Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S1068 since 2017
Maid Brigade
Cleaning & Restoration · independent · est. —
Maid Brigade is a residential house-cleaning service. Uniformed cleaning teams perform recurring and one-time home cleanings, with an emphasis on eco-friendly, certified-green cleaning methods. A franchisee runs a local cleaning company, scheduling crews, managing customers, and dispatching teams to homes.
Maid Brigade net unit count declined -79.7% from 2017–2025 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Showing strain
Distress
The disclosed record shows weakness — shrinking units, elevated exits, or churn — worth reading closely before going further.
Exit rate · latest year
2.9%
vs 3.1% across 25 cleaning & restoration systems
Cost to open
$155K–$190K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
17.1%
vs 14.8% avg across rated brands
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2021–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 2 of 69 franchised outlets left the system — a 2.9% annualized exit rate, vs 3.1% across 25 cleaning & restoration systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 379 | 371 | 367 | 351 | 349 | 70 | 73 | 72 |
| Opened | 0 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 |
| Transfers | 7 | 8 | 3 | 10 | 31 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 8 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Outlets at end | 371 | 367 | 367 | 349 | 341 | 73 | 72 | 71 |
| Net change | -8 | -4 | 0 | -2 | -8 | +3 | -1 | -1 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 52 SBA-backed loans to Maid Brigade franchisees since 1997. Of the 35 that have resolved, 17.1% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
17.1%
6 of 35 resolved defaulted
79.6%
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
13.7%
default rate × loss severity
$265,627
what recent franchisees borrowed
36 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
8 vs 5
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
Loan performance by state
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO MAID BRIGADE BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
A typical Maid Brigade buyer since 2020 borrowed $266K through SBA — about $41K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $637K, that is 6.4% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.
Who finances it
Wells Fargo Bank National Association
12.2% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 15.6% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
Too few identified operators
Does experience help here?
Not enough resolved loans to split
Computed from 52 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to Maid Brigade franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $50K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $155K–$190K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$155K–$190K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$50K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
6.9%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$69K
6.9% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$690K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for Maid Brigade with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 6 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $22K in back wages for 83 workers. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
6
Back wages owed
$22K
Employees affected
83
Since 2020
0
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Maid Brigade franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Maid Brigade itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2016.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks riskier than 89% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
89 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
19.8%
Observed SBA charge-off
17.1%
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (raises) · System size (log units) (raises) · Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · Single-lender dependence (raises). 15+ resolved loans stand behind this estimate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for Maid Brigade. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Maid Brigade's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Maid Brigade franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Maid Brigade franchises closed last year?
In Maid Brigade's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 2 of 69 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 2.9% — compared with 3.1% across 25 cleaning & restoration systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.
How much does a Maid Brigade franchise cost?
Per Maid Brigade's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $50K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $155K–$190K (Item 7).
What royalty does Maid Brigade charge?
Maid Brigade charges an ongoing royalty of 6.9% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does Maid Brigade disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Maid Brigade makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $637K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.
How often do SBA loans for Maid Brigade franchises default?
Across 52 SBA-backed loans to Maid Brigade franchisees since 1997, 6 of the 35 that have resolved were charged off — a 17.1% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.