Business models / Commercial Cleaning Company / Own a franchise

A commercial cleaning company franchise, or your own?

Five franchise brands run a commercial 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 commercial cleaning company: $150k to $2M in sales, and the owner keeps 10% to 25% 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 3% of sales here (the SBA’s usual range for ongoing marketing). 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 commercial cleaning company and each brand, side by side

The independent version

Your own commercial cleaning company

Built and run under your own name

Cost to open
$55k to $155k
Annual sales
$550ktypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$99,000
The owner keeps in a year, after about $17k of marketing
Taking new owners

Coverall

Commercial cleaning

Total investment
$18k to $63k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$16k
Royalty + ad fund
5% of sales
$72k
The owner keeps in a year at $550k in sales (your sales), after $28k to the brand
$28k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Office Pride

Commercial cleaning

Total investment
$71k to $140k
Avg. annual sales
$405k to $665k
Franchise fee
$45k
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.
Taking new owners

Stratus Building Solutions

Commercial cleaning (two-tier)

Total investment
$108k to $350k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$75k
Royalty + ad fund
3% + 1% of sales
$83k
The owner keeps in a year at $550k in sales (your sales), after $22k to the brand
$17k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Jan-Pro

Commercial cleaning (two-tier)

Total investment
$130k to $422k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
4% + 0.5% of sales
$77k
The owner keeps in a year at $550k in sales (your sales), after $25k to the brand
$22k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Anago Cleaning Systems

Commercial cleaning (master franchise)

Total investment
$219k to $339k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$98k
Royalty + ad fund
5% of sales, no ad fund
$72k
The owner keeps in a year at $550k in sales (your sales), after $28k to the brand
$28k less a year than on your own
Free account

See all 5 commercial 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.