Mid-pandemic, many franchisees of cleaning and disinfecting service companies are thanking their lucky stars for not just investing in an essential business, but a profitable one, as well. Green Home Solutions, a franchise focused on indoor air quality and whole room disinfection, is touting the benefits of its fogger technology versus common sanitization methods.
“Right now, as you know based on what’s going on with COVID, there are tons of opportunists out there,” said Jeff Panella, president of Green Home Solutions. “Every guy in a bandana is grabbing fluids and disinfecting homes at a cheap price.”
The key difference, Panella emphasizes, is the EPA-registered eco-friendly cleaning products and trained professionals at Green Home Solutions in more than 30 states and 200 locations.
“With a regular cleaning company or a guy in a truck in a bandana, one of their problems is when you use harsh chemicals like bleach, you’re leaving something in a home or business that’s bad for the environment and bad for the people who work there,” Panella said. “People have terrible reactions to that. We do it in a responsible and sustainable manner.”
The franchise uses a time-released probiotic after disinfecting to reproduce healthy bacteria in the air, which “helps reset the indoor air quality environment for whoever is there and continues to purify and coat surfaces to help the environment stay clean,” Panella said. Green Home Solutions ‘zees work and live in the communities they serve, which gives them a leg-up when understanding their customers’ needs, Panella added. The brand also specializes in mold, odor, bacteria and allergen removals.
“People out there are very sick with COVID, but also with mold and bacteria,” Panella said. “We find out what’s going on, can go in and enact remedies for mold, then reset the environment completely with this peroxide-based product that eliminates any kind of bacteria, viruses and pathogens.”
However, not every home or business needs the same level of disinfection. Green Home Solutions offers three levels based on different needs such as square footage, how dirty the place is, whether or not someone in the space has tested positive for COVID-19 and the customer’s budget. For example, if a homeowner had a plumber or another contractor come into their home recently, they’ll ask Green Home Solutions to disinfect their home after. Though the presence of COVID is unknown, the brand will still treat the area like there is, but they may not use their proprietary HaloMist solution and fogger machine in that situation.
While Panella didn’t offer specific prices for the three levels due to these varying factors, the company’s average sale is about $1,800 and can range from $300 to $10,000-plus. While pricier than other companies, you get what you pay for, in Panella’s opinion.
The brand is also philanthropically connected with Habitat for Humanity. Green Home Solutions ‘zees donate $100,000 every year to disinfect their entire headquarters, which is around 18,000 square feet.
“They got a quote from another cleaning company that would charge them like $250 to clean 18,000 square feet. We have to be reasonable here,” Panella said, “What are they doing for $250? It’s several floors, tons of doorknobs…that’s not the way it works.”
More cost-effective and safer to hire out
While some businesses have pondered whether they should simply invest in their own fogger machines, Panella warns against it.
“First off, it’s more cost-effective to hire out, and one of the reasons is because machines and fluids are very expensive,” Panella said. “The other reason is, if you don’t use this stuff properly, you can kill people. If you were to buy a machine, that’s a tenth of the way there. The rest of the way there is PPE, proper protocols, dwell times, spray techniques—these are all things we’re experts at. To leave this in the hands of an employee could leave a business at risk.”
The initial training period for Green Home Solutions franchisees is two weeks in the classroom and one week in the field with a top-performing operator. The brand also hosts weekly and monthly training on protocols.
Up 30 percent in sales from last June, the brand has had 10 new franchisees join the system this year and just hired a new franchise development sales employee. The investment for a Green Home Solutions franchise ranges from $50,475 to $132,000.
“The home service sector specifically has done very well because people still need their homes taken care of, and we’ve seen that uptick in business,” Panella said. “Ultimately, we want to help serve as many people as we can who are in need, and we can be very reasonable.”
This article originally appeared in ‘Franchise Times’ on July 24, 2020.