[ascjim]

Domestic window cleaning round only. Monthly income £5000.00, can be done in 20 days.

Add-ons like gutter and pressure washing will come back to us and won't be done by the franchisee.

25% Royalty costs. This includes marketing and handling and processing phone calls. Plus Cleaner Planner.

When we quote our gutter cleaning jobs, we include a regular window cleaning price, which goes back to the franchisee (effectively free quoting).

With no van. But will offer the van fully kitted out and kit at a arranged additional cost.

Any ball park figures?

[mike1986]

10k?

[Mick Kent]

12-15k
Thats a decent franchise earning someone 52k a year after paying you your royalty.

[Perfect Windows]

It's very much up to you.  If you can wait you can set a higher price.  If you need someone soon you need to set the price lower.

However, as a general point, I'd say that if you're charging 25%, which I'd consider to be rather ambitious, you may want to set the price of the franchise lower.  You'll then have more people interested and be able to pick and choose the right person.  Additionally, a lower franchise fee keeps you honest; there's no incentive to start someone because of the money you'll make initially, so you focus much more on getting someone who'll keep the 25% rolling in (your long-term profit depends upon this so you want as little disruption as possible).

Our franchise fee was (within a couple of hundred quid) the cost of the equipment our guys started out with.

Whatever you do, be choosy.

Vin

[Smurf]

You could possibly split that to £2500 per franchisee and take on 2 instead of one

[sunshine windows]

You could possibly split that to £2500 per franchisee and take on 2 instead of one

This is what I would do james. No point in putting a newbie under pressure

[Tom-01]

Why would they not be able to do any gutter cleans or pressure cleaning?

Surely they will look at that and think 'Why can't I earn extra money? It will help my cash flow. It will be something different to just window cleaning day in day out. Am I part of the same business or not?'

I also think splitting it into two would be better.

[ascjim]

I was hoping that one of my guys will take it on. That will leave me with 3 and I'll just keep them busy with Gutter, pressure and render cleaning and make the same money for less work.

You could possibly split that to £2500 per franchisee and take on 2 instead of one

I like this idea, definitely will be an option. Maybe I could split areas covered into postcodes.

Why would they not be able to do any gutter cleans or pressure cleaning?

Surely they will look at that and think 'Why can't I earn extra money? It will help my cash flow. It will be something different to just window cleaning day in day out. Am I part of the same business or not?'

I also think splitting it into two would be better.

They will be part of the business, just the domestic window cleaning side. The main business will take care of all gutter cleaning and add-ons, and we will pass all window cleaning over to the franchisees.

We do a lot of window and gutter cleans and 80% of the time the customer sets up a regular window clean, this will go straight to the franchisees, without them quoting or doing the first clean.

I've also had another idea. I am out all day quoting , maybe I could quote all there work (hoping to up sell) so they won't have to worry about it. All they have to do is clean. All work will be coming in from our site and our 15,000 leaflets a month that go out.

Any thoughts?

[Smurf]

Tricky one that as when the franchisees twig and if they are smart they will do very quickly that they can potentially earn more for less offering other services as well but are not allowed under the franchise contract then I don't think they will be very happy do you?

It just human nature for individuals to want to earn as much as they can in the shortest possible time and window cleaning as you soon twigged is not great compared to the profitability of others cleaning services.

[Perfect Windows]

I was hoping that one of my guys will take it on. That will leave me with 3 and I'll just keep them busy with Gutter, pressure and render cleaning and make the same money for less work.

If you put yourself in the franchisee's shoes I suspect you might realise that this wouldn't lead to long term happiness.

Vin

[ascjim]

I was hoping that one of my guys will take it on. That will leave me with 3 and I'll just keep them busy with Gutter, pressure and render cleaning and make the same money for less work.

If you put yourself in the franchisee's shoes I suspect you might realise that this wouldn't lead to long term happiness.

Vin

Yeah your properly right when you put it like that, but then they would need to invest in a gutter vac also.

If they also can clear out gutters, then they will be our competition, and I don't want that.

I would franchise the gutters out as well, but then the franchisee would need to employ as there is so much of it. 

I would be moving on from gutters anyway at some point.

Maybe I should just sell the round.

[ascjim]

Or, I could promote one of my guys to Window Cleaning Manager or something like that? Pay them a cut from the profits?

They deal with organising and planning the work, chasing payments and dealing with window cleaning calls (from our call centre) and we will do the rest?

[Perfect Windows]

It might be an idea to sit down for a morning, work out what you want to happen then write down all the ways you can make it happen and the likely effects of all of those.  None of us know anything about your business so we can't really advise you.  In my experience once it's all written down the answer tends to be obvious.

Vin

[robert mitchell]

Just my opinion and I'm no expert but I think 25% is too much to ask for them to be happy long term .

Also , you should be quoting all the work you give them to save them that hassle .

For the franchisee to want to pay the royalty you need to make there life as simple as possible .

Just my thoughts .

[ascjim]

It might be an idea to sit down for a morning, work out what you want to happen then write down all the ways you can make it happen and the likely effects of all of those.  None of us know anything about your business so we can't really advise you.  In my experience once it's all written down the answer tends to be obvious.

Vin

Ideally I would like franchise it. But after everyone's comments that it may cause problems later on with them not allowed to do add-ons, as then they will be competing with us.

Eventually I will franchise the whole lot, maybe I should wait until I'm ready and get rid of the whole lot instead.

Looking after the window cleaning round has become a chore. 80% of my problems come from 20% of the work and having to do the window cleaning round is reducing our possible profit margin.

I think the only safe way atm is to offer a promotion to one of the guys. They will be employed and use all our equipment, fuel, insurances, call centre, etc. They will look after the rounds, organise, chase payments, book in jobs as they see fit. They can have any time off they want (as long as the work is getting done) and they will just concentrate on their part of the business and won't be asked to work with the other side.

Obviously, I'll still pay them their 28 days holiday, but if they want a morning off, they don't have to ask me (something like this anyway).

It gets the window cleaning out the way so I can concentrate on what i want.

Maybe 50/50 would be ok? The gu who currently does the work is on £9.00 ph, this will jump up to £16.00 ph.

[Tom-01]

Just my opinion and I'm no expert but I think 25% is too much to ask for them to be happy long term .

Also , you should be quoting all the work you give them to save them that hassle .

For the franchisee to want to pay the royalty you need to make there life as simple as possible .

Just my thoughts .

Whilst I do agree to a certain extent, how come other franchise businesses don't?

For example a customer of mine brought a cleaning company franchise, yes you could argue that its a well known name but the margins he 'makes' and the amount of competition out there is insane.. And he has to get all his own customers and build it from scratch.. So I'm just wondering why it has to be different for a window cleaning franchise?

Tom

[Dave Willis]

Surely the idea is to Franchise the lot or not franchise at all? Can't see how you can franchise and employ at the same time, nightmare.

[robert mitchell]

Just my opinion and I'm no expert but I think 25% is too much to ask for them to be happy long term .

Also , you should be quoting all the work you give them to save them that hassle .

For the franchisee to want to pay the royalty you need to make there life as simple as possible .

Just my thoughts .

Whilst I do agree to a certain extent, how come other franchise businesses don't?

For example a customer of mine brought a cleaning company franchise, yes you could argue that its a well known name but the margins he 'makes' and the amount of competition out there is insane.. And he has to get all his own customers and build it from scratch.. So I'm just wondering why it has to be different for a window cleaning franchise?

Tom

You have already answered it in your reply , they are a well known company .

most franchises trade on a name that is very well known , advertised on tv/radio etc .......how many window cleaning companies have that?

[ascjim]

Surely the idea is to Franchise the lot or not franchise at all? Can't see how you can franchise and employ at the same time, nightmare.

Your right there mate!

[*Hector*]

Ideally I would like franchise it. But after everyone's comments that it may cause problems later on with them not allowed to do add-ons, as then they will be competing with us.

But will they be competing with you??

If they do the work.. You don't have to, but you still get 25% of the job due to your franchise fee...

If you don't let them do the add ons maybe a real competitor will get the job and you will not make anything at all... Surely 25% is better than nowt?

then  there will be incentive for you to quote more varied jobs without getting your own hands dirty, the franchisee will be getting more varied work, and more money, so will be more inclined to be happy, and work harder....