Opportunity: Home Services
LIVE THE L question. We decided to go ahead and bought a franchise in Christchurch. ‘Six months on, we’ve not looked back. We started with 50 customers, lost 3 as people moved, but increased by 32! Most new customers have come through word-ofmouth referrals from satisfied customers, but we’ve also had people come up as we’re re-loading the trailer after finishing a job and say, “That looks pretty good, can you come to my place and give me a quote?”’ Mark says that’s down to the V.I.P. training. ‘It’s all about learning how to use the equipment and time to do a professional quality job every time. But it’s about more than that, too – how you hold a line trimmer, for example, not only produces different results but can put less strain on you.’ ‘Actually, that’s true right through the business, even accounting,’ says Kat. ‘V.I.P. set us up with Xero and gave us the training and support to use it, and now I do the admin in the evening after Samantha has gone to sleep – it’s pretty straightforward and doesn’t take long at all. As first-time business owners, we really appreciate all the training and support.’
Even better than we hoped
Mark and Kat Jury with their daughter Samantha
V.I.P. Home Services franchisees find the futures they are looking for in a supportive business
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Kat says she’s always enjoyed gardening, and the great thing about V.I.P. is that it’s not just lawnmowing. When they started in May 2021, winter was just a month away, ‘Which meant we were able to spend a little more time with customers and get to know them,’ says Mark. ‘That’s paid dividends – we’ve had huge support from our customer base, tidying, gardening, all sorts of little outdoor jobs, and it gave us time to get used to all the gear and get our fitness levels up before spring.’ ‘Now,’ says Kat, ‘We pretty much work school hours, although we take Samantha, who’s almost 6, along on the odd job. I’m teaching her what’s a weed and what’s a flower. We love it!
‘It’s going even better than we hoped – we never expected to get to this volume of work so quickly, and we’re continuing to grow,’ says Kat. Mark agrees: ‘Estelle and John and our territory manager, Ian Watson, are all very good people, and they clearly like to recruit good franchisees, too – everyone we have met has been so helpful and supportive. If we were independent, we wouldn’t be nearly as far on as we are.’
Outdoors or indoors?
hen daughter Samantha was ready to go to school, everything changed for Mark and Kat Jury. After being a stay-at-home mum, Kat wasn’t looking to return to her job at the IRD, while Mark was ready for a change after 22 years in transport and logistics. ‘Transport logistics is a 24/7 career, and I realised how much I’d been sacrificing,’ Mark says. We wondered how we could find a better balance.’
V.I.P. offers two different types of franchise: outdoor (lawnmowing, gardening and outside jobs) or indoor (all types of cleaning). ‘You choose the level you start at and go through a comprehensive programme which trains you not just in working efficiently to maximise your earning power, but in goal-setting and business management, too,’ says Estelle.
Mark took an offered redundancy and the couple started looking seriously. ‘It was the right timing for us to do something for ourselves. I had managed up to 120 staff before, and we thought it would be nice not to worry about anyone but ourselves. We had a friend who joined a lawnmowing franchise eight years ago and has done exceptionally well, so we looked at numerous different brands and V.I.P. stood out. Kat and I are huge on relationships and we wanted an organisation that treated us like a partner.
‘There’s an income guarantee while you are training, and once you are established it’s up to you how big you grow and what hours you work. There are few restrictions: you can employ staff if you wish and, if you get more work than you want to handle, you can sell clients on to other franchisees. That can help you condense your area, reducing travelling time so you spend more time earning.
‘Right from the start, Estelle and John Logan (the national master franchisors for V.I.P.) laid out everything honestly and openly. They were very easy to talk to, very upfront, and answered every
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‘Both our indoor and outdoor franchises allow you to work the hours you want and be rewarded accordingly,’ says Estelle. ‘Some of our franchisees do very well from working part-time. The V.I.P. system is very flexible – it’s up to you – and there are no expensive premises or equipment, no rent to pay and minimal fixed costs.’ Franchise New Zealand
Summer 2022
Year 30 Issue 04
