Verified — real FDD extraction
Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory under this name — though SBA loans to its franchisees exist; verify eligibility with your lender
THE MAIDS
Other · independent · est. —
The Maids is a residential cleaning franchise known for its team-based approach to house cleaning. A franchisee manages an office that dispatches uniformed cleaning teams to recurring household customers across a defined territory.
THE MAIDS net unit count grew +5.5% from 2023–2025 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
Proven & steady
Distress
A real track record with an unremarkable region of the ledger: neither the growth nor the exits stand out, for better or worse. The main concern in the record: too many owners are failing outright rather than selling.
Exit rate · latest year
5.5%
fiscal 2025, per Item 20
Cost to open
$118K–$141K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
13.0%
23 loans resolved — directional only
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
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 21 of 385 franchised outlets left the system — a 5.5% annualized exit rate. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 411 | 403 | 421 |
| Opened | 5 | 22 | 30 |
| Transfers | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Terminations | 11 | 6 | 20 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 403 | 421 | 425 |
| Net change | -8 | +18 | +4 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 59 SBA-backed loans to THE MAIDS franchisees since 2013. Only 23 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 3 of them charged off.
—
23 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$191,911
what recent franchisees borrowed
23 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
10 vs 16
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 THE MAIDS BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
A typical THE MAIDS buyer since 2020 borrowed $192K through SBA — about $28K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $764K, that is 3.7% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.
Who finances it
United Midwest Savings Bank National Association
36.8% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 35.0% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
84.3%
first-time franchise owners
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.
Does experience help here?
Not enough resolved loans to split
Computed from 59 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to THE MAIDS 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 $60K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $118K–$141K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$118K–$141K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$60K
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 THE MAIDS 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 $74K in back wages for 136 workers. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
6
Back wages owed
$74K
Employees affected
136
Since 2020
0
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual THE MAIDS franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not THE MAIDS 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 84% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
84 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
18.2%
Observed SBA charge-off
13.0%
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (raises) · Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · System size (log units) (lowers) · Single-lender dependence (lowers). 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 THE MAIDS. 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 THE MAIDS's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →THE MAIDS franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of THE MAIDS franchises closed last year?
In THE MAIDS's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 21 of 385 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 5.5%. 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 THE MAIDS franchise cost?
Per THE MAIDS's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $60K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $118K–$141K (Item 7).
What royalty does THE MAIDS charge?
THE MAIDS charges an ongoing royalty of 6.9% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does THE MAIDS disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — THE MAIDS makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $764K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.