Molly Maid franchise
A franchisee operates a residential house cleaning business from a small leased office, employing cleaning teams that serve mostly recurring homeowner customers inside a zip-code territory sized by "Target Households".
Owner-operator required Disclosed
- Source
- 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Molly Maid SPV LLC
- Document
- FDD 2026, issued 2026-04-01
- Item
- Item 15
- Page
- PDF p. 69
- Obtained
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search, file 640760
If you are an individual, you must directly perform or supervise the operation of the Business unless we consent otherwise.
Item 15 makes personal involvement the default: an individual franchisee must directly perform or supervise the operation of the business unless the franchisor consents otherwise, and an entity franchisee must provide direct, on-site supervision by a designated owner who has completed training. The franchisor may instead consent to a bona fide manager who has completed Sure Start Phase I, Sure Start Phase II and franchise owner training centre training; that manager need not hold equity. A private-equity owner may use a managing principal on the same basis. Item 1 notes the owner does not personally do the cleaning — employees do — so the role is management rather than fieldwork.
What stands out
- Total initial investment of $144,150–$203,950; $64,400–$91,900 of that is the Initial Franchise Fee plus a Territory Fee priced at $1.10 per Target Household.
- Royalty ("License Fee") is banded by annual Gross Sales — 6.5% on the first $500,000 falling to 3% above $2.8m — plus a 2% marketing fund contribution, and minimum royalties apply from month 7 regardless of sales.
- Item 19 discloses no revenue or profit per outlet. Its headline measure is Gross Sales per Target Household: $21.65 average, $18.77 median, $2.71–$99.84 range across 188 owners running 402 outlets in 2025.
5 more observations
- The system contracted from 481 franchised outlets at the start of 2023 to 432 at the end of 2025 — a net loss of 49 units with no company-owned outlets.
- 89% of reporting owners grew Gross Sales in 2025 versus 2024, and cleanings were about 90% recurring customers on average.
- The territory is not exclusive, and keeping it requires meeting weekly Minimum Gross Sales and a customer-satisfaction score; failing can cost territory or the franchise.
- Owners must personally perform or supervise operations unless the franchisor consents to a trained manager; entity owners must sign a personal guaranty and a two-year, 25-mile post-term non-compete applies.
- Item 3 lists two concluded regulatory matters (2010 Kansas consent judgment against the predecessor, 2017 California consent order against an affiliate's predecessor) and no franchisee lawsuits.
Things to verify
- Ask what Target Household count the franchisor will assign to the specific territory on offer, since it drives both the Territory Fee and the required local marketing spend, and is the only way to turn Item 19's per-household figures into a sales estimate.
- Ask the franchisor to explain the 59 outlets recorded over three years under "ceased operations — other reasons" — how many were genuine closures versus territories folded into other franchises.
- Model the Minimum License Fee and the per-household local marketing spend at low sales volumes; both are owed whether or not the business hits its targets.
4 more questions
- Request the written substantiation for Item 19 that the FDD offers on reasonable request, and ask for actual gross sales figures for outlets in territories of comparable size.
- Ask existing and former franchisees about labour cost and staff turnover — the FDD discloses no cost or margin data at all — bearing in mind Item 20 Note 4 discloses that some franchisees signed provisions limiting what they can say.
- Confirm the total monthly technology and call-centre cost in writing; the franchisor discloses that these affiliate fees carry a mark-up above direct cost and may rise up to 30% a year.
- Check the effect of Texas venue and choice of law, and of the broad non-compete that reaches a spouse, children, parents and siblings during the term.
Economics: No calculator is offered because no annual average unit sales disclosed in Item 19. Model availability
Evidence confidence: High. This describes source support, not investment quality. AI-extracted and machine-verified where stated; no human line-by-line review. Source and review record.
Read the full research overview
A Molly Maid franchisee runs a residential house cleaning business from a small leased office, employing cleaning teams that serve mostly recurring homeowner customers within a zip-code territory. The franchisor, Molly Maid SPV LLC of Waco, Texas, is part of the Neighborly group and is ultimately controlled by funds affiliated with KKR. The system is entirely franchised — 432 U.S. outlets at December 31, 2025 and no company-owned units.
Item 7 puts the total initial investment at $144,150 to $203,950 for a first franchise in a standard-size market. The largest single item is the Territory Fee of $1.10 per Target Household, $49,500 to $77,000, which sits on top of a $14,900 Initial Franchise Fee, so $64,400 to $91,900 goes to the franchisor at signing before a $1,250 software enrollment fee. Three months of additional funds account for a further $50,000 to $60,000. Ongoing, the franchisee pays a weekly License Fee banded from 6.5% of Gross Sales on the first $500,000 down to 3% above $2.8m, a 2% marketing fund contribution, roughly $560 a month of required software, call-centre fees, and a local marketing spend set per Target Household rather than as a share of sales — at the typical 45,000 to 70,000 households that is a meaningful fixed commitment. Minimum License Fees are owed regardless of actual sales.
Item 19 exists but does not answer the usual question. It gives no average or median revenue per outlet and no cost or profit data. Instead it reports Gross Sales per Target Household for 188 owners running 402 of the 432 outlets: an average of $21.65 and a median of $18.77, ranging from $2.71 to $99.84. Systemwide sales for 2021–2025 appear only as an unlabelled bar chart. On the same-business comparison, 89% of reporting owners grew Gross Sales from 2024 to 2025 and about 90% of cleanings went to recurring customers. Converting any of this into a dollar sales estimate requires a territory's Target Household count, which the franchisor sets.
The system has shrunk each year on the record: 481 franchised outlets at the start of 2023 to 432 at the end of 2025, a net loss of 49, with 21 openings against 9 terminations, 2 non-renewals and 59 units in a broadly defined "ceased operations — other reasons" column that also captures territory consolidations. Transfers ran 15, 13 and 20. Eight new outlets are projected for the next fiscal year. Item 3 discloses two concluded regulatory matters and no franchisee litigation; Item 4 discloses six bankruptcies among KKR portfolio companies, none involving the franchisor. Owners must personally supervise unless the franchisor consents to a trained manager, entity owners must personally guarantee the agreement, the territory is expressly non-exclusive, and disputes go to McLennan County, Texas.
View ratings and their supporting evidence
Transparent ratings
How these are computedEach dimension is scored 1–5 from published formulas. Missing data yields “Not enough evidence to rate”, never a low score. There is no composite score by design.
How the system has performed, computed from the disclosed Items 7, 19 and 20. Figures a documented material source inconsistency puts in doubt are excluded, and the dimension shows “Not rated”.
Inputs
- Franchised outlets 481 → 432 (Item 20, Table 3)
- Thresholds: ≥15% → 5; 5–15% → 4; 0–5% → 3; −5–0% → 2; below −5% → 1
Inputs
- Attrition = (terminations + non-renewals + reacquisitions + ceased-other) ÷ start-of-year franchised units, averaged over 3 fiscal years
- Thresholds: <2% → 5; 2–4% → 4; 4–6% → 3; 6–10% → 2; >10% → 1
Inputs
- No annual average unit sales disclosed
How much this brand’s FDD discloses, and how well-supported our data on it is. This measures transparency, not business performance — a strong business that discloses little scores low here and stays unrated above.
Inputs
- Item 19 present (+1)
- Average plus median or a distribution (+1)
- Population 93% of franchised units, clearly described (+1)
- Multi-year or cohort data (+1)
Details
- Missing: Annual AUV
- Franchisor Track Record
- Franchising 42 years (since 1984) · 432 outlets · Item 3: 2 matter(s) disclosed · Item 4: bankruptcy disclosure present
- Multi-Unit Scalability
- There is no right to additional units. The franchisor may permit an existing franchisee to open another Molly Maid business only if it meets then-current Exp… · Owner-operator required
- Operational Intensity
- Owner-operator required
Initial investment
FDD Items 5 and 7Format shown: One new Molly Maid territory in a standard-size market, operated from leased office space
$144,150–$203,950 total initial investment. Excludes real estate purchase. Includes 3 months of additional funds.
View full investment breakdown — Items 5 & 7
| Initial franchise fee (the named Item 5 fee only) | $14,900 Disclosed
Standard fee for a first Franchise; waived for certain contiguous-territory expansions or simultaneous transfer-plus-new-unit purchases by existing franchisees, which are not the standard case. Other required Item 5 payments to the franchisor are listed separately below — this figure is the named fee only. |
|---|---|
| Other required initial payments to the franchisor (Item 5) |
|
| Total Item 5 payments to franchisor/affiliates | $38,091 Disclosed
Item 5 reports the FY2025 actual range of combined 'Initial Fees' (Initial Franchise Fee + Territory Fee, as jointly defined in Item 5) paid by franchisees; this excludes the separate $1,250 software enrollment fee. $84,379 Disclosed
Item 5 reports the FY2025 actual range of combined 'Initial Fees' (Initial Franchise Fee + Territory Fee, as jointly defined in Item 5) paid by franchisees; this excludes the separate $1,250 software enrollment fee. |
| Total initial investment — low | $144,150 Disclosed
|
| Total initial investment — high | $203,950 Disclosed
|
| Midpoint of range | $174,050 Derived
|
| Real estate purchase included? | No — assumes a leased site |
| Additional funds assumed | 3 months |
| Required liquid capital | Not disclosed in the reviewed source Not disclosedNot disclosed in the reviewed source. We did not find this value in 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Molly Maid SPV LLC; we do not fill gaps with estimates or third-party figures. No minimum liquid capital requirement is stated on the cover pages or in Items 1, 5, 7, 10 or 15 of the reviewed FDD. |
| Required net worth | Not disclosed in the reviewed source Not disclosedNot disclosed in the reviewed source. We did not find this value in 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Molly Maid SPV LLC; we do not fill gaps with estimates or third-party figures. No minimum net worth requirement for franchisee candidates is stated in the reviewed FDD. The only net-worth reference is the standard Michigan escrow disclosure about the franchisor's own financial statements. |
Item 7 assumes a new franchisee buying a first franchise in a standard-size market and operating from leased space; no real estate purchase is contemplated and no build-out of a retail location is assumed. The table's own rows add exactly to the stated $144,150 and $203,950 totals. Vehicles are assumed leased — the business must start with at least two branded vehicles, and Item 7 notes a purchased vehicle typically costs $23,500–$26,500, which is outside the totals. Additional funds cover only the first three months and exclude any owner salary or draw. Renewals and resales are treated separately: a renewing franchisee pays a $5,000 renewal fee instead of the initial fees, and a transferee pays a $15,000 transfer fee plus roughly $4,000 for a Transfer Initial Package, plus whatever purchase price is negotiated with the selling franchisee.
Item 7 line items (14)
| Expenditure | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee — Payable to Molly Maid SPV LLC on signing; waived for certain additional contiguous territories. | $14,900 | $14,900 |
| Territory Fee — $1.10 per Target Household; varies with territory size. | $49,500 | $77,000 |
| Initial Startup Package — Bought from designated third-party vendors before training. | $8,000 | $9,000 |
| Software Enrollment and Training Fee — Payable to affiliate ZorWare. | $1,250 | $1,250 |
| Auto Lease Deposit and Lease Expense — Minimum two branded marketing/service vehicles; purchase would run $23,500–$26,500 per vehicle. | $3,900 | $5,500 |
| Computer Hardware | $2,200 | $4,500 |
| Leasehold Improvements | $1,000 | $5,000 |
| Real Estate, Utility Deposits and Three Months' Rent | $4,000 | $7,000 |
| Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment — Includes a washer and dryer, desks, chairs, telephone system. | $2,500 | $3,500 |
| Permits and Licenses | $100 | $1,000 |
| Insurance Deposit and Three Months Insurance Expense | $2,800 | $5,300 |
| Training Expenses for Travel, Food and Lodging — Low end assumes one attendee, high end two sharing a room. | $4,000 | $5,000 |
| Professional Fees — Attorney/accountant review and entity formation. | $0 | $5,000 |
| Additional Funds — 3 Months — Payroll, marketing, fuel and general expenses for the first three months; excludes any owner salary or draw. | $50,000 | $60,000 |
Source for every row: the Item 7 estimated-initial-investment table of 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Molly Maid SPV LLC (table begins PDF p. 40) — rows inherit the table's citation rather than carrying fifteen identical ones.
Ongoing fees
FDD Item 6Royalty
3%–6.5% of gross sales Disclosed
- Source
- 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Molly Maid SPV LLC
- Document
- FDD 2026, issued 2026-04-01
- Item
- Item 6 — Other Fees table — License Fee; Fees Chart, p. 37
- Page
- PDF p. 26
- Obtained
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search, file 640760
3 – 6 ½ % of Gross Sales except for "roll-in" sales. In addition, minimum license fees apply.
Called the License Fee and paid weekly by automatic debit. The rate is banded by calendar-year Gross Sales and resets each year: 6.5% on the first $500,000, 6% to $800,000, 5.5% to $1.2m, 5% to $1.6m, 4.5% to $2.0m, 4% to $2.4m, 3.5% to $2.8m and 3% above that. A new franchisee therefore starts at 6.5%. Minimum License Fees also apply from month 7: the fee is the greater of the percentage rate on actual sales or that rate applied to Minimum Gross Sales of $0.075 per Target Household weekly in months 7–12, $0.125 in months 13–24 and $0.15 from month 25. Reduced roll-in rates (3% or 2.5% in year 1) apply to franchisees merging an existing cleaning business into the franchise.
Brand advertising fund
2% of gross sales Disclosed
- Source
- 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Molly Maid SPV LLC
- Document
- FDD 2026, issued 2026-04-01
- Item
- Item 6 — Other Fees table — MAP Contribution
- Page
- PDF p. 26
- Obtained
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search, file 640760
Marketing and Advertising Program (MAP) Contribution, described as "the then-current fee" and currently 2% of Gross Sales per week per franchise agreement, collected weekly by automatic debit alongside the License Fee. The franchisor may change the rate.
Local marketing
Varies (see note) Disclosed
- Source
- 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Molly Maid SPV LLC
- Document
- FDD 2026, issued 2026-04-01
- Item
- Item 6 — Other Fees table — Local Marketing Requirement; Note 4
- Page
- PDF p. 26
- Obtained
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search, file 640760
A Minimum Local Marketing Spend of $1.00 per Target Household per year while weekly Gross Sales stay at or below $15,000.99, stepping down to $0.50 per TH above $15,001, $0.25 above $20,001 and $0.15 above $25,001 of weekly Gross Sales. Item 12 says a typical territory has 45,000–70,000 Target Households, so on our arithmetic the top rate is roughly $45,000–$70,000 of required local marketing a year, falling to about $6,750–$10,500 at the lowest rate. Recruitment advertising and vehicle decals do not count in the first year. If the franchisee underspends, the franchisor may collect the shortfall and spend it.
Core requirements shown separately; caps, credits and conditions may overlap. Check the full schedule for technology, cooperative, transfer and other charges.
View all recurring fees and conditions
| Royalty | 3%–6.5% of gross sales Disclosed
Called the License Fee and paid weekly by automatic debit. The rate is banded by calendar-year Gross Sales and resets each year: 6.5% on the first $500,000, 6% to $800,000, 5.5% to $1.2m, 5% to $1.6m, 4.5% to $2.0m, 4% to $2.4m, 3.5% to $2.8m and 3% above that. A new franchisee therefore starts at 6.5%. Minimum License Fees also apply from month 7: the fee is the greater of the percentage rate on actual sales or that rate applied to Minimum Gross Sales of $0.075 per Target Household weekly in months 7–12, $0.125 in months 13–24 and $0.15 from month 25. Reduced roll-in rates (3% or 2.5% in year 1) apply to franchisees merging an existing cleaning business into the franchise. Called the License Fee and paid weekly by automatic debit. The rate is banded by calendar-year Gross Sales and resets each year: 6.5% on the first $500,000, 6% to $800,000, 5.5% to $1.2m, 5% to $1.6m, 4.5% to $2.0m, 4% to $2.4m, 3.5% to $2.8m and 3% above that. A new franchisee therefore starts at 6.5%. Minimum License Fees also apply from month 7: the fee is the greater of the percentage rate on actual sales or that rate applied to Minimum Gross Sales of $0.075 per Target Household weekly in months 7–12, $0.125 in months 13–24 and $0.15 from month 25. Reduced roll-in rates (3% or 2.5% in year 1) apply to franchisees merging an existing cleaning business into the franchise. |
|---|---|
| Advertising / brand fund | 2% of gross sales Disclosed
Marketing and Advertising Program (MAP) Contribution, described as "the then-current fee" and currently 2% of Gross Sales per week per franchise agreement, collected weekly by automatic debit alongside the License Fee. The franchisor may change the rate. Marketing and Advertising Program (MAP) Contribution, described as "the then-current fee" and currently 2% of Gross Sales per week per franchise agreement, collected weekly by automatic debit alongside the License Fee. The franchisor may change the rate. |
| Required local marketing | Varies (see note) Disclosed
A Minimum Local Marketing Spend of $1.00 per Target Household per year while weekly Gross Sales stay at or below $15,000.99, stepping down to $0.50 per TH above $15,001, $0.25 above $20,001 and $0.15 above $25,001 of weekly Gross Sales. Item 12 says a typical territory has 45,000–70,000 Target Households, so on our arithmetic the top rate is roughly $45,000–$70,000 of required local marketing a year, falling to about $6,750–$10,500 at the lowest rate. Recruitment advertising and vehicle decals do not count in the first year. If the franchisee underspends, the franchisor may collect the shortfall and spend it. A Minimum Local Marketing Spend of $1.00 per Target Household per year while weekly Gross Sales stay at or below $15,000.99, stepping down to $0.50 per TH above $15,001, $0.25 above $20,001 and $0.15 above $25,001 of weekly Gross Sales. Item 12 says a typical territory has 45,000–70,000 Target Households, so on our arithmetic the top rate is roughly $45,000–$70,000 of required local marketing a year, falling to about $6,750–$10,500 at the lowest rate. Recruitment advertising and vehicle decals do not count in the first year. If the franchisee underspends, the franchisor may collect the shortfall and spend it. |
| Technology / software | $155/month Disclosed
The $155.45 monthly Technology Package fee is paid to affiliate ZorWare and covers financial reporting technology, FranConnect, the Neighborly Franchise Portal, the Customer Engagement Platform and two Office365 mailboxes. On top of it, the required Housecall Pro business-management licence is currently $405 per month paid directly to Codefield, Inc., so required software runs about $560 a month before options. Optional or additional items: QuickBooks Online through ZorWare $30–$220/month, extra Franchise Portal users $20–$40/month, extra mailboxes $5.50–$30/month, and a $25 monthly late fee. A $1,250 software enrollment fee is due at signing. The franchisor does not anticipate annual increases above 30% plus third-party vendor increases. The $155.45 monthly Technology Package fee is paid to affiliate ZorWare and covers financial reporting technology, FranConnect, the Neighborly Franchise Portal, the Customer Engagement Platform and two Office365 mailboxes. On top of it, the required Housecall Pro business-management licence is currently $405 per month paid directly to Codefield, Inc., so required software runs about $560 a month before options. Optional or additional items: QuickBooks Online through ZorWare $30–$220/month, extra Franchise Portal users $20–$40/month, extra mailboxes $5.50–$30/month, and a $25 monthly late fee. A $1,250 software enrollment fee is due at signing. The franchisor does not anticipate annual increases above 30% plus third-party vendor increases. |
| Advertising cooperative | 3% of gross sales Disclosed
Item 6 discloses a ceiling rather than a set rate. If the franchisor designates a local marketing group or advertising cooperative for a market, participation is mandatory, but contributions are set by the LMG's own members subject to franchisor approval and may not exceed 3% of Gross Sales. No currently required contribution level is stated. Amounts paid to an LMG count toward the Minimum Local Marketing Spend. Item 6 discloses a ceiling rather than a set rate. If the franchisor designates a local marketing group or advertising cooperative for a market, participation is mandatory, but contributions are set by the LMG's own members subject to franchisor approval and may not exceed 3% of Gross Sales. No currently required contribution level is stated. Amounts paid to an LMG count toward the Minimum Local Marketing Spend. |
| Transfer fee | $15,000 one-time Disclosed
$15,000 for a single franchise, plus $2,500 for each additional Molly Maid agreement transferred at the same time. If the assignee (or owners holding at least 51% of it) has $5 million or more in outside investments, the fee becomes the greater of those amounts or the franchisor's actual costs of approving and assisting the transfer. The transferee must also buy a Transfer Initial Package costing about $4,000, and a broker fee may apply. The franchisor may discount or waive the fee for a transfer to an entity the franchisee controls or to an immediate family member. $15,000 for a single franchise, plus $2,500 for each additional Molly Maid agreement transferred at the same time. If the assignee (or owners holding at least 51% of it) has $5 million or more in outside investments, the fee becomes the greater of those amounts or the franchisor's actual costs of approving and assisting the transfer. The transferee must also buy a Transfer Initial Package costing about $4,000, and a broker fee may apply. The franchisor may discount or waive the fee for a transfer to an entity the franchisee controls or to an immediate family member. |
| Renewal fee | $5,000 one-time Disclosed
Payable on signing the renewal franchise agreement. Initial fees are not charged again on renewal. Payable on signing the renewal franchise agreement. Initial fees are not charged again on renewal. |
| Royalty + ad fund (% of sales) | 5% Derived
|
Fee schedule (30 fees; 29 verified against the source, 1 single-pass)
Every recurring, conditional and one-time fee found in this FDD's Item 6 table (plus mandatory recurring costs disclosed in Items 7/11), each cited to its page and carrying its verification status: verified means two independent readings agreed or a tie-break re-inspection of the page decided it; single-pass means one reading captured it and it has not been independently confirmed (permitted only for fees that cannot move modeled economics — see the materiality rule). Amounts marked “not stated” are charged at then-current rates the FDD does not quantify and are never modeled as $0.
| Fee | Amount | Frequency | Mandatory | Verification | Cite | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| License Fee | Tiered (base 3%) | weekly | Yes | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 26 | Rate resets every calendar year based on that year's cumulative Gross Sales; a separate Minimum Gross Sales schedule (Standard: $0.075xTH months7-12, $0.125xTH months13-24, $0.15xTH month25+) sets a fee floor; reduced Roll-in rates apply for franchisees rolling in an existing book of business (2.5%-3% in Year 1). Weekly royalty on Gross Sales, banded and reset each calendar year per the Fees Chart (pdf p.37); minimum license fees also apply based on Target Households (see conditions). |
| MAP Contribution (national ad fund) | 2% of gross sales | weekly | Yes | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 26 | Marketing, Advertising and Promotion Fund contribution; franchisor may change the rate. |
| Minimum Local Marketing Spend | Tiered (base 1%) | annual | Yes | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 26 | Recruitment advertising and vehicle decal costs cannot count toward this spend during the franchisee's first year. Required franchisee-paid local marketing spend, not a fee to the franchisor. |
| Local Marketing Group (LMG) / advertising cooperative contribution | Not stated | varies | Conditional | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 26 | Applies only where the franchisor designates an advertising cooperative/LMG for the market; the FDD does not say any LMG currently exists. Pass A's shape kept (value null with range_high 3, matching how both passes encode the 'up to 3%' key-accounts fee), plus Pass B's explicit maximum object and its more accurate model_treatment. Item 11 (PDF p. 61) adds that company- or affiliate-owned outlets in the market contribute on the same terms. |
| Software System Fees – Technology Package | $155 | monthly | Yes | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 27 | Covers financial reporting technology, FranConnect, Neighborly Franchise Portal, Customer Engagement Platform, and two Office365 mailboxes; paid to affiliate ZorWare; may increase up to ~30%/yr per the FDD's own non-binding estimate. |
| Housecall Pro business-management software license | $405 | monthly | Yes | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 36 | Required business-management software; paid directly to third-party Codefield, Inc., separate from the ZorWare Technology Package fee. Disclosed in Item 6 Note 5. |
| Additional Office365 email accounts | Tiered (base 5.5%) | monthly | No | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 27 | Only for mailboxes beyond the two included in the Technology Package; scales with office headcount. Pass A's tiers retained because the FDD enumerates three fixed per-account prices; Pass B's per-mailbox basis retained because the charge scales with the number of accounts, not a flat sum. |
| Additional Franchise Portal user accounts | $20–$40 | monthly | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 27 | Optional additional user seats. |
| QuickBooks Online licence (through ZorWare) | $30–$220 | monthly | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 27 | QuickBooks Online itself is required ('you must license QuickBooks Online'); this price range applies only if it is obtained through the franchisor's affiliate ZorWare rather than directly from Intuit, in which case Intuit list pricing applies. Payroll and W-2 add-ons cost extra. Internal inconsistency: Item 11 (PDF p. 57) states the same ZorWare QuickBooks charge as '$30-$200 per month', $20 below Item 6's $220 ceiling. Item 6 controls here as the fee table; Pass A cited this cross-reference at p. 47, which is the wrong page. |
| Late Fees (on Software System Fees) | $25 | monthly | No | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 28 | Only if Software System Fees are unpaid more than 30 days after the invoice date; due date column reads 'As incurred'. |
| Call Center Program fee | $250–$450 | monthly | Yes | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 28 | Mandatory participation for rollover/after-hours/weekend customer calls; paid to affiliate Neighborly Service Solutions SPV LLC. |
| Reunion / Regional Meetings registration fee | $1,000 | annual | Yes | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 29 | Attendance at the annual Reunion is mandatory; a franchisee who does not attend/participate may instead be debited up to $2,000 pro-rata by days missed. Does not include the franchisee's own travel, lodging or most meals. |
| Renewal Fee | $5,000 | one time | Conditional | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 30 | One-time fee paid only at renewal, not an annual recurring charge. |
| Transfer Fee | Tiered (base $15,000) | one time | No | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 30 | Due before the transfer. If the Assignee entity (or owners collectively holding 51%+) has at least $5 million in outside investments, the fee is the greater of the scheduled amount or the franchisor's transfer-approval costs including attorney, banker and broker fees. May be discounted or waived for a transfer to a controlled entity or an immediate family member. Transfer initial package costs are payable separately per supplier's terms. A separate $14,900 Training Fee under a Buyer Commitment Agreement can apply if the buyer trains before closing (PDF p. 34). |
| Interest on unpaid balances | 12% of other | varies | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 31 | Only accrues on amounts not paid when due. |
| Late Fee (Franchise Agreement) | $10 | varies | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 31 | |
| Audit cost reimbursement | Not stated | per event | No | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 31 | Payable only if an audit finds an understatement of Gross Sales of 2% or more, or if requested information is not provided within 30 days; billed when incurred. A 2% understatement is also a non-curable default under Item 17. |
| Audit Noncompliance Fee | $500 | per event | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 32 | |
| Indemnification and Attorneys' Fees and Costs | Not stated | varies | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 32 | Contingent legal-cost reimbursement, not a routine fee. |
| Territory Violation penalty | 50%–100% of other | per event | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 32 | Only applies if franchisee services a customer inside another franchisee's territory without consent. |
| Amendment Fee | $300 | per event | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 32 | |
| Tax Reimbursement | Not stated | varies | Conditional | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 33 | Pass-through gross-up for taxes triggered by required payments to the franchisor; not a distinct economic cost beyond the underlying tax. |
| Dishonored Check or ACH Draft fee | $50 | per event | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 33 | |
| Additional Training Fee | $100 | per event | No | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 33 | Charged if you request training in addition to the initial training program; due date column reads 'On hiring'. The franchisor does not anticipate raising fees of this kind by more than 30% annually. |
| Key Accounts / Management Fee | Not stated | varies | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 34 | Only applies if the franchisee participates in the franchisor's Key Accounts program. |
| Training Fee as part of Buyer Commitment Agreement | $14,900 | one time | No | single-pass | Item 6, p. 34 | [Listed by one verification pass only (A); not independently confirmed.] One-time, transfer-specific fee; equals the standard Initial Franchise Fee amount. |
| Paradox ATS (applicant tracking system) fee | $703 | annual | No | verified (tie-break) | Item 11, p. 58 | Optional third-party system; you may opt out of using Paradox at any time. Franchisor does not anticipate increasing the fee by more than 30% annually plus vendor price increases. Disclosed in Item 11, not in the Item 6 Other Fees table. |
| Minimum License Fee (Minimum Gross Sales) | Not stated | weekly | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 37 | Bites whenever actual Gross Sales fall below the deemed Minimum Gross Sales — the franchisee pays the greater of the two. A separate Small Roll-in schedule applies to roll-in franchisees. Missing the minimum for 26 weeks in a rolling 12 months forces an Improvement Action Plan and can lead to Territory reduction or termination. Item 6 also flags it in the License Fee row ('In addition, minimum license fees apply'), and the cover page carries the corresponding 'Mandatory Minimum Payments' special risk. |
| Required insurance | Not stated | annual | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 7, p. 40 | Mandatory for the life of the franchise. Not in Item 6 because it is not payable to the franchisor or its designee, but it is a mandatory recurring operating cost. Pass B cited p. 39; the line is on PDF p. 40. |
| Marketing/service vehicles (minimum two) | Not stated | monthly | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 7, p. 41 | Mandatory from opening; lease or purchase at the franchisee's election. Recurring obligation captured here because Item 6 does not list it (it is not payable to the franchisor). |
Recurring payments to the franchisor and its affiliates are the weekly License Fee (3–6.5% banded by annual Gross Sales, subject to per-Target-Household minimums), the 2% MAP contribution, the ZorWare Technology Package and call-center fees. Separately, the franchisee must spend a required amount on local marketing that is denominated per Target Household rather than as a percentage of sales, which makes it a large fixed-style cost for a new territory. Item 6 also lists penalty and administrative charges: audit costs plus a $500-per-document audit non-compliance fee capped at $2,500 per audit, a $300 amendment fee, territory-violation penalties of 50% (first intentional violation) then 100% of the cumulative revenue from a wrongfully serviced customer, and a $14,900 training fee if a buyer trains before a transfer closes.
Financial performance (Item 19)
What the franchisor actually disclosedWho is represented: Calendar year 2025 data reported by 188 "Reporting Franchisees" (franchise owners) operating 402 franchised businesses that were open and reporting sales for the whole year. Of the 432 U.S. outlets open at December 31, 2025, the tables exclude 6 that opened during the year, 22 that changed hands during the year and 2 that did not report reliable data; the 21 businesses that closed during 2025 are also excluded. No company-owned outlets exist. Statistics in Parts II–IV are computed per Reporting Franchisee, not per outlet, so an owner holding several territories counts once.
Qualifications: This Item 19 contains no revenue-per-outlet figure and no cost, margin or profit data of any kind. Its central measure, Gross Sales per Target Household, cannot be converted into a dollar sales figure without knowing a specific territory's Target Household count, which is set by the franchisor before signing. Parts II–IV are computed per franchise owner rather than per outlet, and 30 of the 432 outlets open at year end are excluded (6 newly opened, 22 transferred, 2 with unreliable data), as are the 21 outlets that closed during 2025. Figures come from franchisee reports through the franchisor's software system, are not required to follow GAAP, and are not audited. Part I's systemwide sales chart carries no data labels, so no systemwide dollar total is legible in the document. The Part II and Part III tables are embedded as images in the PDF and were read by OCR; the Part II numbers reconcile internally (group counts total 188 and the group ranges abut correctly), which supports their accuracy but they have not been human-verified.
View full Item 19 disclosure and tables
Molly Maid does make a financial performance representation, but not the kind most buyers expect. It reports no average or median gross sales per outlet and no profit data. The main table expresses 2025 performance as Gross Sales per Target Household: across all 188 reporting owners the average was $21.65 per Target Household and the median $18.77, with individual owners ranging from $2.71 to $99.84. Because a typical territory is disclosed elsewhere in the document as 45,000 to 70,000 Target Households, the figure is a rate that has to be multiplied by a specific territory's household count to mean anything in dollars, and the franchisor sets that count. A second table shows that 90% of cleanings on average went to recurring customers, and a third shows that 89% of reporting owners grew Gross Sales from 2024 to 2025, with about 44% growing more than 10% and one owner declining more than 10%. Nothing in Item 19 addresses labour cost, vehicle cost, marketing spend or owner earnings.
| Metric | Subset | Value | Units | Period | Cite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross Sales per Target Household — all Reporting Franchisees 39% of units met or exceeded Dollars of annual Gross Sales per Target Household. 72 of 188 Reporting Franchisees (39%) attained this average or more. Statistic is the average of each franchisee's own average Gross Sales per TH. | All Reporting Franchisees (100%) Average | 21.65 | 188 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — all Reporting Franchisees Dollars of annual Gross Sales per Target Household. | All Reporting Franchisees (100%) Median | 18.77 | 188 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — highest single Reporting Franchisee Dollars of annual Gross Sales per Target Household. | All Reporting Franchisees (100%) High | 99.84 | 188 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — lowest single Reporting Franchisee Dollars of annual Gross Sales per Target Household. | All Reporting Franchisees (100%) Low | 2.71 | 188 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — top 10% of Reporting Franchisees 42% of units met or exceeded Group range $37.84–$99.84 per TH; 8 of 19 attained the group average or more. The top 10% group is reported separately from, and above, the 1st quartile group. | Top 10% Average | 49.92 | 19 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — top 10% of Reporting Franchisees | Top 10% Median | 44.78 | 19 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — 1st quartile of Reporting Franchisees 50% of units met or exceeded Group range $24.66–$36.69 per TH; 19 of 38 attained the group average or more. | 1st quartile (excludes the top 10%) Quartile avg. | 30.39 | 38 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — 1st quartile of Reporting Franchisees | 1st quartile (excludes the top 10%) Quartile median | 30.68 | 38 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — 2nd quartile of Reporting Franchisees 43% of units met or exceeded Group range $18.77–$23.66 per TH; 16 of 38 attained the group average or more. | 2nd quartile Quartile avg. | 21.13 | 38 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — 2nd quartile of Reporting Franchisees | 2nd quartile Quartile median | 20.71 | 38 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — 3rd quartile of Reporting Franchisees 51% of units met or exceeded Group range $14.43–$18.73 per TH; 19 of 37 attained the group average or more. | 3rd quartile Quartile avg. | 16.59 | 37 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — 3rd quartile of Reporting Franchisees | 3rd quartile Quartile median | 16.61 | 37 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — 4th quartile of Reporting Franchisees 49% of units met or exceeded Group range $9.17–$14.18 per TH; 18 of 37 attained the group average or more. | 4th quartile (excludes the bottom 10%) Quartile avg. | 11.15 | 37 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — 4th quartile of Reporting Franchisees | 4th quartile (excludes the bottom 10%) Quartile median | 11.11 | 37 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — bottom 10% of Reporting Franchisees 53% of units met or exceeded Group range $2.71–$9.16 per TH; 10 of 19 attained the group average or more. | Bottom 10% Average | 7.23 | 19 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Gross Sales per Target Household — bottom 10% of Reporting Franchisees | Bottom 10% Median | 7.28 | 19 | CY2025 | FDD p.77 |
| Share of cleanings performed for recurring customers 61% of units met or exceeded A recurring customer is one given at least two cleanings during 2025. 114 of 188 Reporting Franchisees were at or above the average. | All Reporting Franchisees Average | 90% | 188 | CY2025 | FDD p.78 |
| Share of cleanings performed for recurring customers | All Reporting Franchisees Median | 91% | 188 | CY2025 | FDD p.78 |
| Share of cleanings performed for occasional customers 39% of units met or exceeded 74 of 188 Reporting Franchisees were at or above the average. | All Reporting Franchisees Average | 10% | 188 | CY2025 | FDD p.78 |
| Share of cleanings performed for occasional customers | All Reporting Franchisees Median | 9% | 188 | CY2025 | FDD p.78 |
| Reporting Franchisees with 2024-to-2025 Gross Sales growth above 20% 19 of 188 Reporting Franchisees, operating the same 402 businesses in both years. | Same-business Reporting Franchisees % of units | 10.11% | 188 | 2024 vs 2025 | FDD p.78 |
| Reporting Franchisees with 2024-to-2025 Gross Sales growth above 10% and up to 20% 64 of 188 Reporting Franchisees. | Same-business Reporting Franchisees % of units | 34.04% | 188 | 2024 vs 2025 | FDD p.78 |
| Reporting Franchisees with 2024-to-2025 Gross Sales growth above 5% and up to 10% 51 of 188 Reporting Franchisees. | Same-business Reporting Franchisees % of units | 27.13% | 188 | 2024 vs 2025 | FDD p.78 |
| Reporting Franchisees with 2024-to-2025 Gross Sales growth above 0% and up to 5% 33 of 188 Reporting Franchisees. | Same-business Reporting Franchisees % of units | 17.55% | 188 | 2024 vs 2025 | FDD p.78 |
| Reporting Franchisees with 2024-to-2025 Gross Sales decline above 0% and up to 5% 16 of 188 Reporting Franchisees. | Same-business Reporting Franchisees % of units | 8.51% | 188 | 2024 vs 2025 | FDD p.78 |
| Reporting Franchisees with 2024-to-2025 Gross Sales decline above 5% and up to 10% 4 of 188 Reporting Franchisees. | Same-business Reporting Franchisees % of units | 2.13% | 188 | 2024 vs 2025 | FDD p.78 |
| Reporting Franchisees with 2024-to-2025 Gross Sales decline above 10% and up to 20% 1 of 188 Reporting Franchisees. | Same-business Reporting Franchisees % of units | 0.53% | 188 | 2024 vs 2025 | FDD p.78 |
| Reporting Franchisees with 2024-to-2025 Gross Sales decline above 20% 0 of 188 Reporting Franchisees. | Same-business Reporting Franchisees % of units | 0% | 188 | 2024 vs 2025 | FDD p.78 |
System health (Item 20)
Outlets, openings, exits and transfers by fiscal year · U.S. onlyView detailed Item 20 tables and source notes
| Fiscal year | Start | Opened | Terminated | Not renewed | Reacquired | Ceased — other | End | Transfers | Company-owned (end) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 481 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 464 | 15 | 0 |
| 2024 | 464 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 448 | 13 | 0 |
| 2025 | 448 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 432 | 20 | 0 |
Disclosed 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Molly Maid SPV LLC, Item 20, Tables 1–3 (PDF p. 79). The system shrank in each disclosed year: 481 franchised outlets at the start of 2023 to 432 at the end of 2025, a net loss of 49, with no company-owned outlets at any point. Openings ran 7, 9 and 5. Almost all attrition sits in the "ceased operations — other reasons" column (22, 17 and 20), which Note 4 defines broadly to include abandonment after opening, outlets sold or transferred to an existing franchisee or one in another state, and outlets whose agreement ended with the territory folded into another franchise — so it mixes true closures with consolidations. Terminations were 2, 6 and 1; non-renewals 0, 2 and 0; no reacquisitions. Transfers ran 15, 13 and 20. All tables foot to their stated year-end totals. Michigan (23 to 17) and Puerto Rico (6 to 2) show the largest single-state contractions.
Source data notes (11) — inconsistencies found in the FDD itself during verification
Our verification re-reads every table. Where the FDD's own printed tables disagree, we document the discrepancy rather than silently "fixing" it. Classes: B = arithmetic error in the source's derived column; C = the printed tables genuinely disagree; D = a legitimate definitional difference (e.g., transfers netted, explained by a footnote); E = unresolved ambiguity. Figures a material C/E issue puts in doubt are excluded from our derived metrics, scores and rankings.
- [D/minor] Table No. 2 vs Table No. 3: Note 4 to Table No. 3 puts outlets 'sold and/or transferred to an existing franchisee or a franchisee in another state' in 'Ceased Operation For Other Reason', while Table No. 2 separately reports transfers to new owners (15 in 2023, 13 in 2024, 20 in 2025). The tables are not additive, so transfers can be double counted or mis-netted if combined. — Legitimate definitional difference, explained by the printed footnote. Table No. 2 counts only transfers 'From Franchisees to New Owners (Other Than Franchisor or an Affiliate)' (p. 81); Table No. 3 Note 4 says sales to an existing franchisee sit in the ceased-other column (p. 85). Both TOTAL rows foot and Table 1 corroborates the unit counts, so no total is in doubt — only never sum the two columns.
- [D/minor] Tables No. 1-5: Pass B reports that all Item 20 tables foot: Table 3 TOTAL rows balance for each year, state rows sum to the TOTAL rows, Table 2 state rows sum to 15/13/20 and Table 5 rows sum to 3 and 8. — No discrepancy — confirmed against the printed TOTAL rows on PDF p. 85: 2023 481+7-2-0-0-22=464, 2024 464+9-6-2-0-17=448, 2025 448+5-1-0-0-20=432. Table 2 TOTALS 15/13/20 (p. 81) and Table 5 totals 3 and 8 (p. 86) also match as printed.
- [D/minor] Table No. 1 vs Table No. 3 and Table No. 4: Table 1 and Table 3 agree on franchised outlets (481->464, 464->448, 448->432); Table 1 and Table 4 both show zero company-owned outlets in all three years, consistent with Item 1. — No discrepancy — verified on PDF p. 79 (Table 1) and p. 85 (Table 3 TOTAL rows) and p. 86 (Table 4, all zeros). Start-of-year figures carry forward cleanly, so the site's unit and growth metrics rest on corroborated totals.
- [C/minor] Table No. 3 vs Item 19 2025: Item 19 says 6 businesses opened during the 2025 Reporting Period and were excluded from the data set, but Table No. 3 reports only 5 outlets opened in 2025. — The two statements genuinely disagree by one outlet. Item 19 (p. 75): 'The tables in this Item 19 do not include data from (a) 6 businesses that opened during the Reporting Period'. Table No. 3 TOTAL (p. 85): '2025 448 5 1 0 0 20 432'. Table 3's 5 is the corroborated figure — 448+5-21=432 reconciles to Table 1's year-end 432, whereas 6 openings would give 433. Note 1 to Table 3 (signed-but-unopened outlets excluded; post-transfer re-openings included) does not close the gap. One outlet is 0.22% of the 448 start-of-year franchised units, below the 0.5% threshold, and the direction of growth is unchanged (-16 either way), so the TOTAL rows the site uses stand.
- [D/minor] Table No. 2 vs Item 19 2025: Item 19 excludes '22 businesses that underwent a transfer during the Reporting Period' while Table No. 2 reports 20 transfers for 2025. — Definitional, not an error: Table No. 2 counts only transfers to NEW owners, and Note 4 to Table No. 3 (p. 85) puts businesses sold to an existing franchisee or a franchisee in another state in the ceased-other column instead. Item 19's 22 counts any business that changed hands, so it is the broader population; the 2-outlet gap is exactly the kind of overlap the FDD never quantifies. Table 2's printed TOTAL of 20 foots to its state rows (p. 81) and is what the site should use.
- [D/minor] Table No. 3 vs Item 19 2025: Item 19 says 21 businesses closed during the Reporting Period, which Pass B reconciles to Table 3's 1 termination plus 20 ceased-for-other-reasons. — No discrepancy — confirmed: Item 19 (p. 76) '21 businesses closed during the Reporting Period'; Table No. 3 TOTAL 2025 (p. 85) shows 1 termination + 20 ceased-other = 21. Closure and attrition metrics are corroborated across items.
- [D/minor] Table No. 3, Note 4: 'Ceased operations - other reasons' is a catch-all that also captures outlets sold or transferred to an existing franchisee and territories absorbed after a termination. It is by far the largest exit column (22, 17, 20 versus 2, 6, 1 terminations), so headline attrition overstates genuine failures and overlaps Table 2's transfers by an amount the FDD never quantifies. — Legitimate table-definition point, stated in the printed Note 4 (p. 85) and confirmed against the TOTAL rows. The totals themselves are corroborated by Table 1, so the units and growth figures stand; the caveat belongs in editorial copy wherever attrition or 'closures' is presented, which should not be read as business failures.
- [D/minor] Table No. 1 / Table No. 3 / Table No. 5: The system shrank in each disclosed year (-17, -16, -16; 481 to 432, a 10.2% decline) while gross openings went 7, 9, 5. Table 5 projects 8 new franchised outlets with only 3 agreements signed but not open, so a fourth year of net decline looks likely. — No data discrepancy — an accurate reading of corroborated totals (Table 1 p. 79; Table 3 TOTAL rows p. 85; Table 5 p. 86 totals 3 signed-not-open and 8 projected). Recorded so the growth narrative is not mistaken for a table problem.
- [D/minor] Table No. 3 / Table No. 4: Reacquisitions by the franchisor are zero in all three years and Table 4 is entirely zeros. — No discrepancy — the reacquired-by-franchisor column is 0 in every TOTAL row (p. 85) and Table 4 is all zeros (p. 86), consistent with Item 1's statement that the franchisor operates no outlets.
- [D/minor] Table No. 3 state rows: Exits are concentrated: Puerto Rico fell 6 to 2 in 2024 (4 ceased-other), Michigan lost 6 outlets in 2025, Illinois declined every year (32->22), Kentucky's 3 terminations in 2024 were half of that year's system-wide terminations, and Maryland's 2 non-renewals in 2024 are the only non-renewals in the window. — No discrepancy — state-row observation, not a footing problem. The PR 6->2 drop with 4 ceased-other is visible on the same page as the TOTAL rows (p. 85), and the 2024 TOTAL row confirms 6 terminations and 2 non-renewals system-wide, so the Kentucky and Maryland shares are consistent with the printed totals.
- [D/minor] Item 20, Note 4: Note 4 discloses that some current and former franchisees signed provisions restricting their ability to speak openly about their Molly Maid experience. — Not a data discrepancy — a disclosure note (p. 86-87) with no effect on any table. Relevant only as a caveat when validating Exhibit E/F reference calls; no derived metric changes.
Company-owned outlets (Table 4)
| Year | Start | Opened | Reacquired from franchisee | Closed | Sold to franchisee | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Read: How to read Item 20.
Ownership and operations
Items 11, 12, 15, 17Owner-operator required Disclosed
- Source
- 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Molly Maid SPV LLC
- Document
- FDD 2026, issued 2026-04-01
- Item
- Item 15
- Page
- PDF p. 69
- Obtained
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search, file 640760
If you are an individual, you must directly perform or supervise the operation of the Business unless we consent otherwise.
Item 15 makes personal involvement the default: an individual franchisee must directly perform or supervise the operation of the business unless the franchisor consents otherwise, and an entity franchisee must provide direct, on-site supervision by a designated owner who has completed training. The franchisor may instead consent to a bona fide manager who has completed Sure Start Phase I, Sure Start Phase II and franchise owner training centre training; that manager need not hold equity. A private-equity owner may use a managing principal on the same basis. Item 1 notes the owner does not personally do the cleaning — employees do — so the role is management rather than fieldwork.
View operating requirements, territory and contract term
| Owner involvement (Item 15) | Owner-operator required Disclosed
Item 15 makes personal involvement the default: an individual franchisee must directly perform or supervise the operation of the business unless the franchisor consents otherwise, and an entity franchisee must provide direct, on-site supervision by a designated owner who has completed training. The franchisor may instead consent to a bona fide manager who has completed Sure Start Phase I, Sure Start Phase II and franchise owner training centre training; that manager need not hold equity. A private-equity owner may use a managing principal on the same basis. Item 1 notes the owner does not personally do the cleaning — employees do — so the role is management rather than fieldwork. Item 15 makes personal involvement the default: an individual franchisee must directly perform or supervise the operation of the business unless the franchisor consents otherwise, and an entity franchisee must provide direct, on-site supervision by a designated owner who has completed training. The franchisor may instead consent to a bona fide manager who has completed Sure Start Phase I, Sure Start Phase II and franchise owner training centre training; that manager need not hold equity. A private-equity owner may use a managing principal on the same basis. Item 1 notes the owner does not personally do the cleaning — employees do — so the role is management rather than fieldwork. |
|---|---|
| Initial training | The Initial Training Program must be completed within three months of signing and before opening. It opens with "Sure Start", a fifteen-to-seventeen-week programme of pre-opening and post-opening work. Phase I is 61 hours of virtual study covering Molly Maid systems, QuickBooks Online, marketing, vendors, ProTradeNet and a pre-training week. Phase II is 112 hours: a 72-hour business training week at the franchisor's Waco or Irving, Texas offices (which may be delivered virtually, and is scheduled for three days on site) plus 40 hours of hands-on training at an existing franchise owner's office, running five days. The franchisee, or the principal owners of an entity franchisee, must attend; extra staff may attend on a space-available basis for a fee. Travel, food and lodging are the franchisee's cost and are budgeted at $4,000–$5,000 in Item 7. Phase II runs about 11 times a year. Attendance at the annual Reunion is mandatory thereafter. Disclosed
|
| Multi-unit / development options | There is no right to additional units. The franchisor may permit an existing franchisee to open another Molly Maid business only if it meets then-current Expansion Criteria, which the franchisor alone judges and can change; the stated factors are system compliance, operational performance, leadership and team development, financial stability, capacity to expand, and limits on how many businesses one franchisee may own. There is generally no right of first refusal on additional territory. Incentives exist for those who qualify: the $14,900 Initial Franchise Fee is waived for a contiguous additional territory bought by a compliant existing franchisee, and a Multi-Unit Franchisee Discount cuts the Territory Fee by 5% to 20% depending on tenure of two to five-plus years. A private-equity buyer meeting the franchisor's qualifications may sign a PE Addendum covering multiple franchises. Minimum Performance Standards apply separately to each business owned. Disclosed
|
| Territory (Item 12) | The territory is not exclusive. It is defined by U.S. zip codes and sized in "Target Households": each household in the zip codes scores one point, an extra point for household income of $100,000 or more, further points possible on other demographic factors, and the point total times 0.15 gives the Target Household count. A typical territory is about 45,000 to 70,000 Target Households, priced at $1.10 each. Protection is limited: while the franchisee is in full compliance the franchisor will not operate or grant another Molly Maid franchise with rights to market in the territory, but it reserves the right to serve Key Accounts there, to let other Neighborly-affiliated brands operate there, and to use different trademarks or channels. The franchisee may not advertise for or solicit customers outside the territory. Territory rights are conditional on Minimum Performance Standards — weekly Minimum Gross Sales and a Net Promoter Score no more than 20 points below the system average — and failure can lead to an improvement plan and then reduction of the territory without compensation, or termination. Disclosed
|
| Initial term | 10 years Disclosed
|
| Renewal | One additional 10-year renewal term, after which there is no further right of renewal — any continuation would be a new agreement on then-current terms. To renew, the franchisee must not be in default, must have met all monetary and material obligations on time, must have received no written default notice in the prior 12 months and no more than two during the whole term even if cured, must not have missed the Minimum Performance Standards in any two calendar years, must give 180 to 240 days' written notice, must sign a general release, must pay a $5,000 renewal fee, must complete then-current training, and must sign the then-current franchise agreement, whose fees and terms may be materially different. Holding over after expiry without a new agreement raises the License Fee to 10% of Gross Sales with no reductions. Disclosed
|
| Staffing | Item 1 states the franchise owner does not perform the cleaning work and must employ qualified, experienced people to do it. Item 7 requires the business to begin with at least two branded marketing/service vehicles — one for in-home estimates and one for the cleaning team — with more added as the business grows, and budgets $50,000–$60,000 of additional funds for the first three months covering operations and customer-service payroll, marketing, fuel and general expenses but no owner salary or draw. The FDD gives no headcount, no shift pattern and no hours of operation for a typical unit. Disclosed
|
Risk and legal observations
Items 3, 4, 8, 15, 17 — summarized neutrallyLitigation: 2 matter(s) disclosed Disclosed · Bankruptcy: Disclosure present Disclosed
View legal disclosures, restrictions and guarantees
| Litigation (Item 3) | 2 matter(s) disclosed Disclosed Two matters are disclosed, both regulatory rather than franchisee disputes, and both concluded. In 2010 the franchisor's predecessor, Molly Maid, Inc., entered a consent judgment with the district attorney for Kansas's 18th Judicial District over alleged Kansas Consumer Protection Act violations arising from one franchisee's inability to document employee background checks and from gift-certificate sales after that franchise was terminated. The predecessor denied any violation, paid a $25,000 civil penalty plus $25,175 in investigation costs, and the judgment was marked satisfied in April 2011. Separately, in 2017 a predecessor of affiliate Window Genie and its then-president entered a consent order with California's Commissioner of Business Oversight over failing to file two franchise advertisements with the Commissioner before circulating them to California residents in 2013; a $5,000 administrative penalty was paid and remedial franchise-law training completed. No franchisee-initiated litigation and no litigation against the current franchisor is disclosed. |
|---|---|
| Bankruptcy (Item 4) | Disclosure present Disclosed Six proceedings are disclosed, none involving the franchisor, its predecessor or its management. All concern portfolio companies controlled by KKR, the franchisor's ultimate indirect owner, at the time of filing: Marelli Holdings (Chapter 11, June 2025), The Collected Group (prepackaged Chapter 11 in 2021, emerged May 2021), Envision Healthcare (Chapter 11 in 2023, emerged November 2023), Genesis Care (Chapter 11 in 2023, emerged February 2024), IPI Legacy Liquidation Co., formerly Impel Pharmaceuticals (Chapter 11 in 2023, emerged April 2024), and Café Coffee Day in India, whose 2024 insolvency order was set aside on appeal in February 2025. |
| Personal guaranty | Required Disclosed
If the franchisee is a corporation or other entity, its principal shareholders, members or owners must sign a Guaranty (Schedule C to the Franchise Agreement) agreeing to pay and perform all obligations under the agreement. If the franchisor finances any part of the initial fees, it may require a spouse's personal guaranty, and the cover pages carry a state-required spousal liability risk factor warning that a non-owner spouse's marital and personal assets may be at risk. A private-equity owner may be allowed to substitute a corporate guarantee or letter of credit. |
| Non-compete | During the term, the franchisee — together with guarantors and entity owners, or with a spouse, children, parents and siblings if the franchisee is an individual — may not be involved in a "Competitive Business", defined very broadly as any business offering a product or service that forms part of the system, is similar to anything Molly Maid franchisees offer, or otherwise competes directly or indirectly with the system. Item 15 separately bars any interest or relationship with a competitor while the franchisee owns the business. After termination or expiry, the restriction runs for 2 years and covers the franchisee's own territory, a 25-mile radius beyond its outer boundary, and the territory of any other Molly Maid business. An existing cleaning-adjacent business owned at signing can be carved out only if the franchisor consents and it is listed on an Excluded Services Addendum. Disclosed
|
| Transfer restrictions | The franchisor must approve any transfer but says it will not unreasonably withhold approval. "Transfer" is defined broadly and captures any 20% or more change in direct or indirect ownership of the franchisee entity, as well as sales, leases, pledges, management agreements, gifts and bequests. Conditions include: no existing default; all amounts owed to the franchisor, its affiliates and suppliers paid; all reports filed; the buyer qualifying and arranging training; releases signed by the franchisee, its owners and guarantors; the transfer fee paid; the buyer signing the then-current franchise agreement and assuming outstanding customer, warranty and service-plan obligations. The franchisor holds a right of first refusal to buy the business on the same price and terms as a third-party offer. On death or disability the personal representative has 120 days to tender the right of first refusal, seek consent and pay the fee, though neither the right of first refusal nor the fee applies to a transfer to a spouse or child. The franchisor may assign the franchise agreement to any third party without notice or consent. Disclosed
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| Termination / non-renewal | The franchisor cannot terminate without cause, and cause means franchisee default. Cure periods are short: 10 days for unpaid amounts or missing reports, 30 days for most other breaches, subject to state law. Non-curable defaults allowing immediate termination include material misrepresentation in the application, abandonment (including not operating for seven consecutive days), insolvency, a felony conviction, intentional understatement of Gross Sales, a repeated 2% audit variance within two years, unapproved transfer, any second default of any type within 12 months even if cured, and three defaults within 24 months even if cured. Separately, missing weekly Minimum Gross Sales for 26 weeks in a rolling 12 months, or the customer-satisfaction standard, forces an Improvement Action Plan; failing it is a default that can end in the territory being cut without compensation or the agreement terminated. The franchisee may terminate only for the franchisor's uncured material breach, on 30 days' notice, effective 60 days later. On termination the franchisee must de-identify and hand over customer lists, phone numbers, websites, social accounts, domains and, on demand, the lease. Disclosed
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| Supplier restrictions (Item 8) | The franchisor may designate approved or single-source suppliers, and may itself or through affiliates be that source; alternative suppliers require approval under its procedures. Mandatory items and services include the Initial Startup Package from designated vendors, Housecall Pro business-management software from Codefield, the ZorWare Technology Package, QuickBooks Online from Intuit or ZorWare, approved program vehicles meeting its specifications, insurance to its specifications, telephone numbers and electronic identities owned or controlled by the franchisor, and participation in the affiliate-run call centre program. Franchisees must also sign the ProTradeNet buying-group agreement, under which ProTradeNet typically retains 25% of supplier rebates, pays 25% to the franchisor and 50% to the franchisee. For the year ended December 31, 2025 the franchisor reported $110,402 of revenue from franchisee purchases, about 0.43% of its total revenues of $25,767,387; affiliates reported $427,387 (ZorWare), $67,492 (ProTradeNet) and $7,750 (call centre). The franchisor states the technology and call-centre fees include a mark-up above its affiliate's direct costs. Disclosed
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| Dispute resolution | Most disputes must first go to mediation. If mediation fails, most disputes are resolved by litigation rather than arbitration, subject to state law; arbitration applies only if a court invalidates the jury waiver or the class action waiver. Venue for mediation, arbitration and litigation is McLennan County, Texas, and Texas law governs, in each case unless state law supersedes. The cover pages carry a state-required risk factor noting that out-of-state dispute resolution may cost more and may push a franchisee toward a less favourable settlement. Disclosed
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- Minimum License Fees mean the franchisee owes a royalty based on Minimum Gross Sales ($0.075 per Target Household weekly in months 7–12, rising to $0.15 from month 25) regardless of actual sales; the cover pages carry a state-required Mandatory Minimum Payments risk factor.
- Sales performance is contractual: missing weekly Minimum Gross Sales for 26 weeks in a rolling 12 months, or falling more than 20 points below the system average Net Promoter Score, triggers an Improvement Action Plan and can end in territory reduction without compensation or termination.
- The territory is expressly non-exclusive, and the franchisor reserves rights to serve Key Accounts inside it and to let affiliated Neighborly brands compete there.
- The required local marketing spend is denominated per Target Household rather than as a percentage of sales, so it does not fall when sales are weak — it falls only as weekly sales rise past defined thresholds.
- Item 20 Note 4 discloses that some current and former franchisees signed provisions restricting their ability to speak openly about their Molly Maid experience, which limits reference checking.
- The system contracted in each of the last three disclosed years, from 481 to 432 franchised outlets, with no company-owned outlets to absorb closures.
- The franchisor may assign the franchise agreement to any third party without notice to or consent from the franchisee.
- Item 6 discloses that the technology and call-centre fees paid to affiliates include a mark-up exceeding the affiliate's direct costs, from which the franchisor or affiliate may profit.
Summaries are neutral paraphrases of the cited document and are not legal advice. Read the full Items in the current FDD and consult a franchise attorney.
Illustrative unit economics
Not disclosedNo model is offered for Molly Maid because no annual average unit sales disclosed in Item 19. We do not manufacture estimates where the disclosure does not support them.
Sources and provenance
Primary source: 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Molly Maid SPV LLC · issued 2026-04-01. Find the FDD at Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search. We cite source pages and do not redistribute PDFs.
View all sources, provenance and verification notes
| Document | Obtained from | Dates | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Molly Maid SPV LLC Registry file 640760 · 390 pages Cover reads "Issuance Date: April 1, 2026"; running footer reads "MOLLY MAID – 2026 FDD". Wisconsin registration effective 4/2/2026, status Registered. This is the newest document available in the registry. | Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search | Issued 2026-04-01 Retrieved 2026-08-29 | Newest available at retrieval |
AI-assisted extraction from the archived FDD text, independently machine-verified against the cited source (two passes plus tie-break); not human-reviewed. Extracted 2026-08-29. Last updated 2026-09-05. AI-assisted extraction independently machine-verified against the cited source document (2026-08-31): two independent AI reading passes plus tie-break re-inspection of every disagreement; 72 of 77 material fields confirmed (39 with the exact page citation re-confirmed), 0 corrected, 0 unresolved, 5 confirmed not disclosed. No human has reviewed this profile. Fiscal year covered: FY2025 (Dec 31, 2025). See how we use AI and verify data.
Fields flagged as uncertain (5)
- franchisor.business_since — 1979 is when Item 1 says the System was first developed and offered, in Canada, by Molly Maid International; no U.S. start year is stated in those words.
- franchisor.franchising_since — Item 1 states no franchising start year. 1984 comes from the predecessor's May 8, 1984 Michigan incorporation and purchase of U.S. rights; Item 7's "42+ years" agrees.
- investment.franchise_fee_low / high — our sum of two separately stated fees. Item 5's mid-size Territory Fee ($33,000–$49,500) would drop the floor to $47,900; Item 7's standard range was used.
- item19 Part I systemwide sales — the 2021–2025 bar chart carries no data labels, so no systemwide dollar figure was recorded.
- item19.metrics from Parts II and III — these tables are embedded images in the PDF and were read by OCR rather than text extraction.
Extraction notes (11)
- Item 19 Parts I, II and III are rasterised images in the source PDF and produce no text under pdftotext. Parts II and III were transcribed by rendering the embedded images and reading them; the Part II figures reconcile internally (group counts 19+38+38+37+37+19 = 188, and each group's high/low abuts the adjacent group's), which supports the transcription. Part IV was extracted from the PDF text layer directly.
- Item 7's line items add exactly to the disclosed totals of $144,150 and $203,950 at both ends of the range.
- All three Item 20 tables foot: Table No. 3 totals reconcile (start + opened − terminations − non-renewals − reacquisitions − ceased = end) in each of 2023, 2024 and 2025, and Table No. 1 franchised year-end figures match Table No. 3.
- fees.cooperative records the 3% ceiling on local marketing group contributions disclosed in Item 6; no current required contribution rate is stated, so the value is a maximum rather than a set rate.
- fees.local_marketing uses unit "varies" because the required spend is denominated per Target Household per year ($1.00 stepping down to $0.15), which none of the schema's unit codes captures.
- item19 metrics from Part II use unit "other" because the figures are dollars of Gross Sales per Target Household, not dollars per outlet.
- item19.population_count is the 402 franchised businesses represented; the Part II, III and IV statistics are computed across the 188 Reporting Franchisees who own them, which is the population_count recorded on each metric.
- No liquidity or net worth requirement for candidates appears anywhere in the reviewed document, including the cover pages and Items 1, 5, 7, 10 and 15.
- operations.owner_involvement is recorded as owner_operator_required because Item 15 makes personal performance or supervision the default; a trained non-owner manager is permitted only with the franchisor's consent.
- Verification 2026-08-31: fix_page /investment/franchise_fee_low 40 → 39
- Verification 2026-08-31: fix_page /investment/franchise_fee_high 40 → 39
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