How to Choose the Handyman Franchise That's Right For You

Running a home improvement franchise can allow you to enjoy a dynamic, varied and active career that’s also uniquely profitable and recession-proof. But in such a wide industry, how do you find the right niche for you? In this article, you’ll discover some of the different possible avenues of investment, all while narrowing down what suits you best.

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When you make a career change with a handyman franchise, you’ll enter an industry that’s growing at a rate of around 1.6% each year [Statista], always increasing its revenue and market share. You’ll enjoy steady but diverse work, with a high rate of repeat business. But where, under the broad umbrella of “home improvement”, will you specialise? Here are a few different options...

1. A home renovation franchise

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You might choose to enjoy all the advantages of a career as a handyman within a home renovation franchise network. Renovators change and transform existing homes in a number of different ways, from building extensions to remodeling kitchens. They’re generally mobile and often van-based, working out of the houses of their clients. As a franchisee running a home renovation franchise, you’ll be responsible for:

• Creating a clear vision in partnership with your client
• Researching possibilities and estimating costs
• Setting a realistic timeframe for completion
• Abiding by building laws and regulations
• Employing a trusted team to carry out the work/carrying out the work yourself

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>> Read more:

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• How to Become a Kitchen Renovator
• How to Make a Career Change With a Painting Franchise
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How to choose a handyman business in the renovation sub-sector

If a franchise that focuses on renovation is right up your street, there are so many great options available to you right now. You could invest with van-based loft access installer Access4Lofts for a minimum initial amount of £29,950. Alternatively, you could look into Happinest, an architectural design franchise helping clients across the UK to envision and build their dream homes. To become a Happinest franchisee, you’d need to make a minimum initial investment of just £7,500, with a total investment cost of £20,000.

2. A property maintenance and care franchise

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In some ways, starting a property maintenance and care franchise will be similar to starting a home renovation franchise. You’ll be working in the homes of your clients, and you’ll still have to abide by building laws and estimate costs of work. The biggest difference will be the work you complete. Where renovators will be knocking out walls and building new things, you’ll be looking after what’s already there. Here are some examples of what your property maintenance and care franchise might handle:

• Regular home maintenance (to keep things as they should be/take protective steps)
• Corrective home maintenance (to fix issues that have occurred)
• Emergency home maintenance (to fix urgent issues that have occurred)

Choosing a franchise in the field of property maintenance and care

There are many great property maintenance franchise options. You might choose to invest with Drain Doctor, a thriving drainage and plumbing network, for a minimum initial amount of £35,000, with a total investment cost of £85,000. You might also want to look into Prokil. Prokil helps property owners across the country to solve their damp and timber problems, specialising in damp proofing, timber preservation and basement waterproofing. You can become a franchisee for a minimum initial investment of £30,000, with franchise fees of £35,000 and a total investment cost of £60,000.

3. A gardening and/or lawn care franchise

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One of the most important extensions of your home is, of course, your garden. That’s why so many handyman franchise opportunities arise in the fields of garden maintenance and lawn care. As a gardener, you’ll be working actively in the great outdoors, and the work you complete will change with the seasons.

In winter, you should aim to be doing soft landscaping, hard pruning and fencing. In spring? Planting, weeding, feeding and fence painting. Summer? Lawns, hedge trimming and weeding. And finally, in Autumn, pruning, leaf clearance, lawn treatment and planting. As you can tell, the work will offer you plenty of variety, even within the scope of your clients’ requests and demands.

Choosing a gardening and lawn care handyman business

If you have a green thumb and you’re more than ready to get stuck in, check out Greensleeves. Greensleeves are lawn treatment experts with over 20 years of experience, and you can become a franchisee for a minimum initial investment of £9,000, with a total investment cost of £26,950. If lawn-focused work isn’t your thing, you might instead consider Ed’s Garden Maintenance, a trusted garden care provider in the UK. You can become an Ed’s Garden Maintenance franchisee for a minimum initial investment of £7,000, with a total investment cost of £15,000.

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>> Read more:

• 7 Tips for Choosing a Franchise with the Right Culture For You
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• Mythbusters: Starting a Franchise Is Ultimately the Franchisee's Decision

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4. A home decoration franchise

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The final of these four main areas of specialism is home decoration, which you could consider a step-down from a full renovation franchise. Home decoration franchises will usually be a cheaper investment and a smaller franchise operation - you might not even need any employees to thrive in this area, instead operating out of a single van and connecting with the resources of your larger franchise network.

Home decoration is all about indoor decor and fittings. Think window coverings, painting and decorating jobs, and temporary decorative installments. The UK home decoration market is forecast to grow steadily between 2021 and 2026 [Mordor Intelligence], making this kind of franchise a solid investment from a financial standpoint.

How to choose a home improvement franchise that specialises in indoor decor and fittings

There’s so many options in the home decorating sub-sector, but two of the best are Just Shutters and The Christmas Decorators. Just Shutters supplies and installs made-to-measure shutters to homes across the UK, and you can invest for a minimum initial amount of £27,000, with franchise fees of £20,000 and a total investment cost of £40,000. The Christmas Decorators decks out commercial and domestic spaces alike for the festive season, and you can invest for a minimum initial amount of £25,000.

Start a handyman franchise and enjoy the adventure of running your own business with the security of franchisor support

Now that you know what’s out there and what might best suit you as a specialism, it’s time to deepen your research and start your journey towards an investment in the home improvement sector. Stay on Point Franchise and find out how to run a handyman business, and discover the top six handyman franchises in the UK.