Furniture Clinic Franchise

« **on:** February 22, 2009, 05:36:35 am »

This is really a follow on from the Rainbow Franchise thread and I first wrote this in there but thought I'd copy it across onto a new thread.

When I first started out I was all against the traditional franchise route, large initial outlay and high percentage of turnover had to be paid to the franchisor in monthly commisions.

Saying that, I've just taken out a franchise!! We've just bought into FURNITURE CLINIC Leather Care & Repair Franchise and have been given a large territory, all of Northumberland.

The initial outlay was quite reasonable and myself and one of my technicians (Harvey) have spent two weeks fully hands on training at head office, the confidence it gives you is amazing. Monthly fees are only £200/month regardless of turnover. I've been trading now for 2 weeks and I expect to be break even and turning a profit by the end of March.

As many of you know of me, I don't dive into things quickly, I researched this venture rigorously before making the plunge. We already have 16 people working for us under the Lionheart Cleaning logo but were getting very little leather work, even though I did the LTT course in 2005 and advertise we do leather cleaning and restoration.

The Furniture Clinic franchise is still very much in it's growth stage, I can see the potential of it and wanted to be in from the start to guarantee getting the territory I wanted.

Ben has had a lot of enquiries in the last month from people wanting more information about the franchise. The guy who started just before me is based down in Essex and I know he is getting jobs every day from the Furniture clinic website.

If you are interested give me a call on 07790596782, or email me ian@lionheartcleaning.co.uk to discuss it more. I get a small incentive for introducing new franchisees, but this is not why I'm telling you about it, my main reason is because I want to see Furniture Clinic with National coverage so that in the eyes of the insurance companies, if they have a leather repair to be done, they call Furniture Clinic.

If you, like us, already do leather cleaning, then you'll know the amount of work that is out there for leather repairs and recolours. Furniture Clinic are top of search engines for leather repairs in most areas, we are starting to get work coming in all the time.

So far our jobs done have included, two car bolsters to repair and recolour, 3 wing back chairs to re-antique, a full suite to basically overhaul and recolour, a chair that has required repaneling work, holes, tears and wear restoration, a leather suite that was recoloured last year by someone in Durham but the colour was delaminating and needed cleaning off and reapplying (she couldn't get in touch with man from Durham)

We've got 6 jobs booked in for next week so far and a man coming down in his X5 from Glasgow (180 miles) to get the drivers seat repaired!

« **Reply #1 on:** February 22, 2009, 08:13:53 am »

Hope it works for you Ian

I've done both LTT and FC courses and based within the Glasgow area as are several others. Can't imagine why someone would feel the need to travel so far for a car seat repair. But,,,,,,,none of us are franchisees, so we'll all have to make a greater effort.

When I looked at the FC franchise I thought it was an awful lot more than £50 a week.

Pity the franchisors / product suppliers don't use their data bases to offer work to people who trained with them, while obviously insisting on using their products.

One thing Ben is good at, is getting the FC name in the public domain and he has an excellent web site.

« **Reply #2 on:** February 22, 2009, 08:25:38 am »

ian
all them jobs you list that you have done so far, were they all FC leads that were passed on to you?
derek

« **Reply #3 on:** February 22, 2009, 08:32:48 am »

Yep, all came through FC either people contacting Ben and being referred across to us, or through our dedicated 0800 Furniture Clinic phone line.

After doing the LTT course we have advertised leather cleaning and repairs under the Lionheart Brand for the last three years now and are lucky if we get 2-3 a month.

So far we are getting about 6 a week, priced from £75 to our max at the moment of £750.

The area we are in is quite rural, so in reality I'm not expecting to get masses and masses of jobs from it, however the more densely populated areas, especially the South Coast, London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow areas are not covered at the moment and Ben is inundated with requests for work from those areas.

« **Reply #4 on:** February 22, 2009, 08:35:41 am »

Robert due to the huge increase of work we now get through our website and through our office we have just expanded our database of technicians so if you want to register with us please feel free.
At present we get 500+ jobs a month and that number is going to rise significantly over the next few months with the work we are doing with insurance companies and retailers.

We carefully researched the franchise route several years ago but did not go down it due to the fact that we wanted to continue our training courses. If we had gone down the franchise road this would have been impossible as franchisees will not like other people being trained when they have paid a lot of money for a franchise in their area.

Anyone coming to complete our 4 day trianinng course will be eligible for work from us, simply add it into the business you already have.

« **Reply #5 on:** February 22, 2009, 08:37:54 am »

That's a decent volume of work Judy...................presume you've had none in the West of Scotland ?

robert m

« **Reply #6 on:** February 22, 2009, 08:40:03 am »

We have a lot in Scotland but I am not sure we have all your details with postcode areas etc. If you want to ring Lesley on Monday she can make sure we have the details.

« **Reply #7 on:** February 22, 2009, 08:43:02 am »

talking of a car owner travelling 180 miles, I think car repairs are an untapped market I've got this to do on Friday. 45 grand mercedes.

« **Reply #8 on:** February 22, 2009, 08:53:22 am »

People will spend good money to have their cars done well. We get a lot of detailing referrals and many people drive hundrede of miles to come to us because of the work we have done with BMW,s, Porsche, Mercedes, Jaguar etc. We are recommended by a lot of the owners clubs.
Recent job done on a Merc, not very old but seats had gone shiny due to incorrect product for cleaning and care so he was prepared to travel from Aberdeen to have a restoration job done so that it looked like the rest of the car. He was thrilled with the results.

« **Reply #9 on:** February 22, 2009, 08:54:50 am »

Mike that looks like a tricky one how will you go about it?

« **Reply #10 on:** February 22, 2009, 09:12:55 am »

ian
so did the clients contact you direct through your link on FC or do FC contact you to inform you of a job thats come in?

judy
why did you not source that job out to someone you trained closer to the client?

derek

« **Reply #11 on:** February 22, 2009, 09:13:50 am »

whats tricky about it is, its had a homemade repair done on it already, when I inspected it I tried to lift it off the underneath patch so i could start from fresh, but its stuck down too well. its been like this for 2 months so it must be a pretty durable repair.

its hard to see from the photo but they haven't glued it down perfect, it has some ripples, I'll scalpel these and glue them down, then follow normal repair precedure (clean it- sand it-fill it -sand it -spray it etc)

if I'm honest the only problem I'll have is replicating the grain pattern across the repair, I've discussed this with the client and they are happy for me to colour repair it ( they are getting it ready to be sold)

I did actually give them the option of letting me drive the car to you and having Andy do it. but they didn't go for it. for future reference how much would you charge for this?

« **Reply #12 on:** February 22, 2009, 09:19:17 am »

mike
rough guess
£120
derek

« **Reply #13 on:** February 22, 2009, 09:37:15 am »

Derek,

We've had referrals from FC, I've had email requests through our northumberland@furnitureclinic.co.uk email and I've had people contacting me on the 0800 numbers.

Nothing personal to Judy but I was promised work from LTT after doing the course in 2005 and registered on their site as a trained technician, didn't get any work in 3 years.

The two week course that Ben runs with his time served upholsterer, Craig is excellent, first day is spent on the basics with Keith, then the rest of the time is one to one either in the workshop doing actual full repairs and restorations or out on the road with Gary doing jobs in peoples home or pricing up work. On the course we covered all aspects of restoration, from simple worn bolsters to a full 6 seater suite that needed fully renovating and recolouring from blue to brown, also did a jacket repair, learnt to slip stitch, did work on handbags, did a frame repair on a sofa at someones house that had a broken wooden strap along the front, did lots of jobs requiring degreasing, sanding, spraying, graining, finishing. Got involved with panel replacing, dacron wrapping, button repairs.

It was quite comprehensive and needed the two weeks to cover everything. I sent Harvey on the course first then I followed on two weeks later.

« **Reply #14 on:** February 22, 2009, 09:38:59 am »

At least a hundred pounds i guess

« **Reply #15 on:** February 22, 2009, 09:39:12 am »

The difference with having a franchise is that you are giving a dedicated territory. We were being passed work by a supplier which was good, no fees to pay etc but then someone else was trained in the area and they started getting a share then someone else, nightmare.
I would urge anyone wanting to seriously increase their business to enquire with fc. They do insurance work for us and as I have said in the past they are bursting with work and are having to turn it down in areas which aren't covered.

« **Reply #16 on:** February 22, 2009, 09:40:03 am »

Derek
The client had a reference from someone in the Mercedes owners club and he insisted that we do the job so he was quite prepared to drive down to us. Otherwise we would have given the work out as we do with other jobs.

Obviously we are limited with the number of jobs we can do in Harrogate and have technicians locally (as with all other parts of the country) that we pass work to but we do a lot of very high end work on high value cars and furniture so that our teaching is always kept fresh and up to date.

We have highly experienced technicians in the South of England, Glasgow, Manchester, London and Birmingham so maybe Ben would like to pass the jobs on!!!!
We also have a full database of time served upholsterers who we pass work out to, these are people who have trained for years on upholstery and furniture repairs.

Mike
You may have a problem with this as a very bad repair a has been attempted that has deformed the leather (often the problem with people using DIY kits on their expensive leather!!!)
Looking at the extent of the damage we would suggest a replacement panel and recolouring to match would be the preferred option particularly as he is getting it ready to sell. We can match a panel if this is required. No repair work on damage of this extent will fool a critical purchaser and they will immediatley want a £500 discount on the price to replace the seat. It is a buyers market at the moment.

Ian
Not sure that you kept your registration with us up to date and obviously we use technicians who use our products but we have passed out a lot of work in your area - sorry if you feel you have been left out.

« **Reply #17 on:** February 22, 2009, 09:46:08 am »

apart from the £200 a month, how much does an FC franchise cost and can you run it through your own business name or does it have to be run with an FC van?
derek

« **Reply #18 on:** February 22, 2009, 09:59:32 am »

Hi Guys

I have a leather cleaning site to rank with the best and get referrals from this .

I have thought about rebuilding the site which has good rankings for leather cleaning and cleaning leather and offering details of leather cleaners, Shaun and Pete are already on it.

In no way would I claim the expertise of LTT or FC, just a high ranking site.

Cheers

Doug

« **Reply #19 on:** February 22, 2009, 10:17:43 am »

doug
ranked 2 on google behind FC who are number 1.
email me doug with some details, derek@affordablecleaners.co.uk if thats ok.
derek

« **Reply #20 on:** February 22, 2009, 10:46:09 am »

Hi Derek

Above FC for cleaning leather, how to clean lether.

I dont want to make this sound like some sales blurb, just illustrating that there are lots of options for finding leather jobs.

My site was just for me but the rankings and traffic are so good it seems a bit wasted at present, I only do simple leather cleans.

Cheers

Doug

« **Reply #21 on:** February 22, 2009, 11:53:42 am »

Doug may be interested info@shannoncleaning.co.uk

Cheers

Mark

« **Reply #22 on:** February 22, 2009, 12:40:21 pm »

Doug

Do you sell many products from your http://www.leathercleaningproducts.co.uk/ site?

Bob

« **Reply #23 on:** February 23, 2009, 07:38:10 am »

Although the franchise route suits some,what difference would it make to someone who already does leather apart from maybe a few jobs directly from FC.Do you get the products that much cheaper to justify the £200 a month?

I like Ian did the LTT course some years ago applied to go on their site as a trained tech but never heard anything back which put me off after buying the full kit felt badly let down.

« **Reply #24 on:** February 23, 2009, 08:17:58 am »

Steve
There was a cost associated with being on our directory on our website and as far as I am aware we had no application from you to join this (the form was on the website) if this had been filled in and paid as a yearly subscription then the work was there.

We now work in a different way and those that have continued to use our products obviously get the work. We cannot send technicians out to do work if they are using product from somewhere else as this would be unfair on the customers who trust us to do good quality work for them.

« **Reply #25 on:** February 23, 2009, 08:48:33 am »

Maybe this would be a good opportunity Judy for you to send out a new letter to all past technicians who attend your courses explaining you new working practices.
Then this would stop all the grumbling and mud slinging and you never know it could reaffirm sales of your products.

« **Reply #26 on:** February 23, 2009, 12:06:34 pm »

Judy you actually gave me the form to fill in while I was down there,filled it in but you never got back to me,if I remember rightly the cost was something like £60.

Dave makes a fair point maybe worth taking on board

« **Reply #27 on:** February 23, 2009, 02:59:10 pm »

In my years in direct sales , agencies ,franchises , etc I find you get made lots of promises of potential earnings etc sometimesthey materialise some times they do not.

I am always dubious about parting with money to acheive said result.

I find the best policy is if for instances I went on Leather Course or Flood Course and I was promised work fromdoing such course or even hinted at.

I would be on the phone on a weekly basis asking where the leads were etc. This would then give you a chance to say I am not buying your products because there is no work. However if you had bragged about how much Leather Cleaning you were doing and not purchased from company you were asking for leads from who could blame them for not passing on leads.

That said if someone has spend several hundread poundson training and leads are available they should be passed on and a suggestion made on what products are needed to do job.

If after two or three jobs no additional products are purchased then they should be dropped

Lead allocation always causes problems.,

« **Reply #28 on:** February 23, 2009, 04:39:59 pm »

We once had our sofa sprayed due to sun damage by a known franchise, paid £320 for job. Three weeks of use after the job the colour started wearing off and the original damage could be seen.
Called them out again, they re-sprayed area and then put on what they said was a stronger lacquer. It certainly was stronger, it lasted 2 months before it all started to wear off again!! :

Did'nt pursue it with them again.

Called in a private business who charged £80 to do the job and explained the problem with the last company. The guy laughed and said if only I knew his number earlier. Re did the area and spent twice as long getting the job done right, looked fantastic when finished. 6 weeks on and all the colour had come off. :

we went out and bought a new sofa.

I would question the durability of these repairs especially when your using paint, in my opinion they don’t last and can leave customers angry and disillusioned.
If we clean carpets in office blocks we know that they won’t shrink on drying. If we go out and fit CCTV systems or Aerials we are confident that they are not going to stop working in a few weeks time, we even offer a full 2 years free warranty on all installations. Why should leather repairs be any different or do they come with warranty?

Matt

« **Reply #29 on:** February 23, 2009, 05:22:54 pm »

Hi Matt, sound like it wasn`t prepared correctly.
I`m getting a lot of leather requests just now, I did the FC 3 day course last year, but did very little about it, even though I spent about a grand all in. Now I`v kind of lost my confidence.
Looks like it`s time to get my finger out.
Rab.

« **Reply #30 on:** February 23, 2009, 05:55:35 pm »

Matt

Sounds like you have a particularly greasy arse

Probably like Rab says needed degreasing. Also the PU type products FC do have excellent adhesive qualities. (cue Judy)

« **Reply #31 on:** February 23, 2009, 06:06:33 pm »

Mike

« **Reply #32 on:** February 23, 2009, 06:59:35 pm »

This is a restoration we done on the course.
The prep work was not what I`d call enjoyable.
But when done properly, the finishing is pretty easy, fast and a you get a nice buzz when you see the result.
I know it`s 2 different cushions but they were all mingers.

« **Reply #33 on:** February 24, 2009, 08:29:22 am »

Rabby

Thats a good after clean

« **Reply #34 on:** February 24, 2009, 09:59:14 am »

Matt

If a leather repair is done properly it will be as good as the original. The scenario you're depicting is one where the job has not been done properly.
Leather repairing / restoration is done by carrying out specific tasks in sequence, including thorough drying, application of a bonding agent if the prepared surface is at all suspect and using top quality pigments and finishes.

It's easy to get it wrong, but if it does, then you should seek recompense.

Ariel installations are NOT always perfect

« **Reply #35 on:** February 24, 2009, 10:06:34 am »

Sun damage is more common on aniline style leathers than pigments.
If you had this type of leather and someone sprayed colour on then the wrong products were being applied.
Most quality pigments these days are applied by hand as the adhesion that this offers is far greater to anything that has been sprayed and the results are far superior. Spraying products can be very risky and will generally lead to failure.
Aniline dyes should be applied by hand except in rare cases where colour changes are needed and the technique of spraying is not something to be undertaken by the inexperienced.

« **Reply #36 on:** February 24, 2009, 06:58:11 pm »

Rabby,

You're in the same position I was, did the course, but couldn't get the hands on experience to gain confidence.

Been out to 4 jobs today, did two of them, brought one back to the workshop and doing the other one next week, good money, satisfying work and if I could get better at colour matching I'd be a very happy man!!

« **Reply #37 on:** February 24, 2009, 08:52:27 pm »

The trouble is with leather restoration is you do the courses ,all very well in theory and in the workshop , then off you go .
Weeks and months go by without any experience in real life so it fades away. Others advertise they do this and that , get jobs but cant deliver ,get dissillusioned and pack in.
It isn't rocket science to do but you wont pick it up overnight , it will come but patience is needed and most dont have that or cant devote the time to master it.
Weare far more usedto booking acarpet job in , arrive at job ,do it, take payment then onto next job , simple !
Mike

« **Reply #38 on:** February 24, 2009, 09:10:53 pm »

Mike,

You are spot on!

Can you or anyone here suggest practical instant solutions to overcome these “can’t deliver” problems and deliver it?

Roger Koh
info@leatherdoctor.org
Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification #942
Leather Care Technician
Master Textile Cleaner
Master Fire & Smoke Restorer
Journeyman Water Restorer
Since 1973

« **Reply #39 on:** February 24, 2009, 09:39:58 pm »

You know we can Roger, by having access to detailed and clear assistance via this fantastic tool, the computer, but no one is going to offer such assistance on a regular basis without selling products which would be perfectly understandable and reasonable.

« **Reply #40 on:** February 24, 2009, 10:13:31 pm »

LTT is john in fofar still going ?? strathvale furnishings i think we was known as

« **Reply #41 on:** February 24, 2009, 11:44:06 pm »

Hell ! James, they don't seem to know I'm around and I was down at Harrogate just 12 months ago. A bit disapointing, to say the least.

« **Reply #42 on:** February 25, 2009, 07:50:42 am »

James yes John is still going
Robert - have you registered your details with us for doing leather and whose products are you using,?

« **Reply #43 on:** February 25, 2009, 01:52:24 pm »

Quote from: Steve Gunn on February 23, 2009, 12:06:34 pm

Judy you actually gave me the form to fill in while I was down there,filled it in but you never got back to me,if I remember rightly the cost was something like £60.

Dave makes a fair point maybe worth taking on board

Judy

Seems you are ignoring this too :

« **Reply #44 on:** February 25, 2009, 06:08:22 pm »

Steve
The form you filled in at the course was an evaluation form which gave us your skill details, but to register for the directory (as it was then) and for jobs from us you would have had to fill out the form via the internet. This is no longer there as we have now changed the system and will be contacting those people with active accounts with us to give up to date information about how we are proceeding now with job referals.

When we worked with an online directory this was the only way that you could register for job referals and there was a cost attached to this.
Job referals require 2 way communication and those that work closely with us and run active accounts get a lot of work from us. We will not be using cleaners and technicians who use other suppliers products as we would then have no quality control.
Our trade website will be up and running very shortly if you wish to purchase products from us.

Just as a general statement on this topic:
Why has it all of a sudden become the responsibility of suppliers to supply work for independent cleaners and technicians? If you want this service consider buying a franchise.

« **Reply #45 on:** February 25, 2009, 06:28:45 pm »

Judy it's not the suppliers responsibility but then why did you have a directory if it was not to pass work on.

As for QC even if they are using your products you cannot control how the job ends up,you only have to look at chem dry for this they have lots of complaints.

Will your trade site have the lazy leather on as I'm after something that is easier for the customers to use

« **Reply #46 on:** February 25, 2009, 06:37:38 pm »

Yes we do pass work on but we cannot possibly give it to everybody that decides they want it so we work with the people who work with us and use our products that way we know we can help if there are any queries.

Lazy Leather is available now at trade prices for selling on to your customers. You do not need to wait for the website. You can have your own details on them if required. Just let us know.
It really is the simplest product for consumer use and now has its very own website http://www.lazyleather.co.uk

« **Reply #47 on:** February 25, 2009, 06:45:10 pm »

Are those trade prices?

« **Reply #48 on:** February 25, 2009, 06:48:36 pm »

No Steve those are consumer prices.

« **Reply #49 on:** February 25, 2009, 06:50:14 pm »

the site has a flaw, when I look at it the payment text overlays some of the other text, might be just my computer

« **Reply #50 on:** February 25, 2009, 06:54:17 pm »

i just get red crosses instead of pictures on the credit card bits. something to do with not being able to display the card pictures in the righ rez. bit like when some people on CIU try and load there picture but its to big so you get a red cross.
derek

« **Reply #51 on:** February 25, 2009, 06:58:06 pm »

Hi Mike
Noticed that the other day so will get it sorted, cheers
Judy

« **Reply #52 on:** February 25, 2009, 09:03:01 pm »

Quote from: Leather Training and Technical on February 25, 2009, 06:08:22 pm

Just as a general statement on this topic:
Why has it all of a sudden become the responsibility of suppliers to supply work for independent cleaners and technicians? If you want this service consider buying a franchise.

That's exactly what I wanted and what I did, I've taken calls regarding the following work that's come in today from website and our FC advert:

Jaguar car - Estimate for refurbishing all seats (website/email)
Sofa - Grease on arm rest from where "him indoors" (allegedly) has been laid down watching the tele! (website/phoned me)
Porsche - Wear on drivers bolster and possible repair to steering wheel. (local advert/phoned me)

At the moment we are trying to do two days out on the road, either doing jobs or doing estimates and collections, then 3 days in the workshop doing restoration work. I think/hope that by next month I'll probably have to have someone in the workshop full time doing prep work and filling cracks.

I've so far had five people contact me to discuss the franchise route, feel free to give me a call. 07790596782

« **Reply #53 on:** March 08, 2009, 08:00:00 am »

Bit of an update on our new venture:

We've just taken on an upholsterer, currently part-time, to do some of the more intricate upholstery, panel replacement, refilling work as there seems to be quite a demand for that, especially refilling arm rests on older suites.

Got a suite in at the moment, a large gull wing deep buttoned 3-1-1, bought from Harrods for £4500 over 30 years ago, they looked at getting it replaced however the price was going to be over £15,000.

We are replacing the arms panels on one chair with new leather as they are badly greased, then recolouring the whole suite to the original, it's a deep red two tone. Photos will be going on the website when done.