The Gutter Guys vs Weed Man Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of The Gutter Guys vs Weed Man including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees
	The Gutter Guys Franchise	Weed Man Franchise
Investment	$91,700	$69,790 - $86,850
Franchise Fee	$15,000	$20,000 - $33,750
Royalty Fee	5%	$6.2K-$12.3K/vehicle/yr.
Advertising Fee	-	20% of royalty fee
Year Founded	1988	1970
Year Franchised	2000	1976
Term Of Agreement	10 years	10 years
Term Of Agreement	10 years	10 years
Renewal Fee	25% of franchise fee	-
Business Experience Requirements
	The Gutter Guys Franchise	Weed Man Franchise
Experience	Marketing skills People skills, good work ethic	-
Financing Options
	The Gutter Guys Franchise	Weed Man Franchise
	In-House/3rd Party	In-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees	No/No	Yes/Yes
Start-up Costs	No/No	Yes/Yes
Equipment	No/Yes	-/Yes
Inventory	No/No	-/Yes
Receivables	No/No	-/-
Payroll	No/No	-/-
Training & Support
	The Gutter Guys Franchise	Weed Man Franchise
Training	-	Extensive 12-day initial training at Head Office addresses all aspects of business operations, including administration, technical, marketing, business planning and budgeting. Training tools will also be provided for training employees. Ongoing training through conference calls, webinars, newsletters, site visits, phone and email correspondence.
Support	Newsletter, Toll-free phone line, Grand opening, Internet, Field operations/evaluations, Purchasing cooperatives	Every Weed Man Franchise is supported by their local and experienced Franchisor who serves as a personal consultant and mentor, providing experience, guidance and encouragement. The network of Weed Man Franchisors represents decades of lawn care operation experience. Their collective wisdom has been fine-tuned into a system that allows you to run a successful lawn care operation with no prior lawn care or agronomic training or knowledge.
Marketing	Co-op advertising, Ad slicks, Regional advertising	Co-op Advertising Ad Templates National Media Regional Advertising Social media SEO Website development Email marketing
Operations	Franchise can be run from home. 10% of all franchisees own more than one unit Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 7 Absentee ownership of franchise is allowed. (100% of current franchisees are owner/operators)	Absentee Ownership Allowed Number of Employees Required to Run: 4 - 6
Expansion Plans
	The Gutter Guys Franchise	Weed Man Franchise
US Expansion	Yes	Yes
Canada Expansion	No	-
International Expansion	No	-

Company Overviews

About The Gutter Guys

The Gutter Guys was founded by Michael Williams in 1988. Michael had been working in the restaurant and hospitality business for the previous fifteen years and needed gutters and downspouts on his new home. Amazed at the total lack of professionalism in the gutter companies he encountered while getting gutter installation estimates, he decided to start The Gutter Guys. Using his extensive knowledge of and passion for customer service, Michael's company now serves more than 300,000 happy customers throughout four mid-Atlantic states: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Not only did Michael develop the recipe to satisfy his customers, he also found the right recipe to recruit and retain quality employees. While discussing how to utilize and reward skilled employees with his business advisor and CPA Chuck Johnson, the idea of franchising came up. Not franchising in the normal sense, but as a way to expand the geographic area the business served and give employees an opportunity to become self employed while remaining with The Gutter Guys.

Chuck was so instrumental in helping to develop a system to give The Gutter Guys' employees a chance to become franchise owners that he was invited to join the company. Chuck accepted and sold his well-established accounting practice to join The Gutters Guys full time. Since that time, we have helped twelve of our employees become self employed franchisees of The Gutter Guys.

About Weed Man

Weed Man opened its first location in 1970 and started franchising the concept in 1976. Throughout the years, Weed Man has been committed to delivering superior lawn care services to residential customers across North America. Currently sold out in Canada, Weed Man has seen rapid growth across the US in over 250 territories since 2000. With over $100 million in system sales, Weed Man is the leading franchised lawn care company in the green industry.

Franchisor is seeking new franchise units throughout the U.S.,Canada and Eastern Europe