Why Premium Service Brands is One of 2021’s Biggest Franchise Success Stories

Premium Service Brands, the multi-brand franchisor with nine major home-service providers under its belt, is increasingly catching the eye of savvy investors in the franchise industry, and for good reason. As the home service segment flourished following the COVID-19 pandemic, Premium Service Brands sold 75 territories across North America in 2020, and the system’s year-over-year sales were up more than 35%. Now, Premium Service Brands is proving this momentum isn’t just luck — the entire system is currently up 43% in year-over-year sales for 2021.

The captain guiding this growing ship is Premium Service Brands CEO Paul Flick, who brings more than 20 years of leadership and management experience in the franchising industry to his role. We spoke with the industry veteran to get the inside scoop on how the company has growing into a thriving multi-unit franchisor, his insights on the home services segment, his plans for the future and more.

Big News From This Year

2021 has been full of major milestones for Premium Service Brands. Perhaps most notable, Flick says, is the slew of acquisitions that have been announced over the past 12 months, including two in just one week: 67-unit tile and grout cleaning franchise The Grout Medic and 36-unit handyman franchise House Doctors. 

“This has been our biggest year for acquisitions by far,” said Flick. “As we acquire bigger and better brands, we are refining our acquisition process, and it is giving us a competitive edge in the franchising industry.”

In late 2020, the franchisor also added junk removal franchise Rubbish Works to its lineup. The full Premium Service Brands roster of integrated service franchises now includes kitchen-remodeling brand Kitchen Wise*, painting brand 360° Painting, cleaning brand Maid Right, outdoor-surface-cleaning brand Renew Crew, home-repair brand Handyman Pro, garage-door services brand ProLift Garage Doors, and the newly-added Rubbish Works, The Grout Medic and House Doctors.

Like all Premium Service Brands concepts, the incoming brands are hand-picked by Flick and the rest of the team to complement the existing portfolio of franchises by connecting customer bases and increasing referrals between brands. Additionally, this year, Premium Service Brands gave franchisees even greater opportunity for vertical growth through the franchisor’s Home.One Program, which offers prospective and existing franchisees an incentive to acquire multiple Premium Service Brands concepts and dominate their local market through multi-brand ownership. The initiative also includes a cross-promotional lead portal that allows franchise owners to build and leverage relationships within a single market and ensure that customers' ongoing home-services needs are always met.

“Our Home.One initiative was conceptualized a few years ago by Paul — we realized we had an incredible opportunity since we had all these brands under one umbrella to share leads and best practices,” said Courtney Spain, Premium Service Brands’ vice president of operations. “A rising tide lifts all boats. Franchisees can service customers over and over, which also breaks down acquisition costs for franchisees. As we keep adding new brands, it will only get better and better.”

Charlottesville, Virginia-based franchisee Justin Rowling, for example, is the owner of three Premium Service Brands concepts — Maid Right, 360º Painting and Handyman Pro. 

“The beauty of Premium Service Brands is that once you figure one concept out, you can easily start another, as the business models are very similar,” said Rowling. “You are providing different services, but they are all home services, and they all require a similar type of advertising, which makes it easy to grow vertically. I have one customer who just bought a new house, and we refinished their floors through Handyman Pro, painted the inside with 360º Painting, and when it was all done, we did a move-in clean with Maid Right. That is really how the franchise opportunity is supposed to work.” 

Earlier this year, Flick also helped Premium Service Brands secure a private equity investment by Susquehanna Private Capital, which he says will help the company continue to prioritize new initiatives like Home.One. For example, the franchisor recently rolled out its Owner Experience Program, a new learning experience that allows incoming owners to practice estimates, sales calls, hiring and recruiting in a virtual reality and role-playing setting.

Why The Home Services Segment Is Poised for Growth

The home improvement industry was already growing 6% annually even before the pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, the pandemic created even more demand as homeowners across every generation began committing to both large-scale home improvement projects and small repairs.

According to a Nerdwallet survey, three in five homeowners, or 61%, have taken on home improvement projects since March 1, 2020. On average, these homeowners spent $6,438 on those jobs. According to a report completed by Home Advisor, home services represent a $506 billion market in the United States. 

“The last 18 months have been a very robust time for home services,” said Flick. “Homeowners are investing their money in those spaces because they are spending more time there. Now, the industry is going to see very steady growth over the next five to ten years. There is currently record-breaking new construction happening in terms of single-family homes as people leave the downtown areas and head into the suburbs. Low interest rates, people working from home — it is all leading to a very robust real estate market and that will always lead to additional home services.”

With this increased demand, Flick says many Premium Service Brands franchisees have seen their strongest sales months while most franchise brands are struggling. For example, 360º Painting has seen year-over-year sales rise 52%, Maid Right is up 24%, Pro-Lift Doors is up 98% and Kitchen Wise is up a whopping 203%.

“Whether it is our painting business, maid service, garage-door company or any of our other services — these are all things the average consumer is looking for right now,” said Dave Rychley, Premium Service Brands’ vice president of brand performance. “That is why our average franchisee has grown their business and is producing more revenue than ever in 2021.”

Why Franchisees Are Getting On Board with Premium Service Brands

In addition to the pandemic bringing increased interest in the home services segment, Flick says it is also bringing increased interest to franchising and entrepreneurship. And increasingly, Premium Service Brands concepts are ending up on the top of prospects’ lists.

“People see now that these are essential businesses that are resilient and recession-proof,” said Flick. “We provide the opportunity to have that career stability, even in a time that is so unsure. People want to work for themselves and know that all of their hard work is actually being put toward something of their own. They also want to make a bigger impact in their community.”

And Flick says Premium Service Brands offer a lot more than just an opportunity to tap into a thriving industry. “We have a really great value proposition for our franchise partners,” he said. “The better we do, the better they do. We offer exceptional training, marketing, lead generation, proprietary software and more.”

Rychley says the Premium Service Brands culture is also a major draw for prospective franchisees. “All franchisees are part of a team,” he said. “Once you are trained and get the business off the ground, you are immediately connected with other franchisees in the network who can give you feedback and share best practices and client lists. That multi-brand network of peers is really a huge differentiator bringing prospects to Premium Service Brands, and that synergy is very rare.”

The Investment 

Flick and the Premium Service Brands team also work hard to provide franchisees with an attractive investment opportunity and streamlined business model. 

“We strive to offer franchisees an opportunity with low overhead costs and high profit margins,” said Flick. “The investment costs range from about $90,000 to $120,000 across all of our concepts, which is very low compared to most of the franchising industry. That is because we don’t require retail space or high-labor models, and we want franchisees to profit as soon as possible so they can reinvest in themselves and their business.”

Rychley notes that the Premium Service Brands investment also stands out with an impressive array of proven processes, systems and resources. “These are business models that are well-established,” he said. “Our technology, in-house contact center, national marketing strategy and strong vendor relationships are all included in the investment.”

In addition to a reliable business model, Spain says franchisees also receive access to the support of a robust corporate team. 

“Our corporate staff holds a lot of accountability and responsibility to provide an amazing experience for our franchisee,” said Spain. “The person who is signing is making the biggest financial decision of their life, so we all work to ensure they have everything they need. Whether it be marketing materials, financial support, software assistance — everything we do is about making the franchise successful.”

Why the Leadership Team is More Excited Than Ever

While this has been a momentous year for Premium Service Brands, Flick says the family of brands is just getting started. 

“Although we are expanding rapidly, we are still at a level where we can have intimacy with our owners, so it's a great place to be,” said Flick. “Overall, we are on the verge of incredible things right now, and it is clear it is only going to get bigger and better.” 

Spain says a major part of that excitement comes from the continuously growing Premium Service Brands’ team at the corporate office. “We’ve added more than 20 new employees in the past year, and it's incredible to see new voices coming in who have that common growth vision for PSB,” she said.

Looking ahead, Flick says some of the primary focuses for the company will be continuing to develop the Home.One initiative and encouraging more acquisitions. 

“The more we can satisfy the end user and provide existing franchise partners with more leads and revenue, the better we will perform overall,” Flick said. “At the end of the day, we want to become the one-stop-shop for the needs of homeowners all over the country. Instead of calling nine different companies to get nine projects done, they just have to call Premium Service Brands. Now, as we expand our portfolio and our systems, we are getting closer to achieving that mission, and it is a very exciting time for the company.”

For more information, visit: premiumservicebrands.com