[Fintan_Coll]

You have covered most of it there Ian.
Fintan

[DP]

You just forgot one thing.

Someone else to do it !!!!! it realy is a filthy job  

[Ian Gourlay]

I forgot smart well motivated staff in uniform at £5.00 and hour.
Who have signed a confidentiallity contract, and unable to work for any other cleaning company for a period of 6 months on leaving.

Two P reg Escort Vans in good conition at £1500  each.

Probably Red (Ex GPO.)

Good Insurance Broker.

[des]

Hi catherine
We used to clean ovens at mister clean but after seeing  ovenu we gave  all are work to him  .After he has finised they look like new , and you can not get them like that with the products that you can get in the shop .Its the heater in the back of the van that does the work .but the down side  is the smell .I do not think it is good for you   des at mister clean 07971840492 :-/

[brian@cov]

Martin thanks for your posts am finding them helpful.....

B

[The Great One]

Hi Brian

Sent you an email!

I now send all my Ovens over to another cleaning company, they seem to think 'm bonkers for giving them work, but I have come to hate ovens over the years.

OvenU in my area are booked 6-8 weeks in advance. This is due to repeat customers booked at the time of the first clean.

This is an oven I did last year...

[CHARLEY B]

There was someone selling an oven cleaning set up on ebay under oven cleaning equipment at the week end don't know if it's sold or not.
charley.b.

[keith b]

To get the ovens as clean as the guys like "ovenu"

You will need to have a LPG heated (stainless steel) tank mounted in your van - (just contact a local engineering company).

You just renew the door seals when putting everything back!

The chemicals used are - "carbon-off" (don`t use on aluminium) for removing the burnt-on stuff and "catersan" degreaser for the tank, although there are other makes!

Its also a good idea to have a wet & dry vacuum cleaner handy for the spills and mopping up!

[mxg]

My memory is not what it used to be but ......

I seem to remember a similar thread on here about oven cleaning & franchises but the bit that I think is of most interest / relevance was that there was somebody who could provide a complete setup ie all the equipment and training etc for a one off fee.

So if you are interested I would do a fairly comprehensive trawl of the archives

And apologies to whoever "the guy" is that I can't remember your contact details etc

Mick

[creweexcel]

dont buy franchise,  i had ovenu one , you pay money up front, and after training you are on your own. i clean ovens indepedantly . still kept alot of my custys.

[J. Deans]

Franchises can be expensive. But they can also be useful for those completely new to the game. Firstly, you will be operating under a sometimes well known brand. They can act as a go-between for you and your clients. Many will sort out your advertising and flyers etc. Some of them even supply a booking service through their own head office, a dedicated website just for your area and even sort out the billing and payment side of things. It depends how much you want them to do for you and how much you want to pay. If you use one that acts like an agency, they will only take payments from you as you earn it (after start-up fees)  The downside is you might as well be working for someone else on an hourly rate, without all the self-employment hassle that goes with running your own business.

All the best with whichever way you decide to go...

[paul macca]

Most of the big oven cleaning franchises cost in the region of 12k and that does not include the van which is about another 10k, then add to this the annual percentage of turnover you have to pay them , lets say 5k ,also you have to buy all your cleaning materials from them at an inflated price to what you could buy on the open market.
So round that lot up and you get a total of 27 k +
I own an oven cleaning business which my brother in law runs for me and He charges £35 for a standard double oven.Our customers are quoted £60 for same type of oven from the franchised companies they ring for quotes.

On a lighter note I see this thread was started 4 years ago in November 2003 is this a record ? 

Regards
Big Paul from the toon

[keith b]

Personally I would not go down the franchise route of any business unless its a high profile brand name with proven audited accounts and is researched properly.

To me £35 for a large oven clean is a little cheap, to do this job properly will take 2 or 3 hours, I think £50 to £60 is about right, but I guess it depends where you are in the country!

If you are dealing with large corporations, then it may be worthwhile hiring the services of a company to chase unpaid bills!
A telephone answering service can cost around £35 to £65 a month, depending on what you want, you can also offer to clean household cooker extractor fans and replace filters for extra income!

You can buy a decent little (second hand) starter van for around £3000, (something like a "Dihatsu") then probably another £2500 for a heated tank, chemicals/spares/wet & dry vac/sudries etc along with advertising costs to begin with should not amount to more than £8 to 10K in total.

You will also have think about fitting fire proof boarding in your van!

Your best bet with getting work is by offering your service to other cleaning companies who can`t or don`t want to take on the work!

[Mike_Boxall]

If you do your homework and only go with an established franchisor where you can identify other franchisees and ring them at random, then there are many significant benefits of buying a franchise. The biggest advantage is that more franchisees succeed than sole traders but you have to check them out thoroughly beforehand.

Regards

Mike

[Atlantic Cleaning]

I am sorry but I have to comment on this. With respect Mike I totaly disagree with you. Being an ex franchisee I feel I am qualified to comment. I was ripped off from the beginning, I was told when I tried to sell "We will never loose money its a win win situation for us (The Franchisor)". I lost everything, my money, my house everything, because I thought buying into a franchise was safe, in reality its not all they want is your money and thats that. This is a fact 'I lost more business due to my franchisor messing around than to my competators'.

Since walking away from my franchise all I have heard from people who have been involved in franchising is horror stories.

I am sure there are a few that will do what they say but I feel most wont.

My advice to anyone who is thinking of going down that route is DONT. If you want to throw your money away, give it to me I will happily take it off your hands  . It is not only your initial stake you loose, I worked for 2 years only able to pay myself a minimal wage because they took all the profits. I paid £25000 for the fanchise, in reality in money terms I lost more like £75000+ in that time (not including my house etc)

If you want to set up a business then research on your own, you will find every thing you need to know by attending courses, talking to suppliers, and surfing the web. you will save thousands and thousands of pounds..

Can someone give my a hand off this soap box now my rant is over 

[Paul_Ashworth]

If you are looking to purchase an oven cleaning tank with Gas bottle, cleaning solution, advice and a manual on how to do it. I have one for sale at offers over £150.00 (Based N.W England)

[clifford123]

i'd say that's   bargain paul....just got £175's business over the phone this evening 

dave ovenking

[DREAM CLEAN]

Hi Paul,

Do you still have the tank for sale?


Nick

[tommy99]

I trained through a company called Ovenmaster Shropshire.   Much cheaper than a franchise but you are comitted to buying chemicals from them as long as you're trading as an oven cleaner.  You're also restricted to an area of your choice (as long as it's not already taken).  They give 2 days training and advise to practice on family and friends' ovens.  They supply all materials for a month and diptank for around £2500.