Kitchen makeover franchisees Elaine and Mike Hurley (pictured), who operate from a showroom in Abingdon, had achieved orders worth just over £936,000 by the end of November last year.
But, admits Mike, they weren’t sure they’d bring in enough sales to hit the million pound mark in December, traditionally the quietest time of the year.
REMARKABLE YEAR
“It had already been a remarkable year,” he explains.
“By the summer we’d set ourselves a target of £900,000, which was £100,000 more than the previous year. And we hit that with one month spare.
“Of course, we wanted to clear a million pounds but, with £65,000 needed in December, it didn’t look likely.
“In the end we took £78,000 of orders before Christmas - including three very big kitchens - and another couple of facelifts later in December to finish the year on £1,021,000.”
Like most Dream Doors franchisees, Elaine and Mike didn’t have any kitchen industry experience before opening their business in September 2009.
Since then they have sold more than £3 million of kitchen makeovers - and that includes six months of working from home.
KITCHEN SPECIALIST
Dream Doors specialises in kitchen makeovers, but sells everything required to fit out a full kitchen as well.
Most customers choose replacement doors, new worktops and a sink and taps, saving at least half the cost of a comparable kitchen.
What’s more, the work can be professionally installed in just a couple of days.
The company has franchise opportunities for sale throughout the UK.