In this FDD Talk 2017 post, you’ll learn the following:

• Section I – Background information on the Maid Brigade franchise opportunity, including relevant news updates

• Section II – Estimated initial investment for a Maid Brigade franchise, based on Item 7 of the company’s 2017 FDD

• Section III – Initial franchise fee, royalty fee, marketing fee, and other fees for a Maid Brigade franchise, based on Items 5 and 6 of the company’s 2017 FDD

• Section IV – Presentation and analysis of Maid Brigade’s financial performance representations, based on Item 19 of the company’s 2017 FDD, including information on the:

• 2016 average gross sales for the top 54%, next 23%, next 17%, bottom 6%, and all 82 Maid Brigade franchised businesses that were in operation for two calendar years or more as of December 31, 2016 (many of these franchisees have more than one territory, and the figures presented represent total revenues owned by each franchisee)

Section I – Background Information

11 Things You Need to Know About the Maid Brigade Franchise

Names Franchise of the Year

1.  In July, Maid Brigade announced that its Tampa Bay franchise owned by Carrie and Rick Knight was its 2017 Franchise of the Year for all of North America. According to the company, the Knights received the honor for their commitment to their customers, employees, and business, which has seen sales double over the past five years.

2.  The Knights, who have owned their Maid Brigade franchise since 2007, said they were honored to be recognized as the franchise of the year and that the award is a “tribute to [their] entire team of 26 employees, as well as [their] hundreds of loyal customers.”

3.  The Knights were chosen from a pool of about 90 top franchises from across the U.S. and Canada and received the honor at the brand’s annual convention in Atlanta. A Maid Brigade spokesperson said, “Carrie and Rick are driven and enthusiastic business owners who are superb supporters of their community. In addition, they are keenly involved in our franchise system, making significant contributions that make them outstanding Maid Brigade citizens.”

Maid Brigade of Jacksonville Helping Families Affected by Hurricane Irma

4.  In September, after Hurricane Irma hit Jacksonville, Florida and other parts of the state, the demand for cleaning services in North Florida increased. Among the cleaning companies that saw an increase in business was the Jacksonville Maid Brigade owned by J. Archer.

5.  Archer said that her schedule completely blew up and that clients were asking for extra cleaning because they were sheltering family members from other parts of the state. Additionally, several homes of Archer’s regular clients were dirtier than usual due to windows and doors being left open when the power went out.

6.  At the time, Archer said that she expected to stay busy for the weeks following the hurricane and that she and her team were doing their best to help people get their lives back together.

Continuing to Help Women Dealing with Cancer

7.  Maid Brigade is one of several cleaning companies that work with Cleaning for a Reason, a national non-profit that offers free cleaning services to women dealing with cancer. In May, the Maid Brigade of West New York located in Buffalo offered free cleanings to local women battling cancer.

8.  The owner of the franchise, Kathleen Hall, said that working with Cleaning for a Reason was a way to give back to her local community. Hall also said that she shares a personal connection with the women that she helps because she is a three-time cancer survivor. She added, “Our goal is to take one aspect of the chores away from them so they can recuperate and focus on being with their family.”

Company History

9.  Maid Brigade was founded in 1979 by Don Hay and Bart Puett in Atlanta, Georgia. A year after opening the first location, Hay and Puett started franchising Maid Brigade. Hay stayed on as the company’s president and CEO until 2005, with Puett taking over as president since then.

10.  In 2007, Maid Brigade became the first national residential cleaning service to become Green Clean Certified, which entails using cleaning products certified by Green Seal, Inc., a non-profit organization devoted to environmental standard setting. Today, there are over 400 Maid Brigade locations in the U.S., Canada, and Saudi Arabia.

Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500

11.  Maid Brigade has ranked on Entrepreneur’s annual Franchise 500 list every year in the past 10 years. The company’s highest rank was No. 64 in 2007, while its lowest rank was No. 348 in 2017.

Section II – Estimated Costs

• Please click here for detailed estimates of Maid Brigade franchise costs, based on Item 7 of the company’s 2017 FDD.

Section III – Initial Franchise Fee, Royalty Fee, Marketing Fee, and Other Fees

• Please click here for detailed information on Maid Brigade’s initial franchise fee, royalty fee, marketing fee, and other fees, based on Items 5 and 6 of the company’s 2017 FDD.

Section IV – Financial Performance Representations (Item 19, 2017 FDD) and Analysis

Summary Sales Report for Year Ending December 31, 2016

• The table below includes average sales information for all franchised businesses that were in operation for two calendar years or more as of December 31, 2016.

• Many of these franchisees have more than one territory, and the figures set out below represent total revenues owned by each franchisee.

• There is no assurance that you will do as well as any of these franchisees. If you rely on these figures, you must accept the risk of not doing as well. Maid Brigade makes no representation regarding the net earnings of any franchise or that the information shown is indicative of the success of any franchise.

• This chart specifically does not include a franchise’s operating expenses, general and administrative expenses, or other factors that may affect profitability.

• Sales, expenses, and income will vary from franchised business to franchised business and market to market, and Maid Brigade does not represent that Gross Revenues for the franchisees shown herein for the periods indicated will accurately predict the future results for those franchisees or for any potential franchisee.

• These charts include only franchisees that were part of Maid Brigade’s franchise system as of December 31, 2016. Franchisees who were terminated (mutually or unilaterally) or abandoned the system prior to December 31, 2016 are not included.

• If a franchise had multiple owners due to a transfer or sale and the franchise continued uninterrupted, the franchise is represented only once in the charts and its cumulative Gross Revenues are shown.

• Gross Revenue is shown on an annual basis.

• The chart contains no information regarding company-owned businesses.

• Maid Brigade obtained Gross Revenue information from its internal records based on franchisees reporting their Gross Revenues when they made royalty payments to it. Gross Revenue information used to compile this chart has not been audited.

• Other factors besides the number of operating territories of a franchisee may affect a franchisee’s annual Gross Revenues and thus explain why some franchisees have a higher annual Gross Revenue than others. Those factors include:

• (i) the skill and experience of the franchisee;
• (ii) the effort the franchisee devotes to his or her franchised business;
• (iii) the franchisee’s business acumen;
• (iv) whether the operating territory is in a rural versus an urban setting;
• (v) prices charged by the franchisee for products and services;
• (vi) the number of maid teams used by the franchisee;
• (vii) the amount of advertising and promotional expenditures undertaken by the franchisee;
• (viii) general economic conditions; and
• (ix) the growth or shrinkage of the population in the operating territory.

Average Gross Sales