Franchisor Stories
As homeowners and renters increasingly prioritize energy efficiency, the Threshold Brands-backed 75-unit franchise has emerged as the leading provider of home insulation services.
The $10 billion home insulation industry has long been fragmented, without a single brand name leading the pack. But as homeowners and renters increasingly prioritize energy efficiency, one brand has emerged as the go-to name for home insulation services. Leveraging nearly four decades of experience in the industry, 75 locations, and under ownership of multi-brand home services franchisor Threshold Brands, USA Insulation is claiming an outsized share of the booming insulation market, and it’s poised for rapid growth.
“People are buying homes in record numbers, and even those who aren’t are reinvesting in their existing homes. Both trends have caused a surge in demand for home insulation,” said USA Insulation brand president Patrick Pitrone. “Insulation has proven to be one of the most cost-effective upgrades you can make on a home, as well as one of the most important comfort and energy savings solutions. It pays for itself in just a few years.”
On the heels of a pandemic that dramatically reshaped the amount of time spent at home, home sales reached a 15-year high in 2021, pushing prices to record peaks. With that frenzied market came an equally increased demand for renovation services, both among sellers hoping to secure the best price tags for their homes as well as homeowners and renters opting to make comparatively inexpensive upgrades that provide energy savings and additional comfort to their existing homes in lieu of purchasing a new one.
Founded in Cleveland in 1985 by Pitrone’s father, Jeff, USA Insulation exploded onto the market through its use of a proprietary injection foam insulation that the brand still uses today. In its first year in business, USA Insulation completed an impressive 300 residential insulation jobs, and has only continued to grow. After Patrick joined the company in 2004, it became increasingly clear to him that the business had an opportunity to expand on a national level.
“The operations are so well refined — this company was designed to scale,” Pitrone said. “It didn’t take much research to see just how great the demand for a service like ours was in markets across the country.”
The brand officially launched its franchise opportunity in 2006 and began establishing territories in markets across the U.S. While growth has been slow, only awarding 3-5 new franchise locations per year, it has been a conscious choice by the brand to ensure that each owner has the support and backing they need to achieve maximum success. Another component of the brand’s measured growth strategy: a dedication to ensure that USA Insulation still operates as a family business, even as it scales.
“USA Insulation grew up as a family business, and that’s something that’s very important to us,” said Pitrone. “That’s a critical part of our core values and culture: we are inclusive and thoughtful, and we make decisions for the brand as a family, and that includes our franchisees. We believe that if you want to go fast, you should go alone. If you want to go far, go together. We are in this to go far, and that means treating our franchisees like family.”
In 2015, the brand made a major leap forward, purchasing the supplier that manufactured its proprietary insulation product — a unique foam insulation with the highest insulation value in its class — and moving its operations closer to USA Insulation’s headquarters in Cleveland. The acquisition allowed the brand to maximize quality control and ensure that franchise owners have the most favorable terms.
“We now produce our own proprietary insulation product, which is unmatched by anything else in the industry and is available exclusively to our franchisees. This is a huge advantage in the industry,” said Pitrone.
The brand’s next major growth milestone came in 2020 during the COVID-pandemic, a time when other brands across industries were shutting down and scaling back. Instead, USA Insulation saw record-breaking sales numbers as an increased amount of time at home led people to turn their attention to home improvement projects. Ultimately, this spike in consumer demand spurred the brand’s decision to bring on a multi-brand franchisor for additional support and growth.
“While we were researching USA Insulation as a potential franchise opportunity, many of the owners we spoke to were having their best years ever,” said Andrea Peters, owner of USA Insulation of Orlando. “They were seeing double the revenue they had in previous years.”
In March of 2021, USA Insulation joined Threshold Brands, the leading franchisor in the home services industry with a portfolio of brands that includes MaidPro, Men in Kilts, Pestmaster Services, FlyFoe, Sir Grout, Heating + Air Paramedics and Plumbing Paramedics.
“Threshold offers us the ability to leverage the knowledge, best practices and resources of eight brands, all of which are succeeding in different segments of the same industry we are in, and it’s given our franchise owners incredible new growth opportunities,” said Pitrone.
Now, USA Insulation is leveraging that support, along with its nearly four decades of experience and proprietary insulation product, to dominate the booming home insulation segment and establish new franchise territories in markets across the country, starting with development in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Kansas City, Kansas; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota; Long Island, New York; and Omaha, Nebraska.
“Threshold Brands is able to service many needs of the homeowner and, by doing so, the collective data from the brands provides valuable marketing and operations insights to be shared and leveraged across all brands,” said Scott Sutton, Threshold Brands’ chief growth officer. “These insights can help drive unit-level economics for all franchise owners, including those within USA Insulation.”
Now, with a proven franchise model and a strong support network behind it, USA Insulation is aiming to grow by at least 30% by the end of 2022. As a result, the brand is looking for qualified and eager franchise partners to represent the brand in new markets across the country.
The startup costs to open a USA Insulation franchise range from $170,500 to $346,000 including a $50,000 franchise fee. For more information, visit https://www.usainsulationfranchise.com/
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