How to Make a Career Change With a Domestic Cleaning Franchise

If you’d love to enter a growing and profitable sector of industry, helping customers up and down the UK to make their homes sparkling clean, why not start your own domestic cleaning franchise? This article will show you exactly how to navigate a career change with a domestic cleaning franchise successfully, even without any prior experience in the area!

The building cleaning industry in the UK is worth £4.9 billion [IBISWorld], and domestic properties make up a significant portion of this figure. Post-pandemic, with UK customers more aware of the value of hygiene than ever, there’s never been a better time to make a career change with a cleaning franchise that focuses on the provision of domestic house cleaning services.

Why consider making a career change with a domestic cleaning franchise?

There are two different sides to consider when it comes to determining why starting a domestic cleaning franchise is such a good idea. On the one side, you’ll find the franchising aspect of it all. As a franchisee, you’ll be fully trained and supported by your franchisor, and you’ll be a business owner at a much lower level of risk. On the other side and more specifically, starting a domestic cleaning franchise will come with many advantages. Advantages including:

• Flexible working hours
• Availability of low cost investment options
• Ability to work from home (in a managerial-style role)
• High levels of repeat custom and referral
• Unlimited income/growth potential
• High levels of demand, as mentioned above

Attitudes are changing. People work longer hours, have more disposable income and value their leisure time more greatly than household chores. This is where Bright & Beautiful come in! [...] Our network turnover has almost DOUBLED since 2016, with more and more new Franchise Owners joining the Bright & Beautiful ranks!
- Bright & Beautiful

How to make a career change with a home cleaning business

If you’re wondering now, more than ever, how to make a career change with a cleaning business, then you’re in the right place. Cover the following three steps, and you’ll make that transition smoothly and efficiently in no time at all...

1. Assess your skills and find the right franchise fit

Most domestic cleaning franchise investment opportunities won’t ask that you have any industry experience in order to get involved, but that isn’t to say there aren’t certain skills that will set you up for success in this industry. Before you move ahead with an investment, assess yourself and your skillset, and determine whether you possess the following transferable skills (all of which will be essential to your success as a franchisee in the domestic cleaning industry):

• Customer service
• Communication
• Attention to detail
• Patience
• Time management
• People management
• Business management
• Willingness to learn and stay up-to-date on all things public safety and security

When you know that you could thrive in the industry, then take the time to research it. Find out all about the different types of domestic cleaning investment you could make, the different domestic cleaning companies that you could invest with, and the domestic cleaning sub-sectors available for you to specialise in, and develop an initial pool of opportunities that interest you.

2. Narrow it down based on the practicalities

At this stage, you’ll be taking that initial pool and narrowing it down until you find the ideal franchise for your particular situation. You should do this based on crucial practicalities that’ll make or break an investment – things like available operational territories/franchise locations and associated investment costs. 

Costs can vary hugely, not just from industry to industry but from investment to investment, so doing your homework matters if you want to avoid being stuck with a bill you absolutely can’t afford. Here are some examples from the domestic cleaning sector that you can use as a jumping-off point:

• Poppies – To become a Poppies franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £7,000, with a total investment cost of £25,000.
• Bright & Beautiful – To become a Bright & Beautiful franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £9,995, with a total investment cost of £19,995. 
• Homeclean – To become a Homeclean franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £12,000, with franchise fees of £12,000, a total investment cost of £80,000 and a royalty fee charged at 10%.
• Kingsmaid Domestic Cleaning – To become a Kingsmaid Domestic Cleaning franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £14,950, with a royalty fee charged at 4%.

3. Do your due diligence before signing a franchise agreement

Third and finally, having determined which franchise is perfect for you, it will be time to do your due diligence and completely and fully assess the franchise opportunity. You should 100% do this prior to taking that investment plunge and signing a legally binding franchise agreement, because you need to know that you’re getting exactly what you’re paying for. Follow Point Franchise’s definitive due diligence checklist and answer all of the following questions in the affirmative before you pick up a pen:

• Have you reviewed the franchise’s FDD?
• Do you know when you can expect to recoup your initial investment?
• Do you have information on the experiences of current franchisees?
• Have you spoken to your franchisor and gotten answers to any and all queries?
• Do you feel happy with – and aware of – the standard of franchisor support you’ll receive?
• Have you hired a legal professional to review the franchise agreement before signing?

Start running your own business in the house cleaning sector today

Hopefully, you can now see a clear path ahead. A path stretching from your current professional situation all the way to the point of launching your domestic cleaning franchise and starting an exciting new journey with a network that you can fully trust to have your back. For more information on the huge and thriving cleaning sector, stay on Point Franchise. Find out all about the different types of cleaning franchise available in the UK, or discover the top cleaning trends of 2021.