Ten franchise brands run a home cleaning business. 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 home cleaning business: $150k to $1M in sales, and the owner keeps 20% to 35% 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 7.5% 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 home cleaning business and each brand, side by side
The independent version
Your own home cleaning business
Built and run under your own name
Cost to open
$14k to $56k
Annual sales
$390ktypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$109,200
The owner keeps in a year, after about $29k of marketing
Taking new owners
MaidThis
Residential cleaning
Total investment
$68k to $80k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$43k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$86k
The owner keeps in a year at $390k in sales (your sales), after $31k to the brand
$23k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
Two Maids
Residential cleaning
Total investment
$93k to $150k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$60k
Royalty + ad fund
5% to 6% + 2% of sales
$86k to $90k
The owner keeps in a year at $390k in sales (your sales), after $27k to $31k to the brand
$20k to $23k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
MaidPro
Residential cleaning
Total investment
$110k to $159k
Avg. annual sales
$375k to $466k
Franchise fee
$45k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$93k
The owner keeps in a year at $421k in sales (what it reports), after $34k to the brand
$17k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
Home Clean Heroes
Residential cleaning
Total investment
$113k to $196k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$86k
The owner keeps in a year at $390k in sales (your sales), after $31k to the brand
$23k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
The Maids
Residential cleaning
Total investment
$118k to $141k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$60k
Royalty + ad fund
3.9% to 6.9% + 2% of sales
$82k to $94k
The owner keeps in a year at $390k in sales (your sales), after $23k to $35k to the brand
$15k to $27k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
The Cleaning Authority
Residential cleaning
Total investment
$119k to $163k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$15k
Royalty + ad fund
4% to 6% + 1% of sales
$86k to $94k
The owner keeps in a year at $390k in sales (your sales), after $20k to $27k to the brand
$16k to $23k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
Maid Brigade
Residential cleaning
Total investment
$121k to $136k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
3.5% to 6.9% + 2% of sales
$82k to $96k
The owner keeps in a year at $390k in sales (your sales), after $21k to $35k to the brand
$14k to $27k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
Merry Maids
Residential cleaning
Total investment
$127k to $166k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$55k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 1.3% of sales
$82k
The owner keeps in a year at $390k in sales (your sales), after $32k to the brand
$27k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
Molly Maid
Residential cleaning
Total investment
$140k to $197k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$15k
Royalty + ad fund
3% to 6.5% + 2% of sales
$84k to $98k
The owner keeps in a year at $390k in sales (your sales), after $20k to $33k to the brand
$12k to $25k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners
Maid Right
Residential cleaning
Total investment
$147k to $219k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$65k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$86k
The owner keeps in a year at $390k in sales (your sales), after $31k to the brand
$23k less a year than on your own
Free account
See all 10 home cleaning business 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