New Business Focus: House Doctors franchise offering home improvements in Tri-Cities

Tony Woods, our newest franchisee, was featured in an article in the Kingsport Times-News titled, "New Business Focus: House Doctors franchise offering home improvements in Tri-Cities". The article discusses Tony's recent House Doctors opening. Tony discusses how the market seems prime for remodeling as people have been putting off their projects as the economy recovers. Tony also explains that he focuses on remodeling and repair. You can click here to read the article or begin below.

"New Business Focus: House Doctors franchise offering home improvements in Tri-Cities"
By Hank Hayes



After spending 27 years in the food service industry, Tony Woods has acquired a franchise of a professional handyman service.

Woods has opened a House Doctors, which offers home repair and home improvements in the Tri-Cities area. "We're more of a remodel, fix-up-what-you've-got type of business rather than building something new and starting from the ground," Woods said. "We focus on rebuilding and remodeling existing homes."

Click here to read the entire article.

House Doctors featured on KARE 11 News @4

House Doctors of Minneapolis’ Derek Stoeckel was featured on Minneapolis/St. Paul’s KARE 11 News @4 in a segment about important spring home checks homeowners should make, and Derek’s expertise on the topic. Derek Stoeckel appears on site at a home to point out checks homeowners should make on their homes as spring and summer approach. View the video on KARE 11 News' site, or watch it below.

House Doctors featured on The 33 CW

House Doctors was recently featured in a segment called "DFW Close Up" on The 33 CW in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX. Bill Farley of the DFW House Doctors talked about mold, what causes it and how to prevent it. Check out the full video below:

House Doctors featured on WNEP News 16!

Ed and Bill Shoener of House Doctors of Scranton recently did a segment with WNEP News 16 on Live with Leckey. Ed and Bill demonstrated ways to protect your home against summer storm season, how to properly caulk and seal door frames and how to repair your roof. Their three segments can be seen below.

House Doctors featured in Tacoma Business Examiner

House Doctors was featured in the Tacoma Business Examiner in an article entitled “Franchises looking to military for owners,” which published front and center on the February 7 edition. The article discusses that House Doctors fully engages military vets as they have a numerous vets as franchisees already. He also notes that House Doctors matches new veteran owners with mentors to give them more tools for success. House Doctors also plans to open eight locations to the Seattle/Tacoma area in the near future. The full article is embedded below:

House Doctors Professional Handyman Recognizes 2010 Awards Winners

Although most Americans aren’t buying new houses these days, they’re working harder than ever to preserve the homes they live in. They are looking for smaller, more cost-efficient home improvements to tide them over until the housing market recovers. As a result, homeowners need quality handymen to do these jobs right. House Doctors Professional Handyman Services, a national franchise with over 12 years of experience and 90-plus units across the country, is pleased to recognize the winners of the 2010 House Doctors Awards.


Rookie of the Year
Jim & Melanie Cox - Columbus, OH

Commitment to Excellence
Doug Coyle - Andover, MA

Top Sales
Rich Gapin - Mount Laurel, NJ
Dan Landon - Cincinnati, OH
Steven Cranford - Greensboro, NC
Jim & Melanie Cox - Columbus, OH
Ron Galipeau - Downington, PA
Erik & Christina Reichelt - Dover, DE
Hugh Sutherland - Alexandria, VA
Doug Coyle - Andover, MA
Todd Hall - Warren, OH
Joe & Pam Palko - Pottsville, PA

Customer Retention Award
Erik & Christina Reichelt - Dover, DE

Customer Service Award
Steve Boriss - St. Louis, MO

Franchise of the Year
Joe & Pam Palko - Pottsville, PA

House Doctors Goes to Clearwater Beach

Annual Convention Hosts Top Franchisees; Introduces New Strategies and Tactics

By Greg Haskett, VP of Shared Services

Every year, our House Doctors franchisees get together to celebrate another great year of business and discuss hot topics and what's new for the year ahead. This year we met in Clearwater Beach, FL. Themed Chart Your Course, we had several sessions, large and small, where franchisees gathered together to discuss all aspects of their businesses. As an industry leader in the home improvement segment, this convention in particular was special as we introduced several new items that our franchisees can use moving forward, including:

1. A new and improved online software that will put us ahead of the competition. Cloud computing is the way of the future and our franchise owners can now respond quicker than their competition with better data.

2. New financial benchmarks and tools specifically designed to maximize the profit of each franchise owner which gives them a unique tool to hit their personal income goals.

3. A strategic rollout of social media efforts that will broaden the reach of the House Doctors brand and meet our current & future customers where they are.

4. Lastly, and the best part of any gathering like this, is when the attendees can spend time together. We included extended breaks, franchisee-only meetings, and very successful role-playing sessions where franchise owners from across North America interacted with each and discussed their shared interests in building the House Doctors name.

Overall this year's convention was the best one yet. We received some very positive feedback from our franchisees.

• "As a new franchisee, I was very impressed that House Doctors is spending incredible amounts of effort to see us succeed on the bottom-line profits. The tools they are developing, such as ServiceCeo, are going to increase our efficiency, provide better monitoring of our business practices and trends, and improve our quality of life." Jim Kraeling, Savannah, GA
• "I thought it was a great convention. Learned lots by talking to other franchisees, both old and new." Steve Boriss, Chesterfield, MO
• "I thought Jim's presentations were spot on! I especially like when he laid down the 'model' speech, informing us how we should conform to the proven procedures. Heck, I'm new, I'm going to try it that way, for sure." Dave Mauldin, Austin, TX
• "What a great convention! The HD staff did a great job mixing some fun with the work. I always come away recognizing some areas that I need to focus on and make changes in to the way I do business." Steve Cranford, High Point, NC

Top 100 Remodeling Markets for 2011 Provided by Remodeling Magazine

Though the economy has been tough on the real estate market, House Doctors is poised for growth in 2011 by continuing to provide customers with great service and a professional finished product in a timely manner. In addition, while the real estate market may still be far from recovery, the remodeling industry is expecting to see an upswing this year and House Doctors has remained the market leader in the professional handyman segment and expect to see an increase in business this year.

In the article, Remodeling Magazine breaks down the top 100 remodeling markets. A portion of the article is included below and it can be read in its entirety by clicking here.


Top 100 Markets
Our first annual forecast of the 100 hottest remodeling markets
By:Sal Alfano

While new-home construction is still in the doldrums, there is evidence that remodeling has hit bottom and is poised for an upswing in the coming year. But remodeling activity is mainly a local phenomenon, and although the overall remodeling market responds to global and national economic trends, some markets are likely to rebound faster than others. The question is, which ones? Our Top 100 Markets list provides the first real answer.

The Top 100 Markets list is based on the Residential Remodeling Index (RRI), a unique new metric designed to provide insights into and forecasts of remodeling activity by market. (The RRI was created by Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, a division of the company that publishes this magazine.)

Issued quarterly and seasonally adjusted, the RRI “Composite Index” measures the overall level of remodeling activity nationally and in 366 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). The index essentially benchmarks the current level of remodeling activity, both nationally and in a given market, against activity in 2007, the baseline year. A number above 100 indicates a level of remodeling activity higher than the level of activity in first-quarter 2007, which was the peak of remodeling activity nationally in the prior decade.

(Read More)

House Doctors featured in the Dover Post

House Doctors was recently featured in the Dover Post in an article called “New Service Builds a Bathroom in a Day,” which Erik Reichelt offers at his location in Delaware. Reichelt discusses the new service in depth with the Dover Post reporter and takes a potential customer through the entire process of installing a bathroom in a day. Check out the entire article here.

New service builds a bathroom in a day

Since House Doctors opened in Dover more than two years ago, it has always been looking for ways to expand what it can offer the community.

For instance, franchise owner Erik Reichelt recently started installing egress windows, a service that’s become more popular with changing building codes.

But it’s the business’s new Bathroom in a Day service that’s the most recent addition to House Doctors, which will be moving to its new location at 25 Maggies Way, Suite 1, Jan. 1.

Reichelt spoke with the Dover Post on Nov. 19 to talk about the new product.

Q What is the Bathroom in a Day service?
A The Bathroom in a Day is an acrylic lining system for your tub and shower unit, or just a shower unit, so you don’t have to go through the tear-out process where you tear out the tub unit and walls, which can be a several day process. We can provide these acrylic panels and tub liner and install it in one day.

Q So you just put the liners over the existing tub or shower?
A We measure the tub, and the lining system is a glove fit to line over a steel tub or cast iron tub. There’s a 14-step measuring process where we can ensure with certain, specialty tools that you get a glove fit.

(Read More)

House Doctors featured in Atlanta Home Improvement

House Doctors' Jarid Kossen was recently featured in Atlanta Home Improvement’s Expert Q&A in October. The Q&A is over the topic of winterizing the home and Jarid give’s some tips on how homeowners can do simple things to make sure their home is weatherized for the winter. The article can be seen in PDF format below:

HouseDoctors.AtlantaHomeImprovement.10.01.10