Frequently asked questions

There are many articles on-line explaining the pros/cons of franchising.  

Some of the main benefits associated with franchising include:

• You are buying into a proven and successful business model.  Refresh may be new to the US, but Refresh has more than 85 franchises operating across 4 countries, with the first starting in New Zealand in 2010.
• You differentiate yourself from your competition, you operate like a large company with the benefits of technology and marketing platforms…etc.
• Easier to get funding.
• You have an immediate support system (head office and franchisees).
• Constant training opportunities.

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There are three aspects to running a successful renovation business. If any one of these isn’t in place, it is very difficult to operate a successful renovation business.

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Most stand alone renovation companies would find it very difficult to have even one of these three aspects in place. To develop these three platforms requires significant investment, and many years of learning and ongoing improvement. Refresh has optimized a branded model with the systems and support necessary to create successful franchises across four countries since 2010.

Refresh has a culture of ‘continuous improvement’ with a head office team constantly looking for and implementing ‘best practices’ from our global franchise network and external learnings.  . Because of our scale, we will continue to outpace other renovation companies with optimized systems and processes to maintain our competitive advantage.

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Following are some of the key take outs from the Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) of Harvard University “Achieving Scale in the Residential Remodeling Industry”:

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• “Due to the many obstacles to scale economies facing the residential remodeling industry, such as low barriers to entry, volatile business cycles, highly customized work, and difficulty attracting capital, the industry continues to be highly fragmented, with the vast majority of remodeling companies operating as relatively small, single-location businesses that likely will not experience any significant growth over their life-cycles.

• “Evidence suggests that remodeling firms able to overcome these obstacles enjoy significant benefits from scale.”

• “Remodeling companies successful in expanding have used some combination of organic growth, vertical integration, and strategic partnerships with nationally known manufacturing and retail brands, franchisors, or outside investors.”

• Moving forward, the industry is likely to continue evolving toward greater opportunities for scaling and consolidation.”

• “The high fragmentation of the residential remodeling industry means that remodeling contractors have much more limited buying power and leverage with their suppliers than the more concentrated segments of the construction sector.”
  
  
• “Larger-scale remodeling firms suffer significantly lower failure rates across the rocky business cycle. Remodelers with estimated receipts of $1 million or more during the beginnings of the last industry upturn in 2003-04 had a failure rate of only 2.7 percent that year.”
  
  
• “The proven, replicable business model and support of a franchise company offers an opportunity for faster and more predictable growth.”
  
  
• “Typically, investors seek businesses that offer scalable and replicable opportunities for profit, have good systems and processes in place to do so, and have a strong management team.”

• “The evidence for the benefits of scale in the remodeling industry is compelling.”

• “Comparing the revenue growth of larger-scale remodeling companies to that of the industry as a whole shows that larger-scale remodelers benefit from significantly stronger revenue growth.”
  
  
• “Larger-scale remodeling contractors benefit from higher revenues per employee, which implies that they enjoy greater labor productivity.”
  
  
• “Manufacturers and distributors have already benefited from a streamlined supply chain in the other construction sectors, and they recognize that similar efficiencies could be gained if the home remodeling industry were more consolidated as well.”

• “Participating in peer networks and business associations should be “mission critical” for any remodeling business, and might be the single biggest differentiator between successful and unsuccessful businesses in this industry.”

• “Franchisors are seeking to expand their operations and brand by partnering with business- and marketing-savvy entrepreneurs, who may not necessarily have a remodeling or construction background.”
  
  
• Franchisors are looking first and foremost for leaders with strong business acumen, as opposed to trade skills, because sales, marketing, management, and leadership skills are more critical for successfully operating a franchise business.”
  
  
• “The size of the residential remodeling market is estimated at $350 billion, and with such a large and fragmented market, there is an opportunity for companies that are organized, differentiated, and focused on brand building to capture market share and build large-scale businesses. And with the successful establishment of more large-scale businesses in the industry using sophisticated business practices, the low-cost-of-entry contractor may start to have difficulty securing quality clients.”

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This JCHS report was published in 2014 which validated the Refresh Renovations business model launched initially in New Zealand in 2010 and introduced into the U.S. in 2018.

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• Refresh grew out of a strategic marketing and business management company focused on the building and construction sector, Traffic NZ Ltd., based in Auckland, New Zealand. Some years ago Traffic identified a major gap in the market for a coordinated, professional, and targeted residential renovation business.
• Traffic applied the same processes used with their other clients to analyze the market and identify the significant renovation market opportunity.  Based on those findings Traffic invested and formed Refresh Renovations.

• Refresh has an established and growing operational support team in Pensacola, Florida for the US franchisees, as well as the corporate and support team based in Auckland, New Zealand. The parent company is Traffic NZ Ltd.

• There is also a Global CEO for Refresh Renovations to ensure the consistent delivery of the business model and brand across all countries.

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• New Zealand will remain our Global head office location as we grow the company internationally.  The Global head office has been coordinating the global rollout of Refresh since 2010 and has built up the team to support all current and future countries.
• As Refresh grows internationally, it allows us to invest in better systems and additional resources that benefit all our franchisees.
• Each country has a Franchisor with a Head Office, they are required to proactively grow their own team to provide local support and leadership as required and the NZ HO provides shared services support to each market.

Unlike many other businesses, we are growing Refresh as a long-term asset; not as a business for sale. This means we are investing in creating a robust business infrastructure, not a quick fix to get a good sale price. You will see that reflected in the large number of people at our Global and Country head offices. 

As of July 2022, we have more than 85 Refresh franchisees operating across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA.

Yes, some businesses have failed.  Some for personal reasons, like health issues, emmigration…etc., while others have failed because they didn’t follow the proven process/business model.  Some examples include:

• Several didn’t hire a Project Manager (with industry experience) and tried to manage construction themselves. As they were not experienced building project managers, they got trapped in running the projects and had no time left to run and grow their business. 
• Another group are people focusing only on large projects and rejecting small projects. This is risky, because, even if you have quite a large turnover, you will have geared up your overheads and then, if one project falls over, it leaves a big gap in cash flow and you still have overheads to cover. That’s why we encourage all Franchisees to follow-up on every lead and have a good balance of revenue from small, medium and large projects. 
• Some businesses failed as the franchisee did not do any local marketing. These franchisees can get to a certain turnover but unless they are filling up their pipeline with leads, you can’t bring on enough work to grow. We know what the levels of local marketing need to be but if people refuse to invest appropriately, their business opportunity is limited.

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In all cases, we work with franchisees to help them out of any holes they fall into but, in the end, if they refuse to make the necessary changes and follow the business model, their business will not prosper. 

We have learned a lot based on our experience and have evolved the business accordingly - which is an advantage for new franchisees coming on now! 

These are the key insights that we have learned: 

• In our pilot phase in New Zealand, we recruited contractors and tried to turn them into managers. That didn’t work and we helped them out of the business and realized we needed to recruit commercial people with a customer focus to run and manage the business and they employ contractors to run and manage the construction side of the business. 
• Design and build is much better than the bid model: We originally had ‘design and build’ as an option but also responded to requests for bids. Data from the franchisees showed that ‘design and build’ was a far superior model so that has become the standard process. 
• Follow the model and process: As outlined in the answer to question above, franchisees who invest in building their team, invest in marketing, and maintain a good mix of projects - are the ones who prosper. With our continued investment in analysis, process improvement, and IT systems; we have seen the speed of growth of new franchises increase.

Keys to success:

• Invest to drive leads 
• Engage all leads 
• Build your team, don’t try to do everything yourself
• Customer focused 
• Utilize the Franchisor, the Franchise Business Development Manager and the Franchisee network 
• Follow the process from Lead In through Project Completion

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• Focussing on delivering a great customer experience.
• Driven to succeed and invest in their business.
• Good leadership, ability to build the team and make sure everyone is doing their job. 
• Following the established processes and utilizing the systems to keep on top of sales, construction, administration and business results.
• Collaborate with other franchisees and leverage the expertise of the network

• Refresh Renovations is moving to a proprietary fully integrated system that will manage customers, construction and your businesses finances.
• The business is web and digital system oriented. We are constantly identifying new opportunities and developing new systems.

• We can introduce you to several lenders who are focused on franchising.  They will be able to share several options depending on your individual financial situation and needs.
• Refresh in comparison to other franchise systems or starting an independent business has relatively low cost of entry and low overheads. There is no requirement for commitments such as property leases, fit-outs, building material or machinery…etc. 

You do not need building industry experience to be a successful Franchise Owner. As a Franchise Owner, your focus will be on managing the growth of your business while your Project Manager (with construction experience) will coordinate a team of skilled trades. Our existing Franchise Owners have backgrounds in business, sales, law, customer service, hospitality, and more. One of the things that makes Refresh so unique is that business-minded professionals run the business while trades focus on their area of expertise. This is key to creating a smooth renovation experience for customers and also helps to keep employees and contractors happy within their roles.

View 'Investment and Return' page for most up to date information.

• Our competitors are other renovation companies that are usually single trade based, owned and run typically without any sophisticated technology or planning tools to deliver a highly organized project management experience.

• There are other franchise systems in the home sector, but most of these concepts specialize in one type of renovation (e.g., only bathrooms, closets or kitchens). Most of these concepts have required suppliers that limit customer choices.

• We promote our brand differently:  We are home renovation specialists that deliver a professionally managed project and high-end design experience no matter the size or type of project. Our clients want that type of service. 
• Customers shopping only on price are not our customers.

• Our tools provide you with seamless visibility of all of your leads and your project pipeline. Our pipeline management system helps you improve sales performance and forecast business results, a proactive approach to achieve your revenue and profitability goals.

• The project pipeline is also a powerful tool to build your trade network because they can see you are able to provide them with a steady stream of work vs. a one off project.

One way of looking at Refresh is as a ‘web-enabled’ business. We invest heavily and continuously in this area. Many of those within the renovation sector don’t have the ability or time to use the latest technology, so this gives us a massive advantage. We have a strong IT team constantly improving the web and digital infrastructure while providing training and IT support to franchisees.

As collaboration between our franchisees has proven to generate better results for our franchisees, most of our territories include several franchises.  A franchise is awarded for every US $100m of annual residential renovation work.  The number of franchisees in a territory is limited and protected in your franchise agreement. Our residential renovation market data (by Zip Code) comes from a leading national database used across the industry.  Territory boundaries are well defined through the use of Zip Codes. There are opportunities to purchase multiple territories, please refer to the FDD for further details.

Following are some quotes from several of our franchisees in New Zealand where the vast majority of territories have multiple franchises.

“Joining an existing pack as opposed to going it alone has a number of benefits:

• you gain institutional knowledge without having to learn it
• there is strength 
• many other benefits in numbers - buying power, mentoring, relationships
• everyone runs at the same cadence and direction
• those that lag can be supported by the pack”

Jeff C. (Wellington, NZ)

"The ability to have collaborating parties in the local mix can enable an individual franchise to accelerate their development curve and capabilities significantly.  It expands the brand reach and customer perception of Refresh in the market.  Collaboration can only be a good thing."

"Collaboration and networking with other franchisees that have been operating for different periods of time is beneficial to fast track one's own business." 

"As a new franchisee, I didn't see other Refresh franchisees as competition as there was more than enough work than you could shake a stick at.  Most important was to leverage off the experience of others, visit suppliers together, and pull marketing budgets so I achieve things I couldn't do alone."

Rowan M, (Auckland, NZ)

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 "Sharing experiences across a group is beneficial as there is always someone who has a better idea, or experience in different scenarios that you come across in renovation construction.  It makes you feel supported, and gives you a great sounding board for your own ideas."

"Even as a sole territory franchise, we still have always enjoyed collaborations with other franchises outside our region.  We make a point of keeping in contact, including traveling to meet and spend time with others."

"Cooperative marketing is a very good idea to enable more marketing opportunities by sharing costs."

Wayne G. (Palmerston North, NZ)

Different sectors of the market have different drivers. For example, property owners are looking for low-cost renovations; so we don’t focus on that segment. The segment we focus on is homeowners in the top socio-economic groups. The initial target is women who are looking to improve their homes for social and lifestyle reasons. Common triggers are changes in family life stage (births, aging of owners, parents, and children), selling or buying homes. We also have industry data in the form of a National Segmentation Study on US households that measures the ‘Relative Likelihood of Remodeling Projects by Consumer Group’ that is used to target specific local marketing campaigns for our franchisees. Our Marketing team has also tracked the reasons for renovating from the queries being made and produces articles to answer the main query clusters. This ensures our digital messaging is always addressing the main consumer triggers and helps with our ranking on Google.

• The renovation/remodeling market recorded its eleventh consecutive year of expansion in 2021, showing no decline because of COVID-19.  In fact, the pandemic has driven a variety of housing and lifestyle changes that encourage improvement spending.  Refresh is positioned to capture any change in the market requirements as our Franchisees can and do any type of remodeling project.
• During the last economic turndown in 2008-09 (GFC), the renovation market remained resilient with only a single digit decrease in market opportunity, whereas, the new home and commercial market dropped by 40 - 50%.  When the economy is tight, banks are still happy to lend money on renovations as there is an asset they can lend against. In summary, demand for renovations stays high during recessions and finance remains available because banks have an asset to secure loans against.

• Yes, they do. They bring in additional future renovation work. In general, people will look to renovate their bathrooms and kitchens within three to five years. 
• According to NAHB  approximately 1.2 million houses are built per year in the US (according to 2017 statistics). A rising new build market does not cannibalize the renovation market.
• The market size used for the territory calculation is based on annual renovation activity, so new build activity is not counted in the figures.  Plus the renovation market opportunity per territory is significant. As an example, the average territory in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metro area is approximately $461 million in annual renovation revenue (4 franchises) from approximately    21,000 projects.  Depending on a franchisee's average project size, they may only need  10-15 projects per year to have a substantial business.

Trade partners stay focused on working jobs, not on project management, thereby increasing their productivity and revenue potential. Refresh brings them projects, owns and manages the homeowner relationship. It's a win-win!

• Given that Refresh is targeting business professionals from outside the industry, the Pensacola management team recognizes the importance of working with each new franchisee to help them find and build their local construction team.

• Refresh’s asset-light model includes a low number of W2 employees; most project workers will be trade subcontractors.

• Your first important W2 hire will be your project manager (with industry experience).  In the States that require a Qualifying Contractor to register a renovation company, the project manager would be a General or Residential Contractor.

• As the business scales, additional project managers, administrative and sales support are common hires. You will build your network of trades over time.

• We encourage franchisees to work with local offices of national suppliers, as well as, local lumber yards, plumbing and electrical supply houses

• Local contacts typically provide better service and are also a valuable resource for product information, and to connect you with local tradespeople. 

• Refresh franchises can purchase their supplies from any reputable supplier within the industry, as long as the supplier is not listed on our ‘List of Banned Suppliers’.  Our concern is related to product quality and ensuring customer satisfaction.

• Due to confidentiality, we cannot share actual accounts besides what is outlined in Item 19 of our Franchise Disclosure Document. 
• During the due diligence process, you have the opportunity to meet some franchisees and will be able to discuss financials with them on a one-on-one basis.

• When we meet to have our regular business reviews, we look at progress versus business plan and also benchmark versus other franchisees on conversion rates and also financials (P&L). 
• We provide benchmarking data across a wide range of business drivers.

This is covered as part of your due diligence process. All you need is a car, phone, and computer and you can run your business from home. Working capital, such as an overdraft facility, is to help cover your costs while ramping-up the business. We will also share a P&L template to help you estimate the cost to run your business based on your specific assumptions.

• Franchise fees are paid upon the signing of the agreement. 
• Working capital is typically an overdraft facility rather than an upfront cost, which is only used as required. 
• Royalties (6%) and the National Brand Marketing Fund (1%) are monthly costs. Many franchise systems require royalties based on invoice but the Refresh royalties are only due once revenue is received by your business which is a big help to early cash flow.  To confirm, there is no minimum monthly Royalty or National Brand Marketing requirement, it is based on received revenue only.

• There is not a launch event as we are not a food franchise that requires a big launch to start. 
• Your marketing will be activated when you commence. Leads will start being entered into your Refresh Control for you to follow up. 
• Your franchise fee covers a ‘Start-Up Pack’ (marketing collateral) and setting up your website presence.

You would probably run your franchise from home for the first year or two. As your team expands, you may want to look into a small commercial office. This cost is covered by your business.

• The Refresh business model is driven by marketing spend.  Increasing your local marketing spend will generate more leads which at a constant conversion rate will increase your project revenue.  Project size also plays a part, but the majority of our franchises have a good balance of small, medium and large projects. Given the market opportunity in each territory in both annual residential revenue ($) and number of projects, the model does not limit the size of the business you can create.

• Building your market visibility includes attending local home renovation shows and expos. This type of exposure can bring a large pipeline of projects from just a few events.

• You will maintain a drumbeat of local and digital marketing so that when clients are looking for custom home remodeling solutions, they discover Refresh Renovations.

• As you build a pipeline of projects, you will also build your network of tradespeople to support those projects. Most of these tradespeople are not on your payroll, they are simply paid out of the project cost on a per project basis.   

• Our model is highly capital efficient and scalable – you add to your team as your project funnel grows.  Common early hires include project managers (with industry experience), administrative support and salespeople.   

• Client referrals and follow-on projects are common. Refresh builds long-term customer relationships. Clients think of Refresh as “my builder” for any projects they can imagine. We are a one-stop shop.

In addition to the National Brand Marketing Fund, we provide a great deal of marketing options for your local franchise marketing activities.  These can be broken down into 4 types: 

• Digital and online marketing: we provide resources to plan and implement  cost-effective campaigns on your behalf. 
• Customer relationship marketing: we provide tools, databases, and training to help you generate repeat sales and referrals. 
• Trade relationship marketing: we help you build networks and campaigns to generate leads from various trade sources. 
• General marketing communications: we provide collateral and marketing support to help you run local campaigns. A personalized 1 800 or local trackable phone number is one of these tools. 

We provide a marketing toolkit, training, benchmarking, and other marketing resources to help you with local marketing.

• You must invest timely in local marketing to generate sufficient leads to achieve the Minimum Productivity Levels. However, during the first year following the execution of the Franchise Agreement, the Franchisee is required to spend a minimum expenditure of $7,500 during the first quarter ff operations and $4,500 per quarter. 

• The marketing support we provide can be targeted to generate different types of leads to manage your mix of small, medium, and large project leads. Small projects like bathrooms might have a cycle time of six weeks from lead to completion. Large extensions might take six months to go through planning.

Yes, we do have a launch and induction plan which includes a 12 week onboarding program. This will be shared with you as you move through Due Diligence.

There is an extensive digital and web program. During induction, we will set up a regional section on our website where you can work with our head office (Florida and New Zealand) team to add your team profile, and other content to help to establish the local online presence. All this is managed and provided for you.

Our main competitors are small contractors. We don’t directly compete with them because they enter the sales process at the bid stage whereas we win the customer much earlier in the design stage. Small contractors can’t compete with our value proposition. However, the segment is huge and there is plenty of room for a number of competitive companies.

The 1% goes towards setting up the marketing, branding, providing digital marketing platforms and campaigns that are constantly changing as we optimize. It is establishing the brand, and getting the presence in the market established that helps all the other activities, like lead generation and conversion.

• Our global head office team (whose wages are partly funded by the 1% National Brand Marketing Fund) have created design and style guides for the home show kits. Each franchise/territory orders their own kit, which your Franchise Business Development Manager can help you organize. Our team has also created checklists and guidelines on ‘How to run a home show effectively to maximize lead generation’.
• When it comes time to run a home show and the standard kit will not work, a franchisee can submit a request for support to the global head office, and they can assist with a revised design and production of material. In this case, there would be a charge for the design and marketing support.
• We have developed a marketing and merchandising online ordering system that enables franchisees to order directly from printers with our standard branded material for a more efficient process.

We will provide you with a draft of the legal agreement (the Franchise Agreement - Exhibit E of the Franchise Disclosure Document) for your review within 2-3 weeks into your due diligence. We do recommend that you engage a franchise lawyer to get independent advice. We do not modify the Franchise Agreement but we can acknowledge certain clarifications or amendments in an Addendum to the Franchise Agreement if we all agree to them.

We don’t have a minimum fee. Minimum Performance levels are outlined in the Franchise Disclosure Document. The Minimum Performance level is just one tool to help you plan and benchmark your business performance. If franchisees don’t meet them, we work with them to see what’s needed to bring them back on track. We don’t use this as a mechanism to weed out franchises - it takes a huge effort to get good franchises so our incentive is to do everything we can to make it work for both parties.

We develop a business plan and an annual operational master plan with you and have quarterly review meetings with benchmarking to help you achieve your plans. Everything in the plan is part of the coaching. We work with you for as long as it takes, providing support. This is a joint exercise.

The agreement is 10 years with a 2 x 10 years right of renewal at terms no less favorable. The right for renewal (2 x 10 years) occurs each time the agreement is renewed. So, in other words, the franchise doesn’t revert back to us as long as you are in good standing with your Franchise Agreement. The legal costs to renew the agreement are outlined in the Franchise Disclosure Document.

The business is your asset to sell. We don’t take a fee out of the sale. We will recover transfer costs - see legal agreement. If you want us to, we will help you with the sale. It is in our interest to get a new franchisee to carry on the business. We do retain the right to make sure the new franchisee is suitable for the business. We provide the necessary training and support to help the new owner be successful.

You can sell the business as long as you are not in breach for some reason. See the legal agreement.

There is a breach process outlined in the legal agreement. For example, if you are damaging the brand. It is not in our interest to terminate franchises so we always do everything we can to support a franchisee.

The number of franchises in a territory is determined by the size of the renovation market in that area. The number is defined in your franchise agreement. A franchise is awarded for every $100 million in annual renovation revenue. Most territories will be approximately $500 million in annual renovation revenue, so this territory could have up to 5 franchises over time.

It’s a simple process. We do a letter of agreement which both the Franchisor and yourself sign. This can happen if a franchise/territory is still available.

Yes, as long as your current franchise is meeting its targets and there is a franchise available in the territory you are interested in.

• As mentioned on our website and materials previously shared, we are looking for commercially-oriented people who want to grow a large business by investing in the business and their team. 
• Because we have limited the total number of franchise territories that will ever be available, we need to make sure we appoint people that will be successful in implementing the Refresh business model.

The most important attributes are a positive attitude and a strong motivation to succeed. We recruit growth-minded franchisees that understand that they are managing a business, not a series of projects. That means managing teams of employees, trades, suppliers, etc. This is a sales-oriented, people business. Franchisees must understand that they are accountable to the customer for issues that arise.

Training can either be at our US head office in Pensacola, Florida, or conducted on-line. Our initial training is approximately 28 hours.

• Yes, we do have an onboarding program plus regular ongoing support as required.  The onboarding program is included in your fees. 
• Training on the Refresh systems and processes is ongoing and generally not charged for separately.

We regularly offer lead management and sales training, as well as project delivery and various admin/business management training. We require you to attend some of those training sessions with your employees so that everyone understands their roles in the business. Generally, this is included as part of the fees. Exceptions would be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

You can expect a lot of support in general and, yes, there is technical support for Refresh Control, which is being constantly enhanced. We developed Refresh Control as a cloud-based business management platform because none existed that fit our global design and build business for residential renovations.

• Each franchisee starts with a 28 hour induction/training at the head office in Pensacola or on-line that covers business management, marketing lead management, and sales. Additional training is provided as you deliver your first projects.
• Support is ongoing - coaching over the phone, in person, and via teleconference is on an as-needed basis. 
• Much of a franchisee’s needed support is built directly into Refresh Control in the form of manuals, FAQ’s, etc. that all comprise a vast knowledge center. 
• The Franchise Business Development Manager will also conduct quarterly reviews and arrange additional training as needed/on request. 
• We also require all franchisees to attend annual conferences, where we share updates and best practices, both formally and informally via networking with other franchisees. 
• We have a forum on Facebook which you can join and interact with the global community of Refresh franchisees

If you talk to the existing franchisees they will tell you that we offer great support. Most operational problems are teething issues that every franchisee goes through and we’ve built up our answers over time in the form of coaching, system functionality, training, and documentation. You most likely won’t encounter an operational issue we haven’t already addressed a dozen times over. 

• Support from franchisees: franchisees establish their own informal networking but we also encourage and provide opportunities to network in more formal or facilitated environments like annual and mid-year conferences, and webinars. 
• Performance feedback - definitely. You establish your revenue targets from day-1 of induction. Your dedicated Franchise Business Development Manager will conduct your quarterly reviews to go over your goals and make sure you’re on track to achieve them. If you are not, they will give you the support you need to achieve them. 
• The Learning Management System is incorporated into Refresh Control that supplies support through video and written training courses. In addition to those valuable resources there is a contact list so new franchisees can collaborate with current franchisees. 

We review the agreed annual business plan and also benchmark versus other franchisees in lead conversion and also the Profit & Loss statement/business financials.

• No fit-out is required as you are running your franchise from a home office and then eventually you’ll move into a small commercial office. This cost would be for your business. 
• The global head office marketing team will provide you with all the branding and design support required at a cost-recovery rate.

Besides the initial and on-site training (approx. 56 hours), we offer a 12 week onboarding option. We also encourage ad hoc interactions with US head office personnel/franchisees and a formal Quarterly Business Review process.

• Yes, we do a minimum of a quarterly business review. As you know, we have an operational resource and its role is to help you get up and running and then help you to grow your business. 
• We have an annual international conference (when travel conditions permit) which includes training, benchmarking, and networking with other franchises.

• As above, our dedicated Franchise Business Development Manager would address or co-ordinate the help needed to resolve your issue. 
• We have a very collaborative culture which means franchisees with experience help each other with practical tips and advice. There is an active internal facebook to support these communications. This is one of the benefits of the shared territories.

• Head office (Florida) will be in contact with you frequently in your first 6 months and then at least every 3 months when we do your quarterly business review. 
• You are also welcome to make contact and come see us at head office (Florida) at any time. 
• Through Refresh Control we are able to see what your pipeline is looking like compared to your peers and if we spot any issues we will contact you.

Yes, we benchmark conversion rates and also financials so we can help improve your business.

There are some minor seasonal aspects but renovations happen year-round. The types of projects can vary with seasons, for example, you may have more insulation/heating inquiries in the autumn/winter and more deck inquiries in the spring/summer.

It’s not a state secret of what creates success - our business model is simple and the market opportunity to consolidate the residential renovations sector is now self-evident. Follow the process and use the systems in order to deliver our value proposition - giving customers a less stressful renovation experience while delivering a high-quality outcome. Franchisees have problems when they do not follow the process! Many franchisees have proven this to themselves when they try to disprove it. 

We’ve learned the hard lessons in the past from franchisees that have acted in some way counter to our business model and executed our process poorly. Refresh Control, and the Refresh Process, are designed to allow franchisees to successfully sell and deliver projects to their customers while scaling a significant business asset. The onus is on the franchisee to adhere to their operating obligations as stipulated in the manuals and to achieve their revenue targets, which we help with.

• Project Managers (with construction experience)/Construction Managers could range from $55k to $120k depending on qualification and years of experience and region. 
• Renovation Specialists could range from $35k to $55k plus a bonus structure based on the Concept & Feasibility, Working Drawings & Costings and Projects sold, we can advise on this.

Yes, we have a ‘Learning Management System’ (LMS) on-line that is constantly updated. The LMS contains detailed training manuals and videos outlining all aspects of our end-to-end business model.

Absolutely - we need you to do business the “Refresh way”, so offer training on all of the platforms we use, not just Xero. From time to time we may change the IT systems but there is a consultation process with franchisees if we do this.

• White - ideally a management style vehicle in good condition. You need it from day 1 as you need to go and see customers. 
• If your vehicle is in good condition but not white, a very viable option is to have it ‘wrapped’ in white as part of the sign-writing process. 
• You can order your vehicle signage through the Refresh Renovations online store.

• Contact details of all franchisees globally on Refresh Control with local time zone settings so you don’t wake them up in the middle of the night. 
• Weekly newsletter from the global head office. 
• Direct emails from head office (Florida and New Zealand) managers. 
• Quarterly individual and annual international conferences and meetings. 
• Individual business plans and coaching from area managers and head office managers.
• Franchisee internal communications forums for practical tips and advice from experienced.
• Plus many more...

• You can submit new ideas via email and they will go into the development schedule to be prioritized and considered as new features. You can also submit new FAQs, glossary terms, etc. for consideration to help us grow our knowledge base. 
• Refresh Control has a facility to make suggestions in various places on the site.

We have excellent communications with franchisees. A FAC hasn’t been requested.

• An Operational Business Plan is set up with each franchise. This includes the individual marketing plan for the franchise based on their growth aspirations. This plan is reviewed with each franchise quarterly and adjusted as required. 
• The Franchisor’s from each country develop a Refresh company Operational Business Plan that incorporates the franchisee’s business and marketing plans. 
• The Country Operational Business Plans are discussed and prioritized to set the global head office team objectives on an annual basis.

• The global head office with the appropriate Franchisor are responsible for managing the National Brand Marketing Fund, which includes providing the web and digital platforms for marketing.  This includes having the marketing staff resources to run the associated platforms.
• Franchisees are responsible for the local marketing initiatives required to generate sufficient leads to meet their growth targets. Their local marketing budget covers this.