Jon Bridge, Chris Caiger and Barry Bloomfield, Co-founders of Refresh Renovations
The renovation industry has generally been regarded as huge, confusing, and fragmented. With issues ranging from delays to cost overruns, conflicts, safety, client satisfaction, and quality, it has been quite challenging for the industry to meet expectations in terms of improvement, innovation, and completion time. Over the years, it became clear that the renovation segments are failing to deliver an acceptable outcome for homeowners. And this poor performance has been closely attributed to its fragmented nature and poor management which has been strongly linked to inefficient conventional practices.
Determined to change this scenario, Refresh Renovations, a leading home renovation building company came to the forefront. Incepted in New Zealand in 2010, the pioneering company has more than 40 franchises in the country, with more than 80 worldwide, following the expansion of the franchise group into Australia, the United Kingdom, and North America. As a large-scale renovation specialist underpinned by strong processes and systems, the company is bringing a new level of professional service to the renovation segment. “We realized, alongside our clients, that if someone could crack a large scale model in the renovation market, that would offer up huge value across the building chain,” asserts Jon Bridge, the co-founder of Refresh Renovations.
Refresh’s Journey towards Success
The precursor to the franchise business, Traffic NZ, was founded in 2000 by Chris Caiger, The former Head of Marketing at Fletcher Building. Traffic became one of the leading business growth consultancies in the region for the building industry. Its clients were the CEOs and management teams of some of the leading corporate companies. Due to the success of the renovation franchise, Traffic is no longer a consulting company. The team of consultants has now become the head office team supporting the growth of the franchise business and franchisees. Since 2010, Traffic has established and owned Refresh Renovations which has now quickly grown to become the global leader in home improvements. And it’s not difficult to see why. Its processes and systems are created to make it simple for homeowners and to provide them with a stress-free and affordable renovation experience. Refresh was born out of a goal to provide homeowners with a practical solution to their renovation woes.
Making Life Easier For Homeowners
Homeowners typically have a poor renovation experience, struggling with disorganized schedules and blown budgets while trying to manage it all on their own. In fact, a recent study by the Department of Building and Housing indicated that 20% of residential building projects that received consent ended in disagreement. In New Zealand alone, 40% of renovations result in a dispute, with 20% of those resulting in serious disagreements. And the most common source of contention is overpricing. Refresh Renovations reduces budget-related risk by guaranteeing price before a hammer even hits a nail.
Refresh takes the chaos out of the renovation process and replaces it with predictability, systems, order, and peace of mind. Its mission is to transform the industry through improved business models, processes, planning, and sales and marketing. Its process supports renovation consultants around the world in providing homeowners with bespoke home renovations. These locally owned and operated consultants take care of every stage of the renovation including design, costing, council consent, scheduling, and construction and/or decorating.“With Refresh, completing renovations on time and budget isn’t the exception, it’s the expectation. This makes us unique as we are the only global, renovation specialist, group building company,” affirms Jon.
Extensively Supporting its Customers
Looking at the fragmented and disorganized state of the renovations industry, Refresh has developed a model to provide its customers with a quality customer service experience that leaves them feeling confident and satisfied to work with the company. It not only makes the renovation process less stressful but also strives to change the overall quality of the outcome for the customer. Every Refresh franchise offers the customer a standardized experience, eradicating the stress and complexity of home renovations while also providing homeowners with peace of mind, certainty around budget, and the realization of their dreams. The company provides strong marketing and IT platforms for businesses to grow and manage their operation. Each franchise employs a team of builders who manage the construction side of the business. “By having a renovation consultant as a point of contact throughout their project, we eliminate the complexity of renovations. Our processes and systems allow the renovation consultant and team to communicate thoroughly with our customers to keep them updated with timelines, costs, and schedules at all times,” opines Chris Caiger,the co-founder of Refresh Renovations.
“Our mission is to change the way the world renovates by transforming the renovation sector by introducing a new business model that is run by commercially oriented people. Our value proposition is to provide the best possible renovation experience and outcome to homeowners so they can have a home they can be proud of,” adds Chris.
Continues Expanding Its Footprint to Other Markets
Ever since its launch in NZ in 2010, Refresh has been scaling the graph of growth and has been playing the trumpet of success across the industry with its excellent customer service and strong business model. After expanding its reach to Australia, the United Kingdom, and North America, now Refresh is gearing up to take its 12 years of experience into other markets. Its focus is to continue to support the growth and scale of its brands in all four countries. “We are also constantly reviewing and investing heavily in our processes and systems to improve the quality of our service and experience that our customers have and our franchisees deliver,” concludes Chris.