Residential Cleaning Franchises Leave Others in the Dust

Part II

by Patricia Schaefer

The occupation of "Maids and housekeeping cleaners" is listed in the Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS)'s Table of "Occupations with the largest job growth, 2004 -14." BLS projects that during this period the occupation will grow in number by 11.6 percent.

The residential cleaning industry has indeed experienced robust growth in recent years. Cleaning franchises nationwide have been only too happy to meet the rising demand for their services. Experts speculate that the increase of two-earner households coupled with the decrease of leisure time has contributed significantly to this demand. More and more, Americans are leaving their housecleaning to the professionals; cleaning franchises like Merry Maids, The Maids Home Services and The Cleaning Authority.

In Part I of this two-part series, Franchise Trade interviewed residential housecleaning giant Merry Maids, the most recognizable name in the industry. Don Slifer, Vice President of Market Development for Merry Maids, shared among other things the reasons behind their amazing success. In Part II, we offer a spotlight on two other successful home cleaning franchises; each with their own unique brand of cleaning and each with a pride in the services they have to offer.

The Maids Home Services

"Nobody Outcleans the Maids"

The Maids International , Inc. was founded in 1979 by Daniel J. Bishop, a self-made entrepreneur and success before the age of 21 with Bishop Building Services, a janitorial company. Bishop started The Maids Home Services after researching the cleaning process and determining though time and motion studies that the most efficient way to clean is in teams. This lay the foundation of The Maids' practice of four-member cleaning teams. Franchising began in 1981. In 1995, this cleaning franchise started cleaning "for health" with the use of it environmentally-preferable cleaning products and state-of-the-art backpack vacuum.

Sandy Friedman, Vice President of Franchise Development for The Maids International, recently shared the reason for their success: "With over 26 years of successful franchising, The Maids Home Services has perfected a system that delivers the highest quality clean in the industry. We have outstanding franchisees who are profitable. As a result of this, The Maids Home Services has been recognized as the fastest growing residential cleaning franchise for the past three years, according to nationally recognized and respected Entrepreneur magazine."

What The Maids most prides itself on, says Friedman, is its unique cleaning service: "because we specialize in cleaning for health and we offer a wealth of additional home services." Additional services include carpet maintenance, window washing, move-in/move-out cleans, same day service, and special projects to fit customers' needs.

"Some distinguishing factors about The Maids' services," noted Friedman, "is our 22-Step Health Touch Deep Cleaning System, which features environmentally preferable products, a backpack vacuum with HEPA filtrations, and a strategic, methodic cleaning approach, which insures The Maids Home Services 'out cleans' the competition. Our use of four-member cleaning teams provides an efficient, quality clean backed with a 100% satisfaction guarantee."

The Maids Home Services franchise presently has 166 franchisees that cover over 950 territories, with seven franchises in Canada and five company stores. Enjoying a history of rapid growth, they plan to have "many new owners in upcoming years."

Friedman says The Maids has several excellent available markets throughout the US and Canada. They are interested in attracting prospective franchisees "that want to work on the business, not in the business, and are interested in building cash flow and a growth equity. Our typical franchisee is someone who has come out of the corporate world, has college education and is desirous of controlling their own destiny."

Friedman cited the following as some of the reasons why The Maids Home Services would make a good franchise choice:

• A cash business -- you are paid before service is performed
• Regular work hours -- no nights, weekends or holidays
• Outstanding marketing
• Outstanding training
• Continuous and ongoing support
• A service business that does not require a large initial capital investment

The Cleaning Authority

"Life's too short to clean your own house"

The Cleaning Authority was founded in 1977. In 1989, Steve Robinson and Tim Evankovich purchased the company due to its outstanding reputation for quality and the demand for residential cleaning services. The new owners among other things developed their unique Package Plan Rotation System, which lays out exactly what The Cleaning Authority's cleaners will do on each clean. In 1996, the owners decided that franchising would be the next step to successful expansion into new markets throughout the US.

Today, The Cleaning Authority's mission is to become the predominant residential cleaning service provided in the US by 2010 (in terms of number of homes cleaned). They intend to do this through "ambitious, sophisticated customer acquisition, and an absolute commitment to quality and customer service."

Customers of The Cleaning Authority enjoy the unique features of its Package Plan Rotation System. This cleaning service begins a customer's cleaning by getting their home "detail clean" on the first two cleans. After these cleans, certain cleaning services are provided at every visit, and other services are provided on a rotating basis; i.e., the outside of kitchen range hoods are cleaned on every visit, while the inside of range hoods are cleaned on a rotating basis. This is done in order to provide optimal cleaning detail and value to the customer.

Franchise Development representative Iric Wexler says The Cleaning Authority attributes it success to effectively matching their systems and infrastructure with savvy, ambitious franchisees, and to focusing that combination on "delivering the highest quality cleaning service and the highest quality customer service (overall professionalism), consistently exceeding our customer's experience with other service providers and exceeding their expectations."

Wexler touted The Cleaning Authority's professionalism and proprietary management software as two key elements that set it apart from other residential cleaning franchises. They particularly pride themselves, says Wexler, on providing consistent and valued cleaning to their customers, and to providing "that same high level of systems -- marketing, training, support, and cutting-edge technology -- as a service to our franchisees."

Their franchisees apparently agree: They gave The Cleaning Authority "Very Good" ratings in all five major franchisee satisfaction categories in Franchise Business Review's 2006 Franchisee Satisfaction Survey. Voted as one of the franchised companies with the highest levels of franchise owner satisfaction, The Cleaning Authority was ranked and awarded an impressive #19 in this year's Franchise 50 finalists.

Sharing some of the things that their franchisees find most appealing about The Cleaning Authority's franchise system, Wexler cited these: "customer acquisition, computer systems, and support infrastructure."

The Cleaning Authority presently has 186 franchises in the U.S.; one being company owned. They are seeking to continue their growth by adding only franchisees who are the right fit for their organization -- franchisees that possess "ambition, fortitude, proper capitalization, and being system oriented and entrepreneurial (sometimes a tricky balance)."

Wexler also noted some of this residential cleaning franchise's features that they believe make it a good franchise choice:

• The lifestyle component (hours of operation) when the foundation is laid properly; i.e., not having to work nights or weekends
• No receivables to speak of (with most customers paying at time of service)
• The ROI [Return on Investment] is incredibly strong

Copyright 2006, Attard Communications, Inc.