The Franchise: Davie, Florida-based Dental Fix Rx provides on-site dental equipment repair for dentists. Established in 2009, Dental Fix has grown to about 115 franchisees in 37 states.
November 2015
After losing two manufacturing engineering jobs within 17 months, Pabelick decides to look into franchising as a career path with the help of FranNet franchise consultant Perry Zukowski.
“I was looking for something that was techy, not food, something where I didn’t have to have an office or storefront. And I didn’t want to have employees.”
Winter 2016
Pabelick travels to the Dental Fix headquarters for a discovery day, obtains an SBA loan to start the business, purchases and outfits a repair vehicle, and attends online and in-person repair training.
“I was in manufacturing for 40 years, so I did everything from machining to sales. You don’t need to have experience doing it, you just have to have the ability to be mechanical.”
April 2016
Dental Fix officially launches in the Milwaukee market from Pabelick’s New Berlin home. By the end of the year, it has grown to more than 100 dentist office customers.
June 2018
After meeting several milestones, Dental Fix Milwaukee is on track to receive a 5-star rating from corporate, which means Pabelick will be able to help train other franchisees in ride-alongs.
“The bigger companies, I think there’s a change coming in the industry. They don’t want to be in the service business, because if their service guys aren’t working, they’re still paying them benefits and salary. I get paid by the job, so…it’s just a better model for the dentists and I don’t have set hours. I’m available 24/7.”
The franchise fee
The Dental Fix franchise fee is $30,000, and Pabelick spent another $15,000 for training and $60,000 for a van, inventory and equipment.
