Business View - February 2015 91
and more help, so they came to us and asked if we
were interested in acquiring them,” he said. “We loved,
loved, loved the name. It was a significant upgrade
from what we were operating as, so we brought them
on board, they were a great group of people, wonderful
franchisees and it was just a perfect fit for us and the
right move at the right time.”
The amalgamation was made official in June 2009
and the combined company has since moved forward
under the Gotcha Covered banner, with Linenberg
serving as president and running the day-to-day opera-
tions of a Denver-based enterprise that’s swelled to 58
franchises in the U.S. and Canada.
The roster of locations is entirely franchisee-owned
and is spread across the two countries, most often in
areas of high population density and with footprints
in 21 states and three Canadian provinces. About
60,000 households comprise the typical franchise
territory, which can mean a small, densely populated
home turf for some owners and a less dense, more
geographically vast one for others.
The territorial process is collaborative in nature, Linen-
berg said, meaning the company will craft a suitable
territory for interested and qualified franchise candi-
dates, rather than establishing set boundaries across
North America and then searching for franchise agree-
ments with which to fill up the map.
Most owners start out as home-based single owner-
operators based, but can evolve their businesses
into structures which would include adding sales as-
sociates and back-office support staff. Some enter a
shared retail space agreement with flooring or paint
stores, and still others go all-in with a full retail loca-
tion of their own in an appropriate location with sig-
nage, full staff and dedicated business hours.
About 5 percent of owners get to the largest scale, he
said, though that number is on the rise.
FRANCHISE
