How the Franchise They Started With $10k Reached $113 Million

Colette Bell and her husband, Andy Bell, began a handyman business in Denver, Colorado, in 1998 after figuring out a novel want. 

They discovered that huge specialty contracting corporations didn’t wish to do small initiatives for owners. For instance, if somebody had one sticky window and known as a window firm, the agency wished to promote them 25 new home windows for his or her home. 

“We discovered that owners had a very onerous time discovering anyone skilled and dependable for small initiatives,” Colette tells Entrepreneur in a brand new interview. “That was the niche market we constructed this enterprise to serve.”

They knew instantly that they had struck gold. Their first yr in enterprise, the corporate “simply took off like a rocket,” Colette says.

They ended up franchising the enterprise, known as Handyman Issues, in 2001. Andy led the enterprise as CEO whereas Colette took on a number of management roles over time, together with chairman of the board. In 2018, they related with Ace {Hardware}, which acquired the enterprise in 2019. 

“That is the one profession I’ve had my complete life,” Colette says. “For 28 years, I’ve been engaged on the handyman enterprise.”

Andy is now the CEO and president of Ace Handyman Services, and Colette is the vp of franchise improvement, a place she has held since 2019. She continues to guide enlargement, serving to the model develop from 119 territories on the time of its 2019 acquisition to 383 territories as of April this yr, greater than tripling its footprint.

Ace Handyman Companies grew by 12% from 2024 to 2025, with whole gross sales exceeding $113 million in 2025.  

The next interview with Colette has been flippantly edited for readability and concision.

Progress techniques

What have been the primary elements that allowed the corporate to develop so shortly? What did you do to facilitate development?
We set actual appointment occasions and coach our workers that “when you’re not early, you’re late.” They should arrive on time, look skilled and put on logoed shirts. In the event that they stroll up and see the trash cans nonetheless on the curb after pickup, we coach them to maneuver the cans again up the driveway — little things that show we’re there to assist with the entire home, not only a single mission.

We do in depth follow-up: calling the day after to verify the client is comfortable, and once more at 11 months as a result of we provide a one-year guarantee. Including that top stage of customer support to a low-tech, fragmented trade made an enormous distinction.

Getting issues proper with franchising

Trying again at that 2001 determination to franchise, what did you get proper about franchising, and what did you underestimate about how onerous it will be?
We underestimated every thing. However we did get a couple of important things proper. One was creating protected territories for franchise house owners delineated by ZIP codes. ZIP codes are clearly outlined by the publish workplace and have accessible demographic knowledge, so we might construct territories utilizing that knowledge. Franchise house owners then had protected territories and didn’t have to fret about competitors from neighboring house owners. We did that from day one.

The opposite factor we did proper, which was extra unintended, was our billing model. Despite the fact that we’re a handyman enterprise and building usually estimates initiatives as fastened greenback quantities, we determined to invoice clients utilizing a time-and-materials format. Time is common — an hour is an hour in all places. Pricing, alternatively, varies considerably between, say, Connecticut and Arkansas or Illinois and California. As a substitute of attempting to drive one common worth construction throughout the U.S., we made time the fixed and allowed every proprietor to decide on their very own hourly price. 

That made the enterprise way more possible in different markets. About 85% of our work is labor and solely about 15% is supplies, as a result of we concentrate on small repairs and restorations, not massive remodels.

Selecting franchising over company places

What satisfied you that this concept would scale higher by way of franchising than by way of company-owned places?
We realized that firsthand after we expanded to California. At one level, we have been successfully working six company places — three in Colorado and three in California. We shortly realized we couldn’t give each worker, and due to this fact each buyer, the time and leadership they deserved.

It was clear this business model ought to be out there throughout the U.S. Each home-owner deserves knowledgeable, dependable handyman service for small initiatives, however there was no manner we might construct that nationally as a purely company chain — particularly since we began in our basement with $10,000, each little bit of financial savings we might scrape collectively. 

The franchise mannequin made nationwide enlargement attainable as a result of it depends on native house owners rooted of their communities. Handyman companies are very community-centric; you’re principally working in your neighbors. Franchising matches the mannequin completely.

The most important shock about franchising

What’s one thing about franchising that shocked you?
The most important shock — although everybody tells you this upfront — is how a lot the success or failure of the enterprise mannequin relies on the connection between franchisor and franchise owners. Till you’ve lived it, that doesn’t absolutely sink in. This relationship needs to be sturdy and reciprocal. It will possibly’t simply be the franchisor giving and the franchise house owners taking; franchisees additionally have to contribute concepts and suggestions.

Early on, we had franchise owners with improbable enterprise concepts we by no means would have developed on our personal, they usually have been keen to share them so we might roll them out systemwide.

A fantastic instance was throughout Covid, when the entire nation shut down, and nobody might enter clients’ properties. We spent that downtime on convention calls with franchise house owners, determining how you can make the enterprise as touchless as attainable.

As an illustration, we used to take buyer signatures on invoices. Throughout Covid, we shifted to studying the contract language aloud and recording “verified by voice” as a substitute of a signature. 

Franchise house owners helped design new commonplace working procedures, which we rolled out to everybody. So after we have been designated important in April and will return to properties, we had safer, smarter procedures in place. That stage of help and collaboration is vital in franchising.

The best franchisee

For an entrepreneur evaluating Ace Handyman, how do you outline the best franchisee when it comes to background, abilities and mindset?
Our house owners come from every kind of backgrounds. Considered one of our prime franchisees is a former horticulturalist. Now we have folks from finance, advertising and marketing, plant administration, numerous veterans, former academics, and former coaches and mentors.

The by way of line is a ardour for bettering their neighborhood and powerful management abilities. As an proprietor, you don’t go to each buyer’s home; our quantity is just too excessive for that. The best way you ship nice service is through your employees, which implies you have to be a wonderful chief. That features paying good wages, offering coaching and mentoring and providing actual development alternatives. Management is on the coronary heart of our most profitable franchisees.

For us, a purple flag is when a potential proprietor focuses extra on cash than tradition and folks. Our enterprise has sturdy numbers — you don’t develop in any other case — but when the first focus is monetary, it usually isn’t an excellent match.

How a lot does it price to begin an Ace Handyman franchise?
In our 2026 franchise disclosure document, Merchandise 7 exhibits startup prices starting from $132,200 on the low finish to $226,000 on the excessive finish. That features a $70,000 franchise charge.

Lengthy-term imaginative and prescient

Once you think about Ace Handyman Companies 10 years from now, what does success seem like for the model, for particular person house owners and for the purchasers they serve?
First, success means our present franchise house owners are nonetheless right here. Longevity is essential in franchising. Ace has at all times believed in generational companies; many {hardware} shops have been handed down from great-great-grandparents by way of a number of generations.

In our system, we have already got franchise house owners who’ve been with us 24 years. I’m very pleased with that. They caught with us after we have been younger and figuring issues out and contributed concepts, ardour and recommendations. We’ve seen transitions the place a father handed the enterprise to his daughter and uncles handed places to nephews.

My objective for the following 10 years is that we’ll not only expand to cowl maybe half of the U.S., but additionally see extra of our places turn out to be generational companies, with youngsters taking on for his or her dad and mom. That sort of longevity can be an actual measure of success.

Colette Bell and her husband, Andy Bell, began a handyman business in Denver, Colorado, in 1998 after figuring out a novel want. 

They discovered that huge specialty contracting corporations didn’t wish to do small initiatives for owners. For instance, if somebody had one sticky window and known as a window firm, the agency wished to promote them 25 new home windows for his or her home. 

“We discovered that owners had a very onerous time discovering anyone skilled and dependable for small initiatives,” Colette tells Entrepreneur in a brand new interview. “That was the niche market we constructed this enterprise to serve.”