Carpet and floor care franchise finance
Averan read the 2026 FDDs of eight carpet and floor care brands.
The median brand here reports average revenue of $626,236 an unit. Percentage fees at the median brand come to 9.6% of sales. The median cost to open runs $173,580 to $297,097.
Find a carpet and floor care brand
8 brands in this guide, each from its own 2026 FDD. Open one, or pick two and compare them.
The brands in this group
Each brand has its own business model breakdown, with every figure set out against the brand’s disclosure document it comes from.
- AdvantaClean Full P&L · Franchisor restates its own profit under current fees
- Chem-Dry Forward projection only, one van, standard territory · Floor_beats_projection
- Garage Forceunit_level · Every reporting business named with revenue and invoice count
- Garage Livingquartile · Cost of goods, labor and margin add to exactly 100%
- Oxi Freshquintile · A flat $475 royalty, so size decides what franchise fees cost you
- PremierGaragesix-measures-average-median-75th-25th-percentile-and-middle-half-average-and-median-published-separately-for-single-territory-and-multi-territory-franchisees-across-two-years · Average, median, 75th percentile, 25th percentile, middle-half average and middle-half median, each published for SINGLE-TERRITORY and MULTI-TERRITORY franchisees separately and for both 2024 and 2025
- Stanley Steemerregional · Advertising must reach 10% of sales, with the brand's own fee counted inside it
- Zerorezaverage/median/high-low with COGS, gross profit, advertising and contribution margin · The minimum royalty is exactly 6% of the revenue you are obliged to bill
The figures, brand by brand
| Measure | Median | Brands | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average sales per unit | $626,236 | 8 of 8 | Median of each brand’s disclosed average |
| Median sales per unit | $616,099 | 7 of 8 | Median of each brand’s disclosed median |
| Initial franchise fee | $41,950 | 8 of 8 | |
| Royalty | 6.2% | 8 of 8 | Headline rate |
| Brand or advertising fund | 1.5% | 8 of 8 | |
| Percentage fees, all in | 9.6% | 8 of 8 | Royalty, funds and local marketing set as a share of sales |
| Cost to open, low | $173,580 | 8 of 8 | |
| Cost to open, high | $297,097 | 8 of 8 | |
| Profit margin | Fewer than three disclose | 1 of 8 | Each brand’s own profit line; definitions differ |
| Labor, share of revenue | Fewer than three disclose | 2 of 8 | |
| Building costs, share of revenue | Fewer than three disclose | 0 of 8 | |
| Unit growth, 2025 | -4.7% | 8 of 8 | (End − start) ÷ start |
| Customers lost, 2025 | 9.3% | 7 of 8 | Terminated, non-renewed, reacquired and ceased, ÷ opening units; transfers excluded |
Each figure is the median of the brands that disclose it, and the Brands column counts them.
How we calculated this
Revenue is each brand's own reported figure on its own unit basis, so the median describes the group and no single brand. Growth and customers lost are our calculations from each brand's outlet table. Where fewer than three brands disclose a figure, no benchmark is shown.
The model
The business model the top performers in carpet and floor care are running
What the top performers can do that others cannot
3 of the 8 brands here sell one job at a time. Rostering against demand is the constraint: wages run 28.4% of sales at the middle brand, more than any other line.
What the customer is buying
The customer buys a quoted job, usually once. At 1 of them the model is different: the customer buys work that repeats on a schedule, which asks something else of the owner. A location at the middle brand sells $626,236 a year; the top group sells $2,949,020. The offer is the same at both ends of that range, so the difference is volume rather than product.
Who the customer is, and how often they come back
This is an acquisition business. Each job is won again, so lead flow, the close rate and what the average job is worth decide the year. A median 35% of locations reach their own brand’s average, so most of the system is below the number the brand advertises, and the gap is usually a demand gap rather than an effort gap. The top group sells $2,949,020 against $125,096 at the bottom. Trade area and site set that range before an owner takes a booking.
How the money works
Opening costs $50,700 to $509,745 across the group, and inside one brand the top of the range is typically 1.8 times the bottom. At the middle brand the cost stack runs wages 28.4%, cost of sales 35.6%, franchise fees 9.6% of sales. What is left runs 18.0% at the middle brand, which is $531,708 a year at the top group and $22,555 at the bottom. The percentage barely moves between them; the dollars do. Cash and earned revenue arrive in different periods here, so the cash forecast matters more than the profit line in any given month.
Also disclosed across this group: $0, $1,742,025, $116,417, $156,833, $26,552, $6,262, 10.4, 414.4, 5.8.
Top performers
These are the things that separate top performers in carpet and floor care
At the typical carpet and floor care brand, the best group of locations sells $2,949,020 a year. The worst group sells $125,096. That is $2,823,924 more a year, 23.6 times over, for the same brand on the same agreement. Across these brands, a median of 35% of locations reach their own brand’s average. The average describes the top of a system, not the middle. 7 of the 8 brands here publish bands; the rest disclose no spread at all.
Decided before you open
- What it costs to open.Opening costs run $50,700 to $509,745 across the group, and the top of a single brand’s range is typically 1.8 times its bottom. The top group sells $2,949,020 a year against a build that tops out at $509,745, so at the heavy end of the range a location sells $5.79 for every dollar it cost to open. That build is recovered inside a year or two of sales at that end of the system.
- What a location sells.Average sales run $626,236 at the middle brand and $2,949,020 at the top group. Format and site decide most of that before an owner does anything, which is why the same operator produces different results in different trade areas.
Live operating levers
- 3 of the 8 brands here sell one job at a time.Every job has to be won again. The owner gives a quote, some share of those quotes turns into work, and each job that lands is worth a certain amount. The top performers raise the share that closes and the size of the average job before they spend more money on leads, because buying more leads is the expensive way to get the same revenue. They are AdvantaClean, Garage Force, Oxi Fresh.
- Wages. Same labor market, different result.Wages run 28.4% of sales at the middle brand and 24.2% to 32.7% across the 2 that disclose it. These brands hire from the same pool at the same rates, so a 8-point spread is not a pay-rate gap. It is scheduling and productivity: rostering against booked demand hour by hour, managing sales per paid hour as the number, and keeping enough of the pay variable that the line falls when the week is quiet. On the top group’s $2,949,020 of sales, a point of wages is $29,490 a year; on the bottom group’s $125,096 it is $1,251. The same discipline is worth more where the volume already is.
- Cost of what you sell. The line that compounds.Products and materials take 35.6% of sales at the middle brand, 17.1% to 42.5% across the 4 that disclose it. Buying on the brand program rather than locally, holding the price list instead of discounting to close, and counting waste weekly are what separate the ends of that range, and each of them compounds with volume, which is why the gap widens as a location grows.
- What is left at the end. Where the gap comes from.Of the 1 brands that publish a profit line, the middle one keeps 18.0% of sales, from 18.0% to 18.0%. The cost lines above move by a few points between the best and worst locations while sales move by multiples, so the top performers are not running a cheaper business. They are running the same cost base over more revenue. Hold that 18.0% margin steady and the top group earns $531,708 against $22,555 at the bottom, a difference of $509,153 a year that comes from volume alone.
- What the brand charges. The line that works backwards.Fees run a median 9.6% of sales across 8 brands, from 6.8% to 25.0%. Where a minimum sits underneath the percentage, the weakest location pays the highest effective rate, so the fee line costs most exactly where it can least be afforded. The top performers clear the minimum early and stop thinking about it. At $2,949,020 the fees cost $283,843 a year; at $125,096 they cost $12,040. The percentage is the same and the burden is not.
Context you underwrite around
- How many brands show a ramp.0 of 8 filings in this group show how a new location builds up. For the rest the first year has to be assumed, and the assumption is usually wrong in the same direction.
- What is not banded.1 brands publish no bands at all, so their spread is unknown rather than narrow. Read a single average as the upper-middle of a distribution you cannot see.
Operating levers
What each brand’s top performers actually work on
The levers the filing supports, brand by brand. Three to five each, read from that brand’s own 2026 FDD. Filter by type of business, or open a brand for the figures underneath.
8 brands
AdvantaClean
Carpet and floor care
- Wages, the dominant line. Wages take 32.7% of sales, against 18.0% kept at the end. Staff productivity, scheduling against demand hour by hour, and the balance of base pay to commission are where this is won. Small movements here move the result more than anything else, because nothing else in the structure is that large.
- Jobs, the operating driver. This model bills on jobs. Every job is won again, so the owner works on how many quotes turn into work and what the average job is worth when it does. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Membership and rebooking. A recurring plan turns a high-fixed-cost business from an appointment book into a subscription, which smooths the utilisation that drives the wage line. Rebooking before the customer leaves is what builds it, not marketing spend afterwards.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 10.0% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
Chem-Dry
Carpet and floor care
- Routes, the operating driver. This model bills on routes. The van costs the same whatever it does that day, so the owner works on how many stops fit into it and how far apart they are. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 25.0% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
Garage Force
Carpet and floor care
- Cost of what you sell. Products and materials take 30.0% of sales. Buying terms, price discipline and waste are where this is won, and each of them compounds at volume.
- Jobs, the operating driver. This model bills on jobs. Every job is won again, so the owner works on how many quotes turn into work and what the average job is worth when it does. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 9.0% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
Garage Living
Carpet and floor care
- Cost of what you sell. Products and materials take 41.3% of sales. Buying terms, price discipline and waste are where this is won, and each of them compounds at volume.
- Installations, the operating driver. This model bills on installations. The sale happens in the customer’s home, so the owner works on how many appointments are booked, how many close, and what the average install is worth. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 11.5% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
Oxi Fresh
Carpet and floor care
- Jobs, the operating driver. This model bills on jobs. Every job is won again, so the owner works on how many quotes turn into work and what the average job is worth when it does. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 7.0% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
PremierGarage
Carpet and floor care
- Service calls, the operating driver. This model bills on service calls. A technician finishes only so many calls a day, so the owner works on how many of them turn into paid work and what the average ticket is worth. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 6.8% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
Stanley Steemer
Carpet and floor care
- Claims, the operating driver. This model bills on claims. The work is done first and the carrier pays later, so the owner funds wages and materials in between and the speed of collection matters as much as the volume won. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- The gift card book. Gift cards are sold before the service is delivered. The top performers are not selling more of them by accident, they are running a deliberate seasonal push into the holidays and out of it again. The accounting follows: a gift card is deferred revenue until it is redeemed, so cash and earned revenue arrive in different periods.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 17.0% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
Zerorez
Carpet and floor care
- Cost of what you sell. Products and materials take 42.5% of sales. Buying terms, price discipline and waste are where this is won, and each of them compounds at volume.
- Customers, the operating driver. This model bills on customers. The owner works on how many customers are won, how many are lost, and what each spends in a year. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 9.2% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
Questions owners ask next
The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.
- Money arrives before the service does. How should that be booked?Deferred revenue, and why the bank balance and the profit line disagree.
- At what level of sales does a minimum fee stop costing me more than the percentage?How royalty, ad fund and minimums actually work on a monthly statement.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?A 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- What should I be looking at every week?The handful of numbers that move before the P&L does.
- Do I need a bookkeeper, a controller, or a CFO?What each one owns, and the point at which the next one pays for itself.
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Finance Diagnostic runs the same checks on your own numbers. It scores where you stand and compares you with Item 19 of your brand’s FDD. It works out what one location earns and spends, and builds a 13-week cash forecast. Checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →How many jobs did you run last week?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around job count, the minimum fee your brand imposes. A chart of accounts mapped to the benchmark you are being measured against.
Request the reviewWhere these figures come from
Every figure here comes from the brands' 2026 FDDs and is unaudited by us. We are unaffiliated with the brands. The medians, growth and customers lost figures are our own calculations. The figures describe past performance at other businesses. They are not a projection of your results. This page is an educational summary and is not an offer to sell a franchise or financial, legal or tax advice. All trademarks belong to their owners. How Averan reads a Franchise Disclosure Document.