The $146B ‘Boring’ Business Nobody Talks About: Why This Mobile Showroom Franchise Is Growing Fast

Most people exploring franchise ownership are looking in the same places: 

HVAC. Plumbing. Restaurants. 

The problem?
 That’s where everyone else is looking too. 

Meanwhile, there’s a $146 billion industry hiding in plain sight—fragmented, high demand, and built around a better customer experience. 

In this episode, we break down one of the most overlooked models in franchising: 

•  Why the flooring space continues to attract new franchise owners 
•  How a mobile showroom model changes the traditional retail approach 
•  What makes this a relationship-driven, consultative business
•  How franchisees operate without needing prior industry experience 
•  The role of simple team structure and outsourced installation
•  Why customer experience (not just price) is driving growth in this category 
•  And how this model compares to other popular service franchises people are chasing today 

Here’s the truth:
 Nobody grows up dreaming of owning a flooring business…
 
But smart operators aren’t chasing what’s trendy—they’re looking for proven models, strong support, and real demand.
 
The challenge?
There are dozens of options in every category, and most won’t fit your goals, your market, or your lifestyle.
 
That’s where guidance matters.
 
If you’re exploring franchise ownership and want to understand how to evaluate opportunities like this the right way, this episode is a great place to start.
 
👉 Want help finding a franchise that fits your goals?
Take our free Franchise Analyst: https://thefranchiseanalyst.com/

Or book time with us: https://calendly.com/jack-franchiseinsiders

 

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Transcript

Welcome And Why Flooring Now

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hi everyone, welcome back to the We Bought a Franchise Podcast. I'm Jack Johnson. I'm Jill Johnson. And today we have an incredible guest. We've been after him for a long time. He actually just helped one of our clients become a franchise owner in Atlanta. Welcome to the show. We have Chris Schaefer, Senior Director of Franchise Development for Floor Coverings International. We also have our great consulting team, Catherine Allen and Brian Gross with us today. Hey guys. Hello. So this is going to be, Jill, an awesome show because I'm going to tell you something. Floor Coverings International, you guys, it feels like every day people are investing in this franchise. And I'll bet a lot of our audience is sitting there saying, Well, what is this franchise? Chris, tell us about you and maybe give us a little quick overview of your franchise and why people are so bullish on it.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Oh, absolutely. Thank you, Jack. I appreciate that. No, my name is Chris Schaefer. I reside in Baltimore, Maryland. Floor Coverings International is exactly what it sounds like in terms of being a potentially a flooring company, but ultimately, I tell people all the time this is a relationship-building

Flooring Market Demand And Fragmentation

SPEAKER_01 1:05

business. It just so happens that floors get installed. Our franchisees, they're not the ones who install the floors. Ultimately, what we've determined, the flooring industry in itself is a $146 billion industry in North America. If you were to take the top 50 flooring companies, by the way, we're number five, but combine our revenues together, we don't amount to more than 10% of that flooring industry. So it's very fragmented. There isn't a dominant player. And what I've always looked at, when I joined Floor Coverings International six years ago as in the franchise development world, been doing this for about 18 years. But one of the things that I wanted to look for when I determined to come to Floor Coverings International is ultimately the evidence of an abundance of demand. And I don't think there's any doubt in the fact that there's an abundance of demand in the flooring industry. Search online for flooring manufacturers. The reason why there's pages and pages of this is because people are making floors. And if people weren't demanding it, they wouldn't make it for them, right? So once you have that abundance of demand, then to me, what becomes the real question is really what's the disparity? What's the difference between what the industry provides and what the company that I'm working for, which is Floor Coverings International, provides? What I think is universal across the board and what I've ultimately determined is that the product really in this, and pretty universal, as I said, is the experience. And so when you're marketing to the right consumer, it's about providing the right experience. And for us, uh, 78% of the time, the person that decides on what goes in their home isn't, isn't me. It's folks like my wife, Kathleen, that make that decision. I may like to think that I make those decisions, but it's not the case. So I certainly don't uh anticipate trying to speak for someone else. My wife allows me to speak for her. She doesn't want to go into a place with cement floors and bad lighting, a place with a you know an orange apron that somebody's going to tell her what she wants. So what it requires is a different experience than what the industry provides. And that's what we do is provide that experience by bringing the floors in the home and creating a consultative approach rather than this hard sell experience where we effectively just take care of all of it for the consumer.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

You know, it's really interesting. Um, I have a quite because it feels is when did we change our floors? Like four years ago? How often do you think people change their floors, Chris?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

So here's the I'm gonna I'm gonna not answer with a question, but I'm gonna change the

Selling The Experience With NPS

SPEAKER_01 3:20

question, right, to some degree here. All right. So here's what I know. When you start, so I don't know if you guys are familiar with the term net promoter score. A net promoter score is ultimately what the consumer experience is based on what the whatever that manufacturer, that product, whatever that experience is. So it's based on that experience. Generally, people are giving this rating after from beginning to end, after an installation comes in. Now, the general score in the consumer world is minus 100 to 100. If it's considered above, it's considered good if you're above zero, which is more, I think, of an indictment in the world we live in than anything else. But the foreign industry, the average net promoter score is about 20, 23. At Floor Coverings International, our net promoter score, it's on a weekly average, but between 83 and 87. We're actually in the top quarter of the top 1%. There's only, and this is me asking you a question, by the way. So there's only three other companies really that have a score in the world on where ours is. Any anybody care to take a guess on on who any of those might be? Not one guess. All right. I'll give you one hint. First one is Disney. That's the first one. Disney. The other one, the other one is uh whether it's polarizing or not, is Tesla. And then the other one after that is Ritz-Carlton. Generally, and I won't speak for everyone, but if I were to go to Disney, and I don't know, it depends on whether you wear the Mickey ears or not, but when you leave Disney, typically that consumer's planning their next experience. Right? When you stay at a Ritz-Carlton, if you can afford it, you're figuring out how the heck can I stay at Ritz again, right? Whether I don't know whether how you feel about Tesla, but most folks I know that have a Tesla, they're talking about when they're going to buy their next one. Right? Our average job size at Floor Coverings International is about $8,000. $8,000 does not cover the entire home. But if I provide that Disney experience, then we know something like 86% of the time after this, within 90 days, that consumer's planning their next Disney experience to get those floors installed. So, in answer to your question, Jack, I gave you a roundabout answer to that. You know, carpet is finite, luxury vinyl plank is finite, hardwood's finite. But generally, this is a more residual business because we're not typically coming in and taking come care of everyone's home in one time. It's just not a one and done. It's do this right, and you'll get that repeat customer that comes through that, and then the referral side of this. So long answer to a short question. My apologies.

SPEAKER_05 5:46

It's Catherine. Um, I'm I'm very big on brand experience, and I think you know that's what creates a sticky customer is like thinking through all the details of what that experience is, um, and making sure it's positive for everyone who touches the brand. What um what do you like? What is that experience with you guys?

Training Path For New Owners

SPEAKER_05 6:10

And what does the training look like for a franchise owner coming in? Like, can you space it out a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 6:16

No, great question. And first off, I'll tell you 95% of our franchises don't come from the flooring industry. Be very clear on that, right? We can make you one of the absolute benefits to franchising, which we all know, is the fact that the byproduct of this is if it's the right company, they're gonna provide that training to help you be that expert, right? So, so first off, the experience is the aspect of taking these materials and bringing them into the home and eliminating the retail side. You have the ability to view this in the home of with the light of your own home, with your own decor, not be worried about talking to somebody in the plumbing department about the artwood that you're interested in, right? So, not only that, but it's the concept of listen, when I come, I'm gonna take care of everything. It's not just me saying, here are these floors, what do you think? It's here's your price. No, this is your position yourself as a consultant, a solution provider, an interior designer, whatever that might be. So it's removal and disposal and installation. And you know what, your baseboards might need to be upgraded. And now that you have hardwood in your living room, you have cold feet. How about an area rug, right? It's I'm gonna take care of all of this for you. And it immediately changes the experience with the with the competitors, frankly. The other aspect of this is what we provide in the training aspect, Catherine, is that we have a 45 days of what we call virtual boot camp. It's not us timing your mile or how many push-ups and sit-ups that you can do. It's a couple days a week via Zoom, but it's interspersed with trips to our corporate office, where even before training, we do a pre-launch to allow you to get the information you need to have potentially a soft opening and potentially generate revenue before that. We have another visit where not only are we doing this corporately, but we're going on site to an Airbnb or to some other folks' homes and role-playing this and really it's that sort of let's do this so many times we can't screw this up, right? It's that proper preparation equals perfect performance. And then we meet again at the conclusion of after you've opened your business for 90-ish days and start discovering, well, hey, what are we doing right? How can we extend upon this? And then if look, if you ask my operations team, they'll tell you that there's another two years of curriculum training well beyond after you open. So we're consistently and constantly working and perfecting this craft for our franchisees to change the experience, which is evident in the net promoter score.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

And you talked about your competition there. And I'm just curious, in the space, you know, franchising in general, I always like service brands that have very fragmented competition and creates a lot of opportunity for a brand. And I think flooring, you know, outside of the big box national stores, I can't think of a single brand if I had to call someone right now for flooring. You know, I'm just down the road from you in Washington, DC. So I'm curious who you see as your competition in this space.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

So ultimately, I don't think that so look, there are competitors in the sense that others provide flooring, right? Um, but as I kind of alluded to, the net promoter score, the kind of

Competition And Three-Legged Marketing

SPEAKER_01 9:05

experience doesn't match up for that. I will tell you though, if look, if it's somebody who's looking to haggle for 10 cents a square foot, that's not our consumer, right? So yes, there are those that do provide that flooring, but where we change that experience as we focus on the consumer, I I tend to agree with you, Brian. I don't know if we necessarily have a direct competitor. Perhaps it's a mom and pop type store locally, but what they don't have is the buying power we have directly with the manufacturer.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Do you guys work with interior designers or like do contracts or anything like that? Because I know like when we did our floors and we were clueless, we weren't even going to change our floors. But then everything else started looking so good that we needed the floors to match. Um, so do you have like relationships with them or is it strictly just, you know, yeah, it's a it's a great question, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:49

So well, you there's a I look at marketing as sort of like a three-legged stool, right? Where if I take away one of those legs, that chair doesn't work anymore. Now we do the digital marketing for our franchisees. So what that physically means is that our leads are actually appointments. It's not, hey, call this person. It's no, they want to see you at 10 a.m. to discuss tile in their kitchen. What we want our franchisees to focus on is first being a part of the community. Because look, people buy local, right? Never eat lunch alone. You never know who the who's that you're gonna meet with, whether it's somebody you market with, somebody that you might do business with, or even somebody you might potentially hire. But then the other leg of this is what we call, and what most call, the business to business to consumer side. To your point, Jill, there is a uh an obscene amount of contractors that are out there that either sub out or don't do the flooring themselves. And so building the relationship with even beyond the interior designers, with real estate agents, with restoration companies, property management companies, even companies that do three season rooms. And when you start building that three-prong, that's the formula to sustainability. Also, those relationships that you build with a realtor, with a contracting company, that supersedes your territory. That's your business. You travel with that. So you have the ability to build this beyond just a franchise into more of an empire, and it really becomes look how far am I willing to drive, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

When did you guys, Chris?

SPEAKER_01 11:09

When did the company start? So 1989 is when Floor Covers International started. Now we were purchased by uh first service brands in 2005. It's FSV and the Stock Exchange. Our sister companies are certipropainters, Paul Davis Restorations and California Closets. Um, and so that's been about since 2005. Uh, to me, the the name that's key in all of that is first service, because when we provide service first, it it changes the experience. And that's what's important to our consumer. And when did you guys start franchising? What year? 1989. It was a different model then. It was more of a brick and mortal uh brick and mortar. It was look, we're a part of the community. Uh people will come to you. And oh in 05, the common denominator with our sister companies is they're all form some form of home service. First service has effectively mobilized them with an emphasis on scaling and growing that business, but still

Growth Runway Territories And Culture

SPEAKER_01 12:00

keeping the the human resources down. And how many franchisees in the system? Just over 315 right now.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

And would you say there's still a fair amount of room for new franchisees to come in?

SPEAKER_01 12:13

I would say there's close to 600 open territories uh across the United States. So yeah, yeah, absolutely. And we also have franchisees in Canada as well, and that's kind of our next frontier. The next immediate frontier for our franchisees is to start getting into the commercial side here. There are those that have experienced that, but you know, residential side is a residual business that's gonna continue to pay on time and everything else. To get to a certain level, you need to be there. But that relationship side, as I as I had mentioned, that goes beyond that territory. So you have the ability to travel with it. We're not gonna give it from one to the other. But what I'll tell you is the territories we provide, even our largest franchisee, um, even he barely has 5% of the market share. So there's a lot of opportunity out there.

SPEAKER_05 12:56

When you think, sorry, you mentioned you have over 300 franchise owners. When you think of your top maybe 10 franchise owners, what's their profile? What are they doing that puts them in that top 10?

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Yeah. I think what the, and that's a it's a great question, Catherine. And I think what you'll find across the board and something that look, life is about who you do it with. I mean, let's be fair. And so, yes, look, I could tell you, hey, they have a sales background or they do this, but but ultimately it's creating culture. If you create the right culture and have the understanding of how to manage a small team, that's the common denominator. What it isn't is, hey, they'll come to me and I'll be successful. But it's that culture, that go get it-ness, if you will. I don't even know if that's a term, but that's that common denominator. And there's a significant amount from all different levels, but having you know, people that are interested in home and garden, right? People that are interested in real estate. But those that want to make sure that not only am I building a team, but I'm focusing on that culture, that's what creates that success. Not just, hey, that's the best salesperson to hire.

SPEAKER_05 14:01

Chris doesn't know he's speaking my language. Chris, I uh I'm the top, top producer and soccer star. So I own a franchise. Um well. Um, I bought a second unit at the end of last year, but I'm the number one owner out of you know, a hundred and four franchisees right now and almost out of all the brands. And culture from day one has been my competitive advantage and my focus because if I can create a place that's fun to work and recognize my employees, and uh just I mean, you know, and I just love people. I love people, but but that has been my focus, and it is everything else is followed, right? That's right. Revenue follows a positive culture. Um I absolutely agree. It sounds simple. It it might not be as simple as it sounds, but it's truly that, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

So no, I think Catherine, what you just said is is an amazing thing because it's like people always what's the first thing they ask any of us, right? How much money can I make? How much money does the franchise make? And by the way, Chris, we do want to know how much money they can make. But I always say it comes down to the team. Um, when you've got a great team, when you've got a team that know you know you can send in there uh to whatever it is that you're doing, whether it's to your your soccer training or it is to uh someone's home to take care of their elderly mother, or it's to go wash windows at their home. When you've got a great team and you know you can do a great job, um, that is such a powerful feeling. And that's why I always say to people, when they say, Well, how much money does this franchise make? I say, listen, it's gonna come down to how good of a team can you build? How can you build a team that was in the first, you know, not immediately, because you do want to be someone who understands every aspect of your business. You should be able to roll up your sleeves and work alongside your team. That doesn't mean you should do it every moment of the day, but it does send a powerful message when you're willing to work alongside them.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

I absolutely agree. I when we're all we're all arguing the same point, right? It's it's about as important as what do they say, something like 96% of the people leave their job and it's not because of what they got paid. Right. So it you put that culture in place and that's what changes anything. But it it it's not just, hey, this person could be good at this job. It's hey, can I work with this person as well? Can we work together and you know, hire for the things that I don't want to do? And to your your your point, Jack, go ahead, Catherine.

SPEAKER_05 16:26

Oh, I was just gonna say, and it's like you said life is who you do it with. So the beauty of being a franchise owner and being a business owner, I get to choose who I work with. In the corporate world, I didn't get to choose who was on my team. I didn't get to choose who my boss was. Like, you know, there's a lot of team dynamics. The beauty of being your own boss is you get to choose who comes to work for you. And so it's doing the things like you said, and delegating what you don't want to do. Like, absolutely live in your genius zone. I live in marketing and building relationships, and I delegate everything else to my manager. But then all my 27 soccer coaches, like, I love them. Like they babysit my kids, like they come to my home. We like hang out, like they're awesome. So that's the beauty is surrounding yourself with the people that bring you joy and take you to that next level.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Enough sense. I absolutely agree. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

It's probably great.

SPEAKER_04 17:22

Chris, can we talk about the uh so the team here, right? So if you can come into Ford Covers International, you know, typical owner, not having flooring experience. So talk about the team. Can we talk about the structure, salespeople, installers, or these W-2,

Team Model Installers And Scaling

SPEAKER_04 17:35

1099s, just kind of how that the whole business model works here?

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Sure. Yeah, and Brian, and uh the one of the first sort of phrases that we use with franchisees, uh, and it's a bit of a pun, but we say, look, two million is the floor. How soon can you get to two million in revenue and begin to scale beyond this? More specifically, two million is the standard, it's the median. And so the formula on that is is pretty straightforward. So ultimately, it's an owner, two what we call design associates or DAs, and an office manager. And that's ultimately the formula for the $2 million plus business. Scaling is adding the next mobile showroom and the next. And along with that is the design associate that's in that mobile showroom. Um, in terms of the installations, we use 1099 employees. It's the same that most retailers might use. The difference is they work through a middle person, they call them installation houses who broker a price. They take a piece. They actually, the installers don't talk directly with the retailers. So they take a piece, they pay the installers the other piece. Our franchisees, we don't use middlemen. Uh, so we have the ability, they have the ability to pay these installers not double. You can work margin into that, but pay them more. And also they don't hold the money hostage, right? It's not 30 plus days before you get paid, so they pay them immediately. So, and not to pick on any sort of business, but look, I'm not even gonna do it. So at $8,000 a job size, to be a two, three, four million dollar business, you ultimately need three main crews with one or two backups for busier times. So it's not a labor force that you're necessarily working with. And there's things in place to help make those introductions, but also if they're not doing a great job, and we've put things in place to make sure that the back end of this net promoter score is proper, but there's somebody else that wants to get paid more and paid on time. It is definitely uh uh, you know, it's it's it's it's a it's a valued service. It's not like me, you know, this I didn't paint this picture here, but and I if it was a paint by numbers, I could probably do so. But I know that I don't want to lay tile in somebody's kitchen, right? I know there's a wet saw and something else, so why not have the expert do this? Pay them more, treat them better, pay them on time, um, and along with the culture side of things. I don't know if that necessarily answered your question. I think it did. It does. Yeah, thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:47

Okay, Chris, tell us about that item 19.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Item 19. So I can do a couple things. So top half, uh, I actually just saw, as most of us know, at the end of this quarter will be the release of new FDDs in the in the world, in the franchise disclosure world. Uh, our top half

Item 19 Revenue Margins Benchmarks

SPEAKER_01 20:05

last year were 1.75 million in so total sales. Next year it's 1.9 million. Um, a couple of things that I find pretty awesome about this is that our average job size has actually risen dramatically to more like $8,500. But I'm one of these that would much rather underpromise and over-deliver. But across the board, our success rate, our conversion rate on these appointments is 46% across the board. Our top half is like 57%. But uh, so not only to me, that's about as evident and successful in terms of the digital marketing that's provided, the relationships that we provide, also the experience that speaks to it. I don't know what more can speak to that than that. Our average gross margin across the board is 46%. And that's you know, the cost of goods and and labor, which is a pretty large expense uh that you have across that's yeah. Oh, I'm sorry, no, go ahead. No, no, I was gonna say our top our top 10%, they're closer to $3.7 million in revenue.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

How many territories would you say they average in the in the top 10%? Two. That's great. You know, one of my favorite things about franchise ownership, um, when people are considering starting their own business from scratch or maybe buying a mom and pop who can't wait to retire and hand you their business for nothing, um, which is the fairy tale that's out there on social media. But one of my favorite things about franchising is that all those KPIs, all the things you need, because the comforting thing about an established franchise is those numbers are proven. So when your franchise says, here's the metrics you need to be aware of in your business, it's just like checking your blood pressure. These are the targets you need to have. It's just like I need to have at least 10,000 steps per day. Here's how many people you need to contact, here's how many conversions you need to be having, here's all these things. And to me, there is so much comfort in having that sort of compass to guide you. Um, like when when you know we had home care assistance. Catherine, we had all those those things that we guide we use to guide our our franchisees, right? All the KPIs they needed to be aware of. Even in the franchise insiders, we know exactly how many people we need to talk to to help find a franchise. The business. You learn these things. These are not conversations that happen around the dinner table of someone who doesn't own a business. So that's another advantage, Jill, and I'm glad you said that, of owning a business, is, and Catherine, I'm sure with your kids here, you guys talking about your businesses. These sorts of things now come into their minds at a very early age, and these are lessons that they learn and will help them ultimately become entrepreneurs as well.

SPEAKER_05 22:38

Oh, yeah, they're they're helping flow up balls and do things. They get a salary with my business, and then that funnels into their college fund and it's a tax write-off. So it's win win.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Very, very smart. Yeah, I mean, for all of you listening, this is one of those examples that when you hear people talk about, and Chris, no offense, boring businesses. This is a great example. But I'm going to tell all of you, you know, there's a reason why Mr. Spock

Boring Businesses Hiring Advantages

SPEAKER_03 23:10

is back here. We always tell people, you need to use logic when you're searching for a franchise. Don't just go, you know, how many times have we heard in our life someone finds a new ice cream stand when they're on vacation and they say, oh man, we had the best ice cream. We got to bring it to our town. That's not a strategy for buying a franchise. Um, I think if you look at a business like this, where Chris, if someone's exploring your franchise, they can probably talk to 10 franchisees, I would assume, right? They can really hear what it's like to succeed as a franchise owner in your system.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Listen, without question, I always joke that uh look, I'm not naive enough to think that you woke up in the morning and you said, I should get into flooring, right?

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

But listen, you know, what I always refer back to the millionaire next door, right? And the the dull normal business and the affluent. Generally, that millionaire next door is the one with the plumber truck, not the one that's driving the Mercedes-Benz. There's nothing that's recession proof, but there's an awful lot of resistance when you start thinking, hey, we've all got floors. And that's that's that to me is is the path towards not only personal wealth, but just satisfaction as well.

SPEAKER_04 24:21

Yeah, you know, Chris, I think it's interesting. And I work with a lot of buyers. We're looking at new franchises, also looking at existing businesses. And we're recording this. It's Eastern time, it's 12:30. I've already had two calls this morning. People asking, anywhere is there an HVAC business? Do you have anything HVAC? And we hear this over and over HVAC, electrical plumbing, and you know, this idea of you know boomers are selling their these great businesses for pennies on the dollar. I don't think I've ever had, quite frankly, someone reach out to me and ask if there's a flooring business. You know, and you think about this, and you just talked about your item 19 numbers. You think about the business itself, right? No one's calling you at 9 p.m. with a flooring emergency or on a Sunday afternoon. Um, you know, it's a clean business, huge demand. Every house needs it, every commercial property needs it. You know, so I mean, quite frankly, I think this might be one of the most overlooked service spaces, you know, that's out that's out there.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Brian, that's an excellent point. And I just want to jump in because Chris, this is this is an important question for you. You're right. Those HVAC businesses, plumbing businesses, do you know who you have to hire for a plumbing business? And again, it's a good business, but you have to find a very skilled journeyman to be involved in your business. And in some states, requires complicated licensure. Chris, for the for your business, who do we need to hire? Who's our most complicated hire?

SPEAKER_01 25:43

The design associate, ultimately, the salesperson. I mean, just to be fair, to your point, Jack, I I know the gentleman that we worked with on the the what we just uh closed recently was looking at a plumbing company, and I think one of his deciding factors was hey, listen, I don't I don't think that I have enough clout to be able to manage these these plumbers. And that was a pointed conversation. And and I think that this is this is a whole different thing. When you're dealing with a 1099 employee that does the installs, you better believe they want to get paid more and paid on time, right? And so if if you're running that right, then you just have folks in if in a uh it's not complicated a design associate or salesperson. If you compensate them for being successful and create the right culture, that's about as complicated as it gets, right? So no, it's it's a simple aspect of this.

SPEAKER_03 26:29

And that conversation you brought up, that is something, you know, again, where someone working with a franchise consultant like Jill, Catherine, Brian, myself. Those are the conversations that we have. And it was a real one because that particular client, he's brilliant, he's got a young family, but he's he's young himself. I think he's barely 30, maybe not even. I think my point to him was my concern with the plumbing business is that the person you're gonna have to hire is probably, you know, much older than you. Um, they have the license, they have the qualification. And for your leadership, I think it would be better if it's something you could do with your team and you know and you're able to do, and you're not held hostage by this journeyman. Um, and so that's the thing. There's a lot of influencers right now who talk about laundromats, about HVAC. And it sounds wonderful. It sounds so dang smart. And the whole go find one of the 10,000 boomers who are retiring and they don't know what to do with this business that you know has incredible EVITA. Yes, they do. If a business has good EVA EVITA, trust me, it's gonna be sold. And if it's a franchise, it's gonna sell to a franchisee within the network. So for all of you listening, I'm telling you, it's not just you. If you're looking for an existing business and you've been searching, and by the way, Chris, that particular client had been searching for a year. You can build a franchise over the course of 18 months, which is what it will take you at least to find that great business. The the progress you can make on building your own business with your own team from day one, um, with a franchise or supporting you and guiding you, it just it isn't worth it to wait for that perfect business to fall. And the other thing is, Chris, and I'd love your opinion on this once you're in a franchise system, you're gonna be the first one that hears about those resales. Because listen, life happens. No matter what franchise system you're in, 5% of a franchise system is for sale in a given year. So, Chris, I don't know. I'd love to hear your your thoughts on that.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Yeah, it's an interesting point. So we have at Floor Coverings International a group that we call our leadership accelerator group. And these are individuals and businesses that are looking to build a $10 million plus business. Now, there's a couple paths, paths towards that. And I don't think there's any doubt that expansion through acquisition is a tremendous business plan. And on our end,

Resales Acquisitions And Multi-Unit Paths

SPEAKER_01 28:45

what we call it is exiting with honor, right? There are those that have put their equity into the business, personal, sweat, financial, whatever that might be, and would like to exit with honor. And, you know, there are those that are looking for the $10 million plus business, those that are looking to put that equity in and get their multiple out and walk away. And for those in the $10 million plus business, one of the paths is through that acquisition to absolutely grow through there. Grab that book of business. In some instances, maybe the owner's built to be that design associate. So retain them for a little bit and have another manager, if you will, that goes through this. But it's most certainly a path towards that. And why, as a franchise owner, why wouldn't you want to look at somebody that you see their path of success? Certainly that's how you want to do it. Now, don't get me wrong, we want new franchisees. That's absolutely true. But, you know, as you continue to grow, it's it's an easier decision to say, hey, listen, this is near you. You've shown this resource to grow. Here's your opportunity. Would you like to acquire this?

SPEAKER_03 29:40

I think that's that's tremendous feedback. You know, it's interesting, Chris. Right now there's a franchise that has a couple of celebrities at the top of it that they're they're selling out the country like wildfire. They don't even have an open pilot location. Um, and investors are taking down entire markets, four or five plus units. Um, and listen, as long as they understand that that's a new concept and they're willing to be involved at that stage, that's that's wonderful. There could be high upside. Um, how we've typically guided our clients is look, start with one or two units. You don't need to take down five to ten. You really don't. Because if you're good at this and two years from now, you've got a great team, there will be opportunities for you to add more locations within your network. And so again, people always worry. Oh my gosh, most of my market is taken. If I don't take all these locations right now, I won't be able to grow. There will always be opportunity. And if you get good at your business, you and you have a strong enough team, you could even take down a resale that's for sale in a completely different state because you've got the scale and you understand the business.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

It's fair. Yeah. And I listen, the way the way I look at it is this our our territory support, and this is prior to the relationship side that supersedes the territory, but they support minimally three to five mobile showrooms. It's effectively having a multi-unit territory. You have the ability to scale within your in your territory within there. And as I I alluded to, our number one franchisee barely has five percent of the market share, and he's a $12 million a year business, right? So there's still opportunity within that territory, not to mention the relationship side that goes beyond this. We look at this in the sense that you don't necessarily need to acquire uh another business to continue to grow. You can focus on that business to business to consumer side and scale exponentially beyond there before actually adding territory. So there's multiple paths towards this. Hey, Chris, is that $12 million location in your item 19? Uh it is correct. Uh well, we'll be in 20.

SPEAKER_03 31:33

So it was last year, so it'll be in the new one at the end of this quarter. For our listeners, you know, we always want to make sure we're showing them the big package, but we also want to make sure as franchise or is that we're we're protecting you guys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

Yeah. And I'm I'm double checking as we look at this. So yeah, he's he's at he was at 9.6 uh last year, which is what it's established as.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

I mean, even then though, that's a flooring business. That's insane. That's crazy. And what's the investment to get into this business, would you say?

SPEAKER_01 32:00

So, all in investment for the first year, I would look at between say 250 to 270, uh 270,000 for finance and whatever else. I listen personally, I would much rather uh tell you you're gonna get money back than to spend additional money. So I would look more at 270 to 300. I'd rather you have the appropriate amount to make the proper investments. The way I look at this, I'm sure you guys can agree with this because I've spoken with a lot of franchisees and franchisors. Uh, when you validate with a franchisee and ask them, I think it's a reasonable question to say, hey, listen, do you feel that you were comfortable with the working capital that they suggested? And I think probably 70, 80% of the time, the response is I wouldn't have mind another four to six months in working capital. But I think the franchise know this. I think the franchisees know this. Many times

Investment Mobile Showroom Model

SPEAKER_01 32:50

the consultants know this as well. I think the differences on our end is we account for it and we establish that in the working capital that's in there. We want you to be able to make business decisions without having to go into the cushions of your couch. Uh, and that's where our number comes in. That's why I say 300 is probably more comfortable, but certainly 250 is more than reasonable.

SPEAKER_05 33:08

Chris, you you keep mentioning mobile showrooms. So does this require a showroom or what is a mobile showroom to make melt?

unknown 33:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Good question, Catherine. So a mobile showroom is a Ford Transit Connect, typically, right? It's uh it has the 3,000 samples in it that can be driven to wherever that home is. Now it's not necessarily required, especially when you build relationships, but to be able to have a consultative discussion with a homeowner and then say, hold on, I'll be right back, and pull out the samples that you're looking for and share them and look at them right on the floor while you're there is why we have so many in that in that aspect in the mobile showroom.

SPEAKER_05 33:44

Okay. And how many square feet is that?

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Uh how many square feet is the mobile showroom? Uh, I don't I don't uh whatever uh it's like uh it's smaller than a minivan, if you will, right?

SPEAKER_05 33:53

It's in a minivan. Oh, okay. It's not like an actual brick and mortar. Got it.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

No, no, no. There is no, yes.

SPEAKER_05 33:58

Got it. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

No, no. My my apologies for not explaining it better. So yeah, that's uh it's a it's a Ford Transit Connect. We also do a there's a RAM sports 150 as well. It's like the stand-up version. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:12

Oh, that's that's great. Because I feel like a lot of other flooring companies have these huge big brick and mortar operations, and that's why your investment levels lower. Got it.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

That's that's right, right. So you know, our thought is is there no no, Catherine, I'm sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 34:31

No, no, no, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Listen, our thought is why not lower the initial capital required, lower the human resources required, and then scale into this. You establish yourself well enough, perhaps you want that showroom, but you don't need to start there. And it's certainly not a requirement.

SPEAKER_03 34:46

That's terrific. Chris, this has been outstanding. This is such an exciting franchise for all of you guys listening. Floor Coverings International has been around a long time. Um, they have a proven base of highly successful franchisees. They've got a great team, they're great to work with. Um, if you'd like more information on this franchise or to get an introduction, the easiest thing is to text us at 305-710-0050

How To Learn More And Closing

SPEAKER_03 35:10

or go to thefranchisinsiders.com. Uh, Chris, any last words, thoughts, comments you think the audience needs to know?

SPEAKER_01 35:18

Uh listen, I ultimately, as as as we all said, and first off, thank you for the opportunity. I I certainly appreciate that. There's a lot of growth potential uh at Floor Coverings International. Those that are interested in scaling and growing a business with a low amount of human resources, but a focus on culture and then that return, uh, this is the ideal scenario. So um, you know, have a conversation with us. I recognize that people are going HVAC all the time, they're not looking at flooring, but 30-minute call, you'll have an understanding of why we're as successful as we are.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

1099 employees, simple hires. I mean, and you're right, Catherine, that was a great uh uh and Brian great points. No one's gonna call you at midnight on a Sunday with a flooring emergency. And AI is not gonna install floors either. Yes. I understand now why people invest in this business at the clip that they do. I mean, from our vantage point, you guys as franchise consultants that constantly see how the market's moving, it feels like almost every week people are investing in this brand. So you see why, and I definitely recommend anyone who's thinking about business ownership, um, talk to Chris. Uh Chris, what's your contact info? If someone wants to reach out to you, sure.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

My contact info, listen, feel free to always receive a text. It's 443-279-8532. Uh, or it's C Shaefer. That's no, there's no C in Schaefer, just to be clear. C S H A F F E R at FC Floors.com.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

And just make sure you let them know you you you heard about uh you heard about the franchise on the We Bought a Franchise podcast. Well, that's it for for this episode of our podcast. I'm Jack Johnson.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

I'm Jill Johnson.

SPEAKER_03 36:58

And thank you guys for joining us, and we'll talk to you next time.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Bye. Thank you.