APRIL 22-28, 2024 20 · SBJ.NET NEWS Alair Homes, said in a news release. “With Travis and Aaron leading the way, we’re set to redefine what homeowners in Missouri can expect from their living spaces.” Natalie Harper, director of communications with Alair Homes, said the partnership of Wyssmann and Miller marks the first time two separate legacy companies have merged to become Alair franchisees. Finding value Alair Homes seeks to bring on local building companies as franchisees that then build and remodel homes while giving clients as much control as possible. The company seeks established contractors wanting to focus on construction, while leaving back-end operations like billing to corporate offices. That allows franchisees the opportunity to scale up their business without putting in as many hours, according to Alair’s website. Miller said the new venture, which tackles new home construction and renovation projects, allows him and Wyssmann to leverage Alair’s resources and networks to bring even greater value to its clients. Travis Miller Homes ranked fifth on Springfield Business Journal’s list of the area’s largest single-family homebuilders, which was published in January. The company built 13 custom homes with a combined estimated value of nearly $11.4 million in 2023, up from roughly $5.7 million in 2022. Over his 10 years of owning Ozarks Remodeling & Design, Wyssmann said he completed between 3050 projects annually with remodel project costs ranging $20,000- $200,000. He said company revenue was around $2 million in 2023. Miller declined to disclose last year’s revenue, but said it was up roughly 10% from 2022. “Our plans are to scale up in both employees and the number of projects that we can do,” Wyssmann said, adding Alair Springfield employs nine. “That was really the thing. The attractiveness is just the training that’s involved for our team around our project managers and coordinators. We can now have some more team members on that will be following the same systems and processes so that we can give the best results.” Alair’s company website doesn’t list franchise costs, and Miller and Wyssmann declined to disclose their investment. Franchise directory TheFranchiseMall.com said the investment required to open an Alair Homes franchise is between $78,030- $91,905, which includes a franchise fee of $53,500-$72,650. In the process Alair has a robust client portal for construction project management, Wyssmann said, adding it utilizes a multistep sales process. “You actually have a contract for the planning process, which is the design, the building of the budget, getting all the details figured out. Then there’s a second step of actually doing the construction,” he said. “The clients will be able to build their budget, see literally every cost down to the penny. We upload all invoices; they see that. It’s all there for them to see so they can truly control their budget and the overall process.” With design services, clients choose elements like trim, flooring and fixtures. Alair gets bids for each aspect of the process, and then clients select which ones to accept. To aid Wyssmann and himself in the projects, Miller said there’s a huge network of Alair franchise builders across the country and Canada at their disposal. “It’s very educational and interesting to see that we’ve all got the same business issues or the same client issues, and just sharing that information, it’s been really valuable to us,” he said. “There’s definitely a learning curve, and every day there’s something we’ve come across that’s new, but it has not affected our day-to-day performance and being able to execute on projects.” Individually in their own companies, Wyssmann said it would have been cost prohibitive to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in software to offer such services to their clients. Since launching Alair Springfield, he said six projects are in the planning process with two more in the construction phase. Wyssmann, who is friends with Miller and has served with him for several years on the local HBA Board of Directors, said he learned of Alair last year through The Builder Nuggets, a podcast that focuses on builders and remodelers. That led him to eventually reach out to the podcast hosts, one of which was a regional partner with Alair, to learn more about the company. “The more I learned about it, the more that I liked,” he said, adding he soon after approached Miller. “You get a lot of great builders like Travis and myself that are the best in certain markets, and you got them sharing resources and ideas and the trouble spots and all of that. That’s essentially what made it attractive.” Miller said Missouri is Alair Springfield’s franchise territory, and adding locations is in the plans. “There’s a lot to learn now, but yeah, I’d say within the five-year plan is to look at what other markets we could possibly open in,” Wyssmann said. • 2024 PRESENTED BY SURVEY Let’s Talk About Growth. Take SBJ’s 6th annual Economic Growth Survey! This survey helps generate key insights to drive strategic decision making in our community. Ready to get started? The survey should take about 20 minutes to complete. Have your company’s financial and workforce information ready. Share with other local business leaders. Alair: Venture to scale up employees, projects Continued from page 3 $2M 2023 revenue for Ozarks Remodeling & Design 14 U.S. states where Alair has opened offices
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