How much does a Merry Maids franchise make?

The average Merry Maids unit reported $439,243 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $339,352. The filing 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 10% 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,

Breakdown

Merry Maids franchise unit economics

Merry Maids franchisees run recurring residential cleaning from an office with washers and dryers, into a territory of 40,000 or more households earning $75,000 and up. Across 644 businesses, an owner with a single business averages $626,096 while an owner holding eight or more averages $272,595 per business, so scale dilutes each unit. Royalty steps down from 7% only once one business passes $400,000 in a year, and each business stands alone for that test.

By Scott Engler · Averan Advisors · Source: Merry Maids SPE LLC, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) · Updated 22 September 2026

Where these figures come from

Primary source: Merry Maids SPE LLC, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
Items read: Item 7 for cost to open; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure
Population: 414 of 684 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.

Key idea

An owner with one business averages $626,096. An owner with eight or more averages $272,595 per business. The decline runs straight down every step of the ladder. The royalty schedule compounds it: thresholds apply to each business alone. So twelve businesses of $272,595 pay 7% on all of it.

Businesses reporting644 across 250 ownership groups

Average gross sales, qualified$439,243

Single-owner average$626,096

Total investment$126,875–$169,325

Revenue per business falls 56% as the ownership group grows.$626,096, $433,204, $357,086, $310,282, $272,595 across groups of one, two, three to four, five to seven and eight to twenty-four.
Holding $3,250,893 as twelve businesses costs $54,000 more in royalty than holding it as one.$225,545 against $171,545 *, because each business stands alone for the threshold test.
Three of the four quartiles pay a flat 7%.The step down starts above $400,000 a year, which only the top quarter's $914,092 and the second's $443,368 reach.
The system closed 268 territories in three years and opened 47.905 down to 684, with 100 businesses ceasing operations in 2025 alone against 23 openings.
Territories granted under the current standard bill $135,061 more than the rest.$439,243 across 414 qualified franchises against an implied $304,182 across 230 legacy ones *.

Top performers

What separates the top Merry Maids performers

Merry Maids splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $914,092 a year. The worst averaged $130,847. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $339,352. The average was $439,243. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.

Decided before you open

Trade area and site.A 7.0× 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 $126,875 to $169,325, a 1.3× 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

Recurring cleans, the operating driver.This model bills on recurring cleans. The owner works on how many cleans happen each week, how many customers are still there in six months, and how tightly the route is packed. 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 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.

Context you underwrite around

The reporting screen.414 of 684 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.

Top performers

How far apart the locations are

Top 10% qualified

This filing does not split its locations into performance bands, so the gap between the highest and lowest Merry Maids location is not disclosed. What it does publish is on the Model and Finance tabs.

One owner, many businesses

Each business added earns less than the last.

2025 gross sales by the number of active franchises an owner holds, as the brand reported it, with the combined royalty rate added *Averan calculation
Franchises per owner	Owners	Franchises	Average per owner	Average per franchise	Median per franchise	combined royalty rate *
One	107	107	$648,808	$626,096	$548,583	6.44%
Two	65	130	$883,196	$433,204	$377,929	6.92%
Three to four	45	152	$1,239,409	$357,086	$255,180	7.00%
Five to seven	22	125	$1,788,869	$310,282	$234,689	7.00%
Eight to twenty-four	11	130	$3,250,893	$272,595	$202,615	7.00%
All	250	644	$1,030,874	$391,007	$299,059	7.00%

Owner counts, franchise counts, averages and medians are as the brand reported it. The combined royalty column is marked *, applying the published schedule to each group's own per-franchise average.

An owner with one business bills $626,096; an owner with twelve bills $272,595 each. A 56% decline, and it falls at every step in between. Whatever the second business adds in total sales, it arrives with a smaller book than the first and pulls the average down.

The medians fall faster than the averages. $548,583 down to $202,615, 63% against 56%. So the typical multi-unit business is weaker still than its group average suggests. The largest groups are carried by a handful of strong territories inside them.

Eleven owners hold 130 franchises between them. Nearly twelve each, averaging $3,250,893 in total. Those eleven groups hold 20% of the system's active franchises, and their per-business figure is the lowest in the table.

The single-business group attains its own average 41.1% of the time. Against 32.9% for groups of three to four. Attainment moves within a nine-point group across every group size, so the shape of the distribution stays similar, what changes is where it sits.

The highest single business in each group size lands between $1,352,116 and $1,838,414. A $486,298 group across the whole table. A business inside a twelve-unit group can reach $1,452,280, so group size sets the average. The constraint is attention.

Best to worst, by sales

Seven times, top to bottom.

2025 gross sales for 414 qualified franchises, as the brand reported it, with the fee load added *Averan calculation
Group	Franchises	Average	Median	Attainment	Lowest	Highest	Fee load *
Top 10%	41	$1,209,796	$1,134,025	41.5%	$898,779	$1,838,414	8.2%
Top quartile	104	$914,092	$808,013	37.5%	$583,596	$1,838,414	8.6%
Second quartile	103	$443,368	$432,899	44.7%	$341,005	$583,027	10.3%
Third quartile	103	$267,050	$266,539	49.5%	$194,698	$337,700	11.2%
Bottom quartile	104	$130,847	$130,052	50.0%	$35,322	$194,623	13.6%
Bottom 10%	40	$85,036	$86,934	50.0%	$35,322	$115,950	16.0%
All qualified	414	$439,243	$339,352	36.7%	$35,322	$1,838,414	10.3%

Counts, averages, medians, attainment and ranges are as the brand reported it; the fee-load column is marked *.

The top quartile bills seven times the bottom. $914,092 against $130,847. Both sit on territories of at least 40,000 qualified households with an office inside them. So the ground and the format are held constant and the whole gap is trade.

The median of $339,352 sits 23% below the average of $439,243. Half the qualified system bills under $339,352, and 36.7% reach the average. A forecast anchored on the published average overshoots the typical business by $99,891 a year.

Attainment climbs as revenue falls: 37.5%, 44.7%, 49.5%, 50.0%. The bottom quartile is tightly clustered ($35,322 to $194,623) while the top runs to $1,838,414. Upside concentrates in a few territories and downside is broadly shared.

A territory granted under the current standard bills $135,061 more. $439,243 against an implied $304,182 for the 230 legacy franchises *, which hold fewer than 40,000 qualified households or run their office elsewhere. A 31% difference, the clearest case for keeping the office inside the ground it serves.

Legacy franchises are 35.7% of the active system. 230 of 644 *. More than a third of the businesses trading today hold terms the brand has stopped offering. That is worth knowing before comparing a resale against a fresh grant.

How the royalty steps down

The discount arrives at $400,000.

Top 10% qualified

$1,209,796

Top quartile qualified

$914,092

All active average

$391,007

Bottom quartile qualified

$130,847

Bottom 10% qualified

$85,036

Annual franchisor obligations at each published revenue level *Averan calculation
Business	Gross sales	Royalty	Rate	Advertising fund	Local marketing	Technology	Total	Share
Top 10% qualified	$1,209,796	$69,490	5.74%	$15,727	$8,469	$5,988	$99,674	8.2%
Top quartile qualified	$914,092	$54,705	5.98%	$11,883	$6,399	$5,988	$78,974	8.6%
Single-business owner	$626,096	$40,305	6.44%	$8,139	$4,383	$5,988	$58,814	9.4%
All qualified average	$439,243	$30,355	6.91%	$5,710	$3,075	$5,988	$45,127	10.3%
All active average	$391,007	$27,370	7.00%	$5,083	$2,737	$5,988	$41,179	10.5%
Business in an eight-plus group	$272,595	$19,082	7.00%	$3,544	$1,908	$5,988	$30,521	11.2%
Bottom quartile qualified	$130,847	$9,159	7.00%	$1,701	$916	$5,988	$17,764	13.6%
Bottom 10% qualified	$85,036	$5,953	7.00%	$1,105	$595	$5,988	$13,641	16.0%

Ours, applying the published rates to filed revenue.

Splitting revenue across businesses costs the royalty discount. An owner holding $3,250,893 across twelve businesses pays $225,545, where a single business billing the same amount would pay $171,545, a $54,000 difference each year *. Each business stands alone for the threshold test.

Three of the four quartiles pay a flat 7%. Only the top quartile at $914,092 and the second at $443,368 clear $400,000, and the second clears it by $43,368, worth $434 a year *. For most of the system the tiered schedule is a headline.

The discount is worth $27,768 to the largest business in the system. $1,838,414 at the tiered rates against a flat 7% *. Crossing $500,000 is where the money starts: every dollar above it has 5% against 7%. So the 2,000th dollar of the year is worth 2.1% more than the 200,000th.

Total obligations run 8.2% at the top and 16.0% at the bottom. *. Two forces work together: the royalty steps down as revenue rises, and the $5,988 technology fee is fixed. At the bottom tenth of the group, ranked by sales's $85,036 that fee alone is 7.0% of sales.

The technology fee may double to $1,000 a month on a software change. $12,000 a year against $5,988. At the bottom quarter's $130,847 that single line would move from 4.6% to 9.2% of sales *, which is a bigger swing than the entire royalty ladder delivers.

Opening and the system

A system that shrank by a quarter.

Franchised territory movement, 2023 to 2025, as the brand reported it
Year	Start	Opened	Terminations	Non-renewals	Ceased, other	End	Transfers
2023	905	16	17	24	35	845	66
2024	845	8	9	8	72	764	35
2025	764	23	2	1	100	684	12
Three years	905	47	28	33	207	684	113

As the brand reported it, from the status table; the three-year row is marked *.

One hundred territories ceased operating in 2025 against 23 openings. Four exits for every entry. Terminations and non-renewals together accounted for three of the 103 departures, so the overwhelming majority were owners choosing to stop.

The system fell from 905 territories to 684 in three years. A 24.4% contraction. Exits have shifted in character over that period: 2023 lost 41 territories to terminations and non-renewals and 35 to other closures, while 2025 lost 3 and 100.

Transfers fell from 66 to 12 across the same three years. Against 113 in total. A thinning resale market alongside rising voluntary closures says owners are increasingly exiting by closing, which is the harder of the two routes.

What it costs to open a territory.

Estimated initial investment, as the brand reported it, Item 7 of the 2026 FDD
Item	Low	High
Initial franchise fee	$55,000	$55,000
Additional funds, three months	$38,000	$43,000
Professional fees	$5,000	$15,000
Opening inventory	$6,500	$8,000
Opening marketing	$6,000	$8,000
Office equipment	$5,250	$6,850
Insurance	$3,400	$9,400
Travel and living during training	$2,500	$7,000
Real estate and improvements	$2,000	$4,000
Software and hardware	$1,775	$2,775
Miscellaneous opening costs	$1,400	$10,000
Telephone answering service	$50	$300
Total	$126,875	$169,325

As the brand reported it, reordered here by size.

The franchise fee is 43% of the low column. $55,000 of $126,875 *, and the fees actually collected in 2025 ran $27,500 to $49,500, every one of them below the list price. The discounts are the rule here.

Cash to run the business day to day of $38,000 to $43,000 covers three months. The largest line after the fee. Against a business at the bottom quarter's $130,847, that is nearly four months of revenue held in reserve. Is a sensible reading of a system where 100 territories closed in a single year.

A market hub office waives the $5,988 technology fee. Available to an owner already running a business in an adjacent territory, and it drops the washer, dryer and storage requirement. For a second business at the group averages, that waiver is 1.4% of revenue *. The one place in the fee structure where holding several territories pays.

Buying a territory with existing customers costs $250 each. Paid to the neighboring franchisee who has been serving them. At the system's average revenue per business, a book of 200 customers would cost $50,000 on top of the franchise fee. So the arithmetic on a territory with an inherited book deserves its own line.

Questions we get asked

Questions owners ask.

What should a Merry Maids business be billing?

Among the 414 qualified franchises (territories of 40,000 or more qualified households with an office inside them) the 2025 average was $439,243 with a median of $339,352, and 36.7% reached the average. By quartile the averages were $914,092, $443,368, $267,050 and $130,847. The highest single business billed $1,838,414 and the lowest $35,322. Across all 644 active franchises, including the 230 legacy ones, the average was $391,007 with a median of $299,059. There were 684 franchised territories at 31 December 2025 and zero company-owned ones.

Does owning several territories work?

The published figures argue for caution. Per business, an owner holding one averaged $626,096, two averaged $433,204, three to four averaged $357,086, five to seven averaged $310,282 and eight to twenty-four averaged $272,595, a 56% decline, with medians falling 63%. In total, a group holding eight or more billed $3,250,893 against $648,808 for a single-business owner. So the overall business does grow. What falls is the output of each piece. The royalty schedule works the same way: thresholds apply to each business alone. So holding $3,250,893 across twelve businesses costs $54,000 more in royalty each year than holding it as one, which is marked *.

What does the brand take?

The royalty is 7% of gross sales until a business passes $400,000 in a calendar year. Then 6% up to $500,000 and 5% above it, resetting each January. The franchisor may change or withdraw the reduced rates at any time. The advertising fund contribution is 1.3% and may rise to 2%. A local marketing spend of 0.7% is required, with any shortfall payable into the fund. Together they are capped at 3%. The technology fee is $499 a month per business, capped at 10% growth a year. May rise to $1,000 a month if the franchisor changes software vendors or platforms. Royalty and advertising are drawn weekly by electronic debit. Missing a renewal deadline adds 2.5% of gross sales a week after 60 days.

Why did so many territories close?

In 2025, 100 territories ceased operations for other reasons, alongside 2 terminations and 1 non-renewal, against 23 openings. Across three years the system fell from 905 territories to 684, 24.4%, with 268 exits against 47 openings, and transfers fell from 66 a year to 12. The mix has shifted: 2023’s losses were mostly terminations and non-renewals, while 2025’s were almost entirely owners choosing to stop, with zero reasons given. Two counts of 2023 circulate, 908 and 846 for start and end against 905 and 845, so fix on one before you benchmark.

Who does bookkeeping for a Merry Maids franchise?

Three mechanics shape the close. The royalty is a year-to-date ladder instead of a flat rate (7% until cumulative gross sales pass $400,000, then 6%, then 5% above $500,000, resetting each January) so the accrual rate changes mid-year at a point that depends on the pace of billings. A business near $400,000 has a genuine reason to track cumulative sales weekly. Second, the thresholds are measured per business and stay separate across businesses under one owner. So a multi-unit group needs its books kept separately by business for the fee calculation even where it manages them as one operation. Third, gross sales are all billings whether collected or still outstanding and are drawn weekly by electronic debit. An unreported week debited at 120% of the trailing 36-week average. Makes the weekly reporting discipline a cash-flow control as much as a compliance one. Averan provides bookkeeping, controller, and fractional CFO support for franchise owners and has Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors on the team.

What this filing does not disclose

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 Merry Maids

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 Merry Maids locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?

Part of our Home & Commercial Services Franchise Finance guide and the Residential Cleaning Franchise Finance guide · Āveran Franchise Resource Center

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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Where these figures come from.

Every figure here comes from Merry Maids SPE LLC’s 2026 FDD and is unaudited by us. We are unaffiliated with the brand. Calculations of our own are labeled where they appear, the figures describe past performance at other businesses and are not a projection of yours. This page is an educational summary. It is not an offer to sell a franchise, and it is not financial, legal or tax advice. Merry Maids® is a registered trademark of its owner. How Averan reads a Franchise Disclosure Document.

Where this sits

the franchise library, all 243 brands · how franchise unit economics work · running the books across several locations · what Averan does for franchise owners

The same business, other brands

Merry Maids reads against the rest of the residential cleaning group: MaidPro · Molly Maid · The Cleaning Authority · Two Maids. The residential cleaning 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.
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.
Revenue was the highest it has been. Why did profit not move?Where the extra revenue went, line by line.

Where to next

Compare brands, every brand in the library on one screen
Checking the franchisor’s own finances
What one location earns and spends
What changes at ten units
Fractional CFO, for the forecast behind a second location and the cash plan that carries it
Bookkeeping for franchise owners, what this looks like when someone else keeps the books
Āveran Franchise Resource Center, every breakdown in the library
Bookkeeping, monthly close built around the way your brand reports
Controller, when the numbers need someone reading them as well as recording them

Scott Engler

Founder & Principal, Averan Advisors

Averan provides bookkeeping, controller, and fractional CFO support for franchise owners and has Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors on the team. More about the team →

If you want this done for you

What happens next

Everything above came out of a filing. Doing it on your own numbers means the books have to produce the same lines: sales, wages, occupancy, fees and what is left, by location, every month. That is the work.

The call, twenty minutesYou describe the business and where the numbers are letting you down. We tell you honestly whether we can help, and what we would start with. No pitch deck.
We look at the fileYou give us read access to the books as they are. We come back with what is wrong, what it will take to fix, and whether the answer is bookkeeping, controller work, or something else.
A written scope and a priceWhat we do each month, what you get, the date it lands, and the fee. Agreed before anything starts, and it does not move without you agreeing it.
Transition, then the first closeAccess, systems, and the opening balances. The first close lands on the date in the scope, and every one after it does too.

Start with the call →How an engagement runs

Averan is not a CPA firm and does not file taxes. Your CPA keeps that, and we keep the books they file from.