Husband-and-wife team Roy and Erica Morelock just couldn’t stay away from Lawn Doctor.

The former Lawn Doctor franchisees, who at one point owned and sold multiple franchises in North Carolina and Tennessee, officially rejoined the brand earlier this year. This time around, they are bringing Lawn Doctor to the Tar Heel State’s Concord-Mt. Pleasant area, which is just northeast of Charlotte. Their franchise opened in late January 2020.

Their relationship with Lawn Doctor started in 2003 when Roy learned about the brand through his stepfather. Roy was just 24 years old when he purchased his first Lawn Doctor franchise in Kingsport, Tennessee. In 2009, he purchased a neighboring Lawn Doctor franchise in nearby Bristol, and in 2013 the Morelocks purchased Lawn Doctor franchises in North Carolina’s Huntersville market, which is part of the Charlotte metropolitan area.

The Morelocks intended to move to the Huntersville area, but family circumstances prevented them from leaving Tennessee, so they sold their North Carolina franchises in 2015, keeping only the Tennessee franchises, which they later sold in 2018.

They wouldn’t be away for too long, though. There are just too many benefits to being a Lawn Doctor franchisee. The Morelocks also missed interacting with community members and providing their customers with the brand’s signature high level of service.

“In short, we missed Lawn Doctor,” Erica said. “Lawn Doctor has a great business model and franchising with the brand provided our family with a very comfortable lifestyle.”

Roy noted that he has worked in the lawn care industry since 1997, and as far as he’s concerned, it just doesn’t get any better than Lawn Doctor.

“Lawn Doctor offers a low-stress environment and the chance to be outdoors and mobile,” Roy said. “It’s also a lifestyle business. You can mold it to whatever lifestyle you want. If you want to work four days a week, you can. Also, the brand has top-notch equipment that is truly the best in the industry.”

The timing to go back to Lawn Doctor was perfect, as the Morelocks’ daughter graduated from high school early and wanted to go to college in North Carolina. Erica reached out to the family’s longtime acquaintance David Newman, Lawn Doctor’s Vice President of Operations.

“I called up David and said ‘What territory do you have available in North Carolina?’ and that pretty much started the conversation,” Erica said.

The Morelocks are now building brand awareness in the Concord-Mt. Pleasant area and have been working hard to spread the word about their business.

“The market here is pretty fast and changes a lot,” Erica said. “Fortunately, Lawn Doctor has an in-house marketing program to help us build brand awareness and asks us as owners to employ several ground-game tactics to get the word out locally about our business. As a previous franchise owner, I was really excited to hear about some of the new and different ways franchisees can now market their business. This has helped us hit the ground running while Roy and I put our feet to the pavement.”

The Lawn Doctor leadership team is glad to have the Morelocks back in the system. 

“Roy and Erica were always excellent representatives of the Lawn Doctor brand in Tennessee and North Carolina, and we’re excited to see what success they’ll have now that they’re officially back as a part of our family,” CEO Scott Frith said. “It’s not every day you see franchise owners like the Morelocks build a successful business, sell it and then return to the brand. That speaks volumes to the culture we’ve built here at Lawn Doctor.”

The Morelocks are thrilled with their market and with their decision to return to Lawn Doctor. They noted a plethora of neighborhoods in the area filled with residents who desire to maintain their lawns. The Morelocks can definitely see themselves opening multiple Lawn Doctor franchises in the future—again.

“We’re so excited to be back,” Erica said. “Franchising with Lawn Doctor again feels like coming home.”

The startup costs for a Lawn Doctor franchise range from $100,015 to $116,065. The franchise fee ranges from $25,000 to $35,000. To learn more about franchising with Lawn Doctor, visit https://lawndoctorfranchise.com/.