OpenWorks franchise unit economics
OpenWorks franchisees buy a book of commercial cleaning accounts, $7,000 to $25,000 a month of billing, costing $24,850 to $72,000. The brand bills the customers and deducts 21.6% before remitting. The window for delivering the largest package runs to 780 days. Franchised outlets fell from 654 to 402 in three years.
- Primary source
- O.P.E.N. America, Inc. d/b/a OpenWorks, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
- Items read
- Items 5 and 6 for fees; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure; Item 20 for the location count
- Population
- 0 of 402 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.
You buy billing, and the brand collects it for you. A book of $7,000 to $25,000 a month of cleaning accounts, priced at 24 to 29.6 cents for each dollar of annual billing, then 21.6% is deducted before the money reaches you, and the delivery window can run 780 days.
- Twenty-one point six percent is deducted before remittance. 15% royalty, 2.5% advertising, 0.5% technology and 3.6% insurance *, and the stated caps would take it to 23.6% *.
- The largest package delivers over as much as 780 days. Two years and seven weeks *, against 240 days for the smallest, so $72,000 can buy accounts that arrive across two years.
- Accounts cost 24 to 29.6 cents a dollar of annual billing. *, and the largest package at 24 cents undercuts the 25 cents charged for adding accounts later *.
- A $25,000-a-month book nets $235,200 a year after the deduction. From $300,000 of billing *, before wages, supplies or vehicle.
- Four hundred and forty-eight outlets were terminated in three years against 198 opened. A 38.5% fall in the franchised count *, with 257 of those terminations in 2024 alone.
How much does a OpenWorks franchise make?
The 2026 FDD for OpenWorks does not publish unit revenue in a form that answers this directly. What it does publish is set out below, starting with Deducted before remittance: 21.6% of billing; Accounts cost: 24¢ to 29.6¢ a dollar of annual billing; Delivery window: 240 to 780 days; Franchised outlets, end 2025: 402.
Top performers
What separates the top OpenWorks performers
OpenWorks publishes no revenue figures, so neither the average nor the spread between locations is disclosed.
Decided before you open
- 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 $4,250 to $134,480, a 31.6× 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
- 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 21.6% 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
- What the disclosure leaves out.Item 19 publishes no profit or cost data for franchised locations, no median, no performance bands, no attainment figure. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.
- What the rest of the category shows.Across the 66 Home Services brands in this library that do publish bands, the top group sells 8.9× the bottom at the typical brand, and a median 35% of locations reach their own average *. Assume a spread of that order here until the franchisor shows you otherwise.
Buying work from the brand
Five packages, priced by the dollar of billing.
| Package | Monthly billing bought | Fee | Times one month * | Cents a dollar of annual billing * | Veteran price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OW P | Zero | $2,500 | n/a | n/a | $2,250 |
| OW GrOW | Zero | $6,000 | n/a | n/a | $5,400 |
| OW 7 | $7,000 | $24,850 | 3.55 | 29.6¢ | $22,365 |
| OW 10 | $10,000 | $33,000 | 3.30 | 27.5¢ | $29,700 |
| OW 25 | $25,000 | $72,000 | 2.88 | 24.0¢ | $64,800 |
The volumes, fees and 10% veteran discount are as the brand reported it and the multiple and cents columns divide the fee by one month's and by a year's billing, marked *.
Adding accounts later costs three times one month’s billing. 25 cents a dollar of annual billing *, more than the OW 25 package and less than either smaller one.
Volume above $25,000 is priced at the same three times. $72,000 plus $3 for each dollar of monthly increase, so $30,000 a month costs $87,000. The pricing is linear from there on.
Two packages have zero accounts at all. OW P at $2,500 and OW GrOW at $6,000, for owners who intend to find their own work. Those two have a territory of the whole continental United States.
Discounts in 2025 ran $500 to $5,000 off the fee. Awarded at the brand’s discretion through departmental promotions, so the schedule is a list price.
The whole business opens for $4,250 to $134,480. With the package itself being nearly all of it. The work is home-based with zero premises requirement.
What the brand deducts
The money is collected, cut, and then sent on.
| Charge | Rate | Cap | On $84,000 a year | On $300,000 a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 15% of sales | n/a | $12,600 | $45,000 |
| Advertising fund | 2.5% currently | 3% | $2,100 | $7,500 |
| Technology and innovation | 0.5% currently | 2% | $420 | $1,500 |
| Insurance program | 3.6% if enrolled | n/a | $3,024 | $10,800 |
| Total deducted | 21.6% | 23.6% | $18,144 | $64,800 |
| Remitted to the owner | 78.4% | n/a | $65,856 | $235,200 |
The rates and caps are as the brand reported it and the dollar figures apply them to twelve months of the OW 7 and OW 25 package volumes, marked *.
A 15% royalty is among the highest rates in this library. And it covers the brand’s billing and collection work as well as the license, so the owner handles cleaning and little else.
The advertising and technology caps would add two points. Taking the deduction from 21.6% to 23.6% *, which on a $300,000 book is a further $6,000 a year *.
Local advertising obligations are absent entirely. With zero required spend, zero cooperative and zero council. The fund contribution is the whole marketing obligation.
The $300 monthly royalty minimum stays uncollected today. It would bind below $2,000 a month of billing *, well under every package offered.
Insurance at 3.6% applies only if you enrol or let cover lapse. So carrying your own policy is the one deduction an owner can remove.
How long the money takes
The bigger the book, the longer the wait.
| Package | Monthly billing bought | Window, days | Window, months * |
|---|---|---|---|
| OW 7 | $7,000 | 240 | 7.9 |
| OW 25 | $25,000 | 780 | 25.6 |
| Each $5,000 above OW 25 | n/a | 150 more | 4.9 more |
The day counts are as the brand reported it and the months column divides them by 30.44, marked *.
The largest package can take more than two years to arrive in full. 780 days from completion of your requirements *, so the $72,000 buys a book that builds.
The fee becomes refundable only if the window closes unfilled. Which makes the window the central term of the agreement.
Each further $5,000 of monthly volume adds 150 days. So a $40,000-a-month book has 1,230 days of window *, more than three years.
Territory is a 60-mile radius shared with everyone. Other franchisees and the brand compete inside it, and the brand keeps internet, catalog and direct mail channels there.
Working outside the radius is prohibited. Even for customers who approach you unprompted, so the book of accounts is the only route to growth.
The network of locations
Two hundred and fifty-two fewer outlets than three years ago.
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminated | Non-renewed | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 654 | 65 | 102 | 2 | 615 |
| 2024 | 615 | 56 | 257 | 0 | 414 |
| 2025 | 414 | 77 | 89 | 0 | 402 |
| Three years | n/a | 198 | 448 | 2 | n/a |
Every figure is as the brand reported it, with zero company-owned outlets in any of the three years.
2024 alone accounts for 257 of the 448 terminations. 57% of the three-year total *, a single year that reshaped the system.
Openings rose to 77 in 2025 as terminations fell to 89. The closest the two have come in three years, so the contraction has nearly stopped.
One hundred and one new outlets are projected for the coming year. Against 402 trading, a 25% addition if they all arrive *.
Transfers ran to one a year. One in 2024 and one in 2025, so a resale market barely exists here.
Zero outlets are company-owned. The brand’s regional offices sell franchises and support them.
Questions we get asked
Questions an owner asks.
What am I buying?
A book of commercial cleaning accounts measured in monthly billing. Packages run from $7,000 to $25,000 a month at $24,850 to $72,000, and two packages have zero accounts at $2,500 and $6,000. On our reading the accounts cost 24 to 29.6 cents for each dollar of annual billing.
What does the brand take?
15% royalty, 2.5% to the advertising fund and 0.5% for technology, all deducted from what it collects on your behalf. 3.6% for insurance if you enrol in its program. On our reading that is 21.6% before the money reaches you, and the stated caps would make it 23.6%.
How long until the accounts arrive?
Between 240 days for the $7,000 package and 780 days for the $25,000 one, roughly 7.9 to 25.6 months on our reading. 150 further days for each $5,000 of volume above that. The fee becomes refundable only if the window closes without the volume being offered.
What does a book actually net?
A $25,000-a-month book bills $300,000 a year and remits $235,200 after the deduction, on our reading. A $7,000-a-month book bills $84,000 and remits $65,856. Wages, supplies and vehicle costs come out of those figures.
How do I add accounts?
By paying three times one month's billing on the new account, 25 cents for each dollar of annual billing on our reading. That is more than the OW 25 package costs and less than either smaller package, so the size you start at matters.
What does it cost to open?
$4,250 to $134,480, of which $2,580 to $72,080 goes to the brand. The business is home-based with zero premises requirement, so nearly all of it is the package itself.
Is there a territory?
A 60-mile radius from your business address, expressly non-exclusive, other franchisees and the brand compete inside it. The two account-free packages have the continental United States instead. You may work only inside your radius.
Which two numbers should run monthly?
Billing against the package you bought, because that is the test of whether the model delivered. Labor hours for each thousand dollars billed. Because 78.4% is what you keep and labor is the only lever you hold.
- No revenue figures. The filing makes no financial performance representation, so there is no disclosed sales number for any location.
- 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.
- No range. The filing does not show the highest and lowest locations, so the spread inside the system is unknown.
- No attainment figure. The filing does not say how many locations reached the average it publishes.
- No ramp. The filing does not show how a new location builds up, so the first-year curve has to be assumed.
Questions worth putting to OpenWorks
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 did the highest and lowest locations sell last year, and what explains the gap?
- 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 OpenWorks 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 →Is your book full yet?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around 21.6% deducted before remittance, accounts at 24 to 29.6 cents a dollar. A delivery window that can run 780 days.
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
OpenWorks reads against the rest of the commercial cleaning group: Aire-Master · Anago Cleaning Systems · City Wide Facility Solutions · Coverall · Enviro-Master · JAN-PRO. The commercial 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.
- At what point do spreadsheets stop coping?What changes at around ten units, and why lenders care.
- I run several locations. Which ones actually make money?Location-level contribution, and what it takes to see it.