[Paul Evans]

Hi fellers,

Firstly, I had a couple of years off from window cleaning in the late 90's and bought a franchise cleaning out deep fryers in commercial kitchens.  Don't ask me why - I must have been having a (late) mid life crisis

It was a total mistake - after three years I walked away from it and came back to window cleaning......

BUT..........I learned a lot about how franchises work.  I also read Jim Penman's book (Jim is the mastemind behind Jim's Mowing - a world wide franchise with about three thousand franchisees all mowing grass )

Then I took about three years just to think about everything I wanted to achieve, and made notes of every idea that occurred to me.  Eventually I had enough ideas to formulate a plan, and my franchise business was born.

Got to go now - the dog wants a walk.

If you can think of any questions, feel free to ask.

??    http://www.jimpenmanthetruth2.com/

[Ian Lancaster]

Well, there you go :

I've not seen anything about this before, but just because Jim Penman seems to have slipped into the brown sticky stuff, doesn't mean his original concept is no longer viable.

Maybe the whole world wide set-up became uncontrollable, I don't know, but in my own modest version, I can assure you the business model works, and works extremely well.

I've recently appointed franchisee no. 6, with a guaranteed starting turnover of £200 per week.  In his second week he turned over £690 :

In my adverts I say 'we keep our promises' - I rest my case.

My Master Franchisee is also living up to expectations, his first (sub) franchisee now has a customer base in excess of £1,000/week and (sub) franchisee no. 2 is joining us late this week

[mattywig]

I love your ideas Ian and am glad they are working for you, Its great when a plan works!  Im interested that M Henderson admires your plan as I always have admired what he did renting the rounds, however Im confident that your right and that franchising is the way to go, my 2 franchisees are working brilliantly for me although im not interested in a solicitor, I have little faith in written agreements I prefer Greg Normans style.  He's never celebrated contracts I agree I prefer a good mans word and a handshake  Not employing scumbags or doleys is the key I feel. Im finding married blokes with kids in their 30s have been my 2 success story's so far...

[suds window service]

ian you mention that if your franchisee,s were to quit they could sell up.
  do they then sell it private for as much cash as they can get or do you dictate the price it would sell for and give the franchisee there original stake back?

[richard jagger]

I have read most of Ian’s post with interest and find a few things which people seem to miss. You need to build a sound business with a good image in the public eye. With tried and tested system before you can franchises it. If you just want money for jam and don’t wants to work for it, you do not have anything to franchise. Ian has become many a vital link in the chain all his franchises business and gives and contributes lot to there businesses.He plays a important roll with which they could not do without.

[Ian101]

bump ...

[bobplum]

bump ...

grass hopper,you did not find window cleaning.......it found you

[trevor perry]

well done ian your system sounds good and to make 20% without the agro of employing is brilliant, my question is do you not find that when you first sell the franchise and they are getting work you provide then they are very happy to part with 20% but does their attitude not change when they feel they are finding their own work and you are then taking 20% from this, also you mention that you provide the work do you employ a canvasser to find the jobs.

[Ian101]

bump ...

grass hopper,you did not find window cleaning.......it found you

so true Bob 

[PAUL ERITH]

Is it true that the franchisee pays a 20% royalty on all work done  

This can't be right after tax, Time spent doing admin, chasing depts, van costs ect they will be working for near to the average wage.

What i believe to be the biggest cleaning franchise in the world only has a  8-6% fee http://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/fishwindowcleaningservicesinc/282348-0.html#

Paul

[dave0123]

Is it true that the franchisee pays a 20% royalty on all work done   

What i believe to be the biggest cleaning franchise in the world on has a  8-6% fee http://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/fishwindowcleaningservicesinc/282348-0.html#

This can't be right after tax, Time spent doing admin, chasing depts, van costs ect they will be working for near to the average wage.

Paul

Depends on your prices 

[David Kent @ KentKleen]

Ian provides all there work hence 20%. They never have too find any work themselves.

The 20% is a business expense so will be de-ducted along with other expenses from turnover then they will pay there tax on the remainder.

 
   

[Perfect Windows]

Is it true that the franchisee pays a 20% royalty on all work done  

This can't be right after tax, Time spent doing admin, chasing depts, van costs ect they will be working for near to the average wage.

What i believe to be the biggest cleaning franchise in the world only has a  8-6% fee http://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/fishwindowcleaningservicesinc/282348-0.html#

Paul

As stated above, depends on your prices.

Also, places that charge lower percentages often insist, for example, that you buy all your equipment and supplies through them.

Finally, most franchises set you up in business then you're on your own.  So, imagine you're set up with kit, van, uniform, etc, then on Monday morning you have to find customer number one.  Not quite the same as what's being offered here.

Vin

[Dani J]

Ian how do you go about making sure they declare everything do you get your loyalties??

I use a certain amount of discretion and common sense.  In my agreement it says that I am entitled to my royalties on everything the franchisee turns over.  In practice I only insist on my cut of the regular repeat jobs that I provide (or that the franchisee acquires in the course of running his business as these are also my jobs as stated in the agreement) .  If a customer was to ask a franchisee to (for instance) clean the gutter/soffit/fascia as a 'one off' then I have no objection to them doing that, and pocketing the money without telling me PROVIDING THAT they still complete the work I provide.  If I were to quote for that sort of work and pass it on to the franchisee then I expect my royalties.

As to doing 'foreigners' on a regular basis - everyone tries it on at least once but sooner or later I find out - the customer will contact us as our number is the one on all the vans and paperwork, so if a 'foreign' customer wanted to contact the franchisee for any reason, they would call us first.  We then find out that franchisee 'A' has been doing a job for X number of months without it appearing on their list.

Whoops

A gentle reminder of what would happen if I were to terminate their agreement usually results in (surprise surprise) several 'new' jobs being declared over the next couple of weeks

I just love it 
Well done ian 

[roundbuilder]

I never thought of it like that.. On top of paying out for the franchise you have the added 20% each month royalty so in theory working nearly a week a month for nothing. It would take ages before you start to earn profit after paying for the franchise and the royalty fee. Its no suprise why so few succeed with window cleaning franchises. I only know of ian lancaster who has mastered it.
If the franchise costs 10k, and the round is say £500 a week thats £4800 every year royalty on top of paying 10k or what ever the franchise cost is. After expencies in the first year you would be lucky to break even surely??.

[dave0123]

what else would the franchise need to buy?

everything is provided advertising etc payment methods etc.. he would just have to maintain his van.

I belive all the people who are using ian's sytem seem to be working good. the other franchise's out there for window cleaning that u spend 15k 20k on and then start with no customers.. to me thats a rip off!! and even then you will still pay a weekly or monthly royalty % of turnover maybe not 20%

[Dani J]

I never thought of it like that.. On top of paying out for the franchise you have the added 20% each month royalty so in theory working nearly a week a month for nothing. It would take ages before you start to earn profit after paying for the franchise and the royalty fee. Its no suprise why so few succeed with window cleaning franchises. I only know of ian lancaster who has mastered it.
If the franchise costs 10k, and the round is say £500 a week thats £4800 every year royalty on top of paying 10k or what ever the franchise cost is. After expencies in the first year you would be lucky to break even surely??.

That’s the way you look at it, if you or any one want to start any business, it will take at least 5 years before you can see some benefit, I know this because I have has 3 different business prior window cleaning.
In other hand, with ian Lancaster franchisee you have a ready made business and you can start making good money from day one, and its up to the franchisee to make a progress at it too.
If franchisee was such a bad idea, there wouldn’t be so many of them about these days, just look at a few who are opening 2-3 new shops every day, even in this climate.

[davids3511]

I

Is it true that the franchisee pays a 20% royalty on all work done  

This can't be right after tax, Time spent doing admin, chasing depts, van costs ect they will be working for near to the average wage.

What i believe to be the biggest cleaning franchise in the world only has a  8-6% fee http://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/fishwindowcleaningservicesinc/282348-0.html#

Paul

You've only posted one half the picture. You forgot the 30k to 50k initial fee with the example you posted which is far more than any under the Ian Lancaster system.

[davids3511]

I never thought of it like that.. On top of paying out for the franchise you have the added 20% each month royalty so in theory working nearly a week a month for nothing. It would take ages before you start to earn profit after paying for the franchise and the royalty fee. Its no suprise why so few succeed with window cleaning franchises. I only know of ian lancaster who has mastered it.
If the franchise costs 10k, and the round is say £500 a week thats £4800 every year royalty on top of paying 10k or what ever the franchise cost is. After expencies in the first year you would be lucky to break even surely??.

I can see my value to my franchisee easily. After 1 year trading I had about 20k of work (yearly value). Last night I did an income forecast for my franchisee and after 15 months he has 45k. How many sole traders, starting from scratch, could amass that much work in 15 months? How many have that after 5 years even?

[Dani J]

I never thought of it like that.. On top of paying out for the franchise you have the added 20% each month royalty so in theory working nearly a week a month for nothing. It would take ages before you start to earn profit after paying for the franchise and the royalty fee. Its no suprise why so few succeed with window cleaning franchises. I only know of ian lancaster who has mastered it.
If the franchise costs 10k, and the round is say £500 a week thats £4800 every year royalty on top of paying 10k or what ever the franchise cost is. After expencies in the first year you would be lucky to break even surely??.

I can see my value to my franchisee easily. After 1 year trading I had about 20k of work (yearly value). Last night I did an income forecast for my franchisee and after 15 months he has 45k. How many sole traders, starting from scratch, could amass that much work in 15 months? How many have that after 5 years even?

 well said.