City Wide Facility Solutions franchise unit economics
City Wide Facility Solutions franchisees sell cleaning and facility work to commercial buildings from an office, subcontracting the labor to independent vendors. What is left after paying cleaning vendors stays between 33.30% and 34.02%, at businesses selling $1,633,013 to $24,352,332. Volume alone separates them, and the volume gap is set inside the first twelve months.
- Primary source
- City Wide Franchise Company Enterprises, LLC, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
- Items read
- Items 5 and 6 for fees; Item 7 for cost to open; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure; Item 20 for the location count
- Population
- 99 of 98 locations
- Our calculations
- Marked on the page with an asterisk. Method
- Last reviewed
- 26 September 2026
Disclosure-based. Not a forecast, not an offer to sell a franchise, and not advice.
Sales across the four quarters run from $1,633,013 to $24,352,332, a difference of fifteen times. What is left after vendors sits between 33.30% and 34.02%. Every quartile buys and sells the work on the same terms. What separates them is volume, and the volume gap is settled inside the first twelve months.
- Gross profit holds inside a 0.7-point group across all four quartiles. 33.30% to 34.02% on revenue spanning fifteen times. Vendor labor takes 61.54% to 62.56%, a range of 1.0 point.
- The top quartile bills $158,430 a month at month 12, 77% more than the bottom quartile bills at month 60. $89,379 against $158,430. Five years of the lowest-selling build-up still falls short of the highest-selling first year.
- Required flat fees run $99,600 in year one, before royalty and before per-user charges. $2,500 of accounting, $3,500 of business development and $2,300 of technology development a month.
- At the bottom quarter's month-12 run rate those fees plus royalty come to 131% of gross profit. $116,884 against $89,320 *, $27,564 before the owner's own wages, rent and overhead.
- Reported net royalty is exactly 5.00% in all 20 published cells. The minimum royalty schedule would require more in six of them, reaching 11.7% at the bottom quarter's month-24 revenue.
How much does a City Wide Facility Solutions franchise make?
The average City Wide Facility Solutions unit reported $9,821,794 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $5,518,501. The brand’s disclosure document discloses revenue and not profit, so what an owner keeps depends on the cost structure set out below. Fees come off the top first, at about 6% of sales across royalty, brand fund and the rest of the stack. Revenue is not income. Rent, wages, cost of goods and the franchise fees all come out before an owner is paid. The figures for the highest-selling and lowest-selling businesses are below.
Top performers
What separates the top City Wide Facility Solutions performers
City Wide Facility Solutions splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $24,352,332 a year. The worst averaged $1,633,013. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $5,518,501. The average was $9,821,794. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 14.9× gap between bands is not an operating gap. Catchment, daytime population and what sits next door set the ceiling before the first customer arrives.
- Territory, and how much of it is real.This model sells from a territory rather than a building. Two owners with the same brand and different ground are running different businesses, and density decides how much driving sits between jobs.
- What you spend to open.Opening costs $229,729 to $410,730, a 1.8× range inside one brand. The high end usually buys more capacity, so the cheapest build is not always the cheapest route to the top band.
Live operating levers
- Wages, the dominant line.Wages take 62.6% of sales. Staff productivity, scheduling against demand hour by hour, and the balance of base pay to commission are where this is won.
- Accounts, the operating driver.This model bills on accounts. An account signed this year still bills next year, so keeping accounts matters more than winning them. 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 6.0% 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.
- The first year.This filing shows how a new location builds up, so the ramp can be underwritten from the document rather than assumed. Read two things out of it: the month sales cross the point where costs are covered, and how much cash you fund before that month arrives. Everything before break-even is paid for by you.
Context you underwrite around
- The reporting screen.99 of 98 locations are behind these figures. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded, so the numbers describe locations that cleared that screen, not the system as a whole.
- What the disclosure leaves out.Item 19 publishes no profit or cost data for franchised locations. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.
The first year, month by month
The gap opens in year one.
| quartile | Month 12 | Month 24 | Month 36 | Month 48 | Month 60 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First quartile | $158,430 | $275,003 | $421,636 | $430,235 | $528,925 |
| Second quartile | $65,007 | $135,039 | $197,301 | $214,759 | $281,670 |
| Third quartile | $39,464 | $77,246 | $109,450 | $136,013 | $164,024 |
| Fourth quartile | $22,339 | $42,740 | $60,027 | $78,345 | $89,379 |
As the brand reported it.
The top quartile bills $158,430 a month at month 12. The bottom quartile bills $89,379 at month 60. 77% more, four years earlier. Whatever separates these two groups is in place by the end of the first year, and five further years of trading leaves the gap intact.
The ratio between top and bottom narrows from 7.1 times at month 12 to 5.9 times at month 60. Which is the whole convergence available over five years *. For an owner in the lower half, the read is that catching up is a matter of changing how the business sells.
Every quartile roughly doubles between month 12 and month 24. 158,430 to 275,003; 65,007 to 135,039; 39,464 to 77,246; 22,339 to 42,740. Year two is the highest-selling growth year in every group. Then it slows sharply: months 36 to 48 add 2.0%, 8.8%, 24.3% and 30.5% *, with the two largest quartiles nearly flat through that year.
Month 48 is where the top two quartiles stall. The first quartile moves $421,636 to $430,235, 2.0% in a year, and the second $197,301 to $214,759. Both resume at month 60. An owner planning cash and hiring against a smooth curve should build in a fourth year that holds level, because the published history shows one.
Annualized, month-12 revenue runs $1,901,160 at the top and $268,068 at the bottom. *, at twelve times the month-12 rate, which overstates the actual first year since earlier months are lower. Even on that generous reading, a first-year business in the bottom quarter sells less than the $400,000 that a two-million-population territory must produce to hold its exclusivity.
Best to worst, by sales
Fifteen times the sales, the same margin.
| quartile | Locations | Average revenue | Median revenue | Revenue range | Independent labor | gross profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First quartile | 25 | $24,352,332 | $20,173,592 | $14,101,471 – $50,560,080 | 61.54% | 33.88% |
| Second quartile | 25 | $8,919,915 | $8,208,942 | $5,518,501 – $13,245,279 | 62.09% | 33.30% |
| Third quartile | 25 | $4,054,363 | $3,775,419 | $2,806,673 – $5,319,215 | 61.89% | 34.02% |
| Fourth quartile | 24 | $1,633,013 | $1,498,290 | $660,695 – $2,804,316 | 62.56% | 33.32% |
| All reporting franchisees | 99 | $9,821,794 | $5,518,501 | $660,695 – $50,560,080 | n/a | n/a |
As the brand reported it.
The margin stays between 33.30% and 34.02% while sales differ fifteen times over. $1,633,013 at the fourth quartile average and $24,352,332 at the first. An owner buys cleaning labor from vendors and sells it to buildings. The gap between the two prices is the same at every size. A larger business does more of the same trade at the same share.
Vendor labor takes 61.54% to 62.56%, a range of 1.0 point. The single largest line in the model, and the quartiles are separated by a point of it. A franchisee looking to widen the trade has roughly one point of observed room on the buy side. Everything else has to come from selling more, or from the 4.1 to 4.6 points of other cost of goods sold underneath it.
The median franchisee bills $5,518,501 and the average bills $9,821,794. A gap of $4,303,293, and only 36 of 99 reach the average. The top quartile lifts the average. Its lowest business sells $14,101,471, more than twice the middle of the system. Plan against $5.5m, and read $9.8m as a description of the top third.
The fourth quarter's range runs $660,695 to $2,804,316, more than four times inside one quartile. The first quarter's runs 3.6 times, from $14,101,471 to $50,560,080. Businesses differ widely inside each group, at both ends of the system.
What moved in a year.
| Group | 2024 average revenue | 2025 average revenue | Change * | 2024 labor | 2025 labor | 2024 gross profit | 2025 gross profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First quartile | $22,736,949 | $24,352,332 | +7.1% | 66.39% | 61.54% | 33.42% | 33.88% |
| Second quartile | $8,265,141 | $8,919,915 | +7.9% | 65.34% | 62.09% | 34.34% | 33.30% |
| Third quartile | $3,574,971 | $4,054,363 | +13.4% | 63.48% | 61.89% | 36.13% | 34.02% |
| Fourth quartile | $1,498,917 | $1,633,013 | +8.9% | 67.60% | 62.56% | 30.87% | 33.32% |
| System average | $8,938,134 | $9,821,794 | +9.9% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| System median | $4,798,193 | $5,518,501 | +15.0% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Dollar and percentage figures are as the brand reported it; the change column is marked *.
Vendor labor fell about five points in every quarter, while the margin stayed the same. 66.39% to 61.54% at the top, 67.60% to 62.56% at the bottom. The margin moved less than a point in three of the four groups. The saving went somewhere: additional cost of goods sold. It is what sits between labor and the margin. It ran 0.19% to 1.53% of sales in 2024 and 4.09% to 4.61% in 2025 *.
The system median rose 15.0% while the average rose 9.9%. $4,798,193 to $5,518,501 against $8,938,134 to $9,821,794. The middle grew faster than the top, and the third quartile grew fastest of all at 13.4%. That is the healthier shape: gains arriving in the body of the system.
The bottom quartile gained 2.45 points of the margin. 30.87% to 33.32%. The only group that closed meaningfully on the others, and it did so by cutting independent labor 5.04 points. At $1,633,013 of revenue, 2.45 points is $40,009 *. For a business at this size, that figure is the difference between a working year and a thin one.
The network of locations.
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminations | Non-renewals | Reacquired | Ceased, other | End | Transfers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 82 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 89 | 3 |
| 2024 | 89 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 93 | 5 |
| 2025 | 93 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 98 | 3 |
As the brand reported it; every row reconciles exactly.
Zero terminations, zero non-renewals and zero closures across three years. 22 openings, 5 reacquisitions by the franchisor and 11 transfers to new owners. A system of roughly 100 outlets that kept every one of them for three years is rare in this library. It reads as a model where a lower-selling franchisee sells or is bought back.
Openings ran 9, 7 and 6, slowing each year. Against 6 signed agreements waiting to open and 6 projected for 2026. So the pipeline is flat, and an owner should read the growth in system revenue, up 9.9% at the average, as existing franchisees growing.
11 outlets transferred in three years on a base near 100. A seller pays the $25,000 transfer fee, and the buyer pays the full initial fees on top. That puts roughly $130,000 of friction into a change of hands before any broker takes a cut. That is worth knowing at the point an owner starts planning an exit.
What the fees come to
$99,600 before the royalty.
| quartile | Revenue at month-12 rate | gross profit | Royalty and marketing at 6% | Required flat fees | Total brand cost | Share of gross profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First quartile | $1,901,160 | $644,113 | $114,070 | $100,800 | $214,870 | 33.4% |
| Second quartile | $780,084 | $259,768 | $46,805 | $100,800 | $147,605 | 56.8% |
| Third quartile | $473,568 | $161,108 | $28,414 | $100,800 | $129,214 | 80.2% |
| Fourth quartile | $268,068 | $89,320 | $16,084 | $100,800 | $116,884 | 130.9% |
Ours, built from filed rates and filed revenue.
In the bottom quarter's first year, franchise fees cost $116,884 against $89,320 left after vendors. $27,564 more than the trade produces, before the owner's own salespeople, office, rent and vehicle. That is the arithmetic behind the $75,000 to $150,000 working capital line. It is why the first twelve months are funded.
The flat fees are the same $100,800 at every size. They take 37.6% of first-year revenue at the fourth quartile and 5.3% at the first *. A fixed cost against a variable business always favors the larger operator. Here the gap is seven to one in the first year. Makes early sales pace the single most valuable thing an owner can buy.
Two of the three flat fees drop away after twelve months. Accounting at $2,500 and business development at $3,500 are each required for the first 12 months; the $2,300 technology development fee continues. Year two costs $27,600 of fixed fees plus technology for each user, against $99,600 in year one. That $72,000 fall lands exactly when the build-up tables show revenue roughly doubling.
At the bottom quarter's month-24 rate, franchise fees come to 55.0% of what is left after vendors. $93,929 against $170,892 *, with the minimum royalty of $5,000 a month applied against the 5% rate. Year two is where this model starts to work at the bottom of the distribution. It works because the fees fall as fast as the revenue rises.
The minimum royalty.
| Months in operation | Minimum royalty | Monthly gross sales it implies at 5% * | Fourth quartile actual at that point | Effective royalty rate * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 6 | Zero minimum | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 7 to 9 | $1,000 a month | $20,000 | n/a | n/a |
| 10 to 12 | $1,400 a month | $28,000 | $22,339 | 6.27% |
| 13 to 15 | $1,800 a month | $36,000 | n/a | n/a |
| 16 to 18 | $2,250 a month | $45,000 | n/a | n/a |
| 19 to 21 | $2,700 a month | $54,000 | n/a | n/a |
| 22 and beyond | $5,000 a month | $100,000 | $42,740 at month 24 | 11.70% |
The schedule and the fourth quarter's monthly gross sales are as the brand reported it; the implied-sales and effective-rate columns are marked *.
The $5,000 monthly minimum from month 22 implies $100,000 a month of gross sales. $1,200,000 a year. The fourth quartile averages $42,740 a month at month 24 and reaches $89,379 by month 60. An owner in that group pays the minimum, not the percentage.
At month 24 the minimum works out at 11.70% of the bottom quarter's sales. Against 5.00% for anyone above $100,000 a month. It eases to 8.33% by month 36, 6.38% by month 48 and 5.59% by month 60 *. That minimum costs the owner $34,356 more than 5% would in the month-24 year.
Reported net royalty is exactly 5.00% in all twenty published cells. Including the six where the schedule would require more. Net royalties are reported after whatever adjustments apply, so an owner budgeting should model the schedule and treat the published 5.00% as the outcome after them.
The 1% rebate reaches every first-quartile franchisee and stops at $10,000,000. The second quartile averages $8,919,915, so its top locations qualify and its middle falls short. That threshold sits $1,080,085 above the second quarter's average, about 12% of growth. It is a clean target for a franchisee sitting just under it.
Opening
$105,000 to $140,000 before anything else.
| Item | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Additional funds, three months | $75,000 | $150,000 |
| Initial franchise fee | $70,000 | $70,000 |
| Initial territory fee | $15,000 | $50,000 |
| Initial technology fee | $12,500 | $12,500 |
| Initial training fee | $7,500 | $7,500 |
| Furniture, fixtures and equipment | $2,000 | $16,000 |
| Recruitment advertising and services | $1,000 | $13,500 |
| Rent and security deposit, three months | $6,000 | $12,000 |
| Travel and living while training | $4,000 | $10,000 |
| Professional and license fees | $1,000 | $10,000 |
| Business development services, per month | $3,500 | $3,500 |
| Accounting services, per month | $2,500 | $2,500 |
| Technology development fee, per month | $2,300 | $2,300 |
| Insurance deposit | $1,900 | $5,700 |
| Building work | $250 | $5,000 |
| Utility | $100 | $3,000 |
| Signage | $700 | $2,500 |
| Office supplies and stationery, per month | $50 | $2,100 |
| Computer hardware and peripherals, per user | $1,600 | $2,300 |
| Wages services, per month | $154 | $1,070 |
| Technology systems licensing, per user per month | $26.25 | $350 |
| IT as a service, per user per month | $130 | $130 |
| Total | $229,729 | $410,730 |
As the brand reported it, reordered here by size.
Fees payable to the franchisor at signing come to $105,000 to $140,000. $70,000 of franchise fee, $12,500 of technology, $7,500 of training and $15,000 to $50,000 of territory. That is 46% to 34% of the whole investment range, and it lands before a single building is sold. The predecessor actually collected $98,000 to $125,000 of initial fees last year, $7,000 to $15,000 below the current schedule at both ends.
Cash to run the business day to day of $75,000 to $150,000 covers three months. Against the fourth quartile’s first-year rate. There the brand's charges exceed what is left after vendors by $27,564 over twelve months. Three months of cash is not enough, and more money may be needed, and the fee structure says when.
The territory fee runs $0.015 to $0.025 per head of population. $15,000 for under a million and $50,000 for two million and above *. The agreement requires sales of $0.20 a person a year. The entry fee equals about four to seven weeks of the minimum the territory must produce, a light price for the ground. The weight of the deal sitting in the flat monthly fees instead.
Revenue must reach $0.20 per person per year to hold the territory. A two-million-population territory therefore has to produce $400,000 a year, measured within the first 24 months from opening, with a 12-month cure period after a default notice. The lowest-selling reporting franchisee billed $660,695 in 2025, so this hurdle binds during the build-up. The build-up tables put the fourth quartile at $268,068 annualized at month 12 and $512,880 at month 24.
The rate rises with inflation, capped at 3% a year. $0.20 today, adjusted by the urban consumer price index at the start of each fiscal year. Over a ten-year term that compounds to roughly $0.27 at the cap. So a two-million-population territory would need $537,567 against $400,000 by the end of the term *. Renewing raises the requirement again, measured over the previous two years.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
What should a City Wide franchise be billing?
The 99 franchisees who traded a full 12 months to 31 December 2025 averaged $9,821,794 of gross sales with a median of $5,518,501, ranging from $660,695 to $50,560,080. By quartile the averages were $24,352,332, $8,919,915, $4,054,363 and $1,633,013, and 36 of the 99 reached the system average. The year before, 93 franchisees averaged $8,938,134 with a median of $4,798,193. At month 12, average monthly sales by quarter were $158,430, $65,007, $39,464 and $22,339. They reach $528,925, $281,670, $164,024 and $89,379 by month 60.
What margin does the work have?
Independent labor cost, everything paid to outside vendors performing services for customers, took 61.54% to 62.56% of revenue in 2025 across the four quartiles. What is left after vendor labor and other direct costs ran 33.30% to 34.02%. Both groups are remarkably tight given revenue spans from $1.6m to $24.4m. In 2024 vendor labor ran 63.48% to 67.60%, and what was left ran 30.87% to 36.13%. Vendor labor fell about five points across the system in a year. The margin stayed the same, and the difference moved into other direct costs.
What does the brand take?
The royalty is 5% of sales, or a minimum, whichever is higher. The minimum rises from $1,000 a month at months 7 to 9 to $5,000 a month from month 22. The national marketing fund takes up to 1% of sales. Local advertising must be at least $1,200 a year. Three fixed monthly fees apply. Accounting services cost $2,500 and business development $3,500, both required for the first 12 months, and a technology development fee of $2,300. IT as a service costs $130 per user a month for 36 months, technology systems licensing $26.25 to $350 per user a month. Wages must run through a required provider at $154 to $1,070 a month. A 1% rebate on royalty fees paid applies in any calendar year where territory gross sales reach $10,000,000.
How much revenue does the territory require?
Sales must reach $0.20 a person a year inside the territory, measured within 24 months of opening. There is a 12-month period after a default notice. The rate rises annually with the urban consumer price index, capped at 3% a year, and increases again on renewal based on the preceding two years. Territory size is set by population, density, whether the area is residential or business. The number and density of office buildings. The initial territory fee moves in four groups from $15,000 below one million people to $50,000 at two million and above. At $0.20 a head, a two-million-population territory must produce $400,000 a year.
Who does bookkeeping for a City Wide franchise?
The franchisor supplies accounting services at $2,500 a month for the first 12 months and requires its own accounting software throughout. So an owner's reporting begins as a check on someone else's work and becomes the primary record at month 13, a handover worth planning before it arrives. Three things deserve their own tracking. The first is what is left after vendors, because all four quarters land between 33.30% and 34.02%. A business below that group is losing the trade. The split between vendor labor and other direct costs matters too. Those two lines moved five points against each other between 2024 and 2025 across the whole system. The second is the minimum royalty. From month 22 it is $5,000 a month, against 5% of sales. A business selling under $100,000 a month pays more than 5%, and the accrual has to follow the higher of the two. The third is revenue per head of territory population. That is the covenant the territory is held on at $0.20 a person and which rises with inflation each year. Averan provides bookkeeping, controller, and fractional CFO support for franchise owners and has Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors on the team.
- No profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
Questions worth putting to City Wide Facility Solutions
The filing answers what it answers. These are the gaps an owner or a buyer should close directly.
- What do locations at the median spend on wages and rent as a share of sales? The filing reports sales only.
- What separates the highest-selling locations from the lowest: trade area, years open, size, or the owner?
- How long does a new location take to reach the average you publish, and what does the build-up look like month by month?
- At what level of sales do the minimum charges stop applying and the percentage take over?
- How many City Wide Facility Solutions locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
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.
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