Four franchise brands run a carpet cleaning company. Here they are beside the independent version of the same business, with each brand’s fees as it publishes them and worked out in dollars. A brand can bring customers an independent has to earn one by one. The question is whether it brings in more than it costs.
Typical for a carpet cleaning company: $100k to $1M in sales, and the owner keeps 25% to 45% after paying for its own marketing. Change either to your own numbers.
Work each brand out at
How the two sides are counted
Sales. A brand’s name brings customers an independent wins one at a time, so each brand is worked out at the sales it reports where we have them, and at yours where we don’t.
Marketing. On your own you pay for all of it, about 10% of sales here. The ad fund does part of that job, so it is counted once, not twice.
Survival. New franchised businesses were about 5 to 6 points more likely to make it through their first two years in Census data, and about half of all new businesses close within five years. It is not in the dollars; each brand’s details give the sources.
Your own carpet cleaning company and each brand, side by side
The independent version
Your own carpet cleaning company
Built and run under your own name
Cost to open
$77k to $345k
Annual sales
$320ktypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$112,000
The owner keeps in a year, after about $32k of marketing
Taking new owners
Heaven's Best Carpet Cleaning
Carpet and upholstery cleaning
Total investment
$42k to $85k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$42k
Royalty + ad fund
In the details
$108k
The owner keeps in a year at $320k in sales (your sales), after $4k to the brand
$4k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning
Carpet cleaning
Total investment
$52k to $74k
Avg. annual sales
$113k to $162k
Franchise fee
$48k
Royalty + ad fund
In the details
$43k
The owner keeps in a year at $138k in sales (what it reports), after $10k to the brand
$69k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
Chem-Dry
Carpet and upholstery cleaning
Total investment
$92k to $250k
Avg. annual sales
$100k to $120k
Franchise fee
$36k
Royalty + ad fund
4% to 7% + 3% of sales
$31k to $34k
The owner keeps in a year at $110k in sales (what it reports), after $8k to $11k to the brand
$78k to $81k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
Stanley Steemer
Carpet, upholstery and floor cleaning
Total investment
$139k to $410k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$20k
Royalty + ad fund
In the details
The fee is not a simple share of sales, so it is not worked out in dollars. The details show it as the brand words it.
Free account
See all 4 carpet cleaning company brands side by side
Every brand’s investment and fees, and what the owner keeps against running your own
The yearly sales the first 3 report, and a plus to add brands to your comparison and benchmark them in your account
Members see the sales every franchisor reports, for every brand
Free, no card. A new account accepts the Terms and the Privacy Policy. smbnest is a self-assessment tool and never takes a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor.
Before you sign: what to read in the disclosure document
Every franchisor must give you its Franchise Disclosure Document at least 14 days before you sign or pay. These are the parts that answer the questions above.
Items 5 to 7, the fees and the investment. The franchise fee, every other fee (technology, training, transfer, renewal), and the full opening budget, including working capital.
Item 19, what owners earn. Whether the brand states owner sales or earnings at all, and for which units. Put its figures in the boxes above in place of the typical ones.
Item 20, units opened, closed and sold. How many owners left in each of the last three years, and a list of current and former owners you can call.
Item 12, the territory. Whether you get a protected area, and what the brand can open or sell inside it.
Item 21, the franchisor’s own finances. Whether the company behind the brand is in good health.
smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice. Fees are as each brand publishes them on its franchising page and in its disclosure document, reviewed in the month shown, and change; the figures in dollars are worked out at the sales you enter and are not a forecast. We never take a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor. Before you sign, speak with a franchise attorney and a qualified financial adviser, and call owners from the disclosure document.
Your guidesmbnest
The guide is an automated assistant. Answers come from this business’s model, its sources and your plan; they are general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Talk to a person