22 Nov 2024After leaving Australia 13 years ago, Troy Hillard has never gone back for a visit. But he will this Christmas as he is expanding his Hamilton-built business back to his hometown Newcastle.
Hillard owns the franchise business The Rite Group which operates brands doing lawn mowing, exterior washing, handyman work and cleaning. Earlier this year, Waikato Times reported on Hillard’s move to help a competitor get back on their feet.
Since beginning WashRite as a one man band in 2015, Hillard had expanded the exterior washing business to 27 locations across New Zealand and is running out of space to expand.
After six years of tossing aroound the overseas expansion idea and a year of preparation, Hillard is only three months away from WashRite’s first job in Australia: cleaning a Bunnings Warehouse.
His first Australian franchisee is a South African who had been living in Auckland for the last five years. The franchisee had been considering moving to Australia because the Auckland rain had been too harsh on him, but was excited to spearhead the expansion.
Moving with the franchisee is a ute built in Hamilton, which will act as a model for future WashRite Utes and trucks that will be built in Australia.
Hillard said in order to move to Australia, the business had to make some adjustments to not only the different tax and legal system, but also the slightly different culture.
First is that Australia is not as small business friendly as New Zealand. It took Hillard six weeks to complete all the legalities and register the company in Australia, a process that takes about four hours in New Zealand.
And Australia “is just a lot more brutal when it comes to business transactions,” he said.
