Name: Dick Bass-VP of Franchise Development
Address: 5523 E. Nine Mile Rd. Warren, MI 48091
Phone: 877-237-4808 x 210
Fax: 586-619-2167
E-mail:
Website:
DESCRIPTION:
Dryer Vent Wizard is a mobile dryer vent cleaning and repair service providing specialized cleaning and repair service of consumer, commercial, and industrial dryer vents.
BACKGROUND:
Established: 2004
1st Franchised: 2006
Franchised Units: 50
Company Owned Units: None
Projected New Units (12 Months): 25
States Registered In: All States
FINANCIAL/TERMS
Cash Investment: $58K
Total Investment: $66,527 - $89,871
Minimum Net Worth: $100K ($30K Liquid)
Franchise Fee: $10K
Royalty: 10%
Ad: 2%
Average Number Of Employees: 1 to 3
Passive Ownership: No / Earnings Claim: Yes
Discounts: VetFran
SUPPORT & TRAINING PROVIDED
Financial Assistance Provided: No
Site Selection Assistance: Yes
Lease Negotiation Assistance: N/A
Co-Operative Advertising: Yes
Training:
Dryer Vent Wizard is a total of two weeks. One week at our home office in Warren MI, and the second week in the field in MI.
The concept I want to tell you about is one that I feel certain you can relate to personally as pretty much all of us own a washing machine and clothes dryer. What most of us don’t know is the potential danger that lurks in this common household equipment. Before I tell you about this exciting opportunity, let me give you a little history about the company itself.
History: This Company was founded by David Lavalle who is also the founder of a very successful franchise called Mr. Handyman with whom you might be familiar. Mr. Handyman is now a 35 million dollar company, which speaks to the vision and skill set of David. As a Mr. Handyman franchisee, Dave often got requests from customers to unclog their dryer vents. Not thinking there was much to it, David found that the need to be more than just cleaning. He found in many cases there was a need to repair, replace, install and alter the dryer vents to create a safe environment in the home and bring it up to building code requirements. David realized there was a window of opportunity here to specialize in. He tested the idea on his own in 2004. Based on the results, he started franchising the concept in March of 2006. Today, they have 50 franchisees under the umbrella company of AFS Group of Companies which currently also franchises Collision on Wheels.
Overview: The name of the company I want to tell you about is called Dryer VentWizard. According to the US Fire Administration, there are 15,000 fires a year caused by dryer vent lint accumulation. These fires have result in 88 million in property damage and 14 deaths a year.
Product: Dryer Vent Wizard is a mobile home service company specializing in cleaning, repairing, replacement and alternation of dryer vents for residential and commercial customers. When a dryer isn’t working, customers call their nearby appliance repair center as they are typically unaware a dryer vent clog is causing the dryer to stop running or is running inefficiently. The appliance center sends out a technician to evaluate the problem. Should the problem be a dryer vent clog, they are not trained to fix the problem. What they will do is charge for the house call and refer you to your “yellow pages” where likely, you won’t find anyone who specializes. Certain type of dryer venting doesn’t meet building code requirements or voids manufacturer’s warranties and therefore needs replacement. Dryer Vent Wizard will bring homes up to code requirements and create a safe environment for consumers.
Dryer Vent Wizard cleans, repairs, replaces and alters dryer vents for consumers and commercial businesses. Their services prevent dryer fires while responding to the consumer’s sense of urgent need to get the dryer up and running again. A dryer vent filled with lint causes a dryer to stop operating properly. If it takes more than one cycle to dry a load of clothes, there is likely a dryer vent clog. Not have a functioning clothes dryer often causes disarray in people’s lives. This is why the service becomes an urgent response call. The services provide include:
- Cleaning, replacement, repair and alteration of dryer vents
- Replace washer hoses
- Provide booster fans inside the dryer vents to help move air in longer runs
- Replacement and installation of dryer vent hoods outside of the house
- De-linting of dryer
- Provide a lifetime warranty that covers a discount for annual maintenance.
Marketing: Most of your business comes through referrals from appliance repair companies; duct cleaning companies, HVAC companies, property management companies and even chimney sweep companies. DVW has a very unique type of marketing package they send out several times per year to these referral sources and offer a “bird dog” fee for each referral. Internet leads from the DVW website, Google ads and public relations continue to rank high for lead sources as well.
Scheduling Center: DVW has a scheduling center called the “Customer Wizard”. This scheduling center fields all the calls from your referral sources directly into their 800 number. The customer service representative screens the calls, books the appointment and sends the appointment directly into your laptop computer mounted in your van. It’s that simple. They also send out the marketing packages to your referral sources as scheduled.
Hours of Operation: Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. The call center is open to booking whatever hours your employees want to work. If you have people on your staff that are open to working nights and weekends, you just let the call center know you are open for these hours for appointments and they will adjust your schedule for bookings.
Hiring Technicians: You are not looking to hire people who are experienced with fixing dryers. Instead, first and foremost, you are looking to hire people have good customer service skills above all and are trainable. You can teach them to clean dryer vents. You are looking for a handy type person who you will train personally or send to the corporate office for training. There are no certifications or licensing needed for your employees. Typically, franchisees find their staff from Craig’s list or referrals from family members or friends. They too have found that hiring seniors from the HVAC field on a part time basis as also been very successful.
Franchisee Profile: Good communicator and “networker”. Outgoing with good follow up skills to referral sources. Interested in a business that ramps up quickly and is scalable. Open to being hands on, learning the business, doing the work and shortly transitioning to an “Executive Model,” where marketing and managing the business is the priority.
Role of Franchisee: There are two scenarios here. You can start as an owner/operator of the business or an executive model.
Owner/Operator: In this role you are receiving the appointments from the Customer Wizard, doing the estimates, handling the repairs and being the sales and marketing person as well. Length of time jobs take average 1.5 -2 hours and franchisees can do 2- 4 jobs per day depending on the extent of the job.
Executive Model: In this role you will hire a General Manager who will do the estimates and repairs while you concentrate on marketing the business. The General Manager will eventually be responsible for hiring more staff and managing these folks
Territories: This is a home-based concept. You will be awarded a territory that consists of 200,000 qualified households with income levels over $50,000
Investment: $75,000 all in, which includes 3 months of operating capital, marketing cost, one van, insurance and labor costs
Financial requirements: Net Worth: $100,000 Liquidity: $30,000 before financing
Earnings Claim: Yes
Average of $9,078.63 gross sales per month per van
Isn’t it just cheaper to go out and buy another dryer?
If you went out and bought another dryer, the problem would still likely exist. The problem is most likely not the dryer rather the lint accumulation in the dryer vent keeping the dryer from functioning properly. This is also a known fire hazard. DVW will get the dryer up and running and will also prevent a dryer fire and save consumers energy, as they will not have to use multiple cycles to dry clothes.
Contact Person: Dick Bass, VP of Franchise Development, 877-237-4808 x 210 Email