Franchising veterans choose MWC for their next business

Owen Tweedie and his partner Joyce know a thing or two about franchising – they’ve been franchisees before, and so have Joyce’s parents! So why did they choose MWC for their new venture? Owen explains…

Our recent career background was with another franchise, a gardening one. We’d run the business for six or seven years, growing it to more than 1,000 customers. It was similar to MWC in that it’s van-based, so we’ve got direct experience in this style of business. It suits us, we like it.

We sold it before the pandemic struck, the time was right for us to move on and we needed to put our energy into our family. Joyce and I do some photography and videography as well, but a lot of that work is weddings, which took rather a back seat during Covid!

So we took stock of everything, and franchising is a natural option for us. Along with our own experience, Joyce’s parents have run different franchises of their own too! It’s well known to us, and we really see the value in the franchise structure while still retaining some control as well.

Research, research, research

We looked into a lot of franchises, including a very corporate one that we got quite deep into the process with. It just didn’t line up at all with what we thought it was or what we were looking for. So this isn’t something we’ve done lightly, we’ve researched the market carefully as you’d expect given our experience.

MWC ties in with some of my previous skills, I worked as a carpenter for a while and I’m a practical guy. The first conversation with Ian was really good and the process carried on like that from there, it’s been brilliant.

Dealing with Ian, Karen and Dave has been a breath of fresh air – what you see is exactly what you get. We’re so pleased on every level with the directors and the company, they really align with my personal ethics and it’s been a real pleasure dealing with them so far.

Structured around the family

I’m going out to do the cleaning and Joyce is very good at admin and takes care of that, around looking after our young children. The MWC franchisees I’ve spoken with that have a similar set-up have said it works really well for them as a couple.

It’s been a pleasure getting to know the other franchisees too. The network is a very easy bunch of people to get on with, they’re very driven but also very realistic and I think Ian’s done a great job of bringing people whose values are aligned in.

Grasping the opportunity

I’ve seen very few window cleaners in our area that have a branded van, uniform and great customer service. There’s such huge potential: I live in a fairly busy part of Cardiff and I’ve never had a single leaflet through the door, or seen a window cleaner proactively talking to people in the street!

With the diversity of services we offer and MWC’s integration with technology, plus our friendly approach, we think there’s a huge opportunity here to take over the local market… and we intend to grasp it.