How much does a Merry Maids franchise cost?

The estimated initial investment is $126,880–$165,610 (FDD Item 7).

How much can you make owning a Merry Maids franchise?

An estimated $15,000–$85,000 of owner cash flow for one unit per year, BEFORE paying yourself a salary — so it is not take-home pay, and averages are not guarantees. Read the current FDD and talk to existing franchisees.

How many Merry Maids units does it take to build real wealth?

3+ territories under one office. The disclosed top-10% multi-unit groups gross about $3.2M; a single territory at the system median of $262K supports one owner's wage and not much more.

Independent analysis. Not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Merry Maids. All figures sourced from public FDD filings.

Franchise dossier · Residential cleaning

Owning a Merry Maids: what actually happens

VERDICT · A JOB

At the revenue most units actually report, this is a full-time management job with a recurring customer list attached; scale is the exception, not the norm.

You'd pocket / yr*

$15K–$85K

1 unit · before your salary

Your time

40–55 hrs/wk

owner-operator

Becomes an asset at

stays a job

real wealth: 3+ territories

Agreement term

10 yrs

then renewal

Year one, honestly

Year one is the owner as office manager, recruiter, scheduler and salesperson, building a recurring customer list from zero while keeping cleaning teams staffed. At the disclosed revenue levels there is not enough gross margin to pay a general manager and still have much left, so the owner fills that seat. Customers are sticky once won, but the ramp to the Qualified-territory average of about $487K usually takes years, not months.

Where each sales dollar goes

Supplies / goods ~6%Labor ~50%Rent ~5%Franchisor fees ~8%Other opex ~24%Left before debt & you ~13%

Illustrative split for a typical unit (industry estimate). The green slice is store cash flow before your loan payment and before paying yourself a salary — not profit.

If you want out

A Merry Maids business can be sold, and the recurring customer base has value, but most single territories are small enough that the price is a modest multiple of what is effectively the owner's salary. Transfers need franchisor approval. The many Legacy territories in the system show the common outcome: a small business held for a long time, then sold or closed.

Smart for

An owner-manager who wants a known brand in recurring house cleaning and plans to run the office personally for years.

Dumb for

Anyone underwriting the purchase on the top-10% marketing numbers, or expecting one territory to pay a manager and an owner.

The disclosure it's built on

The verdict above is our read of the numbers Merry Maids files with regulators — here they are, cited.

Merry MaidsFDD 2025

Item 5 · Initial franchise fee

$55,000

Item 7 · Initial investment

$126,880 – $165,610

Item 6 · Royalty

7% (5-6% at higher sales tiers)

Item 6 · Ad / brand fund

1.3%

Item 19 · Avg unit revenue

$487,441

Item 20 · US units (~2024)

802

SOURCEFranzy (2024 FDD) and L'Express Franchise: $55,000 fee and Item 7 $126,880-$165,610 (high confidence; FranchiseInvestorData and FranchisePayback show about $127K-$170K from the following filing). Royalty 7% with step-downs to 6% or 5% at higher annual sales, ad fund 1.3% (high confidence on 7% and 1.3%; FranchiseOverview describes the step-down as 5% above $500K). Item 19: FranchiseInvestorData summary of the 2025 FDD (2024 data), corroborated by a second aggregator for the 306-franchise $487,441 average and $427,425 median (medium confidence; Franzy's $709,553 and FranchisePayback's $339,000 are on different or unstated bases). Unit count: 802 US franchised at end of 2024 per FranchiseInvestorData; Franzy shows 933 and FranchisePayback 684 (low confidence). Term: 10 years per FranchiseInvestorData and PeerSense; an older FranchiseOverview summary shows 5 years with one 5-year renewal (medium-low confidence).

The catch

Which Merry Maids number you are shown matters a great deal. The Item 19 splits the system: 306 'Qualified' franchises average $487,441, while all 725 active franchises average $347,990 with a median of $262,519, because more than half the system is older, smaller 'Legacy' territories that are no longer sold. Marketing material leads with top-10% groups at $1.56M. A new buyer pays a $55,000 fee and 7% royalty plus 1.3% advertising on gross sales, and Item 19 discloses no costs, so there is no franchisor figure for what any of those revenue levels actually leave the owner.

*How to read these numbers. Disclosed: $55,000 fee, Item 7, 7% royalty and 1.3% ad fund (high confidence); Item 19 gross sales by group (medium, taken from aggregator summaries of the 2025 FDD, with other aggregators showing different averages). Item 19 has no cost data, so cost structure, take-home and hours are ESTIMATES (medium-low confidence) from residential cleaning industry norms. Unit count and term are low to medium-low confidence. — "You'd pocket" is estimated owner cash flow for one average unit before a salary for your own full-time work, so it is not take-home pay. Averages are not promises; your unit could earn far less. This is analysis, not advice — read the current FDD in full and talk to current and former franchisees before you commit.

Seriously considering Merry Maids?

Pressure-test the affordability, then read the full FDD and validate Item 19 (or its absence) with existing franchisees. When we add vetted franchise-consultant and financing partners, they'll be clearly disclosed here and never change our analysis.

Run a rough affordability check →