Fish Window Cleaning franchise unit economics
Fish Window Cleaning franchisees run commercial and residential window cleaning routes from three territory package sizes. Across the 254 outlets reporting for 2025 the system average was $530,840, up 8.4% in two years, while new customers won each year fell 6.4%. The royalty falls from 8% to 5% as volume rises and sits against a minimum standard that climbs every year of the term, so the two move in opposite directions.
- Primary source
- Fish Window Cleaning, 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
- 254 of 275 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.
The system average rose 8.4% to $530,840 while new customers won each year fell 6.4%. Growth came from the book already on the van. Meanwhile the fee structure pulls in two directions at once: the royalty rate drops from 8% to 5% as volume rises. The minimum it is charged on climbs every year of the term.
- Revenue rose 8.4% in two years while new customers fell 6.4%. A system average of $530,840 against $489,894, on 219 new customers against 234 *, so revenue for each new customer won rose 15.8% to $2,424, and the existing route did the work.
- The royalty falls from 8% to 5% as sales rise, and the minimum it applies to rises every year. 8% up to $500,000 of annual sales, then 7%, 6% and 5% above $1,200,000, against a standard-package minimum climbing from $68,640 a year to $371,800 by year ten *.
- A bottom-tenth of the group, ranked by sales outlet falls short of the year-three minimum standard. $124,499 of average revenue against a standard-package requirement of $148,720 *, and at a year-ten standard that outlet would owe an effective 23.89% of what it actually billed.
- The top tenth bills 11.6 times the bottom tenth. $1,444,227 against $124,499 *, and outlet to outlet the range ran $2,814,785 to $61,872, which is 45.5 times.
- Every outlet that closed in three years had been trading more than a year. 6, 11 and 7 permanent closures across 2023 to 2025, with zero of them open under twelve months, so these were established routes.
How much does a Fish Window Cleaning franchise make?
The average Fish Window Cleaning unit reported $530,840 of revenue in the 2026 FDD. 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 9% 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.
Revenue and customers
The revenue went up and the new customers went down.
Few filings publish an operating driver beside the revenue it produced. This one gives three years of both, for four overlapping groups, which makes the direction of the business readable.
| Group | 2023 revenue | 2024 revenue | 2025 revenue | 2023 new customers | 2024 | 2025 | Revenue a new customer, 2025 * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 10% | $1,290,413 | $1,376,037 | $1,444,227 | 596 | 609 | 588 | $2,456 |
| Top 50% | $734,360 | $775,483 | $799,767 | 356 | 352 | 337 | $2,373 |
| Bottom 50% | $245,428 | $259,074 | $261,912 | 112 | 108 | 101 | $2,593 |
| Bottom 10% | $121,556 | $125,424 | $124,499 | 46 | 51 | 47 | $2,649 |
| System average * | $489,894 | $517,278 | $530,840 | 234 | 230 | 219 | $2,424 |
Every group row is as the brand reported it; the system average row and the right-hand column are marked *.
Every group won fewer new customers in 2025 than in 2023 and billed more. The top tenth went 596 to 588 on revenue up 11.9%, the bottom half 112 to 101 on revenue up 6.7% *, which is what a recurring route business looks like when the book compounds.
Revenue for each new customer won rose 15.8% in two years. $2,424 against $2,094 at the system average *, and it is highest at the bottom of the system, at $2,649, where the smallest routes are adding the fewest names.
Between 3% and 4% of outlets reach the top tenth’s average. 8 of 254 in 2025 *, and 44 of 254, 17%, reach the top half’s, so the published upper figures describe a narrow group of the system.
The bottom tenth is the one group holding flat. $121,556, $125,424 then $124,499 *, a 2.4% gain across three years against 8.4% for the system, so the gap between the ends is widening.
Top performers
What separates the top Fish Window Cleaning performers
Fish Window Cleaning splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $1,444,227 a year. The worst averaged $124,499. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 11.6× 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 $111,900 to $179,900, a 1.6× 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
- 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 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.
Context you underwrite around
- The reporting screen.254 of 275 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, no median. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.
Two fees pulling apart
The rate falls with volume. The minimum rises with time.
The royalty is charged weekly on the greater of what the outlet billed or a minimum performance standard. Two ladders govern it, and they run in opposite directions.
| Aggregate sales in the calendar year | Rate applied each week | Which group averages sit here * |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $500,000 | 8% | Bottom half, $261,912; bottom tenth, $124,499 |
| $500,000.01 to $900,000 | 7% | Top half, $799,767 |
| $900,000.01 to $1,200,000 | 6% | n/a |
| Above $1,200,000.01 | 5% | Top tenth, $1,444,227 |
| Year of the term | Small, a week | Standard, a week | Executive, a week | Standard, a year * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One | $1,100 | $1,320 | $1,430 | $68,640 |
| Three | $2,420 | $2,860 | $3,190 | $148,720 |
| Five | $3,740 | $4,400 | $4,950 | $228,800 |
| Seven | $4,620 | $5,500 | $6,270 | $286,000 |
| Ten | $5,940 | $7,150 | $8,250 | $371,800 |
The rates, the standards and the package names are as the brand reported it; the annual column is marked *, multiplying the weekly figure by 52.
The bottom tenth bills less than a standard-package outlet is required to bill in year three. $124,499 against $148,720 *, so a route at that level is paying royalty on revenue it has yet to earn from its third year onward.
At a year-ten standard that outlet owes an effective 23.89%. 8% of $371,800 is $29,744 against $124,499 of actual sales *, three times the headline rate, and the clearest illustration of what a minimum does to a low-selling unit.
The bottom half is exposed too, at an effective 11.36%. $29,744 against $261,912 *, so at a mature standard, the lower half of this system pays above the top of the published rate range while the upper half pays 7% and 5%.
The highest-selling outlets pay the lowest rate on the largest base. The top tenth at 5% of $1,444,227 is $72,211, against the bottom tenth’s $29,744 on a mature standard *, 2.43 times the money from 11.6 times the revenue.
Three package sizes
Three package sizes, $111,900 to $179,900.
| Package | Initial franchise fee | Total investment | Year-one weekly standard | Year-ten weekly standard | Entry against the system average * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | $49,900 | $111,900 to $129,900 | $1,100 | $5,940 | 0.21 to 0.24 times |
| Standard | $59,900 | $134,800 to $149,900 | $1,320 | $7,150 | 0.25 to 0.28 times |
| Executive | $74,900 | $161,800 to $179,900 | $1,430 | $8,250 | 0.30 to 0.34 times |
Fees, totals and standards are as the brand reported it; the comparison column is marked *, dividing each total by the $530,840 system average.
Entry runs a quarter to a third of what an average outlet bills in a year. $111,900 to $179,900 against $530,840 *, light, because the business is a van, a crew and a customer list.
The Executive package costs 44.6% more and requires 38.9% more revenue. $161,800 against $111,900 at the low end, on a year-ten standard of $8,250 a week against $5,940 *, so the larger territory brings a larger obligation attached to it.
The network of locations
Growing slowly, and losing established routes.
| Year | Franchised at start | Franchised at end | Net change | Permanent closures | Closures as a share of year end * | Outlets reporting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 263 | 264 | +1 | 6 | 2.3% | 257 of 264 |
| 2024 | 264 | 269 | +5 | 11 | 4.1% | 252 of 269 |
| 2025 | 269 | 275 | +6 | 7 | 2.5% | 254 of 275 |
Every column apart from the closure share is as the brand reported it.
The system added 12 outlets in three years and closed 24. 263 to 275 *, so roughly three openings were needed for every one net addition.
Every closure was an established business. Zero of the 24 had traded under twelve months *, which points at the mature end of the curve, and sits alongside a bottom tenth of the group, ranked by sales holding flat at $124,499.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
What does a Fish Window Cleaning outlet bill?
The system average across the 254 outlets reporting for 2025 was $530,840 on our own reading of the two halves. The top half averaged $799,767 and the bottom half $261,912; the top tenth $1,444,227 and the bottom tenth $124,499. Outlet to outlet the range ran $2,814,785 to $61,872.
Where is the growth coming from?
The existing customer book. Revenue rose 8.4% across three years while new customers won each year fell 6.4%, so the revenue accompanying each new name rose 15.8% to $2,424. Every one of the four published groups shows the same direction.
What does the brand take?
A royalty of 8% of gross sales up to $500,000 of annual sales, falling to 7%. Then 6%. Then 5% above $1,200,000, charged weekly on the greater of actual sales or a minimum performance standard. A technology fee of $100 a week sits on top, which is $5,200 a year.
How much does the minimum standard matter?
A great deal at the lower end. A standard-package outlet must bill $68,640 in year one rising to $371,800 by year ten. An outlet at the bottom tenth of the group, ranked by sales’s $124,499 falls short of the year-three requirement. Against a year-ten standard would owe an effective 23.89% of what it actually billed.
What does it cost to open?
$111,900 to $129,900 for the Small package, $134,800 to $149,900 for Standard and $161,800 to $179,900 for Executive, with franchise fees of $49,900, $59,900 and $74,900. That is roughly a quarter to a third of what an average outlet bills in a year.
How stable is the system?
Franchised outlets went from 263 to 275 across three years, a net gain of 12, against 24 permanent closures. Every one of those closures had been trading more than twelve months, so the customers lost sits among established routes.
- No median. Only an average is published, which a few large locations can lift on their own.
- No profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
- No cost lines. Wages, rent and cost of goods are not broken out, so margin cannot be rebuilt from the document.
Questions worth putting to Fish Window Cleaning
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 Fish Window Cleaning 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.
Launch the diagnostic →Are you billing above your own minimum standard?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around new customers won against the system’s 219 a year, your effective royalty rate against the 8% to 5% ladder. Where your sales sit against the standard for the year you are in.
Request the reviewthe franchise library, all 243 brands · how franchise unit economics work · running the books across several locations · what Averan does for franchise owners
Fish Window Cleaning reads against the rest of the window cleaning and exteriors group: Outdoor Lighting Perspectives · Shine Window Cleaning · Window Genie. The window cleaning and exteriors guide compares all of them on the same figures.
Questions owners ask next
The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.
- 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.
- My payroll percentage keeps climbing. Is that a payroll problem?Usually it is a revenue problem wearing a payroll costume.
- Revenue was the highest it has been. Why did profit not move?Where the extra revenue went, line by line.
- At what point do spreadsheets stop coping?What changes at around ten units, and why lenders care.