Sarasota home services firm blossoms nationwide

SARASOTA — Direct Energy Services, one of the largest home services firms in North America, has added more than a dozen new franchise territories to its portfolio.

The expansion, according to a release, includes new locations for Benjamin Franklin Plumbing in South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas; new locations for Mister Sparky in New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island; and new locations for One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning in Panama City, New Jersey and Ohio.

“We've had successful contractors and entrepreneurs joining our brands and many of our existing franchise owners are expanding their businesses,” Direct Energy Services Franchise President Mark Baker says in the release. “(The year) 2015 is already off to a great start and we expect to continue to grow, especially in new cities where we will be new to the market.”

Direct Energy Services is a unit of Houston-based Direct Energy, which had $11.4 billion in 2013 revenues and has customers in 46 states and 10 Canadian provinces. Direct Energy Services' Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, Mister Sparky and One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning lines are ranked near the top of Entrepreneur magazine's 2015 Franchise 500 list, the release states. The magazine looks at several factors, including financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of the franchise system.