The fast growing PoolWerx franchise

Fast growing Queensland PoolWerx franchise has developed a career path for franchisees to allow them to develop from a man with a van to multiple retail owners.

Chief executive John O’Brien said pool franchise partners were looking to develop their businesses and did not want to be constrained to the one outlet, resulting a rise in the number of people holding multiple units.

The pool maintenance franchise experience echoes what has happened in the US, where some franchisee businesses are so big they are publicly listed.

“In most franchise systems you bought a franchise and all you could do was make it bigger,” said Mr O’Brien who is the state president of the Franchise Council of Australia.

“If you have 200 franchises, rather than having 200 separate franchisees, more franchisors are saying if you’re happy, we can give you more stores.

“What we’re doing is showing you can join us as a mobile franchisee, a man in a van, and you can grow you own territory.

“Once you’ve done that you can move on to tier two where you employ vans and then on to tier three where you open a retail store we call a retail hub.”

The PoolWerx franchise which has seen 62 per cent more business this year, is looking to grant 42 new franchises this year in its bid to reach 300 outlets.

Mr O’Brien said the age of pool franchise applicants was getting younger, overturning the traditional view of franchisees being redundant workers buying a job.

“Today we’re finding 30 year olds who want to make a good living for themselves,” he said, about the pool maintenance franchise.

“We’re finding the quality of franchise applicants is better than ever before because if you’re making the decision to leave your career now you’re making it for the right reasons, not because you’ve been made redundant.

“Franchising is taking the entrepreneurial spirit and harnessing that spirit,” the PoolWerx franchise founder said.