descriptionThe Franchise Dossier
FDD Sourced
Independent analysis. Not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Stratus Building Solutions. All figures sourced from public FDD filings.
Franchise dossier · Commercial cleaning

Owning a Stratus Building Solutions: what actually happens

VERDICT · A TRAP
A cheap way to buy a block of cleaning work from a regional master who keeps the customers and about 15% of the billings; the real business is one level up.
You'd pocket / yr*
$5K–$40K
1 unit · before your salary
Your time
10–55 hrs/wk
owner-operator
Becomes an asset at
n/a
real wealth: n/a
Agreement term
12 yrs
then renewal
Year one, honestly

Year one is night cleaning of the accounts your regional master franchisee offers you, up to the monthly billing level of the plan you bought. The master bills the customers and pays you after taking the 5% royalty and 10% administration fee (and insurance if you buy it through them). On the smallest plans this is a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars a month of billings, a side income. On larger plans it is a full-time night job, with you and perhaps family members doing the work.

If you want out

Little to sell. Customer contracts and billing sit with the master franchisee, so what transfers is the right to service accounts, subject to the master's approval. Expect a small-dollar transfer at best; many unit owners simply stop.

Smart for

Someone who wants the cheapest structured entry into commercial cleaning as a side income, and is content to do the cleaning personally.

Dumb for

Anyone reading the $2M-$3M Item 19 averages as their own upside; those are master franchisee numbers.

The disclosure it's built on

The verdict above is our read of the numbers Stratus Building Solutions files with regulators — here they are, cited.

Stratus Building SolutionsFDD 2024
Item 5 · Initial franchise fee
$3,600
Item 7 · Initial investment
$4,450 – $79,750
Item 6 · Royalty
5% royalty + 10% administration fee (~15% of billings)
Item 6 · Ad / brand fund
Up to 1% (currently $0)
Item 19 · Avg unit revenue
Not disclosed
Item 20 · US units (~2025)
5,000
SOURCEFranchiseOverview summary of a 2024 Stratus unit-franchise FDD (unit FDDs are filed by regional master franchisees, so details vary by region): fee $3,600-$62,100, Item 7 $4,450-$79,750, 5% royalty, 10% administration fee, optional insurance 5%, ad fee up to 1% currently $0, 12-year term (high confidence on fee, Item 7 and royalty; medium on term, since FranchiseInvestorData shows 10 years and an 8% royalty / 2% ad figure that does not match the other sources). Franzy and FranchiseOverview (SBS Franchising, LLC) describe the master offering: $75,000-$210,000 fee, $109,550-$345,950 investment, 3-4% royalty, not used. Unit count: more than 5,000 unit franchisees across the US and Canada per 2025-2026 ISSA / IFA press coverage and 5,023 per FranchiseInvestorData, medium-low confidence and not US-only.
The catch

The '$3,600 to start' entry is real but buys the smallest plan. Fees ($3,600 to $62,100) scale with the amount of monthly account billings the master franchisee commits to offer you, and on top of the 5% royalty you pay a 10% administration fee on the same gross billings, plus about 5% more if you take the optional business insurance through the system. The master franchisee, not you, signs and bills the customers. The widely quoted Stratus earnings numbers ($2M to $3M average revenue) are the masters' results, not unit franchisees'.

*How to read these numbers. Disclosed (2024 unit FDD via FranchiseOverview): fee $3,600-$62,100, Item 7 $4,450-$79,750, 5% royalty + 10% administration fee, 12-year term (10 in one source). No unit-level Item 19; master-level figures deliberately excluded. Take-home, cost structure and hours are ESTIMATES (low confidence, wide) from janitorial industry norms. Labor % is mostly owner self-labor. — "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 Stratus Building Solutions?

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 →