When David Lentz returned to Bend two years ago he wanted to get back into the construction business, but didn’t want to start from scratch.

He had heard of a construction franchise company called Kitchen Tune-Up, a national company in 39 states and in business for 34 years. The franchise guaranteed individual franchisees territories, name recognition and established vendors and procedures.

“Having someone to call is a big benefit,” said Lentz, 58. “The support from the home office is also a benefit. Knowing I have a national system behind me is a great benefit for me and the customer.”

Buying into a national franchise takes a lot of the guess work out of starting a business and also provides customers comfort in knowing there’s a national brand behind a contractor, said Todd Laurence, Oregon State University-Cascades adjunct lecturer of business. There are more than 750,000 franchised businesses in the United States, each sharing an established business model.

“There are a lot of people who are good at building and fixing things, but are not good at getting customers or making sales,” Laurence said. “A business owner might not have all the skills, so a franchise helps you start your own business. In this kind of work you’re taking the national name and you’re doing the work.”

One of Lentz’s customers was Redmond homeowner Patsy Tellenbach was impressed by the crew that resurfaced her kitchen cabinets. It took a crew three days to do the work. When there was a problem with an incorrectly installed door, workers came right back and fixed the issue, Tellenbach said.

“I’m extremely happy with what I had done,” Tellenbach said. “Having a national company like Kitchen Tune-Up was reassuring because there’s a corporate reputation behind the contractor.”

Kitchen Tune-Up offers customers five levels of service: a one-day clean up, cabinet painting, re-dooring, refacing and installing a whole new set of cabinets. Customers select their level of service prior to an in-home meeting, and the quality of products they want in the project: good, better or best, Lentz said. It’s all designed to provide choices to the consumer.

‘Trust promise’

The national company was founded in 1988 in South Dakota by David and Cindy Haglund. At heart an entrepreneur, David Haglund began to offer franchises to others. The company was under his leadership until 2003, when the Haglunds passed on the business to their daughter Heidi Morrissey, who started in marketing and eventually took the reins through 2021 when the company joined Home Franchise Concepts. Morrissey still is in charge of the tune up brand.

The Kitchen Tune-Up brand also expanded to Bathroom Tune-Up, and it uses the same concepts but applies it to the bathroom.

“A benefit of working with a franchised business is the level of training and professionalism you can expect,” Morrissey said in an email. “There is the added benefit of the parent company being available in the future if the franchised business closes or relocates.”

Laurence said that franchises provide a recognizable name and provides reassurance to customers. There’s an assumption that the franchisee has been vetted by the corporate structure and that person has a license and is competent.

“It makes a lot of sense,” Laurence said. “The franchisee can do other things to build the business. It’s a good alternative to the solo-entrepreneur.”

Each franchisee is guaranteed not to have competition from another franchisee, Lentz said. In Oregon there are four franchises, two in Portland, one in Beaverton, Eugene and Bend. The most popular selection for homeowners is the refacing of kitchen cabinets, Lentz said. That kind of work keeps the kitchen in the same design, but gives the doors and cabinets a fresh look.

“We offer a trust promise,” Lentz said. “We listen carefully and arrive on time, respect your home and provide solutions. That’s what the corporate structure determined from a survey was important to homeowners.

“The trust points are the reasons people like us. We make the homeowners aware of their choices so they can make educated decisions.”

Lentz taps into his years of experience flipping houses with his brother, who is also a licensed contractor. He left Central Oregon for a brief five-year period and returned two years ago with the idea of buying into the Kitchen Tune-Up franchise.

Using the business model of Kitchen Tune-Up, Lentz is able to run multiple crews at the same time. He has nine employees. In the past two years, he’s remodeled more than 100 kitchens, he said. He’d like more, but it’s been difficult to find qualified workers, Lentz said.

“We’re the same as an independent contractor, but we have more of a formula for remodeling. We get a lot of work,” Lentz said. “So our pricing must be competitive. “