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Franchise Focus Life of a INVESTMENT LEVEL: £14,000


Chimney Sweep franchise and claims it it to be one of the best decisions he ever made. Like many ex-public service workers, John,


F


47, enjoyed serving his local community and although Wilkins Chimney Sweep vans don’t come with a blue flashing light, franchisees do provide a vital safety service. An unswept chimney can cause carbon-monoxide poisoning with potentially fatal results.


aced with a future of pay freezes and cutbacks, ex-policeman and Trading Standards officer John Parker, wanted to regain a sense of control and, taking voluntary redundancy, bought a Wilkins


John Parker John viewed a number of franchises before


settling on Wilkins. He says: “Having looked at several different operations I decided I wanted to buy into a relatively new franchise. I’d noticed difficulties with the territory sizes offered by more established franchises so


joining a new business with larger territories made sense to me.” Husband-and-wife team Peter and Louise


sweep for me!


John Parker bought a Wilkins Chimney Sweep franchise and has never looked back since


Harris began offering territories in December 2010; they have four franchisees on board already and more in the pipeline. Franchise director Louise says: “Chimney


sweeping isn’t glamorous work, but its good, honest graft, perfect for someone who enjoys meeting members of the public, is practical and business-minded and doesn’t mind getting their hands a bit grubby. Our franchisees like the fact that they have annual ‘repeat’ customers; that chimney sweeping is a ‘need not want’ service; that there is no hard sell involved and that the model is almost entirely debt free. We’ve also recently introduced flexible opportunities for new franchisees starting up.” Wilkins are now offering obligation-free


discovery days, see below for details of how to get in touch. n


WILKINS CHIMNEY SWEEP


WEBSITE: www.wilkinschimneysweep.co.uk www.franchisechimneysweep.co.uk


EMAIL: louiseharris@wilkinschimneysweep.co.uk/ info@franchisechimneysweep.co.uk


PHONE: 01635 551 454 CLASSIFICATION: Property Maintenance


May 2012 | Businessfranchise.com | 47


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