HomeTeam featured in the Chicago Tribune

The article discusses how potential home owners can avoid making big mistakes when buying houses. In it, multiple home-owners give entertaining and informative descriptions of the various issues they encountered when buying their first homes. Greg Haskett weighs in as the expert source of information, as Vice President of Services for HomeTeam Inspection, an Ohio-based national franchise. He discusses the most common deficiencies that his inspectors find in homes, and why it’s important to hire an inspector—because they’ll tell you exactly what you’re buying into and essentially resolve the majority of the issues mentioned in the article. Given the massive circulation of the Chicago Tribune and its national affiliates, this article is an excellent way to spread the word about the importance of home inspections, and endorses HomeTeam as a reliable and accredited source of this service. Check out a portion of the story below or read the full article here.

Scary first-time buyer mistakes and how to avoid them



New or old, every home has issues, said Greg Haskett, vice president of the Milford, Ohio-based HomeTeam Inspection, a national franchise.

"It's not if the house has a defect, but whether you want to buy it with that defect," he said. "Hiring a home inspector tells what you are buying."

Drainage issues, aging roofs, improperly built decks, inadequate attic insulation and defective drywall top the list of problems his inspectors find, said Haskett. When red flags arise, he said, an inspector brings in specialists who advise the buyer on specifics, such as lead-paint testing.

"It's not necessarily that the house had a 'bad' builder; his reputation may be OK," said Haskett. "But the builder may have had a bad sub who used a substandard product." (Read More)

HomeTeam tells MainStreet.com how to winterize homes

HomeTeam was featured in an article and slideshow on MainStreet.com entitled, “How to Winterize Your Home.” The article discusses different ways to winterize your home and provided very useful tips for people at home looking to make these changes and cut costs. Check out a portion of the article below or read the full story here.

How to Winterize Your Home
By Jeanine Skowronski

With Halloween approaching and Thanksgiving not far behind, homeowners need to start preparing their houses for winter weather. After all, advance preparations can save money, preserve energy and increase safety as you transition into the winter months.To help you and your home weather the inevitable storms, MainStreet consulted the experts to find out what homeowners should do before the temperature drops drastically. (Read More).

The Academy: Support through Your First Year

By Greg Haskett, Vice President of Shared Services

It’s been proven by our business model that the first year of proper operation should set up your business to double in size. That’s great growth potential if you do things right! HomeTeam has been in business for 15 years so we are confident that our processes and procedures will help franchisees grow to their fullest potential. We’ve established benchmarks and best practices that will lead new franchisees to success.

Because operation in the first year of business sets the mold for everything thereafter, HomeTeam takes this first year extremely seriously and partners with franchisees to guide them through in a program called “The Academy."

The HomeTeam home office ensures all checks and balances are in place by doing monthly financial reviews with new franchisees, comparisons of budgets, reviews customer comments, etc. The They use system-wide benchmarks from top performing franchisees to ensure that new franchisees ramp up quickly and generate the highest return on investment. The Academy Program is designed to ensure that new franchisees lay a strong foundation in their first 12-18 months so that can build a solid profitable business from the start and ultimately yield the highest return when they wish to sell the business.

HomeTeam’s Fast Start Program: What You Need to Know Before Opening

By Greg Haskett, Vice President of Shared Services

You buy into the concept, you go through the discover process, then you sign a franchise agreement, what’s next?

Many new franchisees can be intimidated about exactly how to get the ball rolling. They’ve bought the rights to their very own franchise and now it’s up to them to open up shop and be successful doing it. HomeTeam understands this can be an overwhelming process and has spent many years perfecting the system, processes and procedures required for getting franchisees up and running without missing a beat.

Through their Fast Start program, HomeTeam provides as much of a turnkey operation as possible and partners with each new franchisee through opening their new location and throughout the first year (The Academy to be discussed in a later post). With the support of their Franchise Support Manager, and everyone at the HomeTeam home office, franchisees complete a 125-point checklist of items necessary to accomplish to ensure success, but not only complete the checklist, complete it in the right order. This support includes Business Planning, Budgeting, Market Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Securing Business Licenses and more. HomeTeam takes a vested interest in each one of its franchisees careers.

HomeTeam also provides new franchisees what’s called an “Initial Package.” As part of a franchisee’s investment into HomeTeam, they receive an initial package which includes everything they need to have a complete, professional brand image right off the bat including uniforms, the appropriate technology and software, marketing materials, website development and maintenance.

So although you may be off to the races, the benefit of working with HomeTeam is that you won’t be alone. You’ll benefit from HomeTeam’s 15+ years of experience operating 175+ locations nationwide to back you.