[rsheridan]

I came across this site by accident whilst doing some research into starting a Commercial Cleaning Company from scratch- what a mine of information - wow!

However I would like to ask members  if they have any views re: Dublcheck Franchise? The fees seem rather 'over the top' but of course they do guarantee a level of turnover and net profit and of course a proven system to follow. My reckoning is that cleaning can't be THAT difficult and it maybe far more beneficial in the long run to start my own company. I do have some previous experience of running a printing company. However I know nothing whatsoever about cleaning but am willing to learn. Any advice from members would be very welcome.

Rob

[*Chris Browne]

Think you will find a lot of info on here regarding franchises and i believe most people are against the idea (i may be wrong)  I personally dont see the point in a franchise that is so easy to set up yourself.

Chris

[The Great One]

Hi

Welcome to the forum,, you will find a massive amount of help & info on here.

I have had a franchise before (non cleaning) they turned out to be a nightmare.

I set up my cleaning biz for £50 (including biz cards, materials, sales lit & insurance)

I knew nothing about cleaning.

I did a couple of jobs each months, around the £250 mark for the month, then on the 3rd month I turned over £2200. If it hadn't happened within the 3 months I gave mtself I was going to give it up.

That was almost 5 years ago, average turnover for me is around £35,000, loads of guys on here turn over a lot more than me.

I do mainly EOT cleaning with some carpet cleaning as well, obviously invested more than £50.

With the cost of paying for a franchise you could of taken a few courses (carpet cleaning, trauma cleaning, fire & flood, Mould remediation etc) and have a fully equipped van on the raod and no monthly fee to pay.

What if you have a quite month or few, you still have to pay the franchise fee, it can add a lot of unneeded pressure.

Regards

Martin

[Kevin White]

"My reckoning is that cleaning can't be THAT difficult"

Good luck in your new venture R Sheridan.
Keep playing the lottery just in case !

[*Chris Browne]

Cleaning isnt difficult!...its the people you deal with that can be! you dont say which side of commercial cleaning your looking to go in to.

Chris

[rsheridan]

Thank you for the replies Martin, Chris & Kevin and the welcome

The area of commercial cleaning I would like to focus on in the beginning Chris is Office Cleaning - If you have any useful advice or tips I would be very grateful

Rob

PS As for dealing with difficult people, well I'm used to that!

[CATMAN]

You say they guarentee you an income.? To what level?

Who's going to do the cleaning?, employing staff can be a nightmare?

What the net profit after overheads?

The company you mention are selling regional licenses, why is this, carn't they get enough franchisees across the UK so are looking for another income stream?

Ask for a list of past franchisees, not current, its the one who have left that will tell the truth.

What happens if you have no work?

Commercial cleaning is cut throat, some companies are going in at £8.00 cleaning rate. Think long and hard.

If you build it yourself, it will be at your pace, not at a pace to cover your fees, overheads and wages. Don't be a busy fool.

Regards

CATMAN

[Len Gribble]

Rob

Cleaning is a science to a point you could try Bics they do courses.

You don’t bill the customer the franchisor dose then you wait and wait and wait plus phone calls then you wait, any work you get belong to them so dose billing 


Catman

You still about

Len

[The Great One]

Thank you for the replies Martin, Chris & Kevin and the welcome

The area of commercial cleaning I would like to focus on in the beginning Chris is Office Cleaning - If you have any useful advice or tips I would be very grateful

Rob

PS As for dealing with difficult people, well I'm used to that!

I do office cleaning, anywhere from £12.50-15 p/h. You have to do it out of hours either early moring or late at night.

Regards

Martin

[rsheridan]

Rob

Cleaning is a science to a point you could try Bics they do courses.

You don’t bill the customer the franchisor dose then you wait and wait and wait plus phone calls then you wait, any work you get belong to them so dose billing 


Catman

You still about

Len

Thanks Len

[Len Gribble]

Rob

Not a problem you can still wait for customer to pay you.



Martin

Don’t forget bank holidays customer has to pay for this.

Len

[The Great One]

Hi Len

Well, probably at the start it may not require BH's but obviously as he gets busier (hopefully) then he will of course have to take that into account.

Regards

Martin

[wilclean]

Hi

  When me and my wife started out we went with a company called global cleaning (BIG MISTAKE) - now we're trying to get out of the last 2 contracts of theres. We've managed to get 5 of our own contracts in which we're doing really well with and there's a chance of getting another one on the way. We sent out a high impact flyer out to a few of the local businesses and got a call within 1-2 days -now we're starting a data base up of all businesses in the darlington area in which we are getting them out of the yellow pages and the thompson directory and compiling them onto office exel -- why pay a company £500 plus for the info when you can do it yourself. Once a week we send out 20 letters to companies from our data base starting from  A TO Z which will take us a few months to get through but it will be worth it i the end as it should pull in lots more work. once we have got through all our data base we will start all over again. As we get bigger we will do other areas of the north east and add more data bases which means more work - this might be something to think about for yourself to do.

                                                     STAY AWAY FROM FRANCHISES
                                          YOUR BETTER OFF RUNNING YOU OWN BUSINESS



Paul

[Ian Gourlay]

with all the Cleaning Companies out there why would an office engage a New Cleaning Company that has not cleaned any Offices before?

[wilclean]

The best thing to do is ask some one off the forum if you could go around with them for a week to see whats involved and at least you'll know what you're getting your self into then. When advertising to companies dont tell them that you have never cleaned before this way you'll get a few clients under your belt - if you tell them that you have never cleaned before you will get nothing..

[rsheridan]

with all the Cleaning Companies out there why would an office engage a New Cleaning Company that has not cleaned any Offices before?

And why not? if the present company they were using didn't offer good service or a good job! If everyone took that kind of attitude no new businesses or competition would ever start up!!

[rsheridan]

Hi

  When me and my wife started out we went with a company called global cleaning (BIG MISTAKE) - now we're trying to get out of the last 2 contracts of theres. We've managed to get 5 of our own contracts in which we're doing really well with and there's a chance of getting another one on the way. We sent out a high impact flyer out to a few of the local businesses and got a call within 1-2 days -now we're starting a data base up of all businesses in the darlington area in which we are getting them out of the yellow pages and the thompson directory and compiling them onto office exel -- why pay a company £500 plus for the info when you can do it yourself. Once a week we send out 20 letters to companies from our data base starting from  A TO Z which will take us a few months to get through but it will be worth it i the end as it should pull in lots more work. once we have got through all our data base we will start all over again. As we get bigger we will do other areas of the north east and add more data bases which means more work - this might be something to think about for yourself to do.

                                                     STAY AWAY FROM FRANCHISES
                                          YOUR BETTER OFF RUNNING YOU OWN BUSINESS



Paul

Thanks for the good advice Paul

Rob

[rsheridan]

The best thing to do is ask some one off the forum if you could go around with them for a week to see whats involved and at least you'll know what you're getting your self into then. When advertising to companies dont tell them that you have never cleaned before this way you'll get a few clients under your belt - if you tell them that you have never cleaned before you will get nothing..

Thanks for for that - good idea

[Ian Gourlay]

with all the Cleaning Companies out there why would an office engage a New Cleaning Company that has not cleaned any Offices before?

And why not? if the present company they were using didn't offer good service or a good job! If everyone took that kind of attitude no new businesses or competition would ever start up!!

That was my question ? Why should they  use you ? OK the other company was rubbish therefore i am going to employ a Company with a Pedigree

I am just asking how are you going to overcome this?

[rsheridan]

with all the Cleaning Companies out there why would an office engage a New Cleaning Company that has not cleaned any Offices before?

And why not? if the present company they were using didn't offer good service or a good job! If everyone took that kind of attitude no new businesses or competition would ever start up!!

That was my question ? Why should they  use you ? OK the other company was rubbish therefore i am going to employ a Company with a Pedigree

I am just asking how are you going to overcome this?

Well let me turn the question round and ask you how you overcame it - since you are listed as a 'clean up God'! You obviously have a welath of great knowledge and fantastic ideas¬ shall look forward to hearing from you