In addition, as 90% of your clientele will be commercial properties, cleaning services cannot be provided during regular business hours. Employees must be willing to work evenings and weekends as their primary schedule.

Like any employer, you will need to provide employees with the supplies they need to do the job. For a home cleaning franchise, this will include chemicals for a deep, disinfecting clean, disposable gloves and possibly masks. Be sure you are aware of the strict regulations for cleaning services when it comes to protecting employees from what are often harsh chemicals in a commercial cleaning environment.

The FISH difference

Employees in your FISH Window Cleaning franchise can work during regular business hours without interfering with commercial clients or residential homeowners. This type of schedule gives you a definite recruiting advantage in the much-prized aspect of work-life balance.

The compensation formula for FISH window cleaners is on the percentage of glass they clean, so they are not capped by an hourly wage. The more they clean, the more they earn. This allows workers to make a better income than any line of work that pays a standard per hour rate.

Also, FISH employees do not work with harsh chemicals that are common in the home cleaning business. Many of the added services that FISH provides such as gutter cleaning involve no chemical solutions at all. While there is a labor aspect to window cleaning, it doesn't involve crawling, crouching or moving heavy equipment, which makes workers less prone to repetitive strain injuries.

Environmental changes and concerns

With an increased focus on eco-friendly aspects of maintaining properties, it forces the home cleaning industry to pursue more environmentally-friendly products to use in cleaning. The COVID-19 pandemic also highlighted the preference for disinfecting cleaning, and an interior cleaning service is certainly impacted by those trends.

The FISH difference

Fish Window Cleaning is already a leader in eco-friendly cleaning with the use of water-fed poles. Water-fed poles use purified water without any soap to clean windows. Windows dry streak-free and look great and franchisees can promote their eco-friendly initiative.

Financial concerns of a fluctuating economy

A report on The Economic Challenges Facing Commercial Cleaning discusses several financial issues that anyone considering a home cleaning franchise should know. Commercial cleaning is one of the most competitive outsource markets and in times of economic uncertainty, the janitorial services sector can be the first to experience cuts. Companies can turn to in-house cleaning, cut back on frequency or find better rates with larger cleaning companies, making it challenging for smaller franchises to compete.

The FISH difference

Window cleaning and home cleaning are both recurring income businesses, but an economic slowdown does not impact both types of operations in the same way. While indoor cleaning for a commercial property can be transferred in-house, it is unlikely that same person is going to scale a ladder and clean windows. Window cleaning is also recurring at a different rate than interior cleaning, which makes it a more manageable expense for commercial properties.

Another factor is that a commercial cleaner has fewer clients than a window cleaner. If a customer is lost, the commercial cleaner feels the hit in a larger way than a window cleaner who has a broader list of clients. As employees explore work-from-home opportunities, commercial properties may choose to downsize or operate from a virtual home base. While losing a commercial client impacts both interior cleaning and window cleaning, a window cleaning franchise can more easily absorb that loss given the wider breadth of clientele.

An alternative business to consider

Within the cleaning services industry, a window washing franchise could be a more stable business option. A Fish Window Cleaning franchise is a low-cost, high return franchise investment. We can show you our proven business model and get you started on the path to profitable business ownership today.