[kazzie]

Can anyone tell me anything about Ecocleen?

I know that they are a franchise operation and....yes I know that the general (not wanting to tar you all with the same brush) consensus is that franchising is a mug's game.... but they look appealing??!!

Kazzie

[Timmy Boy]

Kazzie
I personally do not think that there is any advantage to signing up to franchise unless they are going to get you the work.
1, You have no creative licence on where you want your business to go
2, You still have to get the work (the hard bit) and use their stationary which costs you money.
3, Are you tied to consumables with them?
4, If ecoclean birmingham do a bad job for someone they do not think that ecoclean birmingham did a bad job, they think ecoclean do bad jobs (if you see what I mean??!) - In other words you will be tarred with the same brush.

There are lots of negatives in my opinion but it is only my opinion. I am just a  guy who has quoted work & rubbed his hands if I am quoting against a franchise!!
Best regards
Tim

[CMS]

I used to be a Director of a Franchise Company before I had my own cleaning company.

I would never advise anybody to go down the franchise route.

Enough said!

[D woods]

Hi Kazzie
There used to be a cleaning company called Ecoclean who sold the contracts
to the cleaners (like Global do) I think they was selling franchises.This was about 8 years ago so I dont know if it is the same company

[DP]

I know quite a bit about them and think I still have their prospectus and contract. I met with them 2 years ago with a view to buying a franchise and even went round their sites viewing the ones I would take over.

Like all franchises it was the contract that stopped me in the end. Oddly I sat round the board room table with the Father and Son and another director and pointed out that the contract implied their annual income would be more then 48% of my GROSS turnover after franchise purchase, to which they advised that I was completely mistaken.

Within moments of that statement, the financial director joined us , at which point the question was asked again. To everyone’s surprise (expecting a simple explanation) he just looked at his notes for a moment, then looked up and said "Yup that’s about right".

Proclaiming to hold a 3 year national contract with TK MAX they were offering to sell me 3 locations (worth in total about £72k a year) at approx £3k each contract purchase plus another £2k each equipment purchase plus 25% gross worth for the first year reducing on 2nd & 3rd year. Should these contracts fail after the first year based on National performance, then there was No compensation.

In short it meant that I required a substantial capital over and above the Franchise purchase and would not earn a penny in the first year thereby using my money to finance their income. This is really the basis of all franchises.

Not sure what you have been offered, but the proposals to me were anything but appealing!

Regards
DP