Franchising is the Revolutionary New Way to Keep Up with the Demand for Outdoor Space
Outdoor living spaces have been growing in popularity over the past few decades. As property costs rise in many places, homeowners are looking to extend their living space by getting the most of their backyard. For many, this means replacing old and unused lawns with a usable patio, pool, outdoor living space, outdoor kitchen, or a hidden paradise with stone pathways and the musical sound of water features. Especially in climates with long, warm, and sunny days, utilizing the yard is a great way to increase square footage without costly additions to the home.
Private Homes
The trend of transforming backyards into usable paradises has become so popular that nearly $100 billion dollars have been spent in recent years on the endeavor. This has resulted in beautifully designed outdoor spaces that fit with current trends. One of the most popular is the outdoor kitchen. Complete with grills or fire brick ovens, a well designed outdoor kitchen beautifully blends in with the surroundings and creates a wonderful place to entertain guests. Luxurious seating outdoors can create a second living space that extends the home out into the sunshine. Tranquil water features can be added to the design to reduce stress, block out unwanted ambient noise, and create a peaceful environment.
In climates that are very warm during the summer months, pools are increasingly popular as a way to add both interest and function to the backyard. Landscaping architects are finding new ways to make the pool a beautiful part of the overall aesthetic. Zero entry pools that create the illusion of a beach can blend in beautifully and be an opportunity to add unique seating. Creating ledges or a bar can give the pool an open layout by connecting it to the outdoor kitchen and entertaining area.
In addition to renovations done to increase a family’s living space, these outdoor spaces can be created with the intention of increasing the value of the home. This is especially helpful for small houses as beautifully designed outdoor areas can greatly improve the resale value of an otherwise small home. It is often cheaper to renovate the outdoors than it is to add a new room or gut the house.
Hardscaping is also becoming popular in the common areas of rental properties, condos, or homeowners associations. Pools, community fire pits, patios, and pathways all bring a level of comfort that will greatly increase the quality of life of residents in the area. Designs carefully envisioned by talented landscape architects are also perfect for creating cozy out-of-door seating for restaurants wishing to give customers a unique and enticing experience.
With these new and creative approaches to backyard landscaping, the need for more new landscaping architects is rising. And, in fact, more and more people are graduating in the field of landscape architecture. This is a wonderful new development as the demand for beautiful outdoor living spaces becomes greater. However, for the brand new graduate, the field can be extremely difficult to enter. In fact, less than 40% of new graduates are actually finding jobs for themselves in the field that they are so passionate about. Not only that, some designers become so overwhelmed and bogged down by the drudgery of running a business that they lose their creative focus and forget their passion for the industry. A solution is desperately needed to connect architects with the demand.
For landscape architects, creativity and inspiration can quickly be suppressed under the weight of construction and maintenance. In fact, owning the tools for the job, hiring workers for the construction process, daily overseeing the building process, and organizing routine maintenance, is a business in itself. Most architects are more interested in the creative process of designing a beautiful space rather than having to personally work out the tedious details. However, this industry is being revolutionized with the idea of a Landscape Contractor.
A Landscape Contractor is an architect who is passionate about the design and then serves in the capacity of a contractor by outsourcing the construction and maintenance to vendors. One of the easiest ways to achieve this, especially as a newly graduated landscape architect, is to become a franchisee. A franchisee joins a well established and trusted company in order to start a business with the backing of years of experience. This is a perfect way to avoid owning the equipment and hiring in-house workers, leaving more time for the creative process.
Why Being a Franchisee is Revolutionary
Becoming a franchisee means resting in the years of business sense and knowledge that has been gained from the business through decades of trial and error. This gives the landscape architect a gold mine of wisdom as well as a safer start to the business. With this system, the architect has mentorship as well as a community of peers surrounding them to immediately put the franchise on a solid foundation. This means less time wasted, fewer mistakes, and more success from the beginning.
Well-Established Vendor Relationships
Joining a franchise means being connected with vendors that have already proven their trustworthiness. In fact, these relationships have been well-established and the company name is trusted in the community. This can lead to a multitude of benefits such as lower company costs as well as quality that can be trusted.
Constant Education and Mentorship
Being a franchisee means having access to constant education and mentorship. Hard work in this type of industry is almost guaranteed to lead to success because there is a strong support system. Education means a constant ability to stay on top of recent trends and expand a creative repertoire. Continual instruction gives franchisees a thorough knowledge of landscape contracting, overseeing construction from a contractor’s point of view, designing a workable space, working with subcontractors, and more.
Access to Unique Technology
Someone trying to start a business on their own might not have superior access to technology and software that makes landscape design and contracting modern and relevant. Being a franchisee connects the landscape architect with software that makes the design process and the management of clients, vendors, and finances easy.
Help with Marketing
Marketing can be one of the most challenging aspects of starting a new business. Not only this, but marketing can be expensive, frustrating, and even ineffective. Joining a franchise gives the designer access to resources that work in a technologically advanced society. This means education and help regarding search engine optimization, online advertisement, social media page management, and more.
Customer Focused
Starting a business alone can be so daunting that every spare moment is often spent trying to make enough money to keep the business from failing. However, joining a community of people who are all working together towards the same goals means that there is more time and energy to spend on making sure each customer gets the outdoor living space that they have been dreaming of. When the pressure is removed, the designer has the freedom to create incredible spaces that put the customer first and that leave them in awe of their new outdoor paradise.
The Process of Starting a Franchise
Becoming a franchisee does not have to be complicated. In fact, joining a landscaping contractor community means having help and guidance every step of the way. One of the first steps is doing research to find a company with strong vendor relationships, years of experience, and positive feedback both from happy customers and from vendors. After this, the architect will begin training and will be given a reserved territory in which to work. The process of getting to know the business will begin, as well as extensive education. The process is extremely flexible to suit the variable needs of each franchisee.
The next step is to build a team of hardworking and trustworthy individuals, train them, and acquire clients. With this finely tuned process in place, opening day should be a seamless transition. With the growing demand for beautiful outdoor spaces, opening a franchise in this industry is both a wise and rewarding action.
Very few students get a degree in landscaping architecture just so that they can spend hours of their time managing a building team or maintaining lawns. The real passion of a designer is in the creative process. There is true joy that comes from seeing a plan that was beautiful on paper come to life. This process is even more rewarding when the construction and maintenance of these areas can be outsourced. The new industry of landscaping contracting will be the newest and most effective way to keep up with the demands of homeowners to transform their backyards. This will ensure that architects have the time to devote to their passion for design while bringing truly beautiful finished products to the clients. In this way, the gap between demand and talented professionals will be filled.