Jim's Group

What kind of company is Jim's Group?

Jim's Group is Australia's largest franchising company, licensing more than 50 service brands to over 5,000 independent franchisees across home services and trades.

Is Jim's Group a public company?

No. Jim's Group is privately held and controlled by founder Jim Penman, with no outside shareholders or stock listing.

Who owns Jim's Group?

Founder Jim Penman controls the company. He started the business in 1982 and remains its central ownership and leadership figure.

How many franchises does Jim's Group have?

The group operates more than 52 divisions with over 5,000 franchisees across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK, generating approximately $500 million in system-wide turnover.

Where is Jim's Group headquartered?

Jim's Group is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, where its national call handling, training, and support infrastructure is based.

What happened with Jim's Plumbing?

The plumbing brand was licensed to an independent operator until September 2023, when Jim's Group terminated the arrangement over service standards and relaunched it as a standard franchise division.

Jim Penman started a part-time gardening round in 1982 while studying for a doctorate at La Trobe University, investing $24 to launch a full-time mowing business. He initially took on subcontractors and gradually specialized in building and selling mowing rounds.

Franchising began in 1989, and Jim's Mowing grew into the largest lawn mowing franchise in Australia and the best-known mowing operation in the world. The playbook, sell territories to owner-operators, feed them centrally generated leads, and support them with branding and systems, proved repeatable far beyond lawns.

Jim's Cleaning launched in 1994, and more than 50 divisions followed across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK: fencing, dog washing, test and tag, antenna installation, bookkeeping, building inspections, and trade services among them.

A notable recent episode was the Jim's Plumbing division. For a period ending August 2023, the plumbing brand was licensed to a large independent operator employing staff rather than using franchisees. Jim's Group terminated that license over conduct it deemed inconsistent with brand standards, apologized publicly, and relaunched Jim's Plumbing in September 2023 as a standard franchise division.

By 2026 the group reports more than 5,000 franchisees, 52-plus divisions, and continued expansion of both new divisions and international master franchises.

The most documented internal controversy was the Jim's Plumbing licensee issue resolved in September 2023, when the group terminated an independent operator's license over conduct it considered below brand standards and publicly apologized to affected customers.

Jim Penman himself is a frequent public commentator on franchise regulation and industrial relations policy in Australia, occasionally drawing political controversy, but no significant regulatory enforcement against the group's operations is on record as of November 2026.