Hi all! Recently I was contacted by a rep for a general contractor franchise. I did some initial research and besides being the “owner” of the franchise, it seems like the daily activities are essentially what I do already in my corporate America profession (General contractor PM in a decentralized organization). I wanted to see if anyone has any experience with starting something similar. Some key points below:

1) average net profit reported for all franchise locations is right around what my salary is currently. In my experience I’ve “topped out” salary wise as a PM.

2)I’ve never owned a business before. However, my organization has PMs running each job like their own small business.

3) The industry I’m in currently has much higher average revenue, but much lower profit margins than the franchise opportunity. I think my experience lends itself well to running this franchise.

4) Competition. In my area most of the competitors are sole prop LLCs. The business model focuses on generating business and subcontracting work out. As far as I can tell there is no other competitors at the franchise level for 50 miles in any direction.

5) initial investment. This is where I’m a little hesitant. I have the liquid assets available to fund ~ 50% of the initial estimated investment with the option to fund the remainder with a veteran small business loan. Obviously this is a financial risk. However, I’m still relatively young and stable financially to recover.

Thanks for any and all input. It’s much appreciated!