 25, 2015)

I began investigating an exterior restoration franchise about a year ago. I found this forum and subsequently your posts on the marketing methods you use, as the franchise I was investigating advocates the same methods. I saw this post about franchising and thought I could provide some insight on my thought process.

I was investigating Stormguard Restoration, an exterior restoration company that focuses on the insurance portion of exterior work. They cold call, canvass, and otherwise market for their sales reps to do a free inspection in areas affected by recent or past storms/”damage events”, if they find damage they then file an insurance claim on behalf of the homeowner to do the work. They sub all of the work out, and are essentially a marketing/GC operation. From their Franchise Disclosure Documents, they and their franchisees are quite successful at this. 

They pitch an “executive owner” model, which was attractive to me. The amount of work and the marketing systems they have developed is quite advanced and was also highly attractive to me. They claim to provide a decent amount of initial support and training, which would be a necessity as I am not a contractor by trade. What the kicker was for me was the ongoing royalty. They charge 6.25% of gross revenues for a franchise fee then .75% for an advertising fund. Per their FDD, an average franchise is producing $2 mil gross, 15% net in their first full year of operation. This would mean that you were giving them $140k in annual royalties (assuming no sales growth), in addition to the $100k in initial franchise fees for a decent 3 territory area. I am an experienced COO, with financial, operational, sales, and marketing experience, so beyond the initial training and support period, I could not see a $140k value that a franchisor could provide on a recurring basis. Ultimately, I could not justify that large ongoing expense, so I decided not to invest, even though the business model is very exciting to me. 

Hopefully, this was helpful to understand the thought process of someone who would more than likely be your target demographic for a franchise.


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## r a s (Mar 30, 2015)

BDiamond said:


> Started the business in January of 2014. During the last 22 months we have created employee handbooks, training manuals and videos for every position, work flows from lead gen to depositing final payment, job descriptions and ads, comp plans, processes for getting all the proper licenses and insurance, relationships with national distribution, etc.
> 
> Anyone reading this would be able to walk into any position in the company and at least get from A to Z with no prior experience.
> 
> ...


Please pardon the late response. I think you would be well served by seeing an attorney now and discussing your future plans with them. Richard Solomon is well regarded (nationally) in the industry. I have no association or experience with him.

http://www.franchiseremedies.com/

While doing your due diligence in researching becoming a franchisor you can find a lot of good information at Cal-EASI. Most franchisors with an offering in California have to file a lot of documents that are public records and searchable. Once they achieve a certain level of financial size (success?) they no longer have to file as many.

You may also want to check out BlueMauMau and similar websites. There really is a lot of good information there, but you typically have to sift through a lot of chaff.

Best wishes with this endeavor.


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## mrhamel (Dec 7, 2015)

I'd be open to learning your systems... We're working towards that same kind of model... 

We generate leads globally, but majority come from the US and Canada... We're based in Los Angeles, but just signed a contractor in Dallas, and are negotiating with contractors in San Francisco and Denver... 

Our biggest asset is our ability to penetrate local markets QUICKLY with authority & education based marketing... But systems has been somewhat of a struggle for us...


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

Something to keep in mind... the ability of the company you are selling your franchise to be able to implement and execute your plan from a process, financial and customer service POV...


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