PGH Beegone are a pioneering pest control business who recently expanded via the franchise route. We spoke with their founder, Peter Higgs, about the journey and experience of franchising PGH Beegone.

Basic information:

Founder:
Peter Higgs

Founded:
Core Business started in 2008
Franchised from December 2020

What they do:
They are experts in pest control and prevention, serving residential and commercial properties, with a reputation for being able to solve pest problems others can’t. They are pioneers in live bee removal and rehoming and remove honeybees and combs from chimneys, walls, roofs and trees without using insecticides.

Why they’re great:
They are both specialists and experts in their field. They are passionate about conserving the environment. The want to save the bees to save the world. They provide their customers with value for money by ensuring long lasting results. They offer quick response times and go above and beyond to ensure customer satisfaction.

Q&A with Peter Higgs:

You can watch the full video interview with Peter here:

Why did you choose to franchise the business?
“I remember when I turned up to one of my first clients, she asked: ‘is this a franchise business?’ and I didn’t actually know what franchising was, but that got me looking into it and I thought that would be quite cool having a few vans running around the UK. It intrigued me, I always wanted to go down that road and I wish I had actually done it a lot sooner than I did, but you have to be in the right place”.

Why did you decide to work with Ashtons Franchise Consulting when franchising PGH Beegone?
“One thing I’ve learnt over the last 14 years of running a business is that you don’t know it all, so I already knew it was important to use experts. I actually found Nick’s talk from the Franchise Show on YouTube, I watched it and contacted Ashtons off the back of that”.

Why did you decide to become a BFA Member?
“It was really important for me to understand, and learn what is right and ethical in franchising, because I’m new to it and I want to make sure that we’re looking after the franchisees as best we can. It’s a new journey for us and we’ve found it really valuable to learn about franchising and what you should and shouldn’t do, and to just have that support”.

What’s the biggest lesson that you’ve learnt since franchising?
“How challenging it is to market the franchise and for people to understand the value that you’ve got in what you do. I thought it would be a lot easier to show people how good the business is, we know how good the business is, its great fun, it’s rewarding, it’s profitable, but even then, it’s still hard to market the business”.

What does the future look like?
“It looks good, with the challenges of the pandemic there are obviously massive opportunities as well. We did well in 2021, we learnt a lot in the year and in the next year we are a looking to more than double the number of franchisees that we went for in 2021. I’m looking forward to continuing to help the franchisees be mega successful. We’ve made some major updates to the websites and marketing material, so we’re set to boom this year”.

Best tip for a new franchisor?
“Make sure you are ready to franchise and get expert help so when you miss things out that you’re not even aware of, it gets picked up”.

Any final thoughts on what it’s like being a franchisor?
“It is time consuming, and you need to be in the right place. Having support around me has been really useful. I’ve learnt a lot from it that I didn’t know, if anything I wish I’d found a way to do it earlier”.

Want to know more?

Enquire about the PGH Beegone Franchise Opportunity.

Enquire about Ashtons Franchise Consulting helping you to franchise your business.