Accessibility-Assisting Franchise Met Husband-and-Wife Franchisees’ Requirements
Spouses jointly own and operate around 300,000 U.S. businesses — one of them being Bob and Kim Danek’s Amramp franchise. Their home-based franchise, which provides greater accessibility for people with mobility issues, has served Connecticut and eastern New York since 2015.
Although spouses don’t frequently run their for-profit businesses together, such ventures aren’t rare either. In 2021, there were 297,778 of them in the United States, according to a Bankrate article citing the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 Business Survey. That’s about 10% of all American businesses, per the Census Bureau survey and data from the Pew Research Center. Another 11% of businesses are jointly owned by spouses but separately operated, Pew reported.
Why the Daneks Chose Amramp
When the Daneks explored business opportunities, they engaged in a disciplined search. “We were looking for a business that satisfied a number of bullet points,” Bob says, “namely one that was recession-proof, one that was in a growing field, one that foreign competition couldn’t compete in, one that we could scale up or down and run from our home, one that allowed us the freedom to run our own business, and one that didn’t require a lot of upfront capital to start.”
Amramp met those requirements and also provided an emotional bonus for the husband-and-wife franchisees. “We were impressed with the fact that this is a business where you are helping individuals who desperately need it, and you can feel good about your job at the end of the day.” Amramp empowers accessibility for residential and commercial clients through the brand’s patented steel ramp system, stairlifts, handrails, bathroom grab bars, portable showers and even home modifications.
Complementary Skills: Engineering Meets Accounting
To please their clients and maintain profitability, the husband-and-wife franchisees lean on their individual skills and career experience. “After working in the engineering field for 30 years, we thought it was time for a change,” says Bob, who holds a degree in electrical engineering. Kim’s degree is in computer engineering, but “most recently she worked as a full-charge bookkeeper, so her skills were very pertinent to handling the books and accounting in our own business. I have engineering design experience, so designing ramp layouts and installing and repairing lifts was a very easy transition from my prior job.”
Logic dictated the Daneks split their work responsibilities along the lines of their skill sets, which they mostly do, Bob says. “It was a natural divide to have Kim handle the accounting, run the office and track our inventory, while I run the installation teams, do the lift work, and meet with potential customers in the field.”
But they’re flexible based on the demands of day-to-day operations, he says. “When one of us is extremely busy, the other lends a hand. So not all responsibilities are entirely his or hers. At the end of each workday, we always sit together and go over any outstanding issues and plan for the next day’s work schedule.”
Staffing Needs
Administrative duties and those end-of-day skull sessions occur at the Daneks’ home in Waterford, Conn.; they also have a warehouse a little over an hour away in Bristol. “Having a home-based franchise keeps our overhead very low,” Kim says. “We can run a very lean business, and the money we would normally pay office staff and rent comes to us instead.”
The husband-and-wife franchisees have a valued staff of four including two salesmen and two installers. “One of our salesmen was the lead installer when we bought the company,” Bob says. “As time went on, he wanted to try sales. He has done extremely well since he knows how to design and build ramps, and he is excellent with customers. Our other salesman is a retiree who works for us as needed. Because we cover a large geographical territory, it’s nice to have an extra person doing evaluations for us. Our two installers have been with us over three years and are a great team. They each know their roles and can handle the material and array of parts with ease. The best part is that they are able to think on their feet at installs that don’t go quite right and always seem to make them work, no matter what the challenge.”
Challenge and Advantages
Speaking of challenges, Bob admits to one sticking point in operating the franchise with Kim. “The most challenging part is separating work from social life. It often seems like we are working all the time, especially since we have a home-based franchise.”
But sharing the load outweighs that drawback, he says. “The most rewarding part of operating this business together is having someone we can trust by our side, not worrying about things not getting done. We complement each other’s work. If an issue comes up, we have two perspectives on how to handle it.”
For general information about the 27-year-old brand, visit the Amramp website. Ownership opportunities are detailed on the Amramp franchise website.
