Franchisee of the month
high volume of slow moving traffic, and a prominent retail presence provides that little bit more justification to call in or visit our website. Even if people have just seen the showroom in passing, it acts as powerful brand endorsement, putting us on their mental checklist when considering a kitchen makeover.”
“It’s a very, very clean product and customers absolutely love the quality and technical performance, plus there’s the bonus of a global brand”
Tim Hegarty In style
Franchise owner Tim Hegarty has opened an additional Granite Transformations showroom in the spa town of Bath. His designer showroom draws customers in with its ‘funky boutique’ atmosphere and stylish interior
T
im Hegarty was a prosperous young entrepreneur, even before investing in a Granite Transformations home improvements franchise. A civil engineer by training, he started
his first business at the age of 22 and had banked a quarter of a million pounds at 28 through his earnings from property investment and importing machinery, before inventing a plastic packaging concept with a partner, from which he continues to draw royalties. After cladding a patio table in stainless steel,
liking the result and contemplating yet another way of making money, Tim considered starting up a worktop conversions business, before realising that Granite Transformations had got there first. “It was around 2005 and I searched for
worktop conversions on the web and found that Granite Transformations had come up with a better idea, in the form of slim, lightweight
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granite, quartz or glass composite surfaces that can be installed on top of existing worktops. So I bought into a franchise with my business partner Ralph Deens,” says Tim. “It’s a very, very clean product and customers absolutely love the quality and technical performance, plus there’s the bonus of a global brand.” Although most of the sales are concluded
in the customers’ homes, Tim feels that high street premises act like a beehive for retail business, attracting callers and generating interest from passers-by. That’s the reason he opened a new outlet in Bath, because although his original premises is on the eastern side of Bristol, it was still difficult to attract custom across from the spa city. “I thought if we opened a showroom
there, we’d get a lot more business and that has proved to be the case,” says Tim. “It’s on a main road into the city, with a
His showroom, a Grade 2 listed building in
a conservation area, exemplifies Tim’s eye for design and willingness to try new ideas. He enlisted the input of Granite Transformations’ showroom designer, Stuart Clarkson, and gave him relatively free rein to create a more ‘funky boutique’ atmosphere, employing the product itself creatively and incorporating high-end Italian glass mosaics from Granite Tranformation’s sister company, Trend. The opportunity to open an additional
showroom emerged from a joint financing scheme, called Granite Transformations Partnership Programme, which Tim himself conceived and presented to the franchisor. It’s his legacy to the UK franchise network and has already enabled fellow franchisees to build their businesses in a highly cost- effective manner. In tandem with the new retail premises in
Bath and capitalising on increased brand recognition, Tim has also recruited a talented interior designer, Liz Dennys, to work with larger commercial clients like property developers, self-builders and contractors. She will focus on specifying Granite Transformations agglomerates and Trend mosaics for upscale installations, creating a substantial shared revenue stream. "A lot of people who come into our
showrooms have other projects going on, so it seems a shame to sell them just worktops, when with a little persuasion we can also secure an interior design commission and tiles sales too,” adds Tim. n
In BrIeF
Name: Tim Hegarty Previous occupation: Property investor and businessman Location: Bath Visit:
www.gtfranchise.co.uk
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