Matt Plaskoff has invested 10 years and $4 million into One Week Bath, and after nearly 1,000 fast-turnaround bathroom remodels in Los Angeles since 2004, he’s ready to roll it out across the country. One Week Bath Kansas City, a joint partnership with Jake Schloegel of Schloegel Design Remodel, will have its grand opening – and the concept’s national debut– on November 1.
One Week Bath [your city here] is an extension of a business model that Plaskoff and his team have tweaked, perfected, and primed for its national roll-out. It’s not a franchise operation, he clarifies, but a business partnership that leverages the model’s operational strengths and buying power, and his business partners’ local reputation and sales and installation skills.
Market Synergy
Remodelers might recognize Plaskoff as founder and owner of Plaskoff Construction, a 21-year-old high-end Los Angeles remodeling company that is well respected within the industry (he won REMODELING’s Big50 award in 1998) as well as by national TV audiences (the company has made several appearances on ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover: Home Edition). Plaskoff Construction is alive and well, but business has slowed since its $10-million-a-year peak, and “we’re being more selective about the projects we take,” he says. One Week Bath focuses on a very different market than his full-service company – middle-market bathrooms, and nothing but bathrooms. Plaskoff hatched the concept in 1999 and began operating it in 2004, with the help of investors including Schloegel. In the time since, One Week Bath has been systematized into an operational machine set up to train (in sales, packaging, production, more) and certify partner companies, as well as leverage bulk-buying capabilities to save on products from sinks to marketing.
“What I’m trying to do nationally is bring three things to the table for a local remodeler,” Plaskoff says:
1) Experience. After five years and nearly 1,000 bathrooms, “we have kind of a knowledge database, so the remodeler doesn’t have to make the same mistakes we spent $4 million to figure out,” he says.
2) The One Week Bath name. “It’s a good hook, with credibility. You become a national brand,” even while preserving your existing brand, if you like, he says. Among other things, the projects have time and price guarantees.
3) Centralized marketing, operations, and buying power. The call center, administrative, purchasing, and other centers are at One Week Bath’s headquarters. Partner companies are essentially “sales, local warehousing, and production units,” Plaskoff says.
How much does it cost? The initial commitment is in the low-six figures, Plaskoff says, adding that there might be financing opportunities under certain circumstances, for small companies lacking the capital.
How big could it get? “I don’t want to put a limit on it,” Plaskoff says, adding that he will be very selective to maintain the brand’s reputation and quality.
Which leads us to Kansas City and Jake Schloegel (Big50 2001), whose very high-end design/build firm has cultivated a different clientele for 29 years than the One Week Bath brand is likely to serve.
Why One Week Bath, after all these years?
“I know Matt Plaskoff, and if there is anyone that can successfully launch an idea like this, it is Matt,” Schloegel says. Calling One Week Bath unique “in the way it is sold and produced,” he expects One Week Bath to comprise at least 33% of his company’s overall business.
To learn more about One Week Bath, contact Matt Plaskoff at [email protected]
See Remodeling’s previous coverage of One Week Bath here.