Jan-Pro

Jan-Pro is a two-tier franchise model, and this FDD covers only the Regional Franchise Developer (RFD) level — not the individual unit cleaners who buy accounts from you. Understanding this structure is critical before evaluating the numbers.

The initial franchise fee ranges from $50,000 to $250,000 depending on territory size and market classification. The franchisor can finance anything above $50,000 at 10% per annum over 24–48 months, which is a meaningful accommodation given the wide range. In 2024, territory tiers and negotiation drove this spread.

Total startup investment runs $130,000 to $421,500. Beyond the franchise fee, the major costs are equipment/office furniture ($10,000–$25,000, including a commercial carpet extractor and commercial vacuums that serve as backup for your unit franchisees), computer hardware ($7,500–$12,500), and three months of working capital ($50,000–$100,000). You're required to operate from an approved business office of 1,500–2,000 sq ft — no home-based operations.

Ongoing fees are layered. The primary royalty is 4% of your Gross Monthly Revenue (everything your unit franchisees pay you). On top of that, there's a 10% Sales Royalty on all initial franchise fees you collect when selling new unit franchises, all upgrade fees, and all transfer fees. This second royalty is paid on your revenue-generating activities, not your base revenue — it's essentially a tax on your sales hustle.

Total monthly fixed tech costs are $130/month ($80 web hosting + $50 email). The advertising contribution is capped at 0.5% of Gross Monthly Revenue or $3,500/month, with a $450/month minimum. The $20,000 renewal fee is steep for a flat rate.

Jan-Pro's Item 19 is one of the more detailed in the commercial cleaning category. Across 115 active RFDs (U.S. and Canada), the median Gross Contract Revenue — meaning the total cleaning revenue your sub-franchisees generate — was $5,193,488 in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025. The average was $6,089,822, skewed by a top-third average of $10,831,084.

But Gross Contract Revenue is not your income. The RFD earns approximately 27–29% of Gross Contract Revenue as its own Gross Revenue (franchise fees, royalties, management fees, insurance fees charged to unit franchisees). On that basis, the median RFD generates roughly $1.4M–$1.5M in own revenue from the median $5.2M in system volume.

For the subset of Tier 3 and Tier 4 RFDs that provided detailed financials (21 operators), the average breakdown was: $4.5M Gross Contract Revenue, $1.28M Gross Revenue (28.3%), minus royalties/fees ($213K), occupancy ($66K), and SGA ($372K) — leaving $625K before staff and owner compensation. Importantly, that $625K figure excludes what you pay yourself and your team. Real take-home depends entirely on how lean you run the operation.

Jan-Pro's RFD system is small but stable: 108 total U.S. RFDs as of September 2025, up from 107 in fiscal 2024. The system opened 3 new RFDs in 2023 and 1 in fiscal 2024 — very slow growth at the master franchisee level, which reflects the high capital and operational commitment required. There were no closures in either year, which is a strong signal of system health.

Longevity matters here: the vintage data shows RFDs with 20+ years of operation averaging $7.75M in Gross Contract Revenue, compared to $3.3M for the 1–5 year cohort. The Jan-Pro model rewards patient capital and relationship-building with unit franchisees — this is not a fast-money business.

The dual-royalty structure is the most important number to understand. You pay 4% on your recurring revenue AND 10% on every new unit franchise fee you collect. If you sell 20 unit franchises at $10,000 each in a year, you owe $20,000 in Sales Royalty on top of your regular royalty. This can create a disincentive to grow your unit franchise base aggressively.

You're also required by law to prepare and file your own FDD as an RFD — disclosing your unit franchise opportunity to prospective sub-franchisees. This means annual legal compliance costs ($1,500–$10,000/year to update and register the FDD in registration states) that don't appear in the initial investment table. The franchisor provides a template but accepts no responsibility for its accuracy.

The transfer fee uses a modified Lehman Table (10% of first $1M in sale price, sliding down from there), which can be expensive if you build significant enterprise value. At a $2M exit, the fee approaches $170,000. Finally, the $20,000 flat renewal fee is high for a system where territory value varies widely.