Cleaning Franchises UK: Industry Overview

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The UK cleaning industry is very large and cleaning franchises roughly hold 10% of the market. If you are considering a Cleaning Franchise Opportunity then you need to decide what type of market do you want to work in. They’re many types of cleaning franchises available but they fall in different categories within two main markets: residential and commercial consumers.

Cleaning Industry Overview

Before you go ahead and choose the franchise for you, it is essential that you understand the market. As a whole, over £24 billion is contributed to the UK economy from the cleaning industry whilst providing over 700,000 people jobs, according to the latest figures from the British Cleaning Council. These statistics demonstrate that cleaning can be big money and can provide jobs to a large number of UK citizens, but does that mean it’s a good investment to start a franchise?

Cleaning Franchise UK Industry Overview | Cleaning Franchises | Start Your New Franchise

Cleaning Franchise Workforce

When operating a cleaning franchise, you may have to get on your knees and start scrubbing yourself, or you may hire a small workforce to conduct these activities whilst you manage the franchise. This does depend on the franchise opportunity but if you anticipate hiring a team then the availability and cost expectancy of a workforce needs to be evaluated.

Between 2014 and 2024 the cleaning industry is anticipated to create over 450,000 job openings. This is derived from two main statistics, firstly the growth of the market is expected to create around 80,000 of those job openings. Whereas the rest will be the replacement of staff during these years. Considering that the industry has a higher than national average of foreign born workers, filling jobs after Brexit (depending on the deal struck) may present an issue.

Then there comes the cost, with a national average wage growth of 2.3%, the cleaning franchise industry, with a wage growth of 6.4% is significantly higher. Considering we might experience a lack of applicants for a cleaning workforce, we can anticipate this trend of higher wage growth to continue for the immediate future.

What about the Growth?

Most markets in the UK are healthy and it will come as no surprise the cleaning franchise industry is one of these, but how do they compare? Since the recession a lot of markets have bounced back with a UK average of 17% growth since 2010, whereas the cleaning industry has experienced 21% growth. This growth has likely fuelled the increase in trading cleaning franchises and businesses.

With a national average growth of 9% for companies between 2014 and 2015, the cleaning industry again is leading the way with a 3% higher growth of 12%. Whilst the market seems healthy, it doesn’t mean all will succeed as it is business after all but compared to the national average again, the cleaning industry appears to be a safer bet. With a 3% increase in businesses closing in the cleaning industry compared to a national average of 9%, there is a lot to be optimistic about for cleaning franchises.

Trends Impacting Cleaning Franchises

The cleaning industry is no stranger to change, you only have to think about how your grandparents used to complete the many cleaning activities possible in the house to see how much its changed over the years. The trends that are currently impacting or are expected to impact the cleaning franchise industry are more focused around why more people need cleaning services and the changes to how cleaning franchises operate.

One trend that is driving domestic cleaning in the UK is the shift of working arrangements at home. If you look back 50 years, it was a lot more common for women to be a house wife where they completed many of the cleaning activities themselves. The number of females who still choose this lifestyle is decreasing as its much more common for both men and women to have a career. If all members of a couple are working they have less time to complete the cleaning tasks and they have more disposable income to afford using a cleaning franchise.

Other factors such as increased investment in real estate, growth in construction activities and technology improving the sales and communication within cleaning franchises are all driving growth and efficiency for the industry.

Cleaning Franchise Opportunities UK

Whilst they’re many cleaning franchises on offer within the UK, some are performing much better than the rest. Techclean is such a franchise, it is a market leader in its field and is in an area of the market which is only going to see growth. If this opportunity interest you then take a more detailed look here – Techclean Franchise Opportunity