Burnsville's Hoiland Brothers are Comfortably in the Black

Andy and Doug Hoiland were attending college 14 years ago when a sloppy sealcoating job on their parents’ driveway changed their lives forever.

To say that the brothers weren’t impressed with the sealcoater’s work would be an understatement. Cracks in the driveway were left unfilled, oil spots seeped through the new coat of sealant, and the sealer’s prints were visible on the nearby grass and sidewalk.

The brothers, born and raised in the Twin Cities, soon decided that the careless handyman could use some competition. Today, they are the founders and the co-owners of Burnsville based Jet-Black International, a national franchisor in the asphalt and concrete driveway beautification business.

“We didn’t know there was such a business until we saw ( the sealcoaters) do it,” Doug said. “We went forward with it after researching the business.”

The Hoiland brothers’ research revealed that many “blacktopping companies” only did driveways as a sideline. Some were fly-by-night operators who slapped a homemade sign on an old pickup truck and announced that they were open for business.
“Now you will see a little better competition out there,” Doug said, with a chuckle. “They’ll put vinyl on their trucks.”

With a $15,000 initial investment, the brothers started their business. Their goal was to give a professional image to an industry that seemed to be dominated by all-purpose handymen and do-it-yourselfers.

As with most new businesses, the first few years were a struggle. Andy and Doug began their routine daily at 5:30 a.m., mixing tanks of sealer. By 8 a.m. they were “ a mess,” according to Andy and that was before they even saw their first driveway.

But the brothers perserved and their business grew. Eventually, they designed their own trailer with all the equipment they needed to efficiently do their jobs. With help from an outside manufacturer, the young entrepreneurs also developed their own sealcoating materials in an effort to find “the perfect mix” of additives, water and raw product.
By 1993, Andy, Doug and their crews had more business than they could handle, so the brothers decided to branch out into franchising.

“We were doing about 35 driveways a day and were just getting overwhelmed,” Andy said.

According to Doug, Jet-Black was running four crews at the time and had about 10 employees. “A few of these crew leaders were graduating from college,” he added. “We felt we could give better service by having owner-operators.”

Jet-Black franchisees come from all walks of life, Doug said, and some have little or no blacktopping experience. In exchange for an initial investment of $35,000, including the Franchise fee, they receive equipment, training, operations manuals, software, a territory, access to Jet-Black products, marketing assistance and equipment set-up help. Franchisees also pay a royalty to the company of 8 percent of their gross receipts.
The company now has 70 franchise operators in 20 states and hopes to add another 50 to 100 franchisees next year.

Recognition in two national publications certainly won’t hurt their growth plans. In May, Entrepreneur magazine listed Jet-Black in its ranking of “America’s Top 101 Home-Based Franchises” and Success magazine included the company among the top 200 “best-managed franchise companies” in the United States. Entrepreneur also ranked Jet-Black as No.1 in asphalt-maintenance services for 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Through the years, the company has had more than 100,000 customers. With an eye toward further growth and recognition, Jet-Black is building a training center in Florida that will provide expanded warm weather training for franchise owners. The brothers also are promoting a sealing treatment for concrete driveways, which are common in the south.

Long before the first Jet-Black franchise was established, the Hoiland brothers showed that they were willing to tackle big projects. As teen-agers, Andy and Doug started a drywall business, and a few years later they built a 2,000 square-foot house. They eventually sold the house for profit.

That entrepreneurial spirit apparently runs in the family. The brothers’ parents developed and marketed games to help kids with dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, and their grandfather owned a Restaurant for 30 years.

The Hoiland brothers themselves studied business in college, but before they could finish a more pressing concern intervened. “We got into this more heavily,” Doug said, of the residential driveway business. “School became a sidetrack. We liked the money coming in.”