Cleaning services are a popular low-cost franchise opportunity. You may have heard of residential cleaning franchises like Merry Maids, but there’s actually many different types including commercial cleaning, disaster restoration, carpet cleaning and other specialty services.

Did you know? If you have more than $50,000 in your retirement account you can use this money to start or buy a franchise without paying early withdrawal penalties. Click here to learn more about ROBS or speak with a professional at Guidant.

Visit Guidant

Research Franchise Opportunities By Cost, Location and Industry: Here

Here we give you the top 25 cleaning franchises of all types, based on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 rankings. So who’s the best cleaning franchise?

Residential Cleaning Franchises

This is the type of business most people think of when they hear cleaning service – those that clean houses, apartments and other residences. Merry Maids is the most popular, with 1,823 locations and MaidPro is the least expensive, with initial investments as low as $45.9k.

For Maid Brigade, The Maids and Molly Maids you’ll have to expect to do some recruiting. Each of these franchises expect 10 or more employees to be hired at each location (14 for Molly Maids and 20 for The Maids.) MaidPro, on the other hand, does not have a minimum requirement. Nor does Merry Maids that I could find.

Another key way these franchises differ is in the length of the franchise agreement, or the amount of time that needs to pass before you can sell your cleaning franchise or go independent. Merry Maids is the shortest with a 5 year contract while The Maids is the longest with a term period of 20 years. The rest are in between at 10 years.

Commercial Cleaning Franchises

Though they may not be as well known as residential cleaning companies, commercial cleaning is a lot more common, with 10 franchises making it onto our list. These businesses specialize in cleaning offices, retail spaces, banks, hospitals, schools and other commercial properties. They differ from residential cleaning businesses in 2 key ways:

1. Cleaning often occurs at night when businesses are closed. So you’ll need to be prepared to work some late shifts and/or recruit some night owls.
2. These businesses are A LOT cheaper than residential cleaning franchises. With minimum investments as low as $2.2k (for Buildingstars) and most below $10k, they’re well under the $80k to $150k initial investment you need for residential cleaning. This is because of the different business model used by commercial cleaning companies, which involves long term contracts with a smaller number of clients.

All of these Franchises can be run from home and they don’t require more than a few additional employees (Janitize asks for the most with 4 employees.) Contract length varies from 5 years (Buildingstars) to 20 years (Janitize, Coverall, CleanNet USA,) with the rest falling in between.

Disaster Restoration Franchises

Next up are the businesses which handle heavy-duty messes: Flood, fire, mold, storm damage and more. This includes both cleanup and repairs, although Paul Davis Restoration has more of an emphasis on construction. Many of these businesses operate 24/7, so you or an employee will probably be on call overnight – especially during storms and other major weather events.

At least two of these businesses can be run from home (Rainbow Itn’l and Paul Davis Emergency Services) and these same two businesses can function without any additional employees. The rest can all run with under 5 employees, except for Servpro, which requires 5 to 10 employees. All of them require a 5 year franchise agreement, except for Rainbow International, which requires a 10 year contract and Restoration 1, which requires a 20 year contract.

Specialty Cleaning Franchises

Topping off our list are franchises that specialize in specific areas of cleaning. Chem-Dry handles carpets, rugs, upholstery, tile and grout, while Aire-Master cleans public restrooms, installs odor-control systems and supplies paper and soap. There’s also Dryer Vent Wizard and Duct Doctor USA which handle commercial and residential cleaning in their respective fields (clothes dryer vents and air ducts.)

All of these businesses can be run from home. Duct Doctor and Aire-Master expect at least 2 employees at each franchise while the other businesses did not list any requirements. Chem-Dry had the shortest agreement length (5 years) and Aire-Master had the longest (20 years.) Duct Doctor and Dryer Vent Wizard were in between.

Research Franchise Opportunities By Cost, Location and Industry: Here

Bottom Line: Who’s the Best Cleaning Franchise?

Though residential cleaning may be the most well-known type of cleaning franchise, they tend to be pretty expensive with initial investment costs between $80k and $150k. Disaster Restoration, likewise, is on the pricier end, likely due to the heavy-duty equipment and the need for 24/7 on-call employees.

Commercial cleaning franchises, on the other hand, tend to be a lot cheaper, with some minimum initial investments below $10k. The specialty cleaning services we found were also on the cheaper end, with initial investments between $50k and $100k.

In the scope of things, however, all these franchises are fairly inexpensive. When you consider how food and retail franchises usually start around $200k and can cost well over $500k, even residential cleaning and disaster restoration are much more affordable.

If you have more than $50,000 in your retirement account you can use this money to start or buy a franchise without paying early withdrawal penalties. Click here to learn more about ROBS or speak with a professional at Guidant.

Visit Guidant