What Skills do I need?
To be successful as a Chem-Dry Franchise Partner, you must:
- Be motivated to own and operate your own business
- Be prepared to work hard
- Have a desire to deliver only the high quality services to your customers
- Have an entrepreneurial attitude
- Be self-starting and driven by success
- Be well organised and reliable
- Have good customer service skills
- Be able to communicate effectively
- Be honest and have high integrity
- Be Motivated by the opportunity to earn a significant income.
What other Qualifications do I need?
To be considered for a Chem-Dry Franchise, you will need to:
- Have a current Australian drivers licence,
- Be an Australian resident,
- Have a clear criminal record.
Chem-Dry only accepts candidates that genuinely want to be part of a franchise system, and are looking to benefit from establishing a strong business relationship with us.
Our selection process has 4 key steps:
- Information Request Form
This is our standard franchise partner application form; it is obligation free and is completed online.
- Franchisee Self-Assessment Form
This is also completed online and provides us with an insight of a candidate’s strengths, weaknesses and compatibility to the Chem-Dry business model. Upon successful review of your Information Request and Self-Assessment Form you will be invited to attend an initial interview.
- Initial Interviews
All Interviews will be conducted by Chem-Dry representatives, during the interview process you will be provided with a copy of the Chem-Dry Franchisee Disclosure Document (FDD) for your review and for forwarding to your professional advisors.
- On-Road Experience
This involves you accompanying one of our current franchise partners in their business for period of time to obtain a greater understanding of the business model and to confirm the skills and level of commitment required.
Once this process is complete your application is formally prepared and submitted to the Chem-Dry Board of Directors for consideration.
Q. How much does a Chem-Dry Franchise Cost?
A. A Chem-Dry Franchise starts from $39,950 + GST provided that you already have an approved vehicle. A full ‘Turn-Key’ franchise including a vehicle is $69,950 + GST.
Q. Does Chem-Dry offer finance to prospective franchise partners?
A. No. Chem-Dry does not provide finance packages directly to prospective franchise partners, however we do maintain a strong relationship with a number of asset leasing organisations and other lenders. It is common for prospective franchise partners to make a capital contribution toward the business soft costs, and then seek to finance the vehicle and cleaning equipment through a standard lease.
Q: What is the availability of sites in my area?
A: The availability of franchises in specific areas will be discussed during your initial interview. As you can appreciate, only a limited number of franchisees can operate within a certain population.
Q: How many franchises can operate in my franchise area or territory?
A: The number of franchises that are allocated to each franchise area depends on the population within the territory boundaries. The maps are obtained from the Bureau of Statistics, providing the current population figure for each franchise area. The total population is then divided by 60,000 to generate the maximum number of franchises that are permitted to operate within the area.
Q: Why can't I have an area to myself?
A: In some cases you can have an area to yourself, as long as the population is 90,000 or less. However, we always like to provide franchise partners the opportunity to have both commercial and domestic customers.
We have found that by giving exclusive areas (which would only allow 60,000 population) it would be more restrictive for you.
For example, you may only have domestic customers in an exclusive area; this would provide no opportunity to do commercial work, hotels, agents, clubs etc.
Q: Am I in competition with other Chem-Dry franchise partners?
A: No. Your competition is the methods and operators from other carpet and upholstery cleaning companies.
Your fellow Chem-Dry franchise partners are there to help you and vice versa. Many of our franchise partners work together by passing jobs on to one another, and even service clientele for one another when on leave or fully booked.
In larger areas franchise partners even conduct print and online advertising together enabling them to afford a larger and more effective advertisement.
Should you come across a customer of another Chem-Dry franchise partner, you should always find out which Chem-Dry franchise partner usually services this customer and refer that customer back to him. Often customers don't realise that each Chem-Dry franchise is independently owned and operated.
Q: Can I work outside of my Franchise Area?
A: Yes. You may work outside of your franchise area provided that the job is a bona-fide referral.
To be more definitive about what type of work qualifies as a referral, it is when you have been recommended by one of your customers within your area to a friend, relative, or business colleague who resides outside of your area.
This customer must specifically want or request your business to clean their carpet or upholstery, and must make the first contact to you. Franchise partners are not permitted to advertise or solicit business outside of their agreed franchise area.
For example, if you cleaned for a chain store (e.g. Hogs Breath) and they wanted you to clean all their stores in your State or City, this would also be classified as referral work.
Of course, if the travelling is not profitable for you, you could pass some of the work onto franchisees that are more local to the area for a percentage of the revenue.
Q: How many vans can I have in my area?
A: You may have as many vans and employees as you like operating within your franchise area. There is no extra franchise fee or monthly franchisee royalty fee for doing so.
We have found that approximately 20% of franchisees put on a second vehicle, so there is always enough work for everyone.
Q: There seems to be a lot of carpet cleaners in my area. Isn't that too much competition?
A: There is competition in every industry, whether you are a plumber, electrician, doctor or lawyer.
As an exercise you should enquire as to how many electricians or lawyers there are in your area. You will probably be surprised!
You may think that there is a high amount of competition in your area for carpet and upholstery cleaning businesses, but this is because you are solely focusing on that particular industry. You will note that the more competition indicates that there is a greater demand for a particular service.
A franchise partner should be more concerned if there were no competition, or very few carpet cleaning businesses within an area, as this would indicate a very low demand for the particular service.
Being a Chem-Dry operator, your goal should be to convert customers to your business by providing them with the highest quality service, and using only the highest quality products.
You will find that by demonstrating our method of carpet and upholstery cleaning it will prove itself to the customer.
Q: Why is the Chem-Dry cleaning system different to other carpet cleaning systems?
A: Most other carpet cleaners offer Steam Cleaning or Hot Water Extraction. This is when a hot water mixed with a detergent is applied to the carpets then vacuumed up straight after. This causes problems like over wetting the carpets, which can cause carpet shrinkage and other damage. When this occurs, there is no way to fix the problem.
In addition to this, due to the large amounts of water being used, it can take a long time to dry. This is not only inconvenient to your customer, it can also cause mildew and bad odours.
The biggest problem is in the detergents they use, as the detergents are never completely removed from the carpets. When the water evaporates the detergents being oil based cannot evaporate, and stay in the carpets and attract more dirt.
Other carpet cleaning companies offer Dry Cleaning of the carpets. The problem with dry cleaning solutions is that they use a petroleum base products on the carpets which also cannot be fully removed to which dirt attracts, causing carpet to re-soil quickly.
Q: But how can you use water to clean carpets without causing the problems steam cleaners and dry cleaners cause?
A: The Chem-Dry system uses water with a product called The Natural, which is water-soluble and is made to carbonate the water and to break down dirt. This product also has a neutral PH level, which leaves the carpets softer, with no natural oils are stripped from the carpets.
When the carbonated solution is sprayed on the carpets, The Natural emulsifies the dirt changing it from a solid to a liquid.
The tiny carbonated bubbles then help bring the liquefied dirt to the top of the pile ready for extraction. Because the solution is carbonated the carpets dry quickly as the solution wants to rise up instead of move down, and evaporates quickly. The Natural is also water-soluble, so no dirt attracting residue is left behind in the carpet.
Q: How much can I earn?
A: Every franchise is different. The profitability and turnover of your franchise will vary depending on a number of factors, including sales, operating costs, and more importantly your motivation, dedication and ability to manage, market and control the business.
Questions relating to the profit and loss of a typical Chem-Dry franchise should always be discussed during the application and interview process.
Q: I have never been involved with carpet
cleaning before, is it something I can do?
A: Yes, most people who buy a Chem-Dry franchise have never been in the industry before, and bring the drive, determination and can-do attitude to succeed.
We will provide full training for you. Once you are trained, we always recommend that you clean your own home, and then those of your family and friends so that you can build up your confidence. We also recommend that you work with one of our existing franchise partners until you feel confident to get your own business underway.
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