Paul and Caroline Attard invested in a ‘man-in-a-van’ style PoolWerx franchise in 2005, and through hard work and dedication have expanded their business to include two retail stores and six vans.
Their business is now worth $2.1 million, and they employ 11 staff members across the Brisbane suburbs of Mt Gravatt, Balmoral, Carindale and Rochedale.
Paul said franchising allows he and Caroline to be their own boss. “I was operations director for an events and experiential marketing company and Caroline was running her own child care business from home,” he said.
“However, we wanted to be in control of our own destiny and build a strong future for our children.”
The pair proves that slow and steady expansion is a viable business option. “We started with a van and no customers and after fine tuning our service delivery and establishing a regular client base we invested in our first retail store in 2006.
“We’ve since followed PoolWerx’s career pathway, growing through multiple vans and retail stores,” added Paul.
The husband and wife team took out the Multi-Unit Franchisee of the Year award at the recent 2013 National Excellence in Franchising Awards, an accolade Paul is incredibly proud of.
“It’s been a fantastic business journey for us and being recognised as the top franchise in Australia after eight years of hard work is truly humbling,” he said.
“We’ve always attributed our success to delivering exceptional service and the ongoing support from our clients. We’ve developed a strong mobile business and significant commercial partnerships with clients requiring expert pool care all year round.”
Paul and Caroline are actively involved in their business, and have implemented a number of new strategies over the past 12 months.
“We introduced a brand new point of sale system to improve the customer experience and streamline our marketing efforts, implemented cutting edge water testing technology and new IT systems, and gave our Mt Gravatt store a makeover,” said Paul.
The CEO of PoolWerx, John O’Brien is very proud of the pair’s recent win, and believes they are incredibly deserving of the award.
“Paul and Caroline’s experience evolving from a single van business into one of our most successful multi-unit franchises is invaluable in providing support and helping the network grow across Australia,” he said.
“Through their commitment and dedication to our franchise model they’ve demonstrated the true growth potential in the PoolWerx brand and they’re very deserving of the title of the best multi-unit franchise in Australia’s franchising industry.”