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Franchise Prospectus

Looks nice and professional. One thing that confuses me is the Taylor made bit why is he at the front and what advantage does he provide to the franchisee? Maybe he shouldn't be the first bits a prospective franchisee should read - i.e. he has fingers in many franchises but what does he know about window cleaning? I think You should be the prominent part of the brochure with Taylor detailed and why he is on board - what advantage does he give the franchisee? 

The last bit is the step by step procedure at the back. To me it's too heavy on documents and discussions but very little about training, equipment fit out, and van sign writing sort of thing. While everyone will understand there is paperwork and discussions to take place but they also want to know the sort of process to actually get going on the glass sort of thing?

Looks a nice professional brochure though, well done and I hope you do well.

 
Without being rude I don’t see why anyone would go down this route without any customers??? Seams a total waist of time and money they would be better off starting on there own , they don’t need your name or logo they can create there own , and save the royalties and keep all that they earn , if there was xxx amount of work then I would say yes that fair enough , things like McDonald’s, subway are a known quantity and quality and a recognised brand world wide joe bloggs the window cleaner isn’t window cleaning isn’t like that , so I feel it’s a total waist of time from the franchisees point of view . 

 
I would say it would be good if you provided a certain amount of jobs to start with thats the hard bit finding the work maybe a certain amount in value or a certain amount of customers with each franchise. I started out last year cost me around 4k to get going with van, system, insurances and van tax leaflets and payment cards etc its not sign written or anything very basic but does the job. 

 
It's quite interesting that the person who was asking for advice hasn't bothered to come back after 24 hrs! So much for supporting their franchisees!

OK so for the franchise fee they get kit supplied and fitted to their van (van supplied by franchisee), sign writing, uniforms, some leaflets, manuals and 5 days training! The ongoing support is sort of paid for via the monthly fees so without customers at start I can't see them turning over close to £50K in the first year. 

I assume that to suggest earning figures in an advertising brochure they would need to be able to prove that they have actually achieved those figures?

I can't really see the advantage of franchising a non recognisable business other than your knowledge is boosted by learning proven systems. So that probably gives you a 12 month advantage - maybe.

 
It’s already been fully talked about on the “other” forum. 
 

My last guy handed over 16k and if I was to tell him he would have to find his own work I wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face. 
 

I personally don’t rate the package at all as there really is no brand yet but I hope the OP does well. We’ve spoken via text and I think phone calls. 
 

It’s a bold move and package!

My packages start from just under 5k and include a grippatank system, electric reels and Gardiner poles. I’ve streamlined everything though and I know the costs and what equipment is needed. 
 

I’ve taken on two franchisees in last month but with a different package and % deal and so far it looks very promising for both myself and them. 
 

As for providing all the work, yes I do. My aim is a collective franchise network of a cleaning value of a million pounds, I won’t say where I’m at now BUT it’s a very doable goal. 

 
It’s already been fully talked about on the “other” forum. 
 

My last guy handed over 16k and if I was to tell him he would have to find his own work I wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face. 
 

I personally don’t rate the package at all as there really is no brand yet but I hope the OP does well. We’ve spoken via text and I think phone calls. 
 

It’s a bold move and package!

My packages start from just under 5k and include a grippatank system, electric reels and Gardiner poles. I’ve streamlined everything though and I know the costs and what equipment is needed. 
 

I’ve taken on two franchisees in last month but with a different package and % deal and so far it looks very promising for both myself and them. 
 

As for providing all the work, yes I do. My aim is a collective franchise network of a cleaning value of a million pounds, I won’t say where I’m at now BUT it’s a very doable goal. 
This is how I think a franchise should work . Sounds good for both parties ?

 
Without being rude I don’t see why anyone would go down this route without any customers??? Seams a total waist of time and money they would be better off starting on there own , they don’t need your name or logo they can create there own , and save the royalties and keep all that they earn , if there was xxx amount of work then I would say yes that fair enough , things like McDonald’s, subway are a known quantity and quality and a recognised brand world wide joe bloggs the window cleaner isn’t window cleaning isn’t like that , so I feel it’s a total waist of time from the franchisees point of view . 
Couldn’t agree anymore mate 

 
My Take is this guy is touting ? and trying for a bit free exposure 


From the outside looking in why would someone cough up £15k for van a uniform and system with free training chucked in for a few days and have to pay royalties and be tied up in a contract and have to find their own work which won't be their own work if I understand it correctly, 

Why wouldn't someone come on here ask loads of questions scouring the forum for info then set up their own business and buy their own van ? sound familiar anyone?

 
My Take is this guy is touting ? and trying for a bit free exposure 


From the outside looking in why would someone cough up £15k for van a uniform and system with free training chucked in for a few days and have to pay royalties and be tied up in a contract and have to find their own work which won't be their own work if I understand it correctly, 

Why wouldn't someone come on here ask loads of questions scouring the forum for info then set up their own business and buy their own van ? sound familiar anyone?
The whole point of a franchise is so u dont have to look for work and start earning from day 1

if hes not offering no work to his franchisees then i suggest he goes back to the drawing board and restructures his plan

Or he can message @Damo and learn from him 

 
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The other thing is now when a new fanchisee is interested and they do a little research, they'll find posts like these with experienced window cleaners saying what a bad idea they are, and how they can get all the information and training they need for free on here and facebook ? . I don't think window cleaning is a difficult business to get started in.

All these franchises are really doing is 'employing' guys and side stepping the VAT and 1/2 the responsibilities, or all of them if they aren't supplying the work!

 
The other thing is now when a new fanchisee is interested and they do a little research, they'll find posts like these with experienced window cleaners saying what a bad idea they are, and how they can get all the information and training they need for free on here and facebook ? . I don't think window cleaning is a difficult business to get started in.

All these franchises are really doing is 'employing' guys and side stepping the VAT and 1/2 the responsibilities, or all of them if they aren't supplying the work!
You’re right it’s not difficult to set up at all but some people aren’t interested in researching and building a business from scratch. 
 

As for Vat and 1/2 the responsibilities. Franchising is hard work. 

 
The other thing is now when a new fanchisee is interested and they do a little research, they'll find posts like these with experienced window cleaners saying what a bad idea they are, and how they can get all the information and training they need for free on here and facebook ? . I don't think window cleaning is a difficult business to get started in.

All these franchises are really doing is 'employing' guys and side stepping the VAT and 1/2 the responsibilities, or all of them if they aren't supplying the work!
Avoid VAT = franchise ?

 
Hi Guys,

Thanks for all of your replies.

The original link to the prospectus has been taken down as it was viewed as advertising… That’s fair enough – However, I wasn’t advertising I was genuinely after constructive feedback.

The main issue that everyone is pointing to is that we don’t give the Franchisee any work to get started with, and that we don’t build their customer base for them.

Let’s go back 15 years to when I first started out… I noticed that Ian Lancaster started to Franchise his window cleaning business back then. This as far as I know was the first time a window cleaning business was ever franchised (please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong). Ian did this as he wanted an income from his franchisees when he retired.

Ian’s model was to give his franchisees £1000 per month of work straight away, and then build the franchisees round to as much work as the franchisee wanted / could handle.

There is nothing wrong with Ian’s model… He has done well from it… He then started selling his Franchise pack to other window cleaners so that they could do the same with their business… I actually bought Ian’s pack for £1500 back about 5 or 6 years ago, but never acted on it and didn’t franchise back then.

Ian’s model became the standard for franchising a window cleaning business in the UK…

“Most” window cleaning businesses that franchise do offer work straight away, and offer to build the franchisees round for them.

This method obviously works… But it doesn’t mean that it’s the ONLY way that it will work.

You need to also look at the Franchise industries way of doing things as a whole.

Dyno Rod / Metro Plumb / Oven Clean / Oven Wizards / Maid 2 Clean / ChipsAway – and 95% of other franchises do not give the franchisee work straight away and / or promise to get them as many customers as they want.

Yet these companies are constantly taking on more franchisees and thus growing their brands more and more.

Yes, you could argue that these are well known brands… But they weren’t to begin with – they have grown their brand through franchising – this has made them become well known.

The company that we have partnered with run 4 other franchise brands – Wilkins Chimney Sweeps / PVC Vendo / Stumpbusters and Thomas Cleaning… The franchisees within these 4 brands turned over a total of £7.6m in the last financial year – None of these brands give work to their franchisees or promise to build them a customer base… Each franchisee is responsible for building their own business within that brand. You can’t say that hasn’t worked if they turned over £7.6m between them last year.

At the end of the day if you want to invest in a window cleaning franchise and be given all your work by the Franchisor and just go and clean windows then there are franchises out there that will do that.

We are looking for franchisees who want to invest and are interested in building their own business within a growing brand… They will have the full support of us and a Franchising company who already runs 4 other successful Franchise brands turning over £7.6m per year behind them.

We have 2 pilot franchisees launching in April… One in North Hampshire and the other in Oxfordshire – They will be finding their own customers from day one – with our full support.

I’ll keep the forum updated on how we get on – if anyone is interested? 

With regards to trying to avoid VAT through franchising… We are already VAT registered as we run 3 vans within my local area.

Andy ?

 
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Genuinely good luck with it, however comparing someone doing this 15 years ago to today isn't, in my opinion, a like for like scenario. The other franchises they run, without checking, appear to be doing well in markets where there aren't 100's of competitors where a good website / targeted  FB adverts would do well. 

 
Why would anyone want to buy a franchise a window cleaning round? All you do is set up your own and call it after a local area. The biggest advance I have seen is doing add-ons which can keep a customer loyal to you. I don't generally do work for folk I don't clean their windows unless I'm quiet. One of my windy customers has given me a lot of work, painted outside of their house, removed trees and built fences all round their garden. That's the way I see my future with customers all built on trust but you can't have a full round or you wouldn't have the time. ?

 

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