Mr Electric Franchise

Joelly1

Hi

I am wondering about the relevance of franchising and appropriate benefits. I have been contacted by Mr Electric about becoming a franchisee and wondered whether it was worth it or not. Apologies it I have put this in the wrong section of the forum.

I currently work as an electrician and am thinking about the move towards working for myself but I am unsure which route to take, Franchise or not?

I contacted Mr Electric to see what they have to offer and it seems good. I’ve spoken to them 5 times now and for an £18,000 fee I seem to get a lot including help with starting my business and lots of training. Basically lots of help with things I am bad at.

It seems good but I’m not ready to take the plunge just yet as I like to get advice from various places before committing to a decision.

Could anyone provide information on the Mr Electric franchise and perhaps franchising in general to help me make my mind up?

Thank You

InsideInsurance

What are you getting for your £18k? What are the ongoing costs?

What benefits do you get? Can you get similar benefits elsewhere cheaper? What controls are they going to put over you?

phill99

I'm in the trade and have never heard of MrElectric. Therefore why would potential customers come to you as opposed to you (trading as Jo Bloggs Electrical). Its not like they are teaching uou a skill - you already have that as a qualified electrician. The bits that you aren't good at (which I guess are marketing, sales, customer care, estimating, book keeping, VAT returns etc) are relatively easy to acquire and quite cheap to acquire. £18k seems a lot of money to pay for training, a lot of which can be acquired for free.

Joelly1

For £18k you get training to operate the franchise, ongoing support to run the business for things like marketing and accounting, access to national accounts, a local website, manuals to run the business. In short a business in a box, lots of things I don't know.

Ongoing costs are for supplies, employing sparkys and other employees as the business grows, marketing costs, van, tools. So for £18k you get the resources to help you run the business but it is your responsibility to pay for the things associated with that advice if that makes sense.

I will assess the options away from Mr Electric as well but the offer does seem tempting with all I get. As for controls I have to pay fees on jobs, use their systems and obviously follow technical regulations.

Joelly1

@phill99 Thanks for the advice, if you never heard of them and you are in the trade perhaps not a good sign.

I'm not sure many sparkys are that good at marketing, sales and customer care etc. That's what interests me about the franchise but you are right I could talk to a few people about acquiring these skills.

DandelionPatrol

phill99 wrote: »

I'm in the trade and have never heard of MrElectric. Therefore why would potential customers come to you as opposed to you (trading as Jo Bloggs Electrical).

As a customer, I would avoid Mr Electric and choose Joe Bloggs, ie I would choose the independent over the franchisee.

Why? Because with the franchise, I have to pay a chunk of that £18000.

Joelly1

@DandelionPatrol very good point, the customer may perceive they have to pay more unnecessarily with Mr Electric or any other franchise.

Mind you, many of us are prepared to pay that little more for a sandwich at subway than a packaged one from the petrol station. Perhaps the scenario is different with a trade.

Good point thanks.

patman99

The chap above me is a s/e sparks and he never has a lack of work. He does private jobs as well as being booked by several large electrical contractors.

If I need a tradesman to undertake work beyond my competance, I always use independant trades-people as they are less likely to 'over spill' into the next hour to up their bill.

Savvy_Sue

Joelly1 wrote: »

For £18k

£18,000 PLUS VAT! Have you got that money spare? Oh yes, of course, they reckon you'll get a bank loan, no problem. And if this doesn't take off, you'll still have the bank loan to repay.

Joelly1 wrote: »

training to operate the franchise, ongoing support to run the business for things like marketing and accounting, access to national accounts, a local website, manuals to run the business. In short a business in a box, lots of things I don't know.

I just googled MrElectric, then I googled Electrician plus my city. Which of those searches is the average householder in need of an electrican going to run? And maybe I missed it, but I didn't see MrElectric in my local search.

Joelly1 wrote: »

Ongoing costs are for supplies, employing sparkys and other employees as the business grows, marketing costs, van, tools. So for £18k you get the resources to help you run the business but it is your responsibility to pay for the things associated with that advice if that makes sense.

It sounds horribly as if they are promoting it a bit like Amway, with the 'real' money to be made if you employ other sparkys ...

Joelly1 wrote: »

I will assess the options away from Mr Electric as well but the offer does seem tempting with all I get. As for controls I have to pay fees on jobs, use their systems and obviously follow technical regulations.

Before you do anything else, google mrelectric reviews, especially on Talk Electrician Forum.

PlutoinCapricorn

The electrician who did some work for me says he gets all his work from personal recommendation, as did the plumber.

I don't think that Mr Electric has ever been mentioned on MSE before. They sound like a good way to waste your money.

This site seems worth looking through:

http://talk.electricianforum.co.uk/

fishybusiness

Wouldn't touch them with the proverbial barge pole!

Look them up online, the franchise website owned by Dwyer UK Franchising Ltd.

Look up the mr electric website, owned by same group, only address in America.

Look them up, 3 year old company with a net worth of -£583677, they owe half a million quid in years!

They approached you, second reason to walk away.