5 Ways the Pandemic Made Home Services the Best Franchises to Own

The pandemic has been hard on a lot of businesses but it’s had a positive impact on home services. In fact, home services businesses may be the best franchises to own in the current economic climate.

Here are five ways the pandemic has had a positive impact on home services businesses and caused massive growth among home-based, mobile franchises.

1. Huge Increases in Demand for Home Services

It happened almost overnight. In the Spring of 2020, lockdowns were in place all over North America. Office workers experienced an immediate shift to remote work. While some of those workers are returning to the office, many companies have opted for a hybrid approach, offering workers the option of some or all of their work time spent at home.

This massive tidal shift in workplaces for so many people meant that more people were spending more time at home. It should come as no surprise then that those homes, now getting more attention from their owners, also required a lot more home services. Everything from house cleaning, to junk removal, home health, and of course renovation services saw a massive lift in demand. Homeowners wishing to adapt their homes to be better working environments called on home services companies to help them make the adjustment.

With the increased demand, mobile franchises were in the best possible position to capitalize. Busy homeowners turned to reputable service companies for their home improvement needs, causing huge growth across the whole sector.

2. Home-based, Work from Anywhere

On the flip side, this unprecedented economic shift caused a lot of middle-management knowledge workers to think about their futures and to consider business ownership. With the increase in demand for their service, mobile franchise brands also saw a major lift in the number of potential franchisees who were looking for a new way to earn a living. Furloughed workers sought out the opportunity to become business owners in their own right, and the mobile franchise model allows them a relatively painless way to start.

After all, if you;’e going to be working from home anyhow, why not invest in a business of your own. Mobile franchising offers these go-getters a lower barrier of entry and existing systems that are already proven to be successful in other markets.

3. Lower Startup and Expansion Costs

The lower barrier of entry that we speak of is the lower startup cost that mobile franchises offer. Rather than having to secure a business location, many mobile franchises offer franchisees the ability to work from home. The startup costs typically include the purchase of a branded vehicle, specific tools and supplies, as well as the other franchise investment costs.

Staff is another expense that can grow along with demand. The business owner will often take the role of the driver and service tech to start with. When growth allows, they can expand with other vehicles, teams, and operations areas with similarly reasonable expansion costs.

4. Excellent Support from Franchisors

Since the bulk of their franchisees are remote workers, mobile franchises have the freedom to explore the various ways they can leverage that advantage. This means they can invest in better tools, systems, and communications methods to help bridge the gap. They can study the trends and needs of specific service areas and pass the learning onto individual franchise partners.

Franchisors are finding new ways to show value to their franchise partners by constantly improving upon their systems and workflows, taking into account the realities of remote work.

The pandemic caused more than simply a shift to more remote work — it also prompted businesses of all kinds to review their systems and processes, in some cases investing in better digital tools to help fuel growth. Mobile franchises are no exception.

5. Touchless Service and Business Automation

Demand for home services of all kinds is up and showing no signs of slowing. Mobile franchises continue to meet this growth in demand, in part because they were better prepared to. Busy homeowners can be known to place a lot of value on price, but many place an even higher value on convenience.

The businesses that were able to offer those conveniences were often the first choice. Services like online booking and automated appointment reminders offer both client and service provider peace of mind and considerably less hassle.

The pandemic may have initially helped to popularize things like automated quotes, booking, scheduling, invoicing, and payments. Indeed both franchise owners and their customers benefit from those kinds of conveniences. But once customers have had a taste of that level of service, there’s no going back. Those conveniences become the cornerstones of customer loyalty — make it easier for them and they have no reason ever to go to your competition.

Our Franchise Management Tools Make Home Services the Best Franchises to Own

That convenient automation we talked about? That superior franchisor support? Vonigo’s franchise management software is what makes it all possible. We offer home services franchises a suite of business solutions that enable everything from online quotes to payments and reporting.

We take the hassle out to those business processes so that franchisees can work on the important stuff — the billable work they’re hired to do.

To learn more about how Vonigo can help your home services franchise expand and grow using franchise management software, book a free, private demo of Vonigo.