A commercial building can be a great investment and an excellent income source. It can also require lots of maintenance. There are thousands of services commercial buildings will need over time—plumbing, HVAC units, doors, windows, parking lot maintenance and striping, and more specialized services that can be hard to predict. Over the years, a commercial building owner will need to find and hire a broad range of contractors, from janitors to general handymen to specialists.
Finding the right people, making sure they’re qualified, negotiating contracts, overseeing the work — it can be a burden. Since many commercial building owners are businesspeople rather than property developers or managers, it can also open the door to bad experiences.
One franchisor striving to make it easier is the City Wide Maintenance Franchise. City Wide takes care of the details for building owners and ensures that jobs are done on time and on budget without hassles.
City Wide is primarily a sales and management business—they focus on finding commercial properties that need their services and then managing those services. However, City Wide doesn’t employ workers who complete the work, keep inventory of supplies, or maintain a fleet of vehicles to travel between locations for workers. Instead, City Wide acts as the point of contact for contractors and the commercial building owner so that the business owner doesn’t need to manage the job and contractors can get their work done and get paid. The unique business model makes it easier for both groups, the commercial property owners and the maintenance contractors. It’s a win-win situation with benefits for the vendors as well as the customers.
The difference in this type of business model is that franchisees need to be skilled in sales and management, not just one or the other as in some other franchises. Franchises are responsible for selling services to commercial properties as well as making sure that independent contractors perform their duties and commercial properties are maintained according to the commercial building customer’s needs and desires. While that might be a struggle for some people, you might find that’s just the scenario for you.
This could also be a good choice for a two person team in which one partner is good at sales and the other is a skillful manager. A team like this can do just as well as one well-rounded businessperson, if they can work well together toward the same goals.
Fitting your personality type to the business requirements is one important tactic for finding the right franchise opportunity. Being both persuasive and detail oriented could make you the perfect City Wide franchisee. This is also the perfect business model for people who are good at building strong relationships. Word of mouth can be the major marketing vehicle for a business of this kind.
City Wide franchisees don’t need to invest in inventory or equipment, they need very few employees, and a single office can serve a large territory. This can be an excellent business opportunity for people who like to operate a lean business.
