How We Acquired 81 Zip Codes in 3 Years

This week, I sat down with Corrie Morley, who owns and operates Koala Insulation of Denver alongside her husband. Their franchise launched in October 2022 and just hit its three year mark, one of four Koala locations that had opened in the Denver metro area at the time.

Corey came into insulation from an unlikely background, 15 years in hospitality followed by a stint in software sales, with almost no overlap to the trade. She calls the business “his brainchild and my empire,” describing how her husband’s idea turned into the operation she now runs day to day.

We covered why franchising won out over starting from scratch, how the team grew from three people to nearly twenty, and how Corey’s company went from 22 zip codes to 81 through a pair of acquisitions in a single year.

The Key Takeaways

Below are the most essential insights from my conversation with Corey that you can apply to your home services business today.

1. Hospitality Experience Became the Business’s Biggest Differentiator

Corey spent 15 years in hospitality before software sales and then insulation, and she says that background shapes the company more than anything else. Customer service, setting expectations, and going above and beyond became the core of how the business operates, even though the trade itself has little overlap with hospitality.

“Even though it’s not related in any means, it is deep in our culture now with the hospitality piece of it. We actually just revamped our core values and it’s basically like our top one is people first.”

— Corrie Morley

2. Most Homes Are Underinsulated, and That’s the Core of the Business

Koala Insulation started as a residential focused franchise, built on the fact that roughly 90 percent of homes are underinsulated or not insulated well at all. Corey’s location has since added commercial jobs, work with general contractors on custom homes and remodels, and partnerships with pest control and HVAC companies, but existing residential homes remain a major share of the work.

“They say like 90% of homes are under or not insulated well at all. So that was kind of the cornerstone of the franchise when we started, and now we have so many spokes in the wheel to diversify and stay busy all year round.”

— Corrie Morley

3. Local Utility Rebates Turned Into a Big Piece of the Pipeline

One strategy Corey highlights is leaning into local utility rebate programs, since the energy company in her market offers rebates for insulation work in existing homes. Between those rebates, energy efficiency minded pest control and HVAC partners, and general contractor relationships, the business has diversified well beyond a single lane.

4. The Team Went From Three People to Nearly Twenty in About a Year

For the first year and a half, it was Corey and two installers, with Corey running everything outside the installs herself, and occasionally driving the truck and trailer to a job site when someone called in sick. After taking on a large commercial project last August, the company jumped from three employees to over twelve, and now sits at around 10 installers and five office staff, approaching 20 people total.

“I would say at least in this business model, it’s how do you hire a position you don’t know how to do? So we hired really heavy at the beginning not knowing what we didn’t know. And when those folks left, I was like, all right, I’m going to teach myself.”

— Corrie Morley

5. Franchising Gave Them Built In Infrastructure They Didn’t Want to Build Themselves

Corey and her husband bet a 401k that was just sitting idle from his corporate job on the franchise route rather than starting a business from the ground up. She notes that a lot of business owners avoid franchising for the autonomy, but she found Koala’s structure gave them plenty of operating freedom along with the brand recognition and infrastructure that would have taken years to build alone.

“I come from a lot of sales and marketing, and I was like, I don’t want to come up with a brand I don’t like, we don’t even know a market that we would go into, and a lot of that’s kind of already built out for you when it comes to franchising.”

— Corrie Morley

6. Two Acquisitions Nearly Quadrupled Their Territory in a Year

Koala Insulation of Denver was the fourth franchise to launch in the metro area, in October 2022. About a year ago, Corey’s team began talks with a southeast Denver franchise owner who wanted to retire, finalizing that acquisition in January. A separate Denver Central location stopped operating and released its zip codes back into the system, which Corey’s company purchased in May. In roughly a year, that took the business from 22 zip codes and three territories to 81 zip codes.

“This time last year we were about 22 zip codes and three territories, and as we sit today we’re at 81 zip codes.”

— Corrie Morley

7. Empower Brands Taking Over Koala Made a Big Difference for Franchisees

Corey’s franchise actually started with Koala before it was part of Empower Brands. She describes the shift to Empower ownership as hugely beneficial for her as a franchisee, a huge difference from the brand being individually owned, giving her more support without losing the day to day autonomy she values.

Looking Ahead

Corey’s advice for other owners is simple: get your hands dirty and remember why you started. She and her husband made a point of taking the good and leaving behind the bad they’d seen in corporate America and small business alike, building a people first culture around the belief that a franchise isn’t just an investment, it’s hard work that eventually pays off.

“It’s really that people first mentality, a franchise isn’t just an investment. It’s a lot of hard work to see that investment come to fruition, but ultimately it’s reaped its rewards.”

— Corrie Morley