Housemaster
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Celebrating 30 years in the industry, HouseMaster is the most experienced, respected and innovative home inspection franchise system. Since its inception in 1979, HouseMaster has performed nearly two million home inspections and has grown to more than 350 franchises. The HouseMaster company culture focuses on franchise relationships and support, technical proficiency, proven marketing methods, aggressive risk management tools and cutting-edge technology. HouseMaster offers home inspection services to home buyers, home sellers and real estate professionals.
HouseMaster emphasizes franchisee relationships, technical proficiency, proven marketing methods, aggressive risk management tools and cutting-edge technology; all are necessary for the success of a franchisee. HouseMaster equips its franchisees with detailed business planning tools that help budget resources and ensure optimal performance. HouseMaster made the top 50 in the annual Franchisee Satisfaction Survey in 2010.
| |
Operating Units |
12/31/2008 |
12/31/2009 |
12/31/2010 |
|---|
| | Franchised |
334 |
319 |
321 |
| | % Change | -- |
-4.5% |
0.6% |
| | Company-Owned |
10 |
12 |
12 |
| | % Change | -- |
20.0% |
0.0% |
| | Total |
344 |
331 |
333 |
| | % Change | -- |
-3.8% |
0.6% |
| | Franchised as % of Total |
97.1% |
96.4% |
96.4% |
Investment Required
The franchise fee for a HouseMaster franchise is $42,500.
HouseMaster provides the following range of investments required to open your initial franchise. The range assumes that all items are paid for in cash. To the extent that you choose to finance any of these expense items, your front-end investment could be substantially reduced.
| |
Item | Established Low Range | Established High Range |
| | Franchise Fee |
$42,500 |
$42,500 |
| |
Expenses While Training |
$500 |
$3,000 |
| |
Marketing Materials and Supplies |
$3,000 |
$6,000 |
| |
Office Equipment and Furniture |
$0 |
$2,000 |
| |
Computer System |
$0 |
$4,700 |
| |
Rent |
$0 |
$750 |
| |
Prepaid Expenses |
$250 |
$2,500 |
| |
General Liability Insurance |
$500 |
$2,500 |
| |
Errors & Omissions Insurance |
$2,500 |
$3,500 |
| |
Legal Services |
$1,000 |
$2,500 |
| |
HouseMaster Manual Deposits |
$250 |
$250 |
| |
Conference Travel Expenses |
$1,000 |
$3,000 |
| |
Vehicle Branding |
$1,700 |
$4,000 |
| |
Grand Opening Promotion Expense |
$0 |
$1,000 |
|
Additional Funds (6 Months) |
$6,000 |
$11,000 |
| |
Total Initial Investment |
$59,200 |
$89,200 |
Ongoing Expenses
HouseMaster franchisees pay a royalty fee ranging from 5% to 7.5% of gross sales and an advertising fee ranging from 2% to 2.5% of gross sales.
What You Get—Training and Support
HouseMaster franchisees are provided with a business coach that guides them through the training and business start-up process, including managing time spent between inspections, and sales and administrative processes.
Franchisees undergo two to five weeks of initial training where they are provided with the HouseMaster online home inspection primer; webinars on contractual issues, business plans and goal setting; marketing materials; and additional services opportunities. Technical training at NIBI® (The National Institute of Building Inspectors—a state approved vocational school) in Bound Brook, NJ includes classroom sessions on residential construction, home inspection standards of practice, inspection procedures, training for contact management and report writing software and practicum sessions, as well as additional classroom sessions on operations, marketing and communication.
Franchisees communicate with each other as well as corporate staff on the InfoEx, HouseMaster’s private intranet site. The InfoEx also provides franchisees with general information and bulletins, important updates on a variety of issues, and access to tools such as web page templates, email templates, printed materials to customize, realtor presentations, tradeshow materials, internet marketing options such as social networking and the HouseMaster Library.
Territory
HouseMaster primarily offers a Reciprocal Opportunity Franchise (ROF), which grants the franchisee rights to conduct inspections and limited marketing activities to an extensive area known as a Reciprocal Opportunity Franchise Territory. Other HouseMaster franchisees may operate in the same ROF Territory. If HouseMaster grants a ROF to a franchisee, the franchisee will not receive an exclusive territory.
HouseMaster does grant Limited Area Franchises under certain conditions. In this case, an exclusive territory will be granted; however the majority of HouseMaster franchises are of the ROF model.
Note: The tables and information regarding the number of operating units, investment required, on-going expenses, training and territory grants were taken from the company’s 2011 FDD. The 2011 write-ups will be incorporated into the 2012 Edition of Bond’s Top 100 Franchises publication.
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