Nathan Hornby has spent 15 years in franchising and is now head of franchising at Plumbing Bros, one of Australia’s fastest growing trades franchises.
Episode Timeline
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- 0:00 – Welcome and guest introduction (Nathan Hornby)
- 0:27 – What Plumbing Bros does and why it looks for white collar franchise partners
- 1:00 – Why significant top line revenue does not always mean healthy cash flow
- 2:00 – Working with franchise partners weekly to understand when money is actually coming in
- 2:44 – How different payment terms across multiple daily jobs creates cash flow complexity
- 3:41 – Training franchise partners in cash flow from entry level and ongoing weekly reporting
- 4:48 – Weekly cash flow meetings and when Plumbing Bros insists on them
- 5:31 – How to handle bad payers without damaging valuable client relationships
- 6:10 – Weekly cash flow forecasting: non-negotiables, income expected and supplier bills
- 7:15 – How invoicing delays can blow out payment terms from 30 to 90 days
- 8:09 – The three words that drive the Plumbing Bros approach: prioritisation, organisation and delegation
- 9:06 – Building an offshore admin and bookkeeping team to support franchise partners
- 10:24 – The biggest cash flow challenge: is it sales volume or management of existing work?
- 11:07 – Why a diverse payment portfolio is the real solution to cash flow stability
- 11:39 – How Plumbing Bros differentiates itself through proactive cash flow management
- 12:17 – Wrap up “`
Nathan Hornby has spent 15 years in franchising and is now head of franchising at Plumbing Bros, one of Australia’s fastest growing trades franchises. And they do something most people don’t expect. They don’t recruit plumbers. They recruit white collar franchise partners. People who can read a balance sheet, lead a team and actively grow a business in their community.
In this episode of the Franchise Everything Podcast, recorded at the Franchise Industry Awards Forum Day in Brisbane, Nathan breaks down the weekly reporting system implemented by CEO and co-founder James from day one, the three word framework of prioritisation, organisation and delegation, and why a record revenue month can still leave you cash flow negative.
If you run a trades business, manage a franchise network or just want to understand what disciplined cash flow management actually looks like in practice, this one is for you.
