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Canadian homebuilder Alair Homes' franchise model is foreign to Southwest Florida.
But it won't be for long, say company executives.
Alair, founded in British Columbia in 2005, is essentially a back-office support system for small homebuilders. The company finds homebuilders, signs them up to franchise agreements and then provides functions such as accounting, marketing and sales. The homebuilder, under the Alair name, then focuses on the work of building homes.
Alair brought its concept to the United States two years ago, with an office in Arizona. The model caught on and Alair now has franchisees in Ohio, Indiana, Washington and South Carolina, and will soon be launching in other states, says Adam McCaa, the company's chief communications officer.
One region specifically Alair executives are optimistic about is Sarasota and the surrounding area. “We are confident we will enter the market in 2016,” says Alair Chief Development Officer Rob Cecil. “It will be sooner rather than later.”
Alair is targeting the region largely because there is already an established supply of homebuilders and remodelers, Cecil says. Alair plans to convert some of those firms to the Alair name. “We don't view ourselves as disruptors,” he says. “We view ourselves as innovators. We want to plug into the existing ecosystem and innovate it.”
Cecil says he cannot share specifics but that Alair has several specific area builders in mind. “We're already having conversations,” he says.
The first step for Alair to establish its brand in the region is to find its master franchisee. That person will have between four and 10 months to prove the model and, if they succeed, will be given a chance to develop the region.
“This isn't like buying into a pizza franchise,” Cecil says. “Not anyone can do it. We need construction experts. We're looking for the guy or gal that 10 to 20 of their competitors would say they're one of the best people in the business.”
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