The riches are in the niches. I believe it, and I practice it my own company. As I’ve learned through the school of hard knocks, it is really difficult to be profitable, efficient, and maintain quality standards, if you’re taking every project that rolls across your desk. I’ve written about this extensively on my blog in this post and have many more posts on it in the queue.
As we roll into 2018, I’m heavily invested in launching some franchised brands. My personal expertise and favor ‘work area’ is largely in branding and marketing home service companies (if you can’t tell from reading this blog), and then selling. My business partner handles the operations and processes behind that. So the move into franchises leverages our skill sets and will give many of our existing employees the opportunities to become owners of their own business.
Besides the trades we are already in with our existing business model, I’ve had my eye on a few other spaces. I’m not interested in the general ‘hvac’ or ‘plumbing’ franchise business models. No doubt, there is a ton of money in them, but I like to go for the niches. I also like to go into spaces that aren’t heavily loaded up with brands. In these spaces it will be easier to differentiate yourself, build a professional image, and lower cost of advertising.
If you’re looking for a franchise business, these niches are some that I see the most opportunity in, and also likely have the lowest franchise fees.
Concrete & Deck Re-surfacing Franchises
All concrete driveways and patios crack and eventually start looking shitty. This trade makes them look good. You’ve got an easy sell because the decrepit looking concrete usually stands out against an otherwise nice house. This is a pain point, that consumers will pay to have fixed.
The companies in this space generally don’t operate very professionally leaving things wide open for a professional and polished organization to thrive.
From a marketing perspective, the before and after pictures look wonderful in ads — yet few are marketing them.
On top of it all the service can also be done to improve garage space reaching a whole nother audience.
Cabinet & Surface Refinishing Franchises
It’s easier to sell a service to make something look better than to replace it, or construct from scratch. The sales process is shorter, the anchoring effect on the price is more subtle (ie its cheaper then the aforementioned), convenience is a larger factor in decision making. Refinishing franchises get to capitalize on all this, and refinishing work I’ve seen looks beautiful. Before and after photos would work great in Facebook ads.
Grout Cleaning Franchises
Nothing revolutionary here. It is evergreen. Dirty Grout is a huge pain point. Everyone hates it, and it becomes an eyesore.
For the average homeowner, the DIY results are often lack luster, and time consuming, and can be hard on the knees. Not very appealing.
At a professional level, with the right equipment, grout cleaning can quick and efficient. The semi frequent nature of grout cleaning also leads to the opportunity for recurring revenue.
Mosquito Control Franchises
There’s many pest control companies out there, but very few for mosquitos specifically. It is a very niche service, which has a relatively low cost of materials and is the best part, it is purely recurring. Customers sign up for monthly treatments and you operate on a route like a pool cleaning business.
Marketing this one could be a bit tricky, as there’s very little you can do with ad creative and it will only work in mosquito prone areas. But in those areas, for the people affected, mosquito control services are a must. Showing the target audience that they have a problem, and then offering a solution will be key.
Window & Screen Enclosures Franchises
When it comes to keeping bugs out of the home, screens do the job. Window screens exist on homes around the country and in Florida and Gulf Coast States we have large screen enclosures for outdoor living.
This space however is largely underserved by reputable companies.