Ben and his brother Jake have been the franchisees for Renovare Toowoomba for over 12 months. As a 28 year-old carpenter, Ben has gone from long days on the tools to growing their renovation business everyday.
For your convenience, we’ve included a transcription of this video.
Video Transcription
Jeff (Renovare sales manager): Hi. It’s Jeff Thomson here from Renovare, and we’re constantly on the look for good quality builders to join our team. And I have the privilege today of having Ben Sutton who was our very first builder to join us up here in Toowoomba. Ben’s a good, young builder. And I just wanted to ask him a couple of quick questions about Renovare and whether it’s helped him not only in his working life but his personal life by joining us. So Ben, look, first up, has it been beneficial for you to join us at Renovare from a working perspective? And then, also tell us if it’s had any impact on your personal stuff.
Ben (Toowoomba Franchisee): You know, most definitely. I managed to transfer into the role of…in the office, basically. So off the tools now.
Jeff: Is that something that you always wanted to do?
Ben: Yeah, yeah. Basically, I just wanted to grow our business and, you know, there was opportunity and a way of doing it, but I just didn’t know the process until I met you, basically.
Jeff: Yeah. Awesome. So talk to us a little bit about the process, you know. Like, so you first come on, you’re a bit green, what do we do for you to get you to the stage where you’re now off the tools?
Ben: Yup. The training. The training is, you know, from day one, the first load of training, the sales, marketing, just getting in the right headspace basically, and trying to look at it from a different point of view instead of looking at it as a…you know, it should be on the tool’s point of view, basically.
Jeff: Yeah. And that’s what you’ve really got to do, isn’t it? You’ve really got to change your mindset from being a chippy on the tools to be a business guy. And, you know, the way that you do that is obviously generating lots of good quality leads. And then, learning how to turn those leads from a potential client to a contract, and then, pushing it through. You guys are the builders. So the actual building part is a really simple thing for you, right? It’s all the stuff in the front end, how to generate the lead, and all the stuff in the back end to be making sure you’re running a good, profitable business. So do you feel that Renovare has delivered that for you?
Ben: Yeah, no, most definitely. Well, I’ve tried before to break into the renovation market here in Toowoomba and, as I said, I just basically didn’t know the first sort of step, and it’s quite hard to break into. So, after that training, learning basically that, how to talk to people correctly, to create the contract, and to finish up the sale was…we’re all a bit nervous on speaking to people, especially as chippies and that. So, well, all that training has helped.
Jeff: Awesome. And so, obviously, the systems, I mean, you’re a builder, you understand how to estimate and those sorts of things. How have you found the systems that we use at Renovare? You found them beneficial for you?
Ben: Yeah, yeah, most definitely. So it’s just created a quicker process for the estimating, basically.
Jeff: Yeah. Because, to be successful in this business, right, you’ve got to generate some lead generation for you, you’ve got to have a bunch of leads come in. Then, obviously, then, we’ve got to create a sales opportunity for you, we train you on how to do that, and then from there, getting closed out quickly. So you found our systems are being really effective in getting your clients out quick.
Ben: Yeah, definitely. And we’ve had the feedback from clients that getting that quote back to them faster has been a big part of winning the job basically.
Jeff: Cool. So just quickly, your first 12 months with Renovare, you’ve signed up $2.5 million worth of work, which is a great result for a good, young builder. What are you, 28 years old?
Ben: Yeah. Yup.
Jeff: Who was, last year, this time last year, subcontracting for a new home builder up here and doing a little bit of his own stuff. So really, really awesome work from your end, Ben. But do you think you would have been able to get that result if you would try to do it by yourself?
Ben: I think it would have taken a lot longer. And then there’s no guarantee really that it would have the same outcome. And when we even started off, I sort of had a hopeful of what we would have to achieve even in the first year, like you said, what we’ve signed up, and that just blew it out of the park, and I don’t think, definitely, I wouldn’t be able to do that on my own.
Jeff: Yeah. Well, it’s all the stuff in the back end too, you know? Helping you run the business, you know. It’s all good to sign up $2.5m worth of work in your first year, but if you don’t know how to finish that work off, how to get the systems in place to run through those jobs, and then, making sure that you’re profitable all the way through is a big thing. So obviously, what we do at Renovare is we do a lot of report trend with these guys so that we’re making sure that they’re running good, profitable businesses. So it’s a really, really great thing. So tell us a little bit about your personal life. How has Renovare changed that for you?
Ben: Yeah, yeah. So it’s definitely created, now that I’m in the office especially, it’s created more time to spend time with family, you know. I’ve always wanted to be able to go to the gym in the morning, which now I can do. And it’s that flexibility basically of not being on the tools and, like you said, with the reporting. So, you know, getting a good understanding of how my business is running without actually having to always be there.
Jeff: Yeah. Awesome. So it’s created some opportunities, not only for you to be in a much better space in regards to your headspace, but also with you looking after yourself as well as, you know, your health and fitness, and create a bit of family life at home for you and you and your lovely wife Lauren and little fella Jack. So that’s really, really good. So overall, been a real positive thing for you. Would you recommend to other builders joining Renovare?
Ben: Definitely. Yup. Yup. And one other thing is just the team experience, basically. Every training that we have, meeting up with the other franchisees, and it’s just a good vibe.
Jeff: Yeah. It is. Yeah. I think it’s power in numbers. We’re developing a really awesome team here at Renovare. We had some great training today. We continue to do lots of training with our guys. Our main goal is to make these guys the renovation specialists in the area. And when people think renovations, they think Renovare. We’ve got a bit of work to do, but finding other good builders to join what we’re looking at doing will really help us get there much quicker. So if you are interested in joining a good business team environment and would like to know more, you’re more than welcome to give me a call, or even better, feel free to give some of our franchisees a call. They’re very open. We’ve policy with what we do and I’m sure they’ll fill you in on how well it’s working for them. So…
Ben: Always happy to have a chat.
Jeff: Awesome. Thanks, Ben.
Ben: Cheers, mate.
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