Security In A Slumping Housing Market? ... Yes! ...Good News for Electrical Contractors.

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Bill Dube

(Buffalo, NY)  Security, Smarthouses, Home Theatre, Home Automation… These are the new buzzwords in the home electronics market.  Electrical contractors are beginning to realize that if they don’t diversify their product lines, they will miss a huge revenue source.   Contractors like Kyle Paschal of Louisville, KY had diverted security services, the most lucrative and certainly the most sustainable source of income (monitoring renewals) for his business before he opened his SHIELD franchise late last year (2007). 

 As a SHIELD franchisee he discovered the benefit of diversifying his electrical contracting business to reap the rewards of recurring revenue from monitoring services.  Now, he retains (and increases) revenue from his existing customers base. “We already had a client base of a couple thousand customers,” said Paschal, a master electrician.  “We were outsourcing our customers to another alarm company because we didn’t have the specialized skills necessary to operate a security business. Being a master electrician isn’t the same as being a security technician.”  He added.   “I began actively searching for a way to build my current business without reinventing the wheel, because, quite frankly, I didn’t have the time to learn the security end.”  Paschal turned to the internet for help and found SHIELD Security Systems which was the answer to his needs.

Within months, Paschal began offering security services to his customer base and hasn’t looked back.  “I never thought I’d find what I was looking for in a franchises.  I really just stumbled upon it, but working with SHIIELD was the answer for me,’ he said.   The franchise fee was an easy fix, worth it’s weight in gold.  I gained the expertise and buying power of a 34 year old company, and very simply began utilizing SHIELD’s systems from marketing and sales process to account management and billing’. “We’ve added multiples (recurring revenue) to our bottom line.   …My only mistake,” added Paschal, “was not finding them (SHIELD) years ago.”

Revenues from the U.S. residential security market are expected to climb 40 percent over the next four years, growing to 12.5 billion in 2012, up from 8.2 billion in 2006 (Source: Security Sales and Integration).  This forecast is great news to savvy electrical contractors, like Paschal.   It illuminates a huge market for companies already supplying basic low voltage wiring.  In a sagging housing market, electricians need to diversify.   By teaming up with a franchise like SHIELD Security Systems, electricians can penetrate a new market and expand their business model. 

Adding electronic burglar and fire alarm monitoring services is a smart financial investment, as well.  Security industry analysts know the value of monitored accounts is staggering. Monitored accounts have a value of 43 times the monthly monitoring fee (Source: Security Systems News).

Franchising is the world’s most successful growth strategy for small business expansion. Franchising allows businesses and/or individuals to duplicate a successful business plan without the need to reinvent the wheel. When a savvy individual weighs the costs associated with creating an entire business plan, they quickly find how sensible investing in a franchise is.