Shine Window Cleaning franchise unit economics
Shine franchisees clean windows, pressure wash, clear gutters and hang holiday lighting from two branded vehicles across a protected area of 75,000 to 125,000 households. A business holding one territory averaged $575,028, while thirteen businesses holding two averaged $312,243 for both together, so the second territory earns less than the first. Jobs sell at $722.08 at a 70% conversion rate, which turns any revenue target into a weekly job count.
- Primary source
- Shine Development, 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
- 48 of 75 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.
Thirty-three businesses holding one territory averaged $575,028. Thirteen holding two averaged $312,243, for both territories together. Per piece of ground that is $156,122 against $575,028, and it is the most consequential number here.
- A second territory has historically produced $156,122 a year. 13 two-territory businesses averaging $312,243 in total against $575,028 for a single-territory business *, 3.7 times less per territory.
- Estimate conversion alone covers $427,164 of revenue on identical lead flow. The system converts 70% on average, 44% at the low and 96% at the high; the average business books 783 jobs from about 1,118 estimates *.
- Below $205,714 of annual revenue the 7% royalty becomes a $14,400 flat charge. The $1,200 monthly minimum binds *. The average territory inside a two-territory business bills $156,122, where 7% would be $10,929.
- Required local advertising and technology cost $34,200 a year whatever the business bills. 38.4% of the lowest-selling reporting business's $88,985 and 1.7% of the highest-selling one's $2,020,134 *.
- Holiday lighting supplies 33% of single-territory revenue, ranging from 8.8% to 82.3%. $189,532 of the average business's $575,028 *, a second business with its own season sitting inside the first.
How much does a Shine Window Cleaning franchise make?
The average Shine Window Cleaning unit reported $528,932 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $347,981. 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 15% 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 Shine Window Cleaning performers
Shine Window Cleaning splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $2,020,134 a year. The worst averaged $88,985. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $347,981. The average was $528,932. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 22.7× 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, quoted at 125,000 households. 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 $141,570 to $203,095, a 1.4× 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
- 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 15.0% 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.48 of 75 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.
One territory or two
The second territory earns a quarter of the first.
| Structure | Businesses | Territories | Average revenue | Median | Per territory * | Highest | Lowest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One territory | 33 | 33 | $575,028.46 | $350,552.50 | $575,028 | $2,020,133.94 | $88,985.01 |
| Two territories | 13 | 26 | $312,243.16 | $241,248.79 | $156,122 | $1,084,527.72 | $107,064.95 |
| Three territories | 2 | 6 | $552,666.26 * | n/a | $184,222 | $638,595.32 | $466,737.20 |
| Four territories | 1 | 4 | $1,715,019.00 | n/a | $428,755 | $1,715,019.00 | $1,715,019.00 |
| System | 48 | 66 | $528,931.55 | $347,981.42 | $384,677 | $2,020,133.94 | $88,985.01 |
Revenue, medians, highs and lows are as the brand reported it; the per-territory column, the three-territory average and the system's 48-business count are marked *.
A business holding two territories bills $312,243 in total. Against $575,028 for a business holding one. The second piece of ground has historically added a fraction of the first. Turns the multi-territory decision from an obvious yes into a question about whether the first territory is anywhere near finished.
The one four-territory business bills $1,715,019, or $428,755 a territory. Ahead of every other multi-territory structure and opened in 2014. It is a single data point, and it says that per-territory output at scale is achievable: the thirteen two-territory businesses sit at $156,122.
Twelve of 33 single-territory businesses reached their own group average. 36%. A $2,020,134 high against an $88,985 low, 23 times, stretches that mean well above the $350,553 median. So the typical single-territory business bills about 61% of what the average suggests.
Eleven of 33 single-territory businesses billed less in 2025 than in 2024. Declines of 3.96% to 23.99%, against a median growth of 10.23% and an average of 41.71% that a single 567.91% figure has. Excluding that one business the average falls to 25.26% *, a system where a third of mature businesses went backwards while the rest grew strongly.
Five of 13 two-territory businesses also shrank. Down to a 21.38% decline, with a median growth of 4.33%. Holding two territories offers little protection against a year that goes the wrong way, and the two structures behave alike on that measure.
Quotes and job value
Seventy percent of estimates become jobs.
| Measure | High | Average | Median | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ticket | $1,538.34 | $722.08 | $679.45 | $312.74 |
| Estimate conversion | 96% | 70% | 70% | 44% |
| Jobs from 1,118 estimates * | 1,074 | 783 | 783 | 492 |
| Revenue at the $734.54 single-territory ticket * | $788,610 | $575,028 | $575,028 | $361,446 |
Tickets and conversion rates are as the brand reported it across the 69 units open the full measurement period; the job and revenue rows are marked *.
The same 1,118 estimates produce $361,446 or $788,610. *, at the published 44% and 96% conversion rates. That $427,164 gap is bought with zero extra marketing, zero extra vehicles and zero extra territory. It is the estimator standing in the customer's driveway.
The average single-territory business runs 15 jobs a week. 783 a year at $734.54 *. Three a day. At that density one additional job a week is worth $38,196 a year, which is 6.6% of the average business and 43% of the lowest-selling one.
Tickets run from $312.74 to $1,538.34. Nearly five times. The high ticket belongs to the system's largest business and the low ticket to its smallest, so ticket and volume move together here. The businesses doing the most work are also charging the most for each piece of it.
The median conversion rate equals the average at 70%. Which means the distribution is balanced, and half the system sits below a rate that the top quarter beats by 26 points. A business at 44% is losing more than a third of the work it has already paid to find.
The median ticket of $679.45 sits $42.63 below the average. A 5.9% gap. Pricing across this system is tight, and a $50 improvement on the median ticket is worth $39,150 a year at 783 jobs *, the same order as a whole extra job per week.
Lighting
A third of the money arrives in December.
| Group | Total sales | Cleaning | Lighting | Lighting share * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All 33, average | $575,028 | $385,496 | $189,532 | 33.0% |
| Eight largest, average | $1,344,023 | $898,003 | $446,020 | 33.2% |
| Eight smallest, average | $147,584 | $109,691 | $37,893 | 25.7% |
| Highest lighting share | $338,847 | $60,067 | $278,780 | 82.3% |
| Lowest lighting share | $590,237 | $538,181 | $52,056 | 8.8% |
| 13 two-territory businesses, average | $312,243 | $195,382 | $116,861 | 37.4% |
Total, cleaning and lighting revenue are as the brand reported it for each business; the group averages and the share column are marked *.
Lighting supplies 33.0% of the average single-territory business. $189,532 of $575,028 *. That is a seasonal installation business with its own crews, inventory and ladder work, run inside a window cleaning brand. It arrives in the weeks when cleaning demand is at its thinnest.
The largest eight businesses take the same 33.2% from lighting as the whole group. Against 25.7% for the smallest eight *. Scale arrives in both lines together, which suggests lighting grows with the cleaning book.
One business draws 82.3% of $338,847 from lighting and another draws 8.8% of $590,237. $278,780 against $52,056. The same franchise agreement supports two completely different businesses, and the one leaning on lighting bills 43% less in total.
Six of 33 businesses take more than 40% from lighting; seven take under 20%. *. Nearly 40% of the system sits at one extreme or the other. So the cash-flow shape an owner should plan for depends far more on their own mix than on any published average.
Two-territory businesses lean harder on lighting at 37.4%. Against 33.0% for single-territory businesses *. On smaller revenue, a larger share of it seasonal. Tightens the working capital problem in the months a second territory is being brought up.
Fees and what it costs to open
$34,200 before the royalty applies.
| Business | Revenue | Royalty | National advertising | Local advertising | Technology | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highest single territory | $2,020,134 | $141,409 | $40,403 | $25,200 | $9,000 | $216,012 | 10.7% |
| Average single territory | $575,028 | $40,252 | $11,501 | $25,200 | $9,000 | $85,953 | 14.9% |
| System average per business | $528,932 | $37,025 | $10,579 | $25,200 | $9,000 | $81,804 | 15.5% |
| Average per territory | $384,677 | $26,927 | $7,694 | $25,200 | $9,000 | $68,821 | 17.9% |
| Median single territory | $350,553 | $24,539 | $7,011 | $25,200 | $9,000 | $65,750 | 18.8% |
| Territory inside a two-territory business | $156,122 | $14,400 | $3,122 | $25,200 | $9,000 | $51,722 | 33.1% |
| Lowest-selling reporting business | $88,985 | $14,400 | $1,780 | $25,200 | $9,000 | $50,380 | 56.6% |
Ours, applying the published rates to the filed revenue.
The $1,200 monthly royalty minimum binds below $205,714 of annual revenue. *. The average territory inside a two-territory business bills $156,122, where 7% would be $10,929 against the $14,400 owed, an effective 9.2%. Half of the second territories in this system sit under that line.
Fixed obligations are $34,200 a year whatever the business bills. $25,200 of required local advertising and $9,000 of technology. At the lowest-selling reporting business's $88,985 that alone is 38.4%, and at the highest-selling one's $2,020,134 it is 1.7% *, the widest compression in the whole fee structure.
Local advertising may rise to $5,000 a month. $60,000 a year, against the $25,200 in the table. At the median single-territory business that change alone would move the total obligation from 18.8% to 28.7% of revenue *, so the headline 7% royalty describes a small part of what the arrangement actually costs.
A job taken across the territory line costs $639 more than it earns. $1,000 to the franchisor plus half the revenue to the neighboring owner, against the system average ticket of $722.08 *. That is among the sharpest boundary penalties in this library, and it makes the estimator's map a financial control.
What it costs to open a territory.
| Item | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $49,900 | $49,900 |
| Additional funds, three months | $30,000 | $60,000 |
| Start-up package | $22,500 | $32,500 |
| Grand opening advertising | $20,000 | $20,000 |
| Initial training fee | $7,500 | $7,500 |
| Service vehicle, three months | $3,000 | $4,800 |
| Insurance | $2,400 | $4,000 |
| Sales vehicle, three months | $1,500 | $5,500 |
| Rent, lease and improvements | $1,000 | $6,000 |
| Travel and living while training | $1,000 | $3,000 |
| Accounting and wages services | $990 | $1,500 |
| Professional fees | $500 | $2,000 |
| Financial training | $495 | $495 |
| Licenses and permits | $200 | $600 |
| Office set-up and computer equipment | $185 | $3,000 |
| Office furniture | $0 | $2,300 |
| Total | $141,570 | $203,095 |
As the brand reported it, reordered here by size.
$99,900 to $109,900 of the build is payable to the franchisor at signing. The franchise fee, start-up package, training fee and grand opening advertising together, 70.6% of the low column and 54.1% of the high *. The two required vehicles account for $4,500 to $10,300 across their first three months.
Grand opening advertising is $20,000 paid to the franchisor about four months before opening. With the franchisor holding absolute control over strategy, timing and placement. Read against the conversion figures, that budget buys the estimate flow a new business converts at whatever rate it can manage. The rate is where the money actually moves.
Cash to run the business day to day of $30,000 to $60,000 covers three months. Against fixed obligations of $2,850 a month in advertising and technology plus a $600 monthly royalty minimum in the first full calendar year *. Three months of that is $10,350, leaving $19,650 of the low estimate for wages, fuel and everything else.
A protected area holds 75,000 to 125,000 households, of which about 20,000 earn $125,000 or more. The average single-territory business bills $28.75 per target household a year, and its 783 jobs reach 3.9% of them *. The franchisor may review the area every five years and reduce it where population has grown 20% or more.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
What should a Shine business be billing?
Thirty-three businesses holding a single territory averaged $575,028.46 in 2025 with a median of $350,552.50, a high of $2,020,133.94 and a low of $88,985.01. Twelve of the 33 reached the average. Thirteen businesses holding two territories each averaged $312,243.16 in total with a median of $241,248.79, a high of $1,084,527.72 and a low of $107,064.95. Two businesses holding three territories billed $638,595.32 and $466,737.20, and one holding four billed $1,715,019.00. The system average across 48 sets of books was $528,931.55 with a median of $347,981.42. There were 75 franchised units at 31 December 2025 and zero company-owned units.
Does a second territory double the business?
The published record says otherwise. A two-territory business averaged $312,243 across both, which is $156,122 a territory against $575,028 for a business holding one, 3.7 times less per piece of ground, which is marked *. Their median was $241,248.79, or $120,624 a territory. The one four-territory business reached $428,755 a territory, so higher per-unit output is achievable, and that business opened in 2014. Each protected area has its own franchise agreement and its own $2,100 monthly local advertising spend and $750 monthly technology fee. So a second territory arrives with $34,200 of annual fixed cost attached.
How much comes from holiday lighting?
Across the 33 single-territory businesses, lighting supplied 33.0% of revenue, $189,532 of the average $575,028, which is marked *. The range runs from 8.8% to 82.3%, with six businesses above 40% and seven below 20%. The thirteen two-territory businesses drew 37.4% from lighting. Two further units in the system sell holiday lighting alone and sit outside the performance dataset. One South Carolina franchisee closed two lighting-only franchises and reopened them as full-service businesses.
What does the brand take?
The royalty is the greater of 7% of monthly gross revenues or a minimum of $600 a month in the first full calendar year and $1,200 a month thereafter. Any shortfall payable within 30 days of notice. The national advertising fee is 2% and may rise to 3% on 60 days' notice. A local advertising spend of $2,100 a month is required and verified, may rise to $5,000 a month, and any unspent balance is payable to the franchisor. Technology costs $750 a month. A cooperative marketing contribution of 3% to 4% may be voted in, capped with the national fee at 6% together. Accepting a job inside another franchisee's protected area costs $1,000 to the franchisor plus half the revenue to that franchisee. Transfers cost $10,000, or $5,000 to an existing franchisee.
Who does bookkeeping for a Shine franchise?
Three mechanics shape the close. Revenue is seasonal in a way few service brands match, a third of it arrives through the lighting season. At the extremes of this system that share reaches 82%. So a thirteen-week cash forecast built on an annual average will misread the winter and the spring in opposite directions. Second, the royalty is the greater of 7% or a monthly minimum. The minimum binds below $17,143 of monthly revenue. Most businesses cross and re-cross inside a single year. The royalty accrual is a minimum in some months and a percentage in others. Getting that wrong shows up as a shortfall notice with a 30-day clock. Third, two obligations are fixed at $2,850 a month regardless of revenue. The local advertising half of that must be spent with vendors and verified, with any shortfall payable to the franchisor, a documented spend. Underneath it all, estimate conversion at 44% to 96% sits ahead of every other lever for the same marketing spend. 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.
- 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 Shine 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 Shine 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.
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A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast, and reporting, built around conversion, ticket, the lighting season and the fixed monthly minimum that decides this model.
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