Training & Ongoing Support
You don’t need a decade in attics to own an Topside Attic Insulation location. You need the willingness to run a business where the promises are written down before the work starts. We’ve spent nine years building the systems that make that possible, and we hand every franchisee the full set on day one. What follows is the actual structure: where you train, what you learn, who stays on the phone with you after launch, and why the support doesn’t thin out once the truck has your name on the door.
Initial Training
Before you ever quote a job, you spend three weeks at our training facility learning the trade the way we actually perform it. That starts with air sealing: how to find leaks at top plates, can lights, plumbing penetrations, and the dozen other places conditioned air escapes a house. Then insulation: blown-in fiberglass and cellulose, spray foam, batt installation, and the situations where each material earns its place in the price. You’ll run a blower door yourself, set up and tear down containment, and practice the documentation sequence that ends every job with photos and a written record.
The second half of training is the business itself. Our operations team walks you through the quoting software that generates a flat price and written scope before anyone lifts a tool – Haven Standard Clause 1, the non-negotiable. You’ll practice reading a competing estimate for a Free Second Opinion, a service we provide to homeowners and expect you to offer from week one. Hiring, background checks, uniform standards, scheduling, and the 24/7 live-answer phone system all get dedicated blocks of time. By the last day, you’ve quoted a mock job, run a mock blower door test, and filed a mock photo record.
Launch Support
Opening the doors isn’t a ceremonial event; it’s the first week you start answering calls and sending trucks. We help you set up your local marketing before that happens. That means your Google Business Profile, your service area defined by the neighborhoods you’ll actually drive to, and a website that uses the Topside voice: price ranges stated in dollars, documentation described plainly, no urgency theater. Our marketing team reviews your launch plan and hands you the same lead-generation playbook used by existing Topside locations.
Your first ten jobs get field support from a trainer who has completed hundreds of air-sealing and insulation projects. They ride along, watch your quoting, watch your installs, and step in when a rim joist full of crumbled fiberglass needs a frank explanation to the homeowner. That first month is where the standard becomes muscle memory. We stay close.
Ongoing Support
After launch, the support shifts from teaching to reinforcing. Here’s what stays active for as long as you own the location:
- Field coaching and quality audits: Our team reviews photo records and blower-door readings from your jobs and flags anything that doesn’t meet the standard. We’re not grading you for show; we’re protecting the promise that every Topside job leaves documentation behind.
- National marketing and brand campaigns: The Topside name, the 365-Day Done Right Promise, and the written-price guarantee are marketed nationally. Your local leads come to you through that engine, with the brand story already told.
- Vendor relationships and material pricing: We maintain supply relationships with Owens Corning, Johns Manville, Knauf, Rockwool, CertainTeed, Icynene, Demilec, and GreenFiber. You buy through our agreements at prices an independent contractor would struggle to match.
- Technology and software updates: The quoting system, documentation platform, and blower-door reporting tools are maintained centrally. When we improve the system, every location gets the update.
- Peer network and annual training: Franchisees meet regularly to compare notes on pricing, hiring, and local marketing. The annual training session covers new materials, new code requirements, and refinements to the air-sealing sequence.
- Ongoing operations phone line: You call the same support number for a pricing question, a difficult customer, or a crew problem. It’s answered by a person who knows the business, not a ticket system.
You’re Never Alone
The standard is the promise; the support is how we keep it. Call (218) 261-7714 to talk through what ownership looks like, or request the franchise information below. A real person picks up.
Written by Wes Okafor, Owner & Lead Building Envelope Technician, Topside Attic Insulation, setting the standard since 2016.