National Water Surveying

Founded: 2001 Franchising since: 2002

When Christine and Ervin Kraemer's domestic well went dry, the couple spent nearly a year researching how they could locate groundwater before drilling a new well. They founded NorthWest Aquifer in 2001 based on the technology they discovered for that purpose. The company started franchising the next year.

Franchisees use electro-seismic technology to locate and map groundwater for a range of clients, including home owners, developers, engineering firms, and utilities suppliers

411 S. Pearl St. Centralia, Washington 98531

Phone: (800)980-7429/ (360)388-6035

Franchisor has 7 employee(s); 3 employee(s) in franchise department.

Franchise Growth

Year	U.S. Franchises	Canadian Franchises	Foreign Franchises	Company Owned
2007	20	1	1	1
2006	25	1	1	2
2005	27	1	0	1

Where Seeking Franchisees
In the U.S. Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North carolina, North dakota, New hampshire, New jersey, New mexico, Nevada, New york, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode island, South carolina, South dakota, Tennessee, Texas, United states, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West virginia, Wyoming

Total investment: $95K-110K Franchise fee: $40K

Ongoing royalty fee: 6-10% Term of agreement: 10 years, renewable

Type of Financing Available

	In-House	Third Party
Franchise Fee	No	Yes
Startup Costs	No	Yes
Equipment	No	Yes
Inventory	No	Yes
Accounts Receivable	No	Yes
Payroll	No	Yes

Qualifications
Net worth requirement: $35K
Business Experience:

• Excellent credit

Operations

• Franchise can be run from home
• Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 1
• Absentee ownership of franchise is NOT allowed. (100% of current franchisees are owner/operators)

Training

• Available at headquarters: 2 weeks
• Continued corporate support

Ongoing Support

• Newsletter
• Meetings
• Toll-free phone line
• Grand opening
• Internet
• Security/safety procedures
• Field operations/evaluations
• Purchasing cooperatives

Marketing Support

• Co-op advertising
• Ad slicks
• National media

Other marketing support

• Print & radio materials

Franchise 500® rank:
#470 (2006); #478 (2005);

Top New Ranking:
#44 (2006);