FOOT TO THE FLOOR

Flooring Design is a highly profitable opportunity that rewards pro-active people

Flooring Design provides both residential and commercial customers with flooring solutions from a wide range of carpet, vinyls and timber. When the company was established back in 1996, it was founded on a simple philosophy: to offer customers a great range of top quality flooring products at exceptional prices, all backed by service and excellence you can trust.

That same philosophy was applied when the business was franchised six years later, and today there are 23 Flooring Design shops around New Zealand, with the more established outlets enjoying sales of between 4 to 6 million dollars per year. That gives franchisees access to massive buying power, centralised systems and technology that create a very profitable business model.

We all help each other

Raymond Hardgrave and his wife Julie opened the Kapiti Coast franchise in 2009. ‘I’d been in the flooring installation business for years, and getting off my knees and into the retail side with Julie was the best thing I ever did. Flooring Design has been an absolutely wonderful franchise to be in – which is why we opened a second store in Levin in 2019. This is a very family-orientated business, and we all help each other to succeed.’

Although Raymond himself had previous experience in the industry, Flooring Design franchisees come from a range of backgrounds including sales, retail, IT and trades. ‘With good training, support and a bit of practice, you’ll soon pick up the product and technical side so the most important qualities you need are common sense and people skills,’ says Raymond. ‘As a franchisee, you will manage a team of quoters and installers, and your main role is to work with clients and grow the business.’

Jeremy Yeoman, the Managing Director of Flooring Design, agrees. ‘We can teach you the products, the systems and the IT, but we can’t teach personality – that has to come from within you. If you are driven and proactive, the rewards are certainly there.’

From the ground up

Jeremy knows Flooring Design inside out. As part of the family that founded the franchise, he learned the business from the ground up. ‘I stacked shelves, cut carpet and swept floors, dealt with customers and managed stores before doing a business degree,’ he says. ‘Then

I headed off to Abu Dhabi for a few years to broaden my management experience before returning to New Zealand. It gave me a unique insight into what makes this business work so well.

‘Flooring Design has a number of unique advantages,’ Jeremy says. ‘For a start, there are no ongoing royalty fees – the franchise and support services are funded by percentage rebates from our preferred, quality suppliers. That means you don’t have to pay out of your top line – our franchisees keep every cent of profit they earn. And you don’t have to worry about the accounting side either, as bookkeeping and taxes are handled by our franchise office. That leaves you free to concentrate on growing your business.’

How well does this work in practice? ‘Honestly, it’s wonderful,’ says Raymond. ‘It saves us an entire staff member, and a lot of hassle, too. The franchise office handles all the money, including bill payments. It’s a terrific system, handled by experts, is entirely transparent and, because of the way it’s funded, we don’t have to fork out a big cheque every month either.

‘In addition, the franchise office has a full-time team working for us on things like marketing, product updates and keeping up to date with constantly-changing trends.’

Ideal business for couples

Flooring Design is now ready for further growth, says Jeremy. ‘We are looking to appoint the right people to open new stores in some key areas, including greenfield sites available throughout the South Island, and some sites in Auckland and Wellington. The investment is around $100-200,000, depending on location, and the returns can be excellent.

‘We are looking for owner/operators who are fast learners, enjoy working with people and customers, and are determined to succeed. This is an ideal business for a partnership or couple like Raymond and Julie, who each bring different qualities to the mix and share their expertise with the other franchisees, too.

‘Using our management information systems, franchisees are always phoning each other to ask how one shop achieved such a high sales conversion rate, or low wastage volume, and there are always tricks to be passed on. Our new franchisee in Cromwell has had a stream of calls offering advice and assistance and he’s loving it! It’s that co-operative approach that makes Flooring Design so good, and we want people who want to be a part of that.’

The last word goes to Raymond and Julie. ‘This is a profitable business which has served us very well for nearly 15 years,’ says Raymond. ‘My simple advice to anyone buying a Flooring Design franchise would be to follow the system – it works! Talk to Jeremy and find out more.’

Advertiser info

Flooring Design

www.flooringdesign.co.nz

Contact Jeremy Yeoman

M 022 602 8482

jeremy@flooringdesign.co.nz

Raymond and Julie Hardgrave