The grass is greener with TruGreen franchise

Bob and Anne Anderson

Five years ago, husband and wife, Bob and Anne Anderson were presented with a life changing opportunity. The firm of textile designers that Bob had worked for, for 33 years went into liquidation and he was made redundant.

Having joined the firm at the age of 16 Bob had worked his way up from trainee textile designer to managing director and was devastated by the redundancy. At the time Anne, a former professional ballerina, was a stay at home mum looking after their young son.

Having spent several months hunting for employment, Bob eventually decided that he would use the career break his redundancy had given him to set up his own business: “After experiencing redundancy, we wanted to have more control over our working life and we both felt that running our own business would give us the opportunity to take charge.”

Bob and Anne visited the National Franchise Show at the NEC to investigate franchising and see if it would be a good option for them. After extensive research they decided to invest in a TruGreen franchise as a joint partnership.

TruGreen is one of the world's largest lawn companies and offers a range of tailored lawn care services to homeowners across the UK. As part of the ServiceMaster group, TruGreen benefits from 50 years franchising experience in the UK and provides all its franchisees with a comprehensive support package.

Bob comments; “TruGreen ticked all the right boxes for us. Most importantly, it offered physical work in an outdoor environment, doing something I have always enjoyed. With the added backing of ServiceMaster as the franchisor, I felt reassured that the business was much more likely to succeed and had a proven international business model to learn from”.

Bob had received a state redundancy pay out, which was just enough to cover the cost of buying the franchise and he and Anne funded the remaining start up costs and equipment themselves.

Both were keen to make the best start of the new business and although it was a drastic change of direction, they were enthusiastic about the prospect. Anne comments; “Owning our own business was something that was a new challenge for both of us. And obviously lawn care was a complete departure from both our previous careers!”

“Having attended the TruGreen training academy we both felt much more confident, as we were armed with the qualifications and the necessary lawn care skills to make a success of our franchise.”

“With some trepidation we started out offering our services in our area and quickly established a good client base. We now have around 350 customers and have made many friends. We enjoy every day and have the satisfaction of providing a useful service and successful, whilst having the freedom to decide when we work.”

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