Before owning his own City Wide Facility Solutions franchise, Joshua Zoppel built a career in property management across commercial, residential and industrial properties in Philadelphia. By Kelsi Trinidad
Before owning his own City Wide Facility Solutions franchise, Joshua Zoppel built a career in property management across commercial, residential and industrial properties in Philadelphia.
Once Zoppel and his wife started growing their family, they discussed the possibility of moving closer to her family in New York City, and Zoppel immediately went to work looking for a career in the area. After accepting a director role in New York City, Zoppel’s wife changed her mind and fell in love with a community in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Unfortunately, Zoppel had already committed to his position, and for the next four years, he drove the hours-long commute from his neighborhood in South Jersey into New York City.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, Zoppel began thinking about how to use his years of experience and build a career for himself. He wanted to build something that would allow him to reclaim his commute time and spend that time with his family. He left for work before his children were awake and returned home after they went to bed. Additionally, Zoppel saw the construction industry slow during the pandemic, so it felt like an opportune time to exit the industry.
Zoppel had friends who had found success with franchising, and the idea of having established business systems appealed to him as he transitioned out of his previous career.
“It’s nice to dream about starting something new,” said Zoppel. “It’s another to actually be able to implement that and really have the processes and procedures, from years of experience, on how to make something successful.”
City Wide Facility Solutions provides a wide array of building maintenance services, which are subcontracted to local businesses. The industry and franchise model were a natural fit for Zoppel and his experience in commercial property management. What stood out to him and his investor partner was the recurring revenue stream and how easily a territory could scale.
For most franchise models, scaling involves buying multiple territories and building them out. With City Wide Facility Solution’s model, there is little overhead and significant scalability. Additionally, because all the facility maintenance services are subcontracted out to local businesses, there are very few upfront costs to getting the business off the ground – no brick-and-mortar space, and no large equipment or inventory costs.
These financial advantages have made Zoppel’s franchise location highly desirable. While he has no plans to sell his business anytime soon, the weekly solicitations he receives to sell his business is a testament to how attractive the City Wide franchise model is.
Zoppel and his partner opened their location in the last quarter of 2020. Despite launching during the pandemic, the business continues to grow year over year. Through hard work, a client-first mentality, and a true community spirit, City Wide Facility Solutions has helped him build the life he envisioned during those years commuting to New York City. He now enjoys a short, 15-minute commute, more time with his family and a thriving career that supports local businesses and contractors, his cherished employees, and those he loves most.
Kelsi Trinidad