A Peek Behind the Curtain: What It Takes To Open a Preservan Franchise

Preservan Wood Rot Repair, the emerging home service franchise, offers a truly revolutionary epoxy-based solution that allows homeowners to repair and restore old wood elements of their homes rather than replacing them. This technique, inspired by practices of the National Park Service, is quick for technicians and affordable and long-lasting for homeowners. 

Despite a service model and business structure that is often somewhat — if not completely — unfamiliar to franchise owners, Preservan is able to support its franchisees through a quick and efficient launch, ensuring they are fully prepared to engage with the community and begin completing jobs come opening day.

“Honestly, I had some apprehensions about offering a service that I had no prior experience with,” said Stephen Eppling, owner of Preservan of Athens. “There was a mental hurdle and a bit of imposter syndrome to overcome because selling a service and being able to deliver that service are two very different things. I went into training glad to be there, but I had no idea what it would be like. But from day one, I had my hands on the actual epoxy, learning how it works and how to apply it. By day two, we successfully repaired things like trims, doors and pillars.”

For Eppling, who came from a marketing background, ensuring he understood the hands-on side of the business was one of his top priorities. Even though he arrived at training with zero experience, he said that he was ready to work on a real home by day four, noting that the on-ramp was quicker than he expected.

By the end of his first week of training, Eppling and his technician were working alongside the Oklahoma City Preservan team on a neighbor’s home valued over $2 million.

“They obviously trusted us, and we were able to see firsthand the value that we provided,” Eppling said. “In this home, the windows were rotten and would’ve cost around $25,000 apiece to replace. Five days in, I could already deliver on that promise to repair them for a fraction of the cost.”

Alongside the hands-on training sessions, Eppling said the team also participated in “a day at the studio.” Before he and his technician even returned to Athens, there were ads running and leads in the pipeline.

“I was able to immediately step in the next week after training and start assessing for those jobs, and then two weeks later, we completed our first job,” he said. “That ramp period is just so much faster. Your go-to-market is so much quicker than if you were sitting there as an independent entrepreneur or small team trying to cobble together everything you needed to get off the ground.”

With all the support from the corporate team, Eppling says the start-up process went quite smoothly. Now, as he navigates the early weeks of business ownership, he says his biggest advice to future Preservan owners is to remember the true value of the services provided.

“I’m an owner-operator. My primary job is to sell services and create demand so I can keep technicians busy, and that can be a little bit of a learning experience,” Eppling said. “This is a sales job. If you don’t have sales experience, it can be nerve wracking when you get to the point in an assessment where you say, ‘Let’s review the quote. Here’s what it will cost.’ You don’t know how the homeowner will respond, what their background is or where they’re coming from. You really just have to ground yourself and remember: the alternative to most of this damage is total replacement or working with a handyman, which is either more expensive, less professional or less timely. Remembering those aspects of what we’re offering really helps me to ensure I quote accurately and feel confident in what I’m proposing.”

To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/preservan.