What’s It Like Once You Own a Chem-Dry Carpet Cleaning Franchise?

New franchise owners aren?t the only thing powering growth for the Chem-Dry carpet cleaning franchise. Our existing franchisees keep growing.

How do you gauge a successful franchise system? Is it by how much money franchisees make? By their return on investment? By how quickly are new people joining the franchise? Yes to all three, but one of the things we love to see when we examine Chem-Dry?s growth is the continued success of our existing franchisees. After all, is it one thing to start a business? It’s something else to grow it.

Nazar Osman

Nazar Osman, who we profiled earlier this year, is a good example of both. He started his Chem-Dry in Palm Beach County, FL, in March, and has already expanded into neighboring Broward County.

We’re doing very well, Nazar said, noting that business is slower in Florida during the summer, but is busy October through April. Within the next year or two, I hope to be up to five or six vans. I’m very happy with how the business is performing.

Here are some other examples:

9-year-old Chem-Dry carpet franchise grows in Florida

Jason McLaverty has owned Tropical Chem-Dry in Port St. Lucie, FL, for nine years, and he recently jumped at the chance to purchase the territory to his north, Indian River County. He hopes to eventually expand south, too, into Martin County. Jason has two vans now and plans to build a fleet of four.

My plan is to grow this business as big as I can, and when I’m ready to retire, either sell it or pass it down to a family member, says Jason, who is 38. We’ve used the last few months to set up our online marketing, so that when the snowbirds come back to Indian River County in a few weeks, they won’t have any trouble finding us.

Holly and Pat Shufeldt

2-year-old Chem-Dry grows in Ohio

Pat Shufeldt, who owns Liberty Chem-Dry near Columbus, OH, also bought a new territory with a long-term plan in mind. Shufeldt has been in business a little less than two years. He started out with one Portable Unit and quickly grew his customer base to the point where his schedule was full and he was frequently turning customers away. He recently purchased the rights to serve Delaware, an affluent and growing suburb north of Columbus.

That’s where the growth is, Pat says. I know a real estate agent who also opened an office in that area with the same goal in mind. Establish a strong presence now and become the person that everyone provides referrals for as the area gets bigger and bigger.

He says that as he and his wife Holly pay off their equipment, they are eyeing expansion again within the next year or two.

Brian Curran

18-year-old Chem-Dry expands

Brian Curran, who has owned Chem-Dry of Richmond in northern Virginia for 18 years, recently expanded by adding territories in Virginia Beach. Curran has nine vans nearly always fully booked, and his business is already one of the top revenue-producers in the Chem-Dry system, but he saw an opportunity to do even more.

We were ready, and we felt the market was ready, Brian says.

Sheree Kholman and Kevin Burns

Veteran and recent Chem-Dry owners marry, expand empire

Sheree Khollman discovered Chem-Dry while dating Kevin Burns, who owns Chem-Dry of Lake Havasu. They tied the knot in 2012, and soon after, Sheree bought her own Chem-Dry franchise in Yuma, AZ. With both of their businesses growing, they decided to buy two XTS units in February.

We were too cheap to have them ship them to us, so we went to California to pick them up, and that wound up being waaay more expensive, Sheree jokes. When they went to California, they learned that the Madera territory was available. She and Kevin loved the area, which is close to Yosemite National Park. Their businesses back in Arizona were strong and had experienced technicians capable of managing day-to-day operations, so the outdoors enthusiasts decided to buy the Madera territory and move to California. They also bought the neighboring territories in Fresno and Tulare County.

We weren’t planning to have six territories in two states, but it was a great opportunity, Sheree says. We are fortunate to have great people working for us in Havasu and Yuma, so those businesses almost run themselves. We were looking for a new challenge.

Tracy Hinsdale

Nebraska Chem-Dry renews franchise license and grows

Chem-Dry of Omaha is continuing to reach more and more customers in the three-county territory that Tracy and Ken Hinsdale bought six years ago. They recently renewed their franchise license and added a second CTS-450.

Renewing was a no-brainer, Tracy says. Our revenue has grown every year, and we have gotten a lot of help and support.

Learn more

Chem-Dry has more than 1,100 franchise owners in North America, and the average length of ownership for current franchisees is 19 years! To learn more about the service and support that has helped us grow into the largest carpet cleaning company in North America, check out our research pages. To start a conversation, fill out a form to download our free franchise report, or give us a call at 1-877-392-0272.