Multi-Brand Franchisee and Industry Veteran Sees Anchored Tiny Homes as Prime Investment

With 13 years spent in the franchise industry, a decade of which has been dedicated to running his own franchise growth agency, Raintree, Brent Dowling has developed nearly 50 franchise brands, served as the franchisor for two brands and is a franchisee with three. His most recent investment as a franchisee is Anchored Tiny Homes, the emerging tiny home franchise that is currently exploding in markets nationwide.

“Why did we decide on Anchored Tiny Homes? It’s pretty clear. It’s very rarely, if ever, that I see a market demand like this for the product that’s being offered,” explained Dowling. “Affordable housing is a real problem, and this is a great solution. My business partner Mike Edwards and I love being early adopters, and this was the perfect storm of pent up demand, an opportunity to solve a real problem in society and some of the best unit-level economics we’ve ever seen.”

Dowling explained that he and Edwards chose to secure additional territories before their first even launched, avoiding an all too common regret in the franchise space.

“We often see that in successful franchise systems, a common regret from franchisees is not committing to more territory while it was still available. We didn’t want to make that potential mistake here,” he added. “We’re so excited about this franchise investment that we just added more territory. We now have eight territories in the Denver area.”

A Great Fit for a Busy Businessman and Franchise Industry Expert

Raintree has driven strong growth for dozens of brands, and much of this can be attributed to the team’s emphasis on creating healthy matches, and Dowling took the same approach in determining whether he would be a great fit for Anchored Tiny Homes. In addition to the strong consumer demand and impressive unit-level economics, he needed to be certain that the opportunity would fit his values and lifestyle.

“We really coach folks that the culture fit has to be there. You can have the skill sets, you can love the brand and you can see the demand in your particular market, but if you don’t see the world the same way as the founders and support team, you’re not going to have a good time,” explained Dowling. “We very carefully got to know Colton, Austin and Scott [Paulhus] and understood whether we fit into their community. It was clear pretty quickly that we did. They’re all really values-driven people with great integrity, but they still like to have fun. That ticks all the boxes from a culture perspective, and it’s this culture fit that makes us so happy to follow their lead with the franchise.”

It’s this same culture fit and confidence in the Anchored Tiny Homes leadership team that made Dowling feel so comfortable with the investment knowing that he would need to lean heavily on the systems the team has already developed.

Colton Paulhus, co-founder and CEO of Anchored Tiny Homes, consistently emphasizes the idea that the franchise opportunity can be a fit for anyone who is excited about going into business and ready to make a real change in the community. Franchisees do not need prior experience with architecture or construction because the majority of the process is outsourced; franchisees are responsible for connecting with local experts and building and leading a strong internal team that will help them execute the vision.

“I’m not able to dedicate as much time to the business as a full-time franchisee might. I’m a franchisee and a full-time CEO,” said Dowling. “Knowing that the support is there and knowing that so much of the process has already been locked in by the franchise system was very reassuring. I’m not in a position to be able to work on this business every day, so we’re excited to take all of these great support programs that Colton and the team have built, build a team of great people in Denver and let them make some magic.”

The Denver territories are expected to launch this December, and Dowling said he looks forward to being able to offer a solution to a high-demand market.

Like many major markets, real estate costs in Denver are consistently climbing, demand to live in — and even just visit — the area is high and with an aging population nationwide, many younger Denver residents are looking for a way to bring their parents closer to them.

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) offer a pathway for existing homeowners to add a revenue stream to the property they already own as a short or long-term rental or increase real estate availability for family members with a lower cost than what an entirely new single-family property would require.

“The cost of ‘affordable’ housing here has far outpaced the growth of other markets,” he said. “It’s becoming more and more unrealistic for people to be able to afford housing in Denver, so we knew this was the right market and right time to act.”

As more local jurisdictions continue to pass widespread legislation that encourages the use of ADUs in multiple contexts and the lack of housing accessibility remains a major focus of the news cycle, demand for ADUs will continue to climb. As it works to address the need, Anchored Tiny Homes is working to grow in major markets across North Carolina, Texas and Florida and in New York City, Portland and Atlanta.

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