On 2007-05-19 22:35:30 +0100, "The Medway Handyman"
said:

wrote:
On 19 May, 13:15, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-05-19 11:44:40 +0100, BlueJohn said:

I've also just been talking to somebody else who is in a similar
position - seems there are quite a few of us in limbo: not enough
work to attract a normal builder, and not enough DIY skills to do it
ourselves.

I think that TMH should franchise his service...

Surely any potential franchisee seeing what he does would go amd copy
it without getting involved in the franchise. What Mr Medway has is
primarily job skill, applicants without it would be a lot of work, and
those with it can do it themselves anyway. To put it another way, why
do franchisees do it?

To some extent that's what I did - I saw what the existing large companies
did & learned from it. The last 18 months have been a huge learning
experience though. Whilst there are many people out there with the DIY
skills, they may well lack the business & marketing skills required.

Not sure about franchising, but I might well write a 'how to' book. When I
did my research I could only find two - one from America and one from
Canada - no 'how to be a handyman' book relevant to the UK.

Might be a few bob in it.

Not a bad idea at all, although I suspect that there is still the
situation of those who know how to market themselves and those who
don't and never will.

The business aspect is something else and a key part is to be firm but
fair about pricing and not being afraid to ask for a good price for the
work done.