House Cleaning franchise vs going solo

A house cleaning franchise sells a known name, a hiring and training system and a call center or marketing machine. Going solo means one person, a caddy and a phone, then a team as the route fills.

Franchise figures are from each brand's listing in Entrepreneur's franchise directory, which summarizes the brand's Franchise Disclosure Document, and match the franchisor's own franchise page where it states them. Where a fee is a range, the disclosure document sets which end applies to you. Koira's figures are from koira.ai/pricing.

The up-front fee is paid once. The share of sales is paid on every job for the length of the agreement, before you pay yourself. Here is the arithmetic on an example year of $250,000 in sales, using the low end of each published rate:

Molly Maid's tech fee is $155 a month; The Maids's tech fee is 0.25% of sales. Card processing is left out of the franchise rows because the summaries do not set it; you would pay a processor either way. On Koira's Office plan, Koira keeps 2% of card payments on top of Stripe's processing, and nothing on cash or check.

The example sales figure is an example, not a promise of what either path earns. Use the calculator above with your own numbers.

Molly Maid has been franchising since 1979 and asks for $60,000 in cash and a $250,000 net worth. The Maids has franchised since 1981 and asks for $79,900 in cash. For that, a franchise sells a known name, a written system, training and a territory.

A cleaning franchise fits an owner who wants to manage teams from day one and has the capital to carry a slow first year. It fits less well if you want to clean yourself and keep every dollar of a small, tight route.

Most solo cleaners start with their own supplies, a good vacuum and a handful of recurring customers from friends, neighbors and a Google Business Profile. The work is the easy part to learn. The hard parts are keeping the schedule full, hiring the first helper you trust in someone's home, and getting paid on time.

The start-up list is short: see the cleaning tools list. Insurance and a janitorial bond come next; see insurance for cleaning businesses.

Koira's free Office plan covers the office side a franchise system would: a website that books jobs, estimates with signing and deposits, invoices and card payments and your day plan. Paid plans add the phone and crew tools.

Federal rules require the franchisor to give you its disclosure document at least 14 calendar days before you sign or pay. Read the fee items and any sales claims with their footnotes, and call former house cleaning owners. Our handyman franchise guide walks through the document item by item.