Hire A Hubby Auckland owner swaps film work for maintenance

A former film and advertising professional is building a property maintenance business in Auckland through Hire A Hubby, combining hands-on repairs with the coordination of larger projects. Rowan Webb’s experience offers a view of franchise ownership beyond the tools, including customer relationships, scheduling and managing subcontractors.

From creative work to business ownership

Webb bought the Hire A Hubby Kohimarama-St Heliers franchise just over a year before his story appeared in a sponsored NZ Herald feature on 22 October 2026. Originally from Australia, he has lived in New Zealand since 2010.

His previous career included television advertising direction, film editing, advertising, consumer finance and leasing. According to the feature, the demands of his creative career prompted him to seek the control and freedom of owning a business.

The opportunity emerged when his wife, Paula, spotted the franchise advertised for sale. Webb was attracted by the brand’s recognition and reputation, but also spent time getting to know the operation before buying.

That included time with support-office staff and people working in the field, meeting clients and developing a feel for the work. His account highlights a practical part of assessing a franchise: understanding what the owner actually does, rather than relying solely on the brand or the advertised opportunity.

Maintenance work alongside larger projects

Webb operates without employees, but that does not mean every job is a solo undertaking. At the time of the feature, his largest current assignment was a two-month project managing a complete re-roof, including seven skylights, on a 100-year-old villa in St Heliers.

For that job, he was coordinating subcontractors and tradespeople, managing both the team and the schedule. Project management is one of the aspects of ownership he particularly enjoys.

Alongside those larger assignments, property maintenance forms the core of his business. Webb described work ranging from decks and fences to plaster work, rot repairs, leaks and gardening.

“I do everything from the letterbox to the back yard,” he said in the sponsored feature.

The account describes smaller repairs and maintenance jobs as a source of recurring revenue that can also lead to bigger projects. For Webb, the business therefore combines direct service delivery with organising other people’s work.

His experience also provides context for his view that an owner need not arrive as a qualified tradesperson: his current operation includes coordinating tradespeople rather than personally undertaking every part of a project.

Support behind the local operation

The sponsored feature sets out a support package for Hire A Hubby franchisees that includes a business equipment pack, training and a dedicated business adviser.

It also describes a cloud-based system for quoting, invoicing and job management, an exclusive territory with customer leads, and health and safety protocols. Franchisees have access to a network of more than 40 owners, with an annual conference and regional meetings.

These arrangements place Webb’s local business within a wider franchise community while he continues to operate without employees. The administrative systems cover the progression from preparing a quote to managing a job and issuing an invoice.

Webb currently runs what the brand calls a Foundation business. His stated ambition is to grow, drawing inspiration from other owners within the network.

The feature identifies Craig Burrowes as a former corporate worker who built a multi-territory operation over about a decade. It also describes Avi Deo as an Enterprise owner with multiple staff who moved up from a single owner-operated Foundation business after a couple of years.

Reading the financial figures carefully

The feature reported advertised franchise prices ranging from $63,000 to $137,000, with opportunities listed in locations from Dunedin to Devonport.

It also cited Hire A Hubby’s gross-sales benchmark for Foundation businesses of $17,500 a month, subject to the type of work, and said some Foundation owners exceeded $30,000 a month. Those figures were presented in promotional content and were not identified as Webb’s own results.

Gross sales should not be read as profit or an owner’s take-home income. Prospective buyers should examine the costs and obligations attached to an individual business rather than treating a network benchmark as a personal earnings forecast.

Practical takeaway: Follow the operational detail as closely as the asking price. Spend time with owners, understand the balance between hands-on work and project management, and obtain independent financial and legal advice before committing.