FranchiseVerdict
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FV-02612·STRONGExcellent91

The Cleaning Authority

Cleaning - Commercial & JanitorialFranchising since 1996Website
Investment
$82K – $173K
31st pct Commercial & …
Avg revenue
$1.5M
54th pct Commercial & …
Royalty
6.0%
10th pct Commercial & …
Units
224
83rd pct Commercial & …
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $82K – $173K including a $20K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $1.5M/year.
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 41/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 149 loans (below the industry average).

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
The Cleaning Authority Franchising SPE LLC
Parent company
AB Assetco LLC
Incorporated in
Delaware
HQ
7120 Samuel Morse Drive, Suite 300, Columbia, MD 21046
Auditor
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$190.8M
vs $219.1M prior year

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one The Cleaning Authority unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $1,455,571
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: restoration
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $82K–$173K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $27K–$30K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

112%

Above typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%
ROIC above 100% usually means the revenue figure is a system-wide aggregate or top-cohort number rather than a single-unit average. Verify the "Revenue · per unit" field against the brand's FDD Item 19 detail tables before relying on this output.

Store EBITDA · annual
$175K
EBITDA margin
12.0%
Total invested
$156K
Payback
11 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 The Cleaning Authority units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

49.9%

7.57× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

1.88×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$1.5M

on $7.3M purchase

Total debt

$5.8M

SBA $3.6M + senior + seller note

Overview

About

Franchisees operate residential and commercial cleaning services, managing crews of 2-4 employees who perform weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly deep cleaning in customer homes. Day-to-day responsibilities include customer acquisition/retention, scheduling crews, quality assurance, payroll, and invoicing—typically working 40-50 hours weekly as owner-operators.

CEO
Leanne Stapf
Founded
2021
FDD year
2024
States available
40

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$82K – $173K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$27K – $30K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$20K
Royalty
6.0%
Percentage of Gross Revenue · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
1.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
40.3%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$1.5M
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
Item 19 type
Actual Gross Revenue
Sample size
200 units
vs category median 32 · large
Range (low → high)
$154K$4.7M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
5 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Revenue rank54th
vs Cleaning - Commercial & Janitorial peers
Investment cost rank31th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank10th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank83th
vs Cleaning - Commercial & Janitorial peers
Risk score rank9th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
224
Opened
13
Last reporting year
Closed
10
Turnover rate
4.5%
Company-owned
3
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
99%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+1.4%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+5.7%
Compounded over last 3 years
2022
221+3
Franchised units
2023
218
Franchised units
2024
209
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 5 states with active franchisees

The Territory Map

Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 5 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

Total loans
149
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

41
Risk · 0-100
STRONG41 / 100

Stagnant unit growth, undisclosed profitability data, and active franchisee litigation create meaningful investment uncertainty despite low initial franchise fee and protected territory.

Score breakdown · what drove the 41 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORMinimal system growth (1.4% YoY) with only 224 units suggests market saturation or stagnation
  2. 02MEDNo average net income disclosed in FDD Item 19 prevents verification of profitability claims against $82k-$172k investment
  3. 03HIGHActive litigation by franchisee association (TCAF) regarding marketing funds indicates systemic franchisor-franchisee disputes
  4. 04MINORTiered royalty structure (6%-4%) requires $600k+ revenue to improve margins, creating cash flow pressure in early years
  5. 05HIGHGoing Concern issue (False) is unclear but warrants clarification on franchisor financial stability

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Zip Code
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
15 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
2
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Maryland

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
37 hrs
On-the-job training
45 hrs
POS system
TCA IQ
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

99 numbers

Locked
(410) 916-••••
CO
(786) 683-••••
CO
(727) 444-••••
CO

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

The Cleaning Authority · FDD (2024) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above