gas-elec franchises benefit from healthy property market

The government’s new Help to Buy scheme is creating increased demand for gas-elec ’s services

Lettings are booming and the upturn in the home buyer market, aided by the government’s recently launched Help to Buy scheme, has produced a glut of work in many areas of gas-elec’s franchisee network.

The company has an urgent need for gas engineers across the country, both to strengthen the established network and develop its inspection, installation and repair service. Launched 17 years ago, gas-elec’s franchisees provide products and services to the private lettings and homeowner markets.

Dundee and Doncaster
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North of the border, on the spectacularly beautiful east coast, gas-elec’s regional management franchisee Doug Bell urgently needs a qualified gas person to cover work in the Dundee, Angus and north of Fife area. Further south, regional management franchisee Ian Seabridge wants engineers to take care of established national accounts in South Yorkshire and the Doncaster postcodes.

Both areas have been in development for over 10 years. Both regional management franchisees are struggling to cope with the workload and qualified gas engineers would earn very well. Plus there is huge potential for future development - across the whole of the 18 UK regions covered by gas-elec - based on the upswing in the home buyer and ‘green’ markets following on government initiatives launched in 2013.

“We need a franchisee not only in Dundee, but also in Edinburgh because there is an overlap of work,” Doug Bell says. “And with Dundee City of Culture in 2014, it’s going to be a challenge for me to juggle the workload with the inspection franchisees I have at the moment.”

Hands-on franchise
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The skills needed to be a successful gas-elec safety inspection franchisee - apart from full gas qualifications - are experience of fault finding and repair, a desire to run their own successful business, an understanding of customer needs and confidence in dealing with people - landlords, tenants and homeowners - in their homes.

A gas-elec safety inspection franchise is ideal for qualified gas engineers who want a business that allows them to spend their days doing the work they were trained for, without the book work that usually comes with running your own business, or electrically qualified for an electrical franchise. A major strength of the gas-elec franchise is that regional franchisees like Doug Bell and Ian Seabridge are responsible for the sales and marketing that generates work, leaving the inspection franchisees free to do carry out inspections and remedial work without wasting time on unproductive admin.

“I’ve been with gas-elec for 13 years,” Ian says. “The work I’ve got for an engineer in Doncaster is regular national client work, which I am just about covering by bringing in engineers places like Nottingham.