The Emerging Home Services Franchise is a Full-Service Garage Transformation Provider
Troy Rainsberg, Garage Kings CEO and president, remembers his first garage transformation. It was before he owned the company or thought about a garage-concept business. The project wasn’t even his idea – it was his wife’s. But it ignited Rainsberg’s imagination, which led to a garage floor coating company and a franchise with 32 locations across the United States and growing. Today, the Garage Kings franchise does it all, including garage floors, garage cabinets, garage storage and organizational systems, and garage door installation and servicing.
Rainsberg explains how it happened. “One day, my wife sees an ad in a magazine and says, ‘I want to do our garage floor like that.’ It was a polyaspartic floor,” he says, referring to the high-performance, polymer-based floor coating. “I agreed, and after these guys did the floor, I walked in, and it was beautiful. It just changed everything.”
“She says, ‘Now I’d like to paint the walls and then put up cabinets and do the organization systems on the walls,’ and I’m, like, ‘Alright, let’s do it,’” Rainsberg says. Next, she had the lighting replaced, added a TV and hung a painting on the wall.
Then she decided the garage was too nice for parking cars. “I was like, ‘We just spent $20,000 on a garage we can’t park in?’” he recalls. “But I understood, because every time I walked through the garage, I smiled a little bit. It was so neat and organized that I kept the door open on weekends so neighbors could see.”
It was at this point Troy began to realize the opportunity and potential of a floor coatings company. Soon after, he was introduced to Garage Kings.
Garage Kings 3.0 – The Journey to Franchising
After learning more about the brand, Rainsberg partnered with his brother and they opened their first location in Albany, N.Y. The quick success led to other locations in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Pittsburgh.
At that time, the business only offered floor coatings, but Rainsberg always had a greater vision to own the entire garage space. However, franchising wasn’t Rainsberg’s specialty and he knew he would need the best in the industry to help support the brand growth. That’s where John Rotche and Franworth, a franchise incubator and accelerator, came into the mix.
Franworth offers comprehensive support to franchisors. This enables franchisors to deliver enhanced marketing strategies, a streamlined onboarding process and expert mentorship.
“Garage Kings owned by the original founders was Garage Kings 1.0,” Rainsberg says. “When I bought it, it became Garage Kings 2.0. And then I knew I needed help. I needed somebody who understood franchising, and I partnered up with Franworth, and that’s where we are today. That’s Garage Kings 3.0.”
“As a franchisor, you’re wearing a lot of hats. There are so many different pieces to it, and Franworth has the ability to come in, fill in the gaps and strengthen what was already there,” he says.
Surging Demand for Garage Makeovers
The New York Times called garages “the final frontier in home renovation,” with garage renovations representing an investment that adds value to the home, and converts the typically dingy, cluttered area into a welcoming, efficiently organized space that’s more frequently used as an entryway into the house than the front door.
Replacing a garage door provides a whopping 102.7% return on investment, according to Remodeling’s 2023 Cost vs. Value Report. By comparison, the report shows that a major kitchen remodel has a 31.7% ROI, and a window replacement has a 61.2% ROI.
The global garage organization and storage market size was valued at $23.30 billion in 2022 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 7.4% from 2023 to 2030, according to Grand View Research, which attributed recent demand to work-from-home trends spurred by the pandemic.
Rainsberg and Garage Kings Chief Growth Officer Andrea Rivera agree that the pandemic had a significant impact on their business as homeowners wanted more livable space, not only for their vehicles, but workout areas, home offices, man caves and she sheds.
Doing It All Benefits Customers and Franchisees
Rivera recalls how customer demand contributed to expanded services. “We would complete a floor and a customer would say, ‘Well, now I don’t want to mess up the garage. I need to organize my stuff,’ or, ‘Now I need a new door,’ and they were asking us if we knew people who could help with those things. And after a while, we were like, why wouldn’t we do it all?”
Handling all aspects of a garage transformation not only made good sense for Garage Kings’ business model, but also for consumers, who save on bundling discounts and don’t have the stress of working with multiple contractors.
The advantages for franchise owners are even greater. “As a franchise opportunity, what sets Garage Kings apart is the unique blend of having a service business, which would be the garage door side of the business, and an installation side of the business, which would be floors, cabinets, storage and organization,” Rainsberg says. “If you look at the garage space, other businesses are typically in one side or the other. But every Garage Kings franchisee gets both sides, which allows them to build a bigger business in the same size territory.”
Garage Kings ‘Owns the Garage’ by Being a Full Service Provider
Adding garage doors to Garage Kings’ offerings helped even out seasonal revenue fluctuations, Rainsberg says, and enabled the company to offer service plans, which creates continuous revenue and helps retain customers.
Garage Kings’ extensive training and support also distinguish the brand from other garage transformation companies. Franchisees and technicians attend a training school in Dayton, Ohio, and receive a certification. For on-the-job issues, technicians have immediate access to full-time trainers, Rainsberg says.
Although “garage” is in the name, Garage Kings also installs floor coatings and storage solutions in laundry rooms, basements and patios. One client was so happy with makeovers in two garages that she asked for organizational slat wall panels in her children’s playroom. The panels have slats from which tools and other objects can hang. The client wanted them in the playroom to hang her children’s Nerf guns (above).
“We’re a full-service provider. Our intention is to own the garage,” Rainsberg says. “And the Garage Kings franchise does it all.” For more information, visit https://garagekings.com/franchise/.
About Franworth
Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., Franworth builds, incubates, and grows franchise brands through mentorship, education and best-in-class support empowering entrepreneurs and creating brighter futures. With over 450 years of combined franchise experience, the Franworth team has been recognized with the highest honors in franchising and for repeatedly scaling brands using a franchise model. Franworth’s portfolio of beloved brands includes MilkShake Factory®, sugaringLA®, MosquitoNix®, Garage Kings®, and HealthSource America’s Chiropractor®, and Degree Wellness®. For more information, visit franworth.com.
