Unit-ed networking

Last month, Martin at Signs Express (Huddersfield) talked about how he made his final franchising decision to venture into the signage industry. This issue he focuses on the next stage of the process, finding his perfect unit

Once I’d chosen to join the Signs Express network, I was eager to get underway and started to look for the ideal unit to base the business; but despite all the positives of starting as a franchisee the process to find the ideal base wasn’t without its hurdles.

Finding a suitable size unit in Huddersfield wasn’t an easy task. I was looking for a unit approximately 1400-1700 square feet but found there were very few light industrial estates with units of this size available and all new developments seemed to be allocated for just housing rather than for business. If I’d have been looking for 3000 square feet upwards in Huddersfield I’d have had options, but anything smaller and I was slightly out of luck. The fact that there was almost nothing available at least showed that small businesses were thriving and therefore potential signage customers were rife!

The position of the unit was important as I wanted to be in the heart of the territory, which meant that I was looking to be in the centre of Huddersfield town. I registered with all the local commercial estate agents and constantly chased them for new lettings coming on the market. I also spent my weekends cruising around town physically hunting out empty looking units, finding out who owned them and then contacting them to see if anything was to let. This research was also a good opportunity to network with potential businesses who would be ideal customers for when I started trading.

Signs Express operations director, Peter Sayles, suggested that I chase landlords directly so that as soon as a unit was available they would contact me. I eventually found a 1600 square foot unit but plans were put on the back burner as the landlord stalled indefinitely after having initially accepted my offer. It turned out that there was a party interested in all four units on the estate and naturally the landlord wanted to wait and see if the party proceeded which to my disappointment, they eventually did. However, after further searching I found a perfect light industrial unit. It was larger at 2440 square feet, but this was pleasing as it gives me room for future growth of the business.

Even though this was a pretty stressful time, the support of Signs Express helped me immensely by providing reassurance as well as guidance to choose from the options available. Peter was constantly on the end of the phone to help me during the whole process, and when I came across units on both occasions he re-scheduled appointments to make the four-hour each way drive to Huddersfield within 24 hours of me calling him. Although the unit was in a bit of a mess when we viewed it together he was able to use his experience to picture how the space would work and reassure me that it was a good choice to go for. He was naturally right.

I opened a little later than scheduled but the Signs Express team did everything that they could to help me catch up on the time I’d lost by the delays in hunting for the unit. At this stage I only had six weeks to fit-out and recruit but with the advice from the team I was provided with a comprehensive list of what was required, where to purchase it and how much it would cost. HQ even helped with a large portion of ordering our equipment and the production unit layout to make sure every area would fulfill my needs. Their experience was invaluable to me.

The unit is now taking shape and with the bonus of the extra space I have plenty of room to work with to deliver the Signs Express brand throughout the Huddersfield area.