Jim's Mowing

Jim's Mowing is a lawn care service franchise which was founded in 1982 by Jim Penman. Penman initially launched it as a part-time gardening business while he was completing his PhD in history.[1] He remains CEO of the group and actively involved in day-to-day operations.[2] The business was run independently until 1989, when it became a franchise, which can now be found in four countries, with 5,000 total franchisees.[3][4]

Jim's Group
FounderJim Penman
Headquarters
Australia
Areas served
Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom & Canada
Key people
Jim Penman (CEO)
OwnerJim's Group

After launching the Jim's Mowing Franchise in 1989, further divisions followed. The second division was Cleaning, and since then the franchise model has been adapted to almost 50 different service industries (including plumbing, fencing, roofing)[5] and multiple countries (including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada).[6]

In 2019, Jim's Group is the largest home-service franchise in Australia.[7] It has an annual turnover of over $500 million, approximately 4,000 franchises and about 35,000 customers.[7]

History

In 1982, Jim Penman started the company with $24 of capital[8] in order to fund his research into biohistory[9] after his PhD thesis is initially rejected.[10]

In 1989, Jim's Group switches to a franchise model.[3]

In 2022, Jim's Group received more than 300,000 leads that were unable to be serviced.

In 2009, there was a major disruption from the franchisees when fees were raised[11] and Jim Penman was almost voted out.

In 2010, master franchisors held a "referendum" asking for Penman to stand down because of concerns with his leadership style, breaches of contract, and steep fee hikes. Although the referendum followed the procedures in the operation manual, Jim advised he could not be stood down and that only he could run the company; eventually, negotiations occurred which reached agreement on the fee and master franchise issues. A number of concerns about Penman were also raised by disgruntled franchisees including that "he runs the whole business as though he owns every part of it", changes had reduced the value of their investment, and litigation.[8]

In 2012, there was an unsuccessful bid for $10 million in funding to expedite expansion including a float on the ASX, which has not since been realised.[12]

In 2018, the Jim's Group launched the Jim's Plus initiative claiming to have received over 180,000 leads that were unable to be serviced. This program offers these leads on a success fee basis to non-Jim's franchisees.[13]

Foothills Conference Centre, and Headquarters
Jim's Mowing (Group) - headquarters and Foothills Conference Centre

Jim's established a conference centre for training franchisees at Lilydale, Victoria. This also serves as the group headquarters, and includes a call centre. Several lodges of various sizes have generously appointed ensuite bedrooms equivalent to hotel rooms, surrounding a multi room conference venue with restaurant and bar. The hotel rooms are also available to the public on a space available basis.

References
  1. "AIB Featured Business Leader – Jim Penman". Australian Institute of Business. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  2. White, Sue (14 November 2015). "Meet the boss: Jim's Group founder Jim Penman". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  3. Carswell, Andrew (22 April 2008). "Jim's Empire client satisfaction top priority, mowing mogul on call to 2700 customers". The Advertiser (Adelaide). p. 64. ISSN 1039-4192.
  4. "Meet Jim - Jim's Group". Jim's Group. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  5. "Jim's fantastic empire". Financial Review. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  6. "Growing your own franchise". Scottish Daily Record. 24 April 2009. p. 53.
  7. White, Sue (11 November 2019). "Keeping franchisees happy works out well for Jim". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  8. Sonti, Chalpat (24 January 2010). "From happy to nasty: inside the battle for the heart of Jim's". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  9. "The Founder of Jim's Mowing will Make you Smarter and Save the World". www.vice.com. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  10. Moolenschot, Catherine (2019). Jim's book : the surprising story of Jim Penman - Australia's backyard millionaire. Milton, Qld. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7303-6817-5. OCLC 1089126023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. Sonti, Chalpat (20 October 2009). "Turfed out: Jim's Mowing magnate faces the sack". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  12. "Jim Penman delays Jim's Group IPO for "a few years" after failing to find backers - SmartCompany". SmartCompany. 4 July 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  13. zeoz. "Homepage". Jim's Plus. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
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