Article Libby Schultz
Our value proposition
Refresh’s world-first approach to residential renovations works because it addresses the customer need behind the market demand for a better renovation experience. In a traditionally fragmented market, customers trust Refresh to deliver a high-quality, headache-free renovation project based on a proven design-and-build process adopted by commercial construction companies.
Our value proposition is composed of six competitive advantages:
· Customer-centric: the main headache with home renovation projects is the renovation experience itself, i.e. the stress in managing contractors and sub-contractors throughout the project lifecycle. We give our customers what they care about - a high-quality and full-service renovation experience that eliminates the headaches associated with ad-hoc renovation projects, and which increases the quality and consistency of the customer outcomes.
· Already proven: we adopted the design-and-build process used in commercial construction and new home build projects, and adapted it to the traditionally fragmented renovation market, making it the first time that this ‘tried and true’ method is available for residential renovation customers under a national brand, anywhere in the world.
· Specific: being a specialist in renovation projects makes a huge difference. While most builders view renovations as the ‘gap-filler’ between new-build projects, our teams specialise in renovations – which is a huge competitive advantage against more generalist building companies.
· Guaranteed: we back all of our customers’ projects with the Refresh Guarantee - we’ll get the renovation right the first time around, or we’ll make it right. Our collective buying power provides affordable and extremely comprehensive insurance to all of our franchisees, which includes professional indemnity for the design stage as well as public liability throughout the entire build stage.
· Scalable: our franchise business model is the vehicle we use to consistently deliver our value proposition to customers. Our people, our systems and our processes are orchestrated to deliver a consistent, high-quality customer experience. We carefully screen and recruit our franchisees, train them in our processes, and equip them with the business tools they need to run their business smoothly, from sales and project management to accounting to reporting. Our headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand, is constantly collecting intelligence from franchisees to improve the efficacy and efficiency of its tools and processes.
· Recession-proof: people often think renovation markets would be susceptible to economic downturns, but they are surprisingly resilient, especially compared to the new residential build and commercial construction markets. This translates to a stable market for the franchisees, and steady work for the employees and contractors that work with Refresh.
Why it works
The problem with renovations
Renovations are as much about project management as they are building. They are more complex than building something new from a fresh set of working drawings, and they have more inherent risk built into them: besides the miscommunications that can plague any project, there are often structural issues hidden behind old walls that don’t apply to new building projects. That’s why many builders prefer to stick with the certainty of building new homes.
The problem with builders
Building a business entails a lot more than just building houses. Many builders that try to scale their business find that they can’t stay off the tools long enough to market their business, follow up on customer leads, manage the project and do the accounting, all which are critical to growing a profitable business. Often, they just want to continue their trade without the distractions of running the business side of the business.
The problem for customers
If poorly managed, a homeowner’s dream renovation can easily turn into a nightmare. If a homeowner has a full-time job, designing their renovation, managing contractors and sub-contractors and securing all necessary building consents becomes their second full-time job.
If the customer doesn’t handle the project management and they outsource it to the builder or designer they’ve hired, they introduce new risks by further decentralising communications and decision-making that lead to expensive delays or mistakes.
The answer from Refresh
"I engaged Refresh Renovations because I work full time. I wanted only to be making decisions and paying bills, not trying to coordinate everything and being responsible for tradespeople. It has worked out perfectly."
- Refresh customer
Refresh Renovations’ value proposition works because it doesn’t just try to meet an observed market demand – the value proposition focuses on the customers’ needs that drive that observable market demand, and applies a proven design-and-build process established in other markets.
Put simply, Refresh makes renovations their full-time job so that their customers don’t have to.
Fixing it before building it
Refresh provides its customers with an up-front risk assessment and concept design, so they can understand the work and visualise exactly what will be built. It’s far more efficient and cost-effective to get everything right at the concept stage, rather than having to make changes during construction. This is how Refresh eliminates many preventable costs that commonly occur throughout the stages of building projects – expensive miscommunications are ironed out with clear briefing, constant customer communication, an engaging design process, and streamlined project management throughout the design-and-build process.
Saving on materials and labour
With its group buying power on materials and labour, Refresh customers are assured of a quality renovation at the best possible cost.
Building a brand by building trust
“I now regard them as friends, because they comforted me, encouraged me, helped me and looked after me throughout the stressful process. I couldn’t praise them high enough.”
- customer feedback for a Refresh franchisee
Customers trust Refresh Renovations because they know they will receive a consistently high level of service. They often come to Refresh with small projects, and return later with bigger projects.