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Portuguese-based Renovations Expert Melom Arrives in Spain

23 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Melom has started work in Spain. The renovation franchise network, founded in Portugal, has arrived in Madrid with the aim of invoicing up to €50 million in five years. Having launched its business in the Madrilenian market in March, the company already has ten franchises and hopes to grow that figure to fifty by the end of the year. “We have come here to transform the renovation sector”, says José Luis Carrone (pictured below), Director General of the company in the country.

The director, who has extensive experience in the sector, explains that “there is complete dispersion and intrusiveness in this market: we want to integrate all parts of a construction project, as well as to introduce a technological element”. With this idea, Carrona is going to start talking “from September onwards” with investors, at home and overseas, and with insurance companies, with the aim of weaving agreements for collaboration and exclusivity. “Right now in Spain, there are companies buying buildings as investments, to resell or lease, and, clearly, they are a target for us”, revealed the company’s CEO.

The idea is to replicate the model that Melom has built in Portugal where it exclusively performs all of the renovation and facilities work offered in the stores of the DIY giant Leroy Merlin and it collaborates with the network of real estate agencies ReMax. Not in vain, one of Carrone’s partners in Spain and co-founder of the group in Portugal is Manuel Álvarez, President of ReMax in Portugal. Melom’s third associate in Spain is Joao Carvalho.

National expansion in 2019

Through small and medium-sized companies in the renovation and construction sector, Melom aspires to gain ground in Madrid. “The city has an economic strength equivalent to almost the whole of Portugal in this market, and so the opportunities for growth could multiply if we do things well”, said Carrone.

The director, who has been working with investors to renovate buildings in Madrid and Barcelona since 2016, comes from the industrial construction sector where he worked on large oil and gas refineries.

“What I have done in recent years is get to know the market, to see what is needed and that is how Melom appeared on my radar”, said Carrone, who highlights “that the issues of managing the orders that are entrusted to us and the post-sales service that is provided to clients are some of the features that we want to boost in the country”.

For this reason, “although the first objective is to grow in Madrid”, the businessman is already looking with interest at other regions in Spain. “We already have important orders from other communities, but we will not begin to expand the network until next year”, says the executive. One of the first places that Melom will get started is Cataluña, although the company is also interested in other smaller areas of the country. “In the Canary Islands, for example, local players have expressed interest”, reveals Carrone. With expansion into other regions, the company forecasts a turnover of €3.5 million and 90 franchises in the portfolio, which will increase to 200 by 2022.

What is clear, according to the director, is that Spain is “at the perfect moment for this market, given that investors are revaluing the real estate sector, which was in ruins” (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake