Looking for a clean start?

Arlette Dumont du Voitel Client Project Manager 10 THOUSAND FEET Could a cleaning franchise be the clean start for you?

Could a cleaning franchise be the clean start for you?

Have you ever noticed how much time you spend cleaning? And have you noticed how much time you spend thinking about what would need cleaning but you never get around to it? No wonder that people are making good business out of this necessity!

Cleaning franchises are on the go! More and more cleaning franchise companies have opened their doors over the last few years offering a variety of cleaning services that cover both broad and niche cleaning tasks.

The success of a cleaning franchise lies in the relatively steady demand for their services. This is especially true for cleaning franchise companies that cover tasks where DIY is challenging, expensive or very time consuming.

To name a few examples of cleaning franchises, not many people can say that they have the facilities at home to do their own dry cleaning or professional carpet cleaning. DIY car cleaning has always been a challenge for people living in the city who don’t necessarily have a backyard. But in recent years, with water regulations and restrictions being tightened, it has also become more problematic for people with backyards in suburbs or more regional areas to clean their own cars. It is not surprising that car cleaning franchise companies are getting quite a bit of attention by people looking for franchise opportunities. And rightly so!

One such car cleaning franchise is Car Care. Car Care is Australia's largest mobile car detailer with nearly 100 franchisees operating throughout Australia. As a cleaning franchise Car Care has a proven system that has been operating for over 20 years.

Car Care outperformed the franchising industry in the financial and social rewards section of topfranchise. Car Care’s Managing Director and Owner Mike Stringer says that the changing economic climate has not affected this cleaning franchise’s financial rewards but rather the way franchisees get those rewards. Stringer said “the past couple of years have been great for Car Care Franchisees economically”.

Now, with the economic slowdown, Stringer says “we are seeing people coming to us to clean their cars for slightly different reasons. People aren’t going to be replacing their cars as frequently as before, so they are taking better care of what they have. Also, when people are selling their cars, they are finding the second hand market quite tough and want to get the best possible resell for it. That is where the cleaning franchise comes in. They are getting us to provide a professional cleaning job as well as to efficiently take care of paint touch ups.”

Stringer also said the economic slow down had a positive effect in other ways. “With dropping oil prices, more people are returning to driving holidays and coming back with a dirty car that needs a detailed clean after the kids have managed to get sand into all sorts of places.”

Stringer says that as far as cleaning franchises go, Car Care are in a fortunate position: “We have had more work than we could handle for quite some time now and could easily put on 50 new franchisees tomorrow without a problem".

“The only shift he has seen is to franchisees being more proactive in booking jobs. Stringer said “Our franchisees have always been good with customer service. Now with the economic environment, they are just becoming a bit more proactive with calling regular clients to book them in rather than waiting for the calls.”

Another area Car Care performed exceptionally well in is the lifestyle the cleaning franchise affords its franchisees, which we have seen with a number of other cleaning franchise companies, too. Car Care’s franchisees have their own exclusive marketing territory and control their own workload, balancing lifestyle and financial rewards to their choosing. Stringer says “We have franchisees from the semi-retired working 3-4 days a week through to those working a 6 day week. That’s the beauty of the franchise. You can dial up or down your effort in accordance to what you want to achieve.” Stringer said there was no pressure from head office to work long hours. “With our cleaning franchise, we charge a flat royalty fee rather than percentage based, meaning there is no pressure from us for you to take on more work if you don’t want to.”

Like many cleaning franchises Car Care has state-based call centres who forward enquiries on to individual franchisees. Car Care’s Managing Director Mike Stringer says “this allows our franchisees to supplement their own customer base with those provided by the call centres.”

So if you are looking for a cleaning franchise, Car Care is a good franchise to start investigating. You can also look into the other cleaning franchises here in the topfranchise cleaning franchise section.