Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: PaulKing on September 01, 2006, 08:44:06 pm
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Pulled up near these vans at the local top quality burger van in sunderland!
Noticed Two brand spanking vans that with Homeserve and Chem Dry logos on them.
Talking to they guys while getting sarnies and they said they taking over damage restortion from the "little guys" next month, and they had just been to pick up the vans, bet the local "little guys" are doing their nut.
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Paul what is damage restoration ???
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When you restore something thats damaged! :-X
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Nick its when you have done a job and the customer phones us the next day to come and do it properly. :D
Left yourself open for that one. ;D
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No you wallys i mean is it for insurance claims or something different,
bleeding norfaners ::)
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Nick were you are means we are all Southeners ;D ;D
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y where am i ???
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jokes aside do you reckon all the white chem dry vans are out on their ears?
I know Homeserve did a similar thing first hand with the Regency Service Network of which our company was a member.
We all got one weeks notice that the supply of insurance work would terminate, as the business model called for directly employed staff to keep up the high standard of customer service. It all came with a invite for a job interview the same day, mind you free uniform and a company van was very tempting, enough for half our staff to take them up! and i don't blame them one little bit, would have done the same myself in thier shoes.
Most of Network where also Scotchcare services,. thats why you don't see so many these days, along with the collapse of the network of course!
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Sounds like its coming around again
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hi there
chemdry bought homeserve earlier this year, or the other way round
they are both franchise operations, therefore you will find homeserve and chemdry on some vehicles as they heve traken both franchises for that area.
the theory is that the two companies compliment each other.
the reality being somewhat different, it all depends what areas they are in , and how enthusiatic they are
both chem dry and homeserve are in the insuarance boards of suppliers, and are perfectly places for the business, as they have been for sometime.
however ther is still plenty of room out there for others.
we do flood response for 3 large multi site oganiastions, one being educational, and also reinstatement work after the cleaning up, and we are doing well thank you very much. by providing a good service in a tight geographical area.
regards
martin
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theres loads of insurance work out there. ;)
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Martin can you extend on that or if not can you email me as I would like to do the same but keep hitting brick walls.
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Nick Ditto
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Its all quite simple really.
Homeserve buys Chem-Dry.
Takes over all the Restoration Work under Homeserve.
Sub-Contracts out the franchisees core businesses.
Tells the franchisees to concentrate on carpet cleaning.
Buy up all the big franchises
Train up there glass guys to do fire and flood
Advertise for guys to work direct for them in a "centre of excellance"
Put a small "Chem-Dry" sign on Homeserve vans. Wouldn't be hard to take off.
Do they then sell the Chem-Dry brand back into the market, but keep all the insurance work?
And remember they are still selling franchises- Carpet Cleaning of course.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
A personel opiniun of course as CD do monitor this site. Perhaps they would like to offer a different perspective.
Regards
CATMAN
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paul
youve got mail
martin
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so will home serve take on domestic carpet cleaning or just the insurance side. ?
where do the chemdry franchisees stand as they bought the franchise on the understanding of insurance work ?
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hi there
i think your a lttle confused.
chemdry core business is flood and fire, carpet cleaning for them is just an add on.
the insurance market is a weird one.
both chemdry and homeserve have the insurance work already independently
they are now in a position to provide more services.
homeserve -- dont just do boarding up
they provide out of hours response contracts to most major house builders across the country, for electrical, heating and plumbing works.
both companies will continue to develop there network coverage, but like most companies they might fin black spots of cover, and therefore the other company franchisee, may like another complimenting service, to add to his business.
regards
martin
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Martin no email arrived
send it to mosscleaning@btinternet.com.
Paul
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Martin they dont have all the insurance work for carpet cleaning.
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hi there
no one is loosing any work, in fact they may get more work
ie
homeserve get a call to attens a burst pipe, who will they call in now??
chemdry.
therefore eliminating the need for another drying company
the trick is -- who controls the site, ie the incident.
when we attend floods we dry, clean , and whilst we have control of the site we the quote and win the reinstatement work
that can be anything from a new laminate floor, and a carpet
to
a complete 4 bed house refurbishment after a major flood
unfortunately the latter are few and far between
regards
martin
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hi there
no, i know they dont have the whole lot
nobody ever will.
i have carpet cleaning through one particualr loss adjuster company, purely built on the relationship that i have developed throught the service we give
regards
martin
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the scary thing is
WHY IS A PROFESSIONAL HOMESERVE VAN, shopping at a HIGH STREET DIY STORE.
come on boys, go to the builders merchants, get better prices higher pfofits!!!
regards
martin
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Martin
Ring u tomorrow cheers :)
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true true ;)
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they were getting fed. the burger van's just out of shot!
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When it happened to us i got a tip that there was 100 renault vans in the car park at Regency.
Does anyone live near Homeserve head office and fancy having a look, or noticed alot of van parked up?
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Martin, Homeserve is not a franchise. It is a multi national PLC. All of their operations are now carried out by directly employed staff apart from the domestic fire & flood restoration. They bought the UK master franchise of Chem Dry. With Homedepot buying the parent company in the US it will be interesting to see if Homeserve by out the UK arm lock, stock & barrel.
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so where are CD franchisees left? as i said didnt they buy the franchise with the understanding of the insurance work?
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When I bought a chem dry franchise in 93 I bought a carpet cleaning franchise, they were just starting on the insurance side, it was just coffee spils, small radiator leaks etc, through good service and marketing, and a dedicated, motivated network, The chem dry name was built up and established, bigger and more complex, lucrative insurance jobs came in, I saw the writing on the wall 5 years ago when 2 of the directors moved to canada and america respectively, the remaining chairman was getting older and I guessed he would sell up , which he did last year, only a plc or a multinational would have bought the company, they did , I have since found a nice niche, drying commercial buildings, 4 months a year, and a bit of cc, the rest of the time. The farnchissees I speak to are being "encouraged" to build up thier cc business , this is fair enough, as the insurance work was an extra or bonus from day one back in 93, . However many cds have large overheads, pay high prices for chemicals, licence fees, are auditted, monitored closely, and the equipment prices are out of this world. I am glad I got out when I did, part by design ,part by luck.
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hi jason i got out about 4 months ago my take was homeserve will get the insurance claims that deal with spillages on carpet they will go out and if it cant be cleaned they will have a sample book to replace carpets/im glad im out thanks to them im in major debt and about to go down the pan rot in hell chemdry >:( >:( >:( >:(
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- As i posted elsewhere Homeserve plumbing and burst pipe repair service is not very satisfactory.
In our area they appear to use Sub Contractors for this operation. We were and our completely dissatisfied with the service we received . Their complaints telephone system is useless. Their contracts donot show all exclusions etc.
Therefore if Homeserve and Chem dry monitor this Forum I am pleased
]
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Bennymon, my advice would be to use the skills you learned(and paid to learn) at chem dry to have a lucrative cc company, and make minor inroads into the insurance market, you and I can never take a huge market share of that , however our overheads are tiny compared to those of a cd , its down to profit at the end of the day , not turnover.
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I wonder if Homeserve will advertise the fact that Chemdry is an arm of them and on Chemdry vans that they are a Homeserve plc franchise.
Makes sense to adverise the fact as the brand names equal quality.
Shaun
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Reason why vans were outside a Home Base store - dont Homeserve also own Home Base?
Dave.
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hi there
ive seen some of their plumbing as well, had to call out another on call plumber to rectify their repair, before i could start the drying out operation.
regards
martin
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At the end of the day they are using employees on 15-20k a year, franchissees can more closely monitor work , they have more than just a job at stake and tend to be better motivated.
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It all sounds great from the outset but like most thing do, it will be time that will tell or should I say prove their worth?
Chem-Dry came on all guns ablazing in the early 90's with a fantastic marketing arm. Made all us guy's sit up and take notice, what they did do for us bless them was create awareness for carpet cleaning and above all they raised the bar.
Most quotes in those early days I went on had already been visited by a local CD franchise who had put prices in their heads we as independant cleaners only dream about.
The plain fact was their main core of business was insurance work so the plain Mrs Jones and smiths of this world were seen as icing to the cake.
And to us they were and are our main income!
How times have changed it is very rare I hear the name Chem-Dry now when I visit potential clients.
There are interesting times ahead, looks like I'm going to have to roote in the cupboard for my bat and ball and enter the game again.
Dave
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Dave, what you have to remember was that mine and many other franchissees carpet and upholstery work was effectively subsidised by the insurance work, if your average franchise has little or no insurance work now , how will they afford the expensive ads? especially as bonnet buffing/ low power portables can be outcleaned on most occasions by a nice tm.
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What a difference between one country and another. In the states c/d are laughed at for two reasons, 1) is that they are no bloody good and 2) that they were beyond cheep. Even bait and switch companies at there bait were more than c/d. Best, Dave.
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Martin,
Could be the same plumber However in fairness the one from Cambs found the leak but did not fill the hole The one from Norfolk did fill his holes but did not find the leak.
On another occasion they tried to make out we needed new drains etc
Considering the bungalow is only 15 years old I think this is unlikely
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Look at it this way..
Chemdry/Homeserve are changing their businesses. If they were completely successful in what they were doing then why the merger and why the need to change the way they operate?
They are clearly rattled by the little guy and are changing their business in order to compete!
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Homeserve are a dynamic business run by some very clever people. I have had dealings with them, in fact 3 directors flew up on their private jet to visit me and a colleague to pick our brains on fire & flood restoration.
They want to be seen as the AA for householders. Buying Chem Dry was to fill a whole in their operations. They are now expanding in the US, France and Australia. These guys are no mugs believe me. However their service may fall down at times as it does with most large organisations.
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They aren't mugs when it comes to making money, that's for sure. However, they are simply salesmen who know how to sell an inferior product at inflated prices!
Hands up everyone who believes that they offer a better service than Homeserve!
Bit like Currys salesmen in that respect. I mean, who else could sell a £99 Matsui telly on its alleged "reliability" then flog a £200 extended warranty "in case it blows up"?
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At first I looked at the picture thought they were there to hire one of these
(http://img379.i.us/img379/6303/frontprodemotc9.jpg)
John
Know where you are coming from, but on the other hand, don’t think any one paid a franchise fee for your former business, as a hand on person I can understand why they visited you.
Have to say I miss them within the cc field, still have there letter framed asking me to join them!
Len
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Thing you have to understand is that Insurance companies are investment companies, not repair companies. They use your premiums to invest in the stock market and such like. This is their primary business and why they exist.
They need large concerns like Homeserve, Belfor, Munters etc to handle all their claims. These companies have huge call centres which are able to provide the insurance companies with the data, statistics and KPI's they require. Whether the service is below standard is secondary in my opinion.
As an independant you are never going to make massive inroads into this market, however there is a lot of work out there and it is possible for independants to obtain a resonable amount of work as is shown by some of the posters on here.
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Perhaps the NCCA should be putting more effort into selling itself to the insurance companies?
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Now your talking Calmore why not use the people who are really trained to do the job!
Surely that makes more sense, or am I missing something here.
Sadly I'm a bit long in the tooth for all this kind of work but you younger guy's would fit the bill very nicely.
Lets face it you don't sent a Plumber to do An Electrians work
I have twins sons One an electrian One a Plumber in their own field they are great as carpets cleaners, well need I say more.
I shudder to think how all this is going to turn out.
These guys can fix a machine in no time, use it is a whole different ball game. As you all know its a craft that takes many years to learn.
Never in a class room over night.
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When I posted, some time ago, about the likeliehood of training, becoming mandatory and suggesting the industry - that's all of you - take control and set up it's own training, thus taking control and not only raising standards, but avoiding interference from government pen pushers, it was regarded by some, as, unnecessary and unwanted'
Someone suggested, the industry was just too small and fragmented to catch the eye, of government employees.
Like Dave, we are veterans in this business and we won't be affected, should NVQs be introduced, as they surely will.
The biggest problem, is getting experienced people start at the bottom before ascending to a higher level of qualification.
This, however, is easily taken care of nowadays, through distance learning and modular training, which allows anyone, to get the basics, out of the way, anonymously and privately.
By incorporating the Bics and IICRC qualifications, a National Standard could be realised and " sold " to Insurance companies and corporates who would find it easier to select a credible company to maintain their assets.
Just the way I expect things to pan out.
Bye for now
Angie
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Re Insurance Market.
Yes it does look like Homeserve are taking a lion share.
But when it comes to building repair after the flood damage it looks to me that loss adjusters tend to favour regional companies.
Just going on personal experience.
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hi there
this is a hot thread today ive been out for a few hours and its still going strong.
john, i must find time to come up and lok at some of your kit,
we are putting a new van on the road in the new year, and i have a bit of shopping list of kit that it will carry, purely for my flood customers.
unfortunately i'll have to drive through, as the aircraft is grounded, one ambition ive had for three years now is to learn to fly helicopters, still saving for that one.
home werve and chemdry will make a good partnership, as long as they deliver the service level to their clients. cause in 18 months or 24 months when contracts are up for review then they have to watch it.
cause we all know that the insurance companies will jump ship at the drop of a hat, if they are not happy with the current supplier.
so good luck everybody.
im just lucky that i have a very good client and by reputation, we are theie insurers preferred supplier, and we are first through the door. sometiomes we get there before the plumber gets there.
and in some cases we are asked to be on site first to photgraph it all, so that blame cane be directed in the right direction, photos great for evidence in insurance claims.
regards
martin
regards
martin
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Ayone thinking of buying their own plane think again, one of my customers (easy jet pilot) had his own small plane, he put it in for its first service....................£19 grand :o
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john
and i moaned about the servicing costs of my vans.
but hey if youvr got the money, then why not enjoy yoursefl.
we all work hard, so go on, pop down the shops and buy yourself a little winged runabout.
regards
martin
£19k think of all the caroet and drying kit i could buy with that.!!!!