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HOME BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN THE NEWS
LOW-COST AND
HOMEBASED FRANCHISES FOR WOULD-BE BUSINESS OWNERS
by Mark Henricks
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“I've not looked back since,” says Gaulke, who reports enjoying life much more selling tools than he did marketing music. “It's awesome,” he says. “When I worked at the music store, I had to work weekends and was working at 10:30 at night. Now I'm home every day at 5 and on weekends. My quality of life has quadrupled doing Snap-on.”
Similar experiences kept business healthy at franchisers that, like Snap-on, can offer would-be entrepreneurs the chance to own their own business and work from home, all for about the price of a new car. That's helped keep the franchising industry in relatively good shape, despite the economic downturn, according to the annual Franchise Business Economic Outlook prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the International Franchise Association. The 2009 edition of the forecast predicted the total number of franchised establishments would decline by a modest 1.2 percent this year, while total sales would shrink by only 0.5 percent.
At Kenosha, Wisconsin-based Snap-on, in particular, surviving economic malaise is nothing new. The company was founded in 1920 and has franchised for more than nine decades through the Great Depression and every boom-bust cycle since, all while growing to approximately 4,000 franchisees.
Many Snap-on franchisees are drawn by the tools' reputation for high quality, and others just like the idea of working from home. Today, the low cost is a special draw, says Barrie Young, president of sales and franchising. “A qualified franchisee can join Snap-on for as little as $18,000 to $28,000, and there's no need for a “bricks and mortar set-up,” says Young. On the other hand, Snap-on allows franchisees to build their own physical storefronts to house sizable enterprises. “Many of our qualified franchisees own several units, some as many as six mobile stores, operated by their own employees,” says Young.Environmental Waste Solutions of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, also has a low-cost, home-based business opportunity that manages to offer considerable potential. The company's approximately 600 affiliates provide waste-management consulting services to businesses. “Our proposition to our business customer is that we'll take a look at your waste and recycling expenses, look for ways to reduce cost and, if we find any, we'll split what we save you,” says founder and CEO Darwyn Williams.
Franchisees enjoy the feeling that they are benefiting the environment by helping businesses streamline, and improve waste and recycling systems. And potential customers find it hard to refuse a service that costs them nothing unless it saves them money, Williams adds. In fact, the combination means Environmental Waste Solutions is actually doing better today than a few years ago. “This is a business that not only weathers economic downturns, but thrives during economic downturns,” Williams says.
Another home-based franchise that is well insulated from business cycles is Servpro, a Gallatin, Tennessee, cleaning service that specializes in post-disaster cleanup. According to Kevin Brown, assistant executive vice president of marketing, demand for the company's services has remained robust despite the weak economy. “Fire and water and smoke damage doesn't discriminate based on geography or the economy,” he says.
Servpro franchisees spend approximately $100,000 to $159,000 to get set up in the business, which started as a painting company in 1967 and has been franchising since 1969. Today, franchisees offer cleanup and repairs to commercial and residential customers whose property has suffered fire or water damage. Franchisees also clean carpets, upholstery, and air ducts, and performs mold remediation and similar services. Despite the seemingly uninspiring nature of the services, Brown says most franchisees view it as a calling. “The people that are drawn to our franchise system obviously like the business model, and they like the recession resistant quality,” he says. “But people who become successful doing what we do get the mission. That is helping people at a very low point in their lives.” The high level of personal involvement rules out absentee ownership and, except for well-established existing franchisees, ownership of multiple units…
Servpro had 1,459 establishments at the end of 2008 and should top 1,500 well before the end of this year, Brown says. This year, he adds, the company's system-wide revenues should top $1 billion. That's not bad pay for being one of the good guys, and that's how Servpro regards its franchises. “One consistent theme that keeps coming out of focus groups is that people view Servpro as the hero in their time of need,” Brown says. “They swoop in in time of need and help these people get their lives back.”
Disaster remediation isn't the only reason to work on your home, of course. Sometimes you're just sick of that old bathroom and want to change it. Bathroom remodeling franchiser ReBath of Tempe, Arizona, counts on those urges to keep its 225 franchisees' showrooms busy and profitable, and this year it has come out with a new business model that makes it a serious low-cost, home-based contender.
The new concept, ReBath Express, employs a mobile showroom instead of a regular storefront. In addition to franchise fees of $2,500 to $10,000, franchisees must purchase a $22,000 custom-built mobile showroom. The parent company finances the deal, and after three years of $700 monthly payments, franchisees own the vehicle.ReBath Express is expressly designed for recessionary appeal and, so far, it's working, says President Dave Sanders. They have sold 15 franchisees since rolling it out early this year and should top 20 by summer's end. The low cost expands the pool of potential franchisees while maintaining ReBath's basic premise: professionalizing and standardizing bath remodeling.
“We've taken bathroom remodeling and formalized it, so it's all systematic and it's all done in one or two days, “says Sanders. “When you put a system to it that works and it's profitable and you have support and you have lifetime warrantees, it is a nice combination for somebody looking for a business for the long haul.”…
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