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HouseMaster franchise owner for over a decade - HouseMaster Franchisee - Southern California

How long have you owned your HouseMaster franchise business? What did you do before?

Hi, my husband and I have owned our HouseMaster franchise for 11 years. We stared in 1999. My husband was a contractor and I was in the corporate world and also busy raising our family.

Can you tell me a little about the business and the areas you serve?

Sure. When we first started it was just my husband and myself. He did the inspections and I handled all of the marketing and office duties related to running the HouseMaster franchise. We are in the home inspection business and we also do some commercial inspections. We essentially help buyers make informed decisions when buying a home – we provide a very valuable service. We also do listing inspections – these are inspections requested by the homeowner in advance of putting their house on the market – it allows them to prepare their house so it passes all necessary inspections at the time of sale.

We serve the high desert area – 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles. We serve areas such as: Apple Valley, Victorville, Hesperia, Phelan, Big Bear, Barstow, Lucerne Valley, SilverLakes, as well as parts of the Inland Empire in southern California.

What got you interested in owning a HouseMaster Home Inspection franchise?

Since my husband was a contractor and had experience and knowledge in the construction industry, we thought a home inspection business might be a good fit for us. We also wanted to own a business that would give us an opportunity to establish a home office and would require less travel. We were also interested in owning a business that would give us a good work-life balance.

Why did you end up choosing to purchase HouseMaster over other franchises for sale?

My husband and I did do quite a bit of research before deciding on purchasing a HouseMaster franchise. We looked at many models and businesses for sale before picking HouseMaster. Once we decided we wanted to own a home inspection business, we compared many of the different franchises within the home inspection franchise category. We were really impressed with HouseMaster’s personal touch – it was a family business and you could tell by the level of care they exhibited. We felt like they really had a sincere desire for their franchisees to be successful. We also took the time to go visit the HouseMaster corporate office located in New Jersey. We really enjoyed our visit to the corporate office and it reaffirmed our decision that HouseMaster was the right franchise for us to buy.

So, it sounds like, if you are successful at maintaining relationships with your accounts, you will have repeat business – is that correct?

Yes, absolutely. We have cultivated great relationships with members of our local realtor community. We have provided excellent service and have developed a good reputation – this has helped us greatly through the ups and downs of the economy!

Is there something about the industry that you are looking forward to in terms of growth opportunities or new technology?

Yes, one of the great things that the corporate office has done recently is forge a relationship and partnership with one of the largest banks in the US. Given stricter lending standards, banks are now more often requesting home inspections and HouseMaster has been put on their Preferred Vendor list. This should greatly help our business and we are very appreciative of our corporate office in setting up this national relationship. It shows that the HouseMaster corporate office is forward thinking and wants to truly work in the best interest of their franchisees.

What do you enjoy most about running your own successful franchise business?

We really like the fact that you are constantly meeting new people and helping people by providing a valuable and reputable service. There is a lot of variety and we like that. We enjoy being able to control our own schedules. We also really like the fact that we can run the business out of our own home without having to invest in an expensive storefront, with inventory, and all the associated overhead expenses. Owning a franchise business has provided us a nice work-life balance. We have thoroughly enjoyed running our own business!

What do you think is the biggest benefit of being Housemaster franchisee?

There are certainly a lot of benefits. It allowed us to get up and running quickly. We didn’t have to develop all of the materials and information on our own – they supplied everything we needed. By being part of a franchise system, it allowed us to focus on the most important aspects of the business – the day-to-day operations and sales and marketing. HouseMaster corporate provided all of the necessary forms, contracts, software and training and support needed to hit the ground running. What is also great, is that the corporate office does an excellent job of keeping us informed of any new legislation or changes in our industry that we need to know about. It allows us to focus on running the core business. One of the things that you may not be aware of is the insurance requirements for running a home inspection business. The premiums can be very expensive, however, because we are part of the HouseMaster franchise group, we enjoy much more affordable liability insurance rates. Without being part of a franchise, it would be very difficult for us to afford to run this business independently. We are very grateful for this.