The PoolWerx franchise’s world tour

Brisbane-based PoolWerx franchise expects to announce the acquisition of a European pool service chain and a joint venture partner in the US in the next few months as part of its plans to expand internationally.

Chief executive of the pool franchise John O’Brien says the 220 franchise chain in Australia was established 10 years ago with the aim of going global and recently appointed its first franchisee in New Zealand.

The pool maintenance franchise is close to reaching saturation point in Australia, with growth of 61 per cent seeing it reach 220 franchises out of its target of 300.

Group sales have grown from $10 million to $16 million in the same period and international expansion was needed to maintain the growth of the PoolWerx franchise.

“We’ve sold 220 franchises in Australia and at 300 we will be fully sold, we’ll have the house full sign in Australia,” Mr O’Brien says. “There are one million pools in Australia, four millions pools in Europe and eight million in the US.”

He says feedback from a recent international franchise convention he attended in the US was that partnering with local companies was a more common method of expanding outside the franchise’s home country than appointing master franchisees.