dryer vent cleaning and maintenance

Franchise Owners and Employees across the U.S. Participate in Giving Back to their Communities.

WACO, Texas — To celebrate National Sock Day, Dryer Vent Wizard®, a Neighborly® company, is collaborating with the Sock It To ‘Em Campaign during the month of November through National Sock Day (December 4, 2022), donating socks to homeless shelters across the U.S. to help raise awareness about how sock donations can provide warmth to those in need during the winter season. Socks are the least donated item to homeless shelters, but a much-needed clothing item by those experiencing homelessness and seeking warmth during colder weather.

“We know this time of year can be tough for some people and we’re excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with Sock It To Em Campaign to help provide socks to people in need,” said Jason Kapica, President of Dryer Vent Wizard, a Neighborly company. “Socks are the one article of clothing people may forget about when making a donation but providing a brand-new pair of socks through this initiative can make a real difference.”

Dryer Vent Wizard franchise locations and local communities across the nation are encouraged to take part in this campaign and donate socks through the Sock It To Em Campaign link found here, or at a local homeless shelter.

“We are thrilled that the small business owners at Dryer Vent Wizard and people within their communities are willing to donate new socks to cover the feet of those who need them,” said Susan Lee, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sock It To Em Campaign. “It’s a great way to get the whole community involved for a good cause that will bring joy and warmth to those in need, and what better time than the Holiday season.”

Sock It To Em Campaign is a nonprofit organization that aims to provide new socks to men, women and children experiencing homelessness and in need. In the past 10 years, Sock It To Em Campaign has given away almost 900,000 pairs of socks in 41 states. Dryer Vent Wizard hopes to work together with Sock It To Em Campaign to reach their 1 million-pair goal for sock donations.

Home inspection franchise grows franchisor to 25 brands and more than 4,000 franchise owners under the parent company umbrella.

WACO, Texas — Neighborly^®, the world’s largest franchisor of home service brands, today announced the acquisition of HouseMaster, a professional home inspection franchise headquartered in Somerville, N.J. The addition becomes the 25^th brand under the Neighborly umbrella and officially expands the organization to more than 4,000 franchise owners around the world.

“Our vision is to ‘Own the Home’ and provide the very best services to homeowners, and this now includes HouseMaster’s premier home inspection network with a stellar reputation that more customers can call upon,” said Mike Bidwell, president and CEO of Neighborly. “HouseMaster is a perfect complement to our existing Neighborly brands and presents a tremendous opportunity to grow more franchise locations.”

Founded in 1979 by Ken Austin, HouseMaster became the first home inspection business to franchise and now includes more than 170 franchise owners serving more than 300 franchise territories across the U.S. and Canada. Since the brand’s founding, HouseMaster inspectors have performed more than 3.5 million home inspections.

Now as part of Neighborly, the brand that pioneered the home inspection business will operate alongside Neighborly’s many home service brands that repair, maintain and enhance the home. The combined reach that results from this acquisition will continue to help more than 10 million customers across the Neighborly organization find and utilize the best home service professionals in the world.

“Having grown up in this business, I recognize that joining the larger Neighborly organization marks a historic moment for HouseMaster as a launching point for growth like we’ve never seen before,” said Kathleen Austin Kuhn, president of HouseMaster and a charter member of the American Home Inspection Association (AHIA). “We look forward to expanding our presence, serving more customers by being all things Neighborly to residential and commercial real estate buyers and sellers.”

Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC provided advisory services to Neighborly in connection with this transaction.

For more information about Neighborly’s service brands visit www.neighborlybrands.com.

Domestic acquisition expands franchisor to 24 brands, more than 3,900 franchise owners and over 900 associates across nine countries

WACO, Texas — Neighborly^®, the world’s largest franchisor of home service brands, today announced the acquisition of Dryer Vent Wizard, a professional dryer vent cleaning services franchisor headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The addition includes almost 100 Dryer Vent Wizard franchise locations across the U.S. and Canada, bringing Neighborly’s network to more than 3,900 franchisees representing a total of 24 home service brands.

“We kicked off 2020 with a vision to ‘Own the Home’ through Neighborly’s community of home service experts, and welcoming Dryer Vent Wizard to our family of franchise brands marks an exciting milestone in this pursuit,” said Neighborly President and CEO Mike Bidwell. “In the 15 years since its inception, Dryer Vent Wizard’s cleaning, installation, inspection and repair service offerings have earned high customer satisfaction ratings. We see tremendous opportunities to grow the brand to the next level, making this a great partnership for all parties.”

As a result of this acquisition, Dryer Vent Wizard will now benefit from new tools for growth and enhanced exposure to Neighborly’s nine million customers who rely on Neighborly brands for everything from painting to plumbing and nearly everything in between.

“Every day, we look for opportunities to enhance value for our franchisees, our employees and our investors,” said Jason Kapica, President of Dryer Vent Wizard. “We believe that being a part of Neighborly will not only allow us to give back to our investors but will also bring added benefits to our Dryer Vent Wizard associates and franchisees, advancing us into the next growth stage of our business.”

The Dryer Vent Wizard franchise system was founded in 2004 by David Lavalle, who is also the founder of Neighborly’s own Mr. Handyman franchise network.

“As I’ve seen firsthand with Mr. Handyman, Neighborly has a proven track record of helping brands expand their presence to achieve growth goals through franchise development,” said Lavalle. “I’m excited that another brand I started is teaming up with this respected and successful franchisor, and I am eager to see Neighborly’s support help existing Dryer Vent Wizard franchisees realize their same store sales potential moving forward.”

Boxwood Partners acted as financial advisor to Dryer Vent Wizard. For more information about Neighborly’s service brands visit www.neighborlybrands.com.