In 2009 "Outside Concepts Franchising Pty Ltd" purchased the "Mr Carports" franchising operation which had been trading since 1991.
The new Outside Concepts brand better describes the broad range of stuctures the company designs and builds. We build a range of specialised outdoor structures including carports, verandahs, decks and pergolas.
The "Mr Carports" franchise system had extraordinary sucess and was well known as a market leader in the field. It has been the recipient of a number of National and State Awards including Australian Financial Review Smart Investor "Top Australian Franchise System" and winner of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers "SA Franchisee of the Year" 2005 and 2007.
More recently, Jock Dean, franchisee of OutsideConcepts - Eastern (S.A.) was a finalist in the Australian Franchisee of the Year 2009 and a winner of SA Franchisee of The Year 2009.
A clip from Channel 9's business program, 'Don't Come Monday'.
A Business program featuring stories of everyday people leaving the 9-5 job behind and
investing into a franchise.
How would you define your brand?
Our name Outside Concepts reflects our brand. We take great pride in building beautiful outside living designs, including verandahs, pergolas, patios, decks, gazebos, carports and cafe blinds which complement and improve the value of a house.
Apart from improving the look of a property, we also strive to improve the way in which our clients can enjoy outdoor living and, as a consequence, increase the value of their property.
How old is the business and when did you start franchising?
The original "Mr Carports" business commenced operating in 1991 and started its first franchise in 1996.
Whilst working at Executor Trustee as a Business Consultant, my co-worker and I were asked to help restructure a steel roll-forming business. This gave us an insight into the building industry and potential opportunities in selling and building carports, verandahs, pergolas and decks, so we decided to “give it a go” and started the "Mr Carports" company.
We developed a computer program allowing us to provide customers with on the spot quotes, something that was never heard of in those days.
We employed excellent tradespeople and built high quality structures at a fair price, working closely with customers to ensure their satisfaction with the finished product. We found that by being professional in our approach to customers, arriving to appointments on time and leaving a written quotation at the 1st meeting, our success rate was booming.
Our business grew to the extent that we were unable to cope with the demand. We knew we had a great business model to work with so we decided to franchise and approached a couple of our builders to open our first franchise.
The computer program was improved to incorporate detailed engineering specifications, cutting lists for suppliers and builders, council applications and business reporting systems. An additional benefit was that a computer-designed carport minimized the material cost thus maximizing the profit of each job.
In early 2009 "Outside Concepts Franchising Pty Ltd" purchased the "Mr Carports" franchising operation.
Our long term goal is to be innovative and continually improve our products and constantly raise the bar to remain market leaders in our field.
How many franchises do you have?
Currently we have 32 franchises.
Interviews with branch owners explaining the franchise system.
How are you going to grow the business in 2011?
During this year we are going to establish a few more branches in Sydney & Brisbane, and expand operations in WA. But our main efforts will be invested in improving the performance of our existing franchises and concentrating on our new products such as Café Blinds and the introduction of aluminium beams and fittings.
I expect we will also be spending more time with our first United States branch in California, USA. We can teach them how we do things more efficiently here. We can also learn and bring back ideas to our Australian branches.
Where do you expect the business to grow?
I trust that we will see continuing growth in company profile, franchise performance and client satisfaction.
What do you expect from a franchisee?
A successful Franchisee should be open minded and willing to accept new ideas and new ways of doing things. He or she must have the skills to be able to operate their own business whilst being a part of a group.
Most importantly they need to be intelligent, with good communication and organizational skills and the ability to project-manage from quote to completion.
What are the start-up costs for a franchisee and what working capital should they have?
The cost of a Franchise, including training, is $57,500 +GST. Not much working capital is required, perhaps around $10,000 for advertising, but it takes between 6 and 12 months for a Franchisee to start achieving their potential in sales and income.
Many of our new franchisees continue with their existing employment whilst building the business, or they take a part time job to cover living expenses until the franchise provides suitable profits.
What is the length of Franchise Agreement?
The Franchise Agreement is for 20 years (5 + 5 + 5 + 5).
What sort of hours will the franchisee have to work to get the business established and how long should that take?
Most of our franchisees settle in to a reasonably regular income after about 12 months, but the business will continue to grow. The majority of our franchisees have indicated that they work between 35 and 45 hours per week, but we do have a few doing a lot less hours to earn a smaller income and some working longer hours to earn a substantially higher than average income.
What profit can a franchisee reasonably expect to make after two years?
It all gets back to how the franchisee wants to work the business. Most of our franchisees working full time seem to earn around $80 to $120k, but a few of them do substantially better than that by putting in the extra time. Keep in mind though, that the first six months of operation involves a lot of learning and most new franchisees do not make a profit during this establishment time.
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