I feel a bit hesitant to get into this topic, because obviously I'm a SM franchisee.
But when have I ever kept my mouth shut
Hilton - Presuming you're referring to
this list, the amount of "franchises" on offer is deceiving
The "On Location" franchise (as it was) consisted of 3 disciplines: disaster recovery (ins. work), commercial carpet & upholstery and residential carpet & upholstery. Now the licences are split up into those three separate elements.
As most people know, a SM franchise is a territory, you're the only one in that area. There have been some new areas created which instantly adds 3 franchises to the list.
Yes, there are some guys selling up. There have been a few older ones retiring, some of them have been going 30 years or more! So each of the old franchises that is put up for sale creates 3 new ones.
I don't know why there are so many of the contract cleaning franchises up for sale, I don't have much to do with that side of things.
What's interesting to note is that the
smallest list of franchises for sale is Disaster Restoration. This goes in stark contrast to the "word on the street" that the insurance work is dying. John Kelly's post is very true, yes there is a lot of cash settlement and unfortunately a lot of drying work is being handed to builders to make a balls of
They're trying to keep the costs down that's for sure.
But most SM franchisees still do all 3 things so they can keep their staff on to do the day-to-day cleaning stuff and the DR franchise doesn't really cost them anything to keep in hand. As soon as it rains you're laughing
To be honest, our sales guys who are supposed to get national contracts aren't really stunning us with their performance... but I reckon that must be a tough job. Not sure whether it's right to slate them or not really.
In the insurance market, the tide has gone out from SM shores in the last few years... but that's exactly what it is, tidal. Ebb and flow, the insurance companies move around and change suppliers so in a few years time SM might have the upper hand and CD or rainbow might be on the rocks. Who knows.
The turnover they make nationally from carpets is tiny; they can’t possibly make a profit. They need to pour more attention into commercial contract cleaning and use the carpets as a small swing off.
Matt what's with all the BS lately?? :
How could you possibly know what's the most financially viable service that SM provide! If it starts with "I heard..." or "apparently..." then I don't wanna know! :
You've been listening to too many monkeys talking crap on forums
Contract cleaning is so competitive and price-driven, the market is rock hard to work in. Profit margin on carpet cleaning far exceeds most restoration work, it's just the volume that's way lower so the profit isn't comparable.
So to cut a short story long, SM isn't about to go under and when you consider that the whole franchise group probably has close on 1,000 franchises, not everyone's selling up are they?
Things aren't always as they seem and you shouldn't believe everything that "apparently" you "hear"