A commercial cleaning franchise is one of the most popular and affordable options for those who want to start their own business. I can think of several reasons why many commercial cleaning franchises place near the top of every franchise list year after year. The low total investment required, recession-resistant nature of the industry, proven business model, and healthy number of strong franchise companies that are thriving have made the commercial cleaning franchise a true stand-out among many franchise options.
In Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2011 rankings of the top franchise companies, 7 commercial cleaning franchises ranked in the Top 10 of Low-Cost Franchises. 6 commercial cleaning franchises made it to the Top 10 of Homebased Franchises. And 7 commercial cleaning franchises placed in the Top 10 of Fastest Growing Franchises. And in the main list of the Top 500 Franchises, commercial cleaning companies took 6 places out of the Top 50.
One of the major players in this space is Jan-Pro Cleaning Systems (#11 in the Top 500 list, #2 in both the Fastest Growing and Low-Cost Franchises List, and #3 in the Top Homebased Franchises list).
I really like the business model of Jan-Pro because it offers 2 options to prospective franchisees, depending on their goals, skills, and financial ability to invest. These 2 options are the master franchise and the unit franchise.
1. Jan-Pro Master Franchise
Someone who desires an executive level position and job function should seriously consider being a Jan-Pro master franchisee.
A master franchisee acts as the regional franchisor within a given territory, meaning he or she sells franchises and supports the unit franchisees through ongoing training and other support functions that a franchisor would normally provide.
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A Jan-Pro master franchisee also secures the commercial cleaning contracts that the unit franchisees will service, provides customer support to corporate clients, bills the client, collects payment, and disburses the appropriate amounts to the unit franchisees.
The Jan-Pro master franchisee establishes an office that is open during regular business hours and puts together a staff that will support both commercial clients and unit franchisees.
The Jan-Pro master franchisee has several income sources. Being the regional franchisor within his territory, he is entitled to the franchise fees and royalties from the unit franchisees. He also has a share in the commercial cleaning contracts, net of what is due to the unit franchisees.
This is one of my favorite franchise opportunities because the revenue potential is virtually unlimited, given the huge market for the service in every city. In addition, the business model allows for low overhead expenses because the office space does not have to be in a fancy office building, and the number of support staff can be increased gradually as the business grows.
To become a Jan-Pro master franchisee, one must have executive and/or sales management experience, liquid assets from $90,000 to $200,000 (depending on financing and the size of the metropolitan area), and must reside in or be willing to move to an available territory.
2. Jan-Pro Unit Franchise
The Jan-Pro unit franchisee is the business owner who performs (or hires other workers to perform) the cleaning function. The unit franchisee does not have to worry about personally securing cleaning contracts with large companies, and the associated paperwork that comes with billing and collecting payments from the customer. The main responsibility of the unit franchisee is to provide the commercial client with the best possible cleaning service.
Because of the decentralized organizational structure, a prospective unit franchisee of Jan-Pro must conduct careful due diligence on the master franchisee responsible for his territory because the success or failure of the unit franchisee is highly correlated with the ability of the master franchisee to establish and maintain good relationships with commercial clients.
If I were a prospective Jan-Pro unit franchisee, I’d spend a lot of time getting to know the master franchisee and his staff to assess their ability to secure and retain corporate clients, because that will be the lifeblood of my business. I’d talk to other unit franchisees in the territory to ask them about their experience and satisfaction with the master franchisee. I’d also inquire about the rate of turnover of corporate clients because a high churn rate suggests there is dissatisfaction with the company and/or the service.
The Jan-Pro unit franchisee undergoes 5 weeks of training where he or she learns everything needed to operate the franchise successfully, including all cleaning systems and customer relations training.
The following video was produced by Franchise Direct.
The total initial investment for a Jan-Pro franchise ranges from $3,145 (for a unit franchise) to $50,405 (for a master franchise, depending on the size of the territory). The franchise fee ranges from $2,800 to $44,000, again depending on the type of franchise and size of the territory. The ongoing royalty fee is 10% of gross sales. I am currently working on several exclusive interviews with representatives of Jan-Pro and their franchisees. Please check back soon to read the inside scoop on Jan-Pro from people with first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to be part of one of the leading names in the commercial cleaning franchise industry.
To read my review of Vanguard Cleaning Systems, click here.
Ambrosio,
I read your review of Jan-Pro Cleaning Systems. I have seen some negative reviews that suggest the unit franchises are not financially successful because the Master Franchisee retains a good deal of the operating margins. What have you heard? Thank you.
Hi Kirk,
Thank you for your comment and question. To be honest, I don’t have any deep industry knowledge or experience in the area of commercial cleaning, but I did reach out to two contacts on the franchisor side (one from Jan-Pro) to request for their comments. Hopefully, I’ll hear back from them soon so I can share their insights with you.
Having said that, if the reviews consistently echo the same concerns, I’d take notice and would definitely press the franchise rep on this issue. Since we don’t have any reason to believe that the reviewers have a hidden agenda, the comments of current franchisees carry a lot of weight.
By just looking at the business model, however, if the Master Franchisee is the one responsible for getting clients, then he or she is justified in taking a decent cut off the revenues. It’s just like having a dedicated sales person who is responsible for signing new customers — and it’s a given that the best salespeople receive very generous commissions.
This is one industry where a resourceful individual, who doesn’t minding doing both the sales and cleaning functions, can have a decent chance at success by taking the independent route. It doesn’t take a lot of money or expertise to get started. There are books on this very subject, one of which I recommend as an affiliate.
Thank you so much for supporting my blog. Please check back soon. If I hear back from my 2 contacts, I will devote a separate blog post to this very question.
Best regards,
Ambrosio
As a JanPro Franchise owner nearing ou contracts end, unless you want to give up 40% of your pay and you do all of the NASTY, DIRTY work, I would not advise invisting in this FRANCHISE. My husband and I invested hoping that it would be a better opportunity for us and after 15 months of upgrade fees and forever royalty fees and any other fee they can come up with to charge you for to make money, WE ARE FEED UP!!!! They tell you, that you are your own boss/business owner, yet they treat you like an employee, they lie just to get your money. STAY AWAY
Show up and clean, make a relationship with the people you clean and everything will be fine. I have seen the negative experinces that some people have had and that is crazy. Some customers look for the low bid price and if another company comes in and offers a lower price they will make up an excuse to get rid of you and the only thing you can do is move on. This business is all about the price they customer doesnt care about how much work is needed to be done for the price they want to pay. My business has been good for the 5 years i have been with Jan Pro. If you dont show up, clean what is suppose to be cleaned when you are scheduled to then the customer has every right to kick you out. If you are looking for fast money then Jan Pro isnt the place for you you have better chance playing the lottery. TAke small accounts they add up better and you pay them off faster. Some people see the big amount and kump all over the 5-7 days a week cleaning then it becomes to much when you cant take a day off “Greed”. Just remember Big accounts means full weeks of cleaning Small accounts mean 1-3 times a week cleaning with minimum cleaning. I’m trying to catch up with the people making $125K a year in CEntral NJ Jan Pro. The workers are great and the owner is understanding just very nice people all around. Sorry for you that have had bad experinces but dont ruin it for people that are willing to actually do the work that you probaly didnt show up to get. You dont hear the complaints the customers make about your cleaning, because thats the only way you loose accounts is if the customer doesnt like your service so to save the account you have to come out. Its buisness and you have to put in the work to be successful they arent going to keep giving you buisness to mess up their reputation. Before i forget they also filled my package and i am currently still growing. 🙂
So nice to hear from a happy franchisee for a change! It’s very motivating to hear from someone who is making it work. All the best to you!
Best regards,
Ambrosio