Jani-King

Jani-King (Commercial cleaning) began in 1969 and has been Franchising since 1974. While working the night shift in a Hotel Jim Cavanaugh saw the continued need for janitorial services.

Etrepreneure.com reports from 2006-2007 Jani-King added 496 new U.S. franchises, 29 Canadian, 31 Foreign, and 3 company owned. With commercial real-estate expecting to grow in 2008 it is predicted that the need for janitorial services will also grow.

Costs:

Startup costs $11k-34k+

Franchise fee: $8.6k-$16.3k+

Ongoing royalty fee: 10%

Term: 20 years, renewable

Operations:

Can be run from home

No absentee ownership

Bonus Building Care

Ok your going to think this is too personal but it’s the reality of business. Jim Cavanaugh (from Jani-King) divorced and his ex-wife Arleen Cavanaugh started Bonus Building Care and you guessed it, it is a janitorial service. This is a prime example of how fruitful the commercial janitorial business is. BBC was started in 1996 and increased its U.S. franchises from 1415 in 2006 to 1774 in 2007 3 of which are owned by the company.

Cost:

Startup: $8k – $13k+

Franchise fee: $6.5k

Ongoing royalty fee: 10%

Term: 20 years, renewable

Renew fee: $2k

Operations:

Can be run from home

Employees needed to run: 1-5

No absentee ownership

Jan-Pro Franchising Int’l. Inc.

Specializing in commercial cleaning began in 1991 and has been franchising since 1992. Founded by Jacques Lapointe Jan-Pro increased its U.S. franchise base from 5066 in 2006 to 6409 in 2007. Canadian franchises when from 305 in 2006 to 609 in 2007. 14 foreign franchises were started in 2007.

Costs:

Startup: $3.3k-$49.9k

Franchise fee: $2.8k-$44k

Ongoing royalty fee: 10%

Term: 10 years, renewable

Qualifications:

New worth: $1k-14k+

Cash liquidity: $1k

Business exp.: management skills

Operations:

Can be run from home

Number of employees: 1

No absentee ownership

Servpro

Servpro (residential and commercial cleaning) began in 1967 and started franchising in 1969. Ted Isaacson began providing homes and business with cleaning and restoration services which includes but not limited to disaster protection, air ducts and HVAC systems. Servpro grew its nationwide franchise base from 1310 in 2006 to 1368 in 2007.

Costs:

Investment: $97k – $154k

Franchise fee: $38k

Ongoing royalty fee: 3-10%

Term: 5 years, renewable

Renewal fee: $250

Qualifications:

Net worth: $100k

Cash Liquidity: $60k

Business exp: General, Marketing skills

Operations:

Can be run from home

Employees needed: 5-10

No absentee ownership allowed

Chem-Dry (carpet, drapery & upholstery cleaning)

Robert Harris founded Chem-Dry in 1977 and started franchising in 1978 using a cleaning solution he created. Chem-Dry has worldwide franchise opportunities. From 2006 – 2007 the company grew its U.S. base from 2547-2679.

Costs:

Startup: $25k-$214k

Franchise fee: $13k-$35k

Ongoing royalty fee: #350/mo.

Renewal fee: $750

Qualifications:

Net worth: $75k

Cash liquidity $4k

Operations:

Can be run from home

Absentee ownership is allowed

ServiceMaster Clean (began 1947, franchising since 1952)

It is said that after a chemical accident left Marion Wade partially blind in 1945 he came up with the idea for a commercial and residential heavy cleaning and disaster restoration company. ServiceMaster Clean is part of a unit of franchises which includes Merry Maids and Terminix. ServicesMaster saw a rise in us franchises from 2978 in 2006 to 3041 in 2007. Canadian franchises grew from 166 to 172 respectively. This company has been around a long time and it is no wonder it has experienced the consistent growth.

Costs:

Investment: $21k – $111k

Franchise fee: $17k-45k

Ongoing royalty fee: 4-10%

Term: 5 years, renewable

Qualifications:

Net worth: $50k-75k

Cash liquidity: $15k-25k

Experience: General business

Operations:

Can be run from home

Number of employees needed: 3

Absentee ownership is not allowed

System4 (commercial cleaning)

Began in 2003 and started franchising right away, based in Brecksville Ohio System4 is a nationwide franchiser with 467 franchisees in 2007 (up from 283 in 2006).

Costs:

Investment $6k – $38k

Franchise fee: $4.4k – $32k

Ongoing royalty: 5%

Term: 20 years, renewable

Qualifications:

Net worth: $10k

Operations:

Can be run from home

Employees needed: 3

Absentee ownership is allowed

Building Stars Inc.

Building Stars Inc. began in 1994 and started franchising in 2000. Based out of St. Louis Missouri BB Inc saw an increase in franchisees of 217 to 225 from 2006 – 2007.

Costs:

Investment: $2.2k

Franchise fee: $1.2k

Ongoing royalty fee: 10%

Term: 5 years, renewable

Qualifications:

Cash liquidity: $1k

Operations:

Can be run from home

Number of employees needed: 5

Absentee ownership is not allowed

There are plenty of businesses that already turn great profits. In order for you to get a slice of the pie you have to be in the kitchen. Home based cleaning franchises will show strong growth in 2008. As always, pick your business carefully and plan your moves for growth and longevity.

For the additional home based franchise opportunities visit ServicesAreUs.com

Your own house cleaning business!

You can start a house cleaning business for well under $100, possibly less. You don’t need a college degree, you don’t need to purchase an expensive franchise, you don’t need to take classes.

All you really need is the desire to offer a much-needed service to your neighbors, one that will bring you a larger-than-working-at-Wal-Mart income, and will also give you a huge sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

You possibly could start your house cleaning business without purchasing any cleaning equipment – you may already have most of what you need in your own cleaning supplies. Or, in the beginning, you could use your customers’ supplies. You may need to charge less for this, but you may find that some homeowners are very particular about what kind of products and tools they want used in their home and would rather have you use their equipment/products than your own.

To find out what rates to charge, call other cleaning services and ask about their prices for different type of homes in your area. You should also call the house cleaning services that have left you advertising fliers on your front door (more about this in a moment). These one-person or family operated services will probably be your primary competition, especially if you’re starting out as a one-person cleaning service yourself. Ask each service what they charge for weekly cleanings, bi-weekly and once-a-month service.

Generally, it’s a good idea to charge by the job, not by the hour. If you charge $80 for a 3-bedroom, 2-bath home every two weeks (a good suggested rate, by the way), you should be able to clean it by yourself in three-four hours. As you gain experience you should be able to clean it in 2-3 hours. But you’d still charge $80 and will thus have given yourself a huge hourly raise ($26.66/hr compared to $20/hr).

As for getting customers for your house cleaning business, the easiest, fastest, least expensive way to is to make up some fliers advertising your service with your phone number. Go to a print shop and have at least 500 printed up. This should cost you less than $50, possibly a lot less. Then walk around the neighborhoods you’d like to service and leave a flyer by each home’s front door. You can probably place those 500 flyers in a day.

Most flyers should bring in a 1-2 percent response, so with 500 flyers you should receive 5 to 10 inquiries about your house cleaning service and our of those you could expect one or two sales. If you clean each home in one day and charge a minimum of $50 for each house, you’ll have made $100 for about six-eight hours of work. Print up some more flyers and walk around some more neighborhoods.

In just a few days you should have several clients. You should ask each of them to refer your house cleaning service to their friends and relatives. Before you know it, you’ll have a dozen or so clients a week and you’ll be bringing in $500 or more each week with your new house cleaning business.

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One bad notion that people starting a business have is that they tend to think wrongly about the business they want to open. This is best exemplified by the cleaning services business. People who want to start this business must think of it as a respected business, starting obviously on your own mind. When you think of it as something big rather than just a small and simple business, the tendency is for you to keep improving your skills on it. Well, at least on how you will manage or handle the business. If you wish to train yourself to the dirty work, it is also a good practice to have a feel of the business.

How to start a cleaning services business will therefore basically depend on you and how you perceive things. And of course, self discipline and work enthusiasm must be one of those.

Learn How To Start A Cleaning Business, Visit Us At StartaACleaningBusiness.org

Franchise requires a certain royalty fee from you every month. Franchise will give you a training program on how to start your business. They will also require your cleaning business to use the same brand of equipment, uniform and including the detergent used in cleaning.

Franchise has a set of rules, guidelines and regulations you must follow. The franchising company and you will have a written agreement about the policies including your payment on franchise and monthly dues.

On the other hand, if you start your own business without franchising, you are able to set your own rules and regulations. You do not need to pay any monthly royalty fees. You can decide what uniforms and which brand of equipment you will use. Whether you buy a franchise or open your own cleaning business by yourself, you must have a vehicle for transportation of equipments for cleaning services.

Starting a business is not easy there are difficulties. You must advertise your cleaning business in local newspaper. You can even tell your friends, relatives about your cleaning service. Make sure your cleaning business gives the best and quality work to your customers. If they are happy and satisfied, they will become your regular customers. There are available training programs online for carpet cleaning. This websites will teach you on how to operate equipments for carpet cleaning and proper cleaning solutions you will use. These websites charge affordable prices for their carpet cleaning kit. This will help you to run your business. There are also books regarding in carpet cleaning, you can buy them on bookstores, malls and online.

Franchise has trademarks, guidelines and policies, which you are obliged to follow. Starting your business with franchise or not, you must have goals to succeed.

Study each sides, look which one can help you gain success. View all the points and weigh things out. If you really want to succeed, you have to study everything, you have to do a little research, do your homework, gain all the details and decide from there if you want to start your own or buy a franchise. Whatever you choose, make sure to provide great service to your clients.

Learn more see: How to start a cleaning service business

Dolson McArt – Author of: Cleaning Business- Start with Franchise
Contributing to EzineArticles.com since March 2007

So, let us look at a step-by step plan to help you succeed in your house cleaning service.

The first thing to find out is how many other house cleaning service firms are in the area. Research these firms to learn how they run their business. How many customers do they have? How many cleaning people? What do they charge? How much do they pay their cleaners? Where do they advertise?

One of the best ways to gather information is, of course, to work for one of these firms. Be careful not to sign a “non compete clause” that forbids you to open a house cleaning service of your own in their area.

Another way is to hire each of the house cleaning firms to clean your house. This will give you an opportunity to ask the owners of the firms about cleaning products they use, their services and rates, employee insurance and bonding, and advertising.

Once you know the house cleaning business is for you, join a trade association. Find out from the cleaning firms which trade associations they belong to. One well-known association is the Global Cleaning Association. The trade association you join should have good member benefits that help you set up your home-based business and support you during the startup.

Look into insurance. It is important to carry $1 million in liability insurance. Because you are working inside a home, be sure to have your cleaners bonded in the unlikely event of arrest and conviction. General liability insurance will not cover this. A bond usually costs $100 to $200 a year.

Find customers for your service. The Yellow Pages can bring you many customers. Your own Website also works well. Place door hangers telling all about your service on doors in the area you want to serve.

Customers like to see credentials. Show them that you are a member of a major trade association, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau. Have at least three references to give them. .

Decide what to charge customers.. It is important to charge a flat rate rather than an hourly rate. Hourly rates run about $25 to $30 for houses but customers will want you to finish as quickly as possible. A flat rate allows you to finish the work at your own pace.

Many people run a house cleaning service as a sideline, in addition to their regular job. They like the way the business runs itself and brings in a nice income. Think about taking advantage of today’s red-hot demand for household help and start a house cleaning service to make money now. You will be glad you did.

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Consider the following facts when trying to decide if a commercial cleaning business is right for you:

* In the next decade, the fastest-growing occupation will be a professional cleaning specialist
* Commercial cleaning franchises account for 10% of the total market in the United States
* Over 30% of cleaning industry customers are office buildings

A commercial cleaning franchise is recession proof and the sky’s the limit when it comes to customers. With a large enough staff and the training provided by your franchise’s corporate office, in a few years you could dominate the market in your area.

Octoclean is a commercial cleaning franchise that has been in business for the past 18 years. Over the last five years, it has experienced a 30% increase in gross, giving it brand-name recognition across the country. This commercial cleaning franchise offers cleaning and maintenance services to businesses of all sizes. It has a relatively low initial cash investment for a commercial cleaning franchise. As an Octoclean franchisee, you’ll get training in running this specific type of business as well as marketing and financial assistance.

1-800 Dry Carpets has been in the industry since 1992 and is an innovator in the world of carpet cleaning. This commercial cleaning franchise allows you to offer a low moisture carpet cleaning system that is organic and less messy than traditional carpet cleaning. Swedry carpet, the system used by 1-800 Dry Carpets, deep cleans without excess moisture which means that your customers can get back to work quickly. One thing that sets apart 1-800 Dry Carpets from competitor commercial cleaning franchises is that the company handles all the telephone calls and appointment setting for you. They believe your time is valuable and you don’t need to spend it on the phone. Instead of worrying about making appointments, you can concentrate on serving your customers.

Workplace Essentials is a commercial cleaning franchise that focuses on one of the most essential parts of any office — the restroom! As a Workplace Essentials franchisee, you can rely on 20 years of experience from the company. You’ll have repeat business from clients for janitorial services on a weekly or biweekly basis. You also have the convenience of a centralized billing system as well as franchisee training. All of these factors make this a smart choice if you’re looking for a commercial cleaning franchise.

Commercial cleaning franchises are here to stay, which makes buying a franchise in this industry a wise investment. If one of these commercial cleaning franchise opportunities looks appealing are you or you’d like to know more about other opportunities, please visit http://www.franchisegenius.com
This article is Copyright 2008 by Franchise Genius LLC.

Most small businesses owners make less than 50k per year and are in the service sector. Service businesses have poor underlying economics and will generate poor returns. However, it could still be a good starting point for someone or be a secondary income source.

Template Creation Is Key

You need to create a template that is reproducible. The template should create intellectual and/or financial barriers for your competition. It’s what separates the goats from the sheep. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it (sheep). I’ve come up with this template for you to follow (goat). You have to think for yourself, trust your own ideas, and execute. A common business for sheep is the franchise. Goats create a lot of leverage by bringing in the sheep.

Microsoft : Intellectual Business With Leverage

The ultimate template. They create something that has a high need in society. Once it is created, it can be reproduced for almost nothing. The cost can be high because nobody can make it themselves.

Leverage : You Need It

Without leverage you don’t stand a chance. Leverage is the single most important factor. You can leverage your money through borrowing and you can leverage people through franchising. There are a lot of other ways to leverage. These are just a few. Highly leveraged businesses are real estate, stock market, software, manufacturing, and media (to name a few). The main point is that after you build up your business it should take little effort to keep it going. Billionaire, Dexter Yaeger, admits he forgot about a huge company he owned for several years.

Intellectual Capacity

Do you know any rich ditch diggers or janitors? It’s an important job in society, but it will never pay well. Every business that pays well uses the power of the mind. Mans greatest asset over other animals is his/her ability to think. Mans greatest asset over other humans is his/her ability to think; as well. To find a good niche to work in, find an industry that has already produced billionaires. Then, analyze where a niche is needed in the market. Pick a small enough niche that you can compete in. Don’t think too big unless you have a lot of cash to fall back on. Most people get too excited and think too big. You think about getting big only after learning how to dominate smaller niches.

Follow People That Are Rich

Billionaires have all made their money from a select few ways. It’s surprising how few of ways their businesses are concentrated. Billionaire businesses are most heavily concentrated in real estate, banking, insurance, investing (stock market related), retailing, manufacturing, computers, media, and leveraged buyouts. There are still a lot of other ways to become a billionaire. For a complete list, go to www.forbes.com

The Wrong Businesses : Commodities and Most Franchises

To help you understand the right businesses, it is useful to look at the wrong businesses. Warren Buffet spent years trying to run a commodity business (Berkshire Hathaway). No matter what he did, he couldn’t make much money. It was an insurance company, Geico, that got him his real start in making a lot of money. Warren states that, “The underlying economics just weren’t good. Even a brilliant manager can’t make a company with bad economics be a great business. Likewise, a poor manager in a company with good underlying economics will look like a genius.” Jack Welch, the C.E.O. of GE stated, “We are all just one stroke away from commodity hell.”

What is a commodity?

A commodity is a business with low barriers to entry. One example, is a cleaning company. You can clean your neighbors house, but so can your neighbor or even your grandma. In Warren Buffets case, his company Berkshire Hathaway produced textiles (clothing). A true commodity can be produced easily by many people. The commodity product will never get a good return because there will always be an excess supply of labor to produce it. People without skills are in abundance. To get an edge on competition, you need to be in a business with intellectual barriers and/or large financial barriers.

Intellectual and Financial Barriers

Find the largest barrier that you think you can overcome that other people can’t. Since most of us aren’t wealthy, it’s more realistic to overcome an intellectual barrier. For example, if you wanted to manufacture hammocks you could pay an artisan to teach you how to do it. After you learn how to build it well, you could start a manufacturing plant. Building a good hammock requires enough skill that most people can’t make a good one on their own.

Intellectual Business With No Leverage

Doctors and lawyers fit into this category. They get paid a lot because of their huge intellectual investment. However, they can’t readily assign people to do their jobs for them. And, since there are only so many hours in a day their work is “capped”.

Check Profit Margins

Finally, check profit margins on products. In many cases, it is virtually impossible because companies hold the information as proprietary. In any case, look for products with high margins. It will be difficult starting out with a low margin product. Find a product that will have a 50% profit margin, or greater.

Franchises

The franchise creator has all the leverage. Most franchise owners don’t make much. I knew of one woman with three Subway franchises who was just making it and waiting for the day the buildings were paid off. There are some good franchise opportunities, but the really good ones require huge capital outlays and don’t come along very often.

Historically, the best franchises have been cleaning companies and restaurants. Both of which, have poor economics. If you pick carefully, you can make a good living, but you’ll never be rich. Most non franchise operators actually do better than franchises because they have less overhead and can more readily adapt to local markets. As a rule of thumb, you are going to need 7-10 locations to do well.

Business Picking Strategy

You will never have all the information you need. Good entrepreneurs try lots of things before they find something that works. Imagine that you have a big basket of apples and lemons. You want the apples, but can’t tell the difference between apples and lemons. How do you find the apples? Take a bite and see. Businesses are the same. You try them out to see. If you quickly pick up apples and quickly throw out lemons you’ll do much better.

Failure Strategy : How Some People Think

Many people try to make the perfect apple. They spend tons of time on a product before knowing if it is a lemon or an apple. Then, if they discover they have a lemon, they stick with it too long because they are too heavily invested.

You best option is to throw out lemons as soon as they are discovered. Try things out with the least amount of capital and time. Once you know you have an apple, invest further.

Stay The Course

Once you know you have an apple, develop policies to keep it sweet and make it work. Don’t deviate from principles you have learned. Companies, in the beginning, need to be really flexible while more mature companies will do better sticking to what they have learned works.

Good Luck In Your Business!

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