Are You Handy?

Could a multi-million pound handyman franchise offer you a new start?

2005 has been an exceptional year for Bruce Greig and his company 0800handyman. Turnover has doubled to more than £1million and he has picked up a series of prestigious business awards.

Next year, the 30-year-old Oxford graduate is looking to take his business across the UK. 0800handyman already operates nine franchises in the south of England but Managing Director Bruce is now on the lookout for quality franchisees further afield. If everything goes according to plan, Bruce hopes to increase the number of franchises to more than 30 during 2006 with possible expansion into cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

0800handyman, which was founded by Bruce five years ago, employs friendly, enthusiastic, reliable handymen who tackle all sorts of jobs around the home.

The company directly employs 16 handymen in London, with a further 20 handymen employed by the franchisees, each of whom hires their own local team and is responsible for marketing the business in their local area.

Call-outs range from everyday plumbing and electrical jobs like changing tap washers and fitting lights, through to more unusual jobs such as fitting cornicing in a dolls’ house and hanging a Waterford crystal chandelier in a caravan.

The good-value, professional service appeals to a huge range of customers, from homelessness charities to well-heeled celebrities such as Cat Deeley, Jemima Khan and Thierry Henry.

“Our franchisees don’t need to be expert handymen themselves - their job is to recruit and manage their local team, and to deal with local sales and marketing. We support them with our central marketing, and offer them the expertise we have built up over the past few years running this business.”

Many of Bruce’s franchisees are graduates who have given up successful jobs with large companies and corporations to run an 0800handyman franchise.

Bruce said: “Franchisees need to have the people management skills to keep their team of handymen motivated and focussed; the sales skills to build up their customer base locally; and the business acumen to keep their business running smoothly as it grows”

The idea for the business came after Bruce became frustrated trying to find a decent plumber. He explained, “I realised there was a gap in the market after spending three days waiting for various plumbers to fit a new sink in my kitchen. The only one who turned up - late - wanted to charge an extortionate amount and insisted on replacing the existing brand new pipework. In the end I bought a few bits of copper from B&Q and did it myself."

“I then realised that there are lots of small jobs which are traditionally done by a specialist tradesman which are perhaps better done by an experienced handyman. While it may be hard to recruit a specialist tradesman, it is surprising how many really excellent handymen are out there."

“Prospective franchisees often expect that recruitment will be their biggest challenge, but it isn’t. We have hired retired engineers, surveyors - even a retired RAF fighter pilot who is now one of our best handymen.”

In fact, 0800handyman gets so many applicants, it can afford to be very selective about who it employs. Each candidate goes through a rigorous selection process, after which 90 per cent of applicants fail to make the grade.

Bruce, a psychology graduate and former management consultant in the City, believes his business is successful because of the growing number of young professionals without the time or the inclination for DIY. “It’s not that people don’t want to improve their homes,” explains Bruce, who is a member of the British Franchise Association. “It’s that they don’t want to do the work themselves any more. People still want to spend money improving their homes. They just don’t want to spend valuable time at home with a paintbrush in their hand when they could be spending it with their families and children.

“There are also increasingly large numbers of elderly people who might struggle to perform the tasks themselves, and would struggle to find a specialist tradesmen willing to come round for a small job.”

In recent weeks, 0800handyman has picked up a number of prestigious awards including the Customer Service and Young Entrepreneur honours at the Parcelforce Small Business Awards and the Best Customer Service category at the Daily Telegraph/Sage awards.

Mr Greig says new franchisees need a total investment of around £30,000, including working capital, but estimates that they could earn as much as £100,000 a year within three years.

The company charges £20+VAT per half hour with a call out charge of £10 - £20, depending on the area.

Web Links

0800 Handy Man: www.0800handyman.co.uk

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