[WGB]

Have 2 vans full of work and the customers keep coming in every week! So its either start getting rid of a few or franchise, as dont want the hassle of another van and more employees, but not quite sure were to start with franchising, I know Ian Lancaster was selling a package a few years back but not sure if he still is.  Anyond else on here that has went down franchising route?

[Smudger]

I'd put a call out for vin

he has done it and will give you honest and unbiased advice

Darran

[Stoots]

Go for it.

Thats what im in the process of setting up myself. 

Tried employing a few times and i just cant live like that long term, stress will kill me....

Ive spoke to vin and a couple of other franchisors.

Im getting a franchise agreement drawn up at the moment and its not cheap, there are ones you can buy such as ian lancasters but im told they need bringing up to date ? i dont know because ive not seen them but either way its a starting point and i believe he is still selling them, at least he was a few months ago when i enquired.......Also getting a new wesbite built. Ive had a couple of bites from interested people but one was other end of the country unfortunately and the other couldnt afford it.

Its probably going to take a while to find someone and its more of a long game than employing but people are out there doing it so its possible.

[WGB]

Stoots what sort of money are you talking about? I rang a local solicitor the other day and she is £175 ph and will take 3-4hours to draw it up, but then seen on another form 4-5k. Unless there is other hidden costs?

[reflection]

Could you give a bit of an idea how the franchise works please
Do you give them a certain amount of work to start off with?
Do they have targets of new work to be brought in etc?
Do they pay you a monthly fee and any new work is theirs or do you get a cut of new work also ?

Sounds interesting if it gets you away from the hassle of employees

[NWH]

You have less control the only thing you have is a legal contract saying it’s you’re work but can you imagine trying to take someone to court if they convince customers to switch over to them in some way or another,it’s a gamble imo anyone with an ounce of intelligence would soon want to be going it alone not to say it doesn’t work for some it obviously does but you don’t see this working on a National scale do you which to me says it all,very hard to police it legal contract or not imo you need to have some sort of control so you know how the business overall is running,to me it wouldn’t be about just getting my fee every month.

[WGB]

Could you give a bit of an idea how the franchise works please
Do you give them a certain amount of work to start off with?
Do they have targets of new work to be brought in etc?
Do they pay you a monthly fee and any new work is theirs or do you get a cut of new work also ?

Sounds interesting if it gets you away from the hassle of employees

My understanding of it would be you would supply the work, support and knowledge of running the business, while the franchisee takes care of the day to day running of the business , like cleaning , debts, running their own van etc while paying you royalties every month.. in a nutshell

[Stoots]

Stoots what sort of money are you talking about? I rang a local solicitor the other day and she is £175 ph and will take 3-4hours to draw it up, but then seen on another form 4-5k. Unless there is other hidden costs?

About 2 grand and i think thats cheap tbh.

My accountant put me onto a solicitor who specialises in franchise contracts. Maybe i could have got it cheaper i dont know but given the ones you can buy are £1500 and i dont know how out of date i figured this to be worth the expense.

[Stoots]

You have less control the only thing you have is a legal contract saying it’s you’re work but can you imagine trying to take someone to court if they convince customers to switch over to them in some way or another,it’s a gamble imo anyone with an ounce of intelligence would soon want to be going it alone not to say it doesn’t work for some it obviously does but you don’t see this working on a National scale do you which to me says it all,very hard to police it legal contract or not imo you need to have some sort of control so you know how the business overall is running,to me it wouldn’t be about just getting my fee every month.

How it works is quite simple, if they try and take a customer they are in breach of the contract and you can terminate it.

There's a clause in there that says they then cant work in your area as a window cleaner for a number of years after the agreement ends.

You dont own customers any more than they do but you can enforce a no competition clause which essentially means they cant service them customers.

These contracts done properly are very thorough and that's exactly why you need a watertight agreement.

Of course there are pitfalls and drawbacks like anything in life but in order to grow you have to relinquish some control, you cant oversee everything unless you stay solo.

[NWH]

What you are saying is correct but I think you’ll find in the real world it doesn’t work like that,you can’t rob a bank but people do it.
I’m not being negative it happens the single most important thing of window cleaning and franchising is the person that’s buying into it,look at the big multi National companies they sell you a franchise but they still have control they supply you with you’re Big Macs or your chicken burgers and without them you can’t survive,no ones going to go into one of the above and settle for anything other than what they sell off the bat.
They use your logos your name etc and you have a piece of paper that says the work belongs to that company,they convince customers to go over to them form a business through that work or from some of that work no try to imagine taking them to court paying the costs and having the major hassle.
If you employ you have full control over your business you know what’s happening day to day,it sounds easy you give them some work they pay you X a month you keep supplying work blah blah blah in an ideal world it’s a lovely idea an we would all be doing it,it takes a certain type of person to be a franchisee in this job and if they are the sort of person I think they’d be they won’t be doing it for long before they smell the coffee like I say how many do you see out and about doing it day to day.

[NWH]

And as for contracts proper as you say or not it means nothing people break contracts like they break wind,you can’t tell a customer that they can’t take their business elsewhere you can cancel any direct debit cancel Sky go to Netflix etc there’s nothing stopping the franchisee saying to you’re customers cancel him and I’ll clean it from now on,he’s not out and about working the business seeing what’s happening it would be a nightmare trying to keep track of what’s going on a complete nightmare,control is the key unless you have a franchisee that is a sandwich short and has little ambition I can’t see it being all gravy,looks lovely on paper though.

[NWH]

I could steal work quicker than Philip Green stole the pension pot if I was in that situation within a year it would be like taking candy from a baby 🍼 🤣🤣

[NWH]

Stoots you say there’s a clause in the contract that says you can’t work in the area for X time 🤣🤣,m8 that’s a joke in itself like I say who’s policing that then I could go out tomorrow and work for my Mrs.
A builder goes to a job a customer pays him 25k to finish a job he’s started the money hits his account 4 days later he folds the business,a month later he’s working under his wife’s business name without a care in the world for that customer to put an order on him for a CCJ and return of funds is a ball ache from hell,you can trust me on that because I know the woman that’s 25k out of pocket the moral of the story is there was a contract involved also.

[deeege]

Wtf NWH please just stop posting about things that you obviously have zero real knowledge of. You don’t have to be the expert on every single subject.

Maybe sit  back and read the comments of the people who have knowledge is this area and you might actually learn something.

[Mike Burd]

Go for it.

Thats what im in the process of setting up myself. 

Tried employing a few times and i just cant live like that long term, stress will kill me....

Ive spoke to vin and a couple of other franchisors.

Im getting a franchise agreement drawn up at the moment and its not cheap, there are ones you can buy such as ian lancasters but im told they need bringing up to date ? i dont know because ive not seen them but either way its a starting point and i believe he is still selling them, at least he was a few months ago when i enquired.......Also getting a new wesbite built. Ive had a couple of bites from interested people but one was other end of the country unfortunately and the other couldnt afford it.

Its probably going to take a while to find someone and its more of a long game than employing but people are out there doing it so its possible.

A situation a guy that has about 5 franchises near me described was more stressful than anything I've had to deal with as an employer. The lesson there was don't trust a friend and don't let a franchise agreement just roll on once the date's expired without signing a new agreement.

[Mike Burd]

Wtf NWH please just stop posting about things that you obviously have zero real knowledge of. You don’t have to be the expert on every single subject.

Maybe sit  back and read the comments of the people who have knowledge is this area and you might actually learn something.

The funny thing is that people actually like the disinformation he posts. 

[NWH]

Don’t keep looking at a window cleaning franchise model and comparing it to something that other people take more serious when they buy into it,people’s views on this job are still in the dark ages I could write a chapter on how to take the work off the owner in about 20 minutes 🤣,have all the contracts you like you can’t police a service industry like you can a Cafe Nero or BP petrol station totally different business models.

[Ascjim]

Franchises  can be any way you want it to be. There are so many options.

Go and read a book about it instead of asking window cleaners.

[WGB]

Franchises  can be any way you want it to be. There are so many options.

Go and read a book about it instead of asking window cleaners.

yea who would of thought asking window cleaners for advice on a window cleaning forum 

[NWH]

My answer is based on the window cleaning model of course franchising works and it’s profitable for the franchisee depending on what business it is,the majority of businesses that do this have already a well known brand in some cases a world wide brand.
They supply the food-vehicle-clothing everything single thing you’ll need to promote their brand,take Costcutter for example I know someone that has 1 the till is linked to head office every time an item is sold it comes off that particular shops stock list and is automatically delivered as and when it gets so low that it won’t be on the shelf,it runs like a well oiled machine it’s tried tested. 
The businesses sales can be tracked down to the last £,if there’s no cash involved in the window cleaning business with all payments being made online or any other method this still doesn’t mean you’ll continue to keep the work if the wrong person is servicing it.
I wouldn’t say a window cleaning franchise was comparable to most of the others you see operating,I would compare it to renting out work for a monthly fee nothing like a smoothly run franchise, legal paperwork saying you can’t steal my work or not I wouldn’t want to be starting legal proceedings against a franchisee in this job lol what a nightmare.