Fix-Up A Fortune
Cash-in on the $170 billion fix-it
market even if you can’t hammer a nail!
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| Colette and Andy Bell are the husband and wife duo behind the franchise Handyman Matters. The franchise has completely updated the handyman industry by introducting credibility, accountability and high-technology to the field. Today's depressed housing market has millions of homeowners holding on to their properties and making repairs and renovations rather than moving. |
Talk about making the most of an opportunity…
Andy Bell was a self-described “refugee from the restaurant industry,” looking for more balance in his life when he left his job as director of operations for a Denver-based brewpub concept and became known as “Swamp Boy” in the summer of 1997.
“Swamp Boy” is what Bell called himself in the small classified ad he bought to promote his new profession, installing and repairing “swamp coolers,” which are prevalent in dry climates such as Denver’s as an effective alternative to traditional air conditioning units.
When he arrived at a customer’s home, Bell was neat, punctual, careful and competent and people loved him for it. They asked him to do other small jobs and the sharp-eyed Bell quickly became cognizant of the black hole that exists for all of us in the handyman field. Good help, Bell repeatedly heard from his customers, was hard to find.
“Nobody offered the level of customer service that I had learned as a restaurateur,” Bell said. “I thought I could take this pedestrian business and take it up a notch on the service level.”
Bell launched his own handyman business on Feb. 14, 1998 with one employee—Ronnie Romero, who was immediately dispatched to a job—and 10 years later Handyman Matters has evolved into a nationally recognized franchise concept with 135 franchisees in 38 states, Canada and Ireland who serve the repair, restoration and maintenance needs of both residential and business customers who call on them for more than 500,000 jobs each year. They’re the small- and medium-size jobs found on everyone’s to-do lists.
Bell started strong out of the gate and has never looked back. Revenues during Bell’s first year in business were $300,000 and that figure increased by 400 percent in 1999, the company’s second year. By 2001, Bell had five company-owned locations in Denver and three more in California when he made the decision to begin franchising.
“The heartstrings of the senior community tugged at me and said, ‘You need to do something bigger to try to change the home improvement industry one craftsman, one customer and one community at a time,’” said Bell, whose company has worked with countless organizations including the Volunteers of America and Habitat for Humanity and expects franchisees to donate six hours of charitable time each month.
Handyman Matters has taken a decidedly different tack in establishing itself nationally, with Bell serving as the company’s president and his wife, Colette—who was named among the “Top 40 under 40” by the Denver Business Journal in 2006—serving as CEO. The husband-and-wife team has taken the traditional handyman business and created a tech-savvy handyman service driven by automated systems, operations and technology.
With Americans expected to spend more than $170 billion fixing up and remodeling their homes in 2008, Bell expects Handyman Matters to grant 38 franchises in 2008 toward expectations of reaching 250 franchises by the end of 2010. Targeted domestic markets in 2008 include Dallas, Houston and Atlanta, while Handyman Matters has plans for opening five to eight additional franchises in the United Kingdom.
Customer service is at the forefront of Handyman Matters’ success and that focus was first established in the company’s infancy when Bell called more than 350 homeowners and 150 contractors in the Denver area.
What Bell learned from those conversations was what to avoid and what to provide in a handyman service. In essence, those individuals told Bell how to run his business, which is why Handyman Matters instituted such standards as having a dress code for craftsmen, having them make confirmation phone calls the night before and charging a fair price and telling the customer the hourly rate upfront among countless other service attributes.
Handyman Matters can be launched initially as a home-based business and offers three tiers of territories, based on population. The largest and most popular territory offering includes 250,000 households and has an affordable estimated initial investment range of $48,000 to $104,000.
The market for handyman services is clearly evident. Just look at the numbers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are nearly 125 million housing units in the United States, and of that number more than 95 million were built before 1990. Every house needs constant upkeep and maintenance and as the existing housing stock gets one year older, there is an increasing market for remodeling and renovation. The same is true for the commercial sector, where there are just under five million such buildings nationwide, of which 60 percent are more than 20 years old. Today’s depressed housing market has millions more staying in their homes and making repairs and renovations rather than moving. •
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