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Thursday, December 19, 2013

Remodeling market growth good for handyman services

Over the years I've seen business opportunities come and go. Choosing a franchise that is here to stay and not a fad can be so important for your success. Remodeling and home improvement activity continues to be a great measure as to how strong the opportunity is for any of our House Doctors and House Medic handyman service franchises. That's why it's great news when we see the remodeling market continuing to grow. In this post I share some remodeling data from a study by Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economist with Hanley Wood, dated November 12, 2013 which show exciting times ahead for both of our Brands.

11,651,573 remodels forecast for 2014

The Hanley Wood study states that the homebuilding and remodeling market is expected to continue building momentum into 2014. According to the study it looks like 2014 will be the strongest year in residential spending in 7 years and remodeling and home improvements is expected to rise by another 5% getting us close to figures that show a full National recovery.
I thought I'd also include for you the top 10 remodeling markets at the moment and the markets that are expected to be the biggest in 2014. The great news is that at House Doctors and House Medic handyman services we have a number of these markets available for new franchisees.

 
  Top 10 Remodeling Markets in US

1. Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY

2. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX

3. San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX

4. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

5. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX

6. Pittsburgh, PA

7. Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA

8. Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO

9. Oklahoma City, OK

10. Indianapolis-Carmel, IN

  Biggest Remodeling Markets for 2014

1. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA

2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA

3. Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI

4. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

5. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

6. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX

7. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

8. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH

9. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
 
10. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA

Reasons why confidence is high that momentum will continue into 2014 and beyond

  • The Baby Boomers are feeling more confident. They are investing in new homes and/or discretionary home improvements and home modifications—Aging in place is expected to be a key driver for the next 5-10 years
  • Increases in Mortgage rates are not expected to stop the recovery
  • Consumer confidence is increasing and once again driving home purchase decisions
  • People have put off remodeling and replacement projects. They are now needed just as home equity improves
  • New home demand is shifting again to better and bigger
  • Housing is again a positive contributor to the economy and helping to drive economic growth
  • Economic growth and opportunity continues to vary market to market
What do you think? Will the momentum continue? How does your market compare?
 

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Handyman franchise and handyman services update

This time of year is always busy but the last few weeks have been even busier here at House Doctors franchisor and our franchises like House Medic handyman services in Round Rock and Austin with the launch of our new websites and the introduction of a new internet strategy. This is always a busy time for our franchisees as homeowners prepare for the holidays and this year as a franchisor over the last few weeks we've been involved with webinars for existing franchisees, training for new franchisees, end of year supplier negotiations, and the planning of our Annual Convention. All part of a franchisor's role as we build a National home improvement Brand.

House Doctors and House Medic Handyman Site Already Performing

The new site has drawn nothing but praise. Easier to navigate, tells people better what we do, looks more professional, presents products much better. These are just a few comments we have had from both franchisees and customers. The new site stats are already very  impressive. Launching new sites tends to be a bit unpredictable in the early days as far as performance goes however I'm glad to report our visits to the new site are already up, time visitors spend on the site is also up and bounce rate is down. It just launched two months ago but the initial signs are very good.
The launch of the site is just another step on our journey as we build a leading Brand in the home improvement industry. What I like about it is the opportunity it gives us to build content that our customers will really enjoy and find useful. At present our new site is in it's infancy but we have exciting plans for it's future.
Now with the launch behind us we are working on producing content monthly to build the site. To drive traffic to any site today you need quality content. Google wants to see sites with good quality content ranking so as to provide their users with the best quality search experience possible. They are the number one search engine and they want to stay there.
Maybe a lesson for us all. Giving your customers the best experience possible when dealing with you, no matter what industry you are in, will keep them coming back.
As we progress through December we look forward to our Annual Convention in New Orleans at the end of January. That will prove to be another milestone for the company as our top performers come together to, network, meet vendors, hear of new programs and discuss our future strategies.

Take a look at our new site www.housedoctors.com and please let me know what you think.