Common Questions and Answers

Q: What is the availability of sites in my area?

A: The best way to find this out is by contacting our office. As you can appreciate, only a limited number of franchisees can operate within a certain population.

Q: Is my franchise area exclusive? How many franchises can operate in my franchise area/territory?

A: The number of franchises that are allocated to each franchise area depends on the population within the territory boundaries. The maps are obtained from the Bureau of Statistics. We then ascertain the current population figure for each franchise area. The total population for the area is divided by 60,000. This then provides us with the figure for franchises that are permitted to operate within the area.

For example:

Total population of example franchise area = 110,000
Allocated population per franchise = 60,000
110,000 divided by 60,000 = 1.83

The nearest whole number to 1.83 is 2. Therefore, two franchises are authorised to operate within the example franchise area.

Q: Why can't I have an area to myself?

A: In some cases you can have an area to yourself, as long as the population is 90,000 or less. But, we like to give franchisees the opportunity to have both commercial and domestic customers. Therefore, by giving you a larger area to cover, it permits you the opportunity to service both commercial and domestic customers. We have found that by giving exclusive areas (which would be 60,000 population) it would be more restrictive for you. For example, you may only have domestic customers in an exclusive area; this would provide no opportunity to do commercial work, hotels, agents, clubs etc.

Q. Am I not in competition with the other Chem-Dry franchisees?

A: No! Your competition is the methods and operators of the other carpet and upholstery cleaning companies. Your fellow Chem-Dry franchisees are there to help you and vice versa. Many of our franchisees work together by passing jobs on to one another, servicing clientele for each other when on annual leave, etc. In larger areas franchisees even advertise together in the Yellow Pages enabling them to afford a larger and more effective advertisement. On occasion you may come across the customer of another Chem-Dry franchisee. If this occurs, you should try to substantiate which Chem-Dry franchisee usually services this customer and refer that customer back to him. You will find that quite often customers don't realise that each franchise is independently owned and operated.

Q Can I work outside of my franchise area?

A: You may work outside of your franchise area if the job is a bonafide referral. To be more definitive about what type of work qualifies as a referral, it is when you have been recommended by one of your customers within your area to a friend, relative, etc. who resides outside of your area. This customer must specifically want YOU to clean their carpet/upholstery, and must make the first contact to you. You MAY NOT advertise or solicit business outside of your franchise area.

For example, if you cleaned for a chain store (e.g. Pizza Hut) and they wanted you to clean all their stores in your State or City, this would also be classified as referral work. Of course, if the travelling is not profitable for you, you could pass some of the work onto franchisees that are more local to the area.

Q. How many vans can I have in my area?

A: You may have as many vans and employees as you like operating within your franchise area. There is no extra franchise fee or monthly royalty fee for doing so. Some franchisees opt to expand their business by taking on another nearby franchise area. If there is availability you can do this by purchasing an area only franchise. Currently to do so you have to pay a one off license fee of $5000 for the area and pay the monthly royalty for that extra area. We have a few franchises that buy service multiple areas. Some have a franchise area in each are of a capital city. If there is availability you are welcome to expand in this way. Others prefer to build up one franchise area and stay closer to home. Once again the choice is yours.

Q. There seems to be a lot of carpet cleaners in my area. Isn't that too much competition?

A: There is competition in every industry! Whether you are a plumber, electrician, doctor or lawyer... As an exercise you should enquire as to how many electricians or lawyers there are in your area. You will probably be surprised! You may think that there is an extraordinary amount of competition in your area for carpet/upholstery cleaning businesses, but this is because you are solely focusing on that particular industry. You will note that the more competition there is indicates a greater demand for this particular service. I would be more concerned if there were none, or very few carpet cleaners in my area, as this would display a low demand for the service.

Being a Chem-Dry operator your goal should be to convert customers (even those of existing opposing carpet and upholstery cleaners) by giving them a service they can't refuse. You will find that by demonstrating our method of carpet and upholstery cleaning will prove itself to the customer. It has been said that once you have your carpets cleaned the Chem-Dry way you will never use another method again.

Q. How much money can I make?

A: Your profitability and turnover will vary depending on a number of factors, including sales, operating costs, and your ability to manage, market and control the business. The great part is that with one flat fee the more you make the more you keep. Questions related to profit and loss should be discussed during the interview process.

Q. Why is the Chem-Dry system unique to other carpet cleaning systems?

A: Most other carpet cleaners offer steam cleaning or basic hot water extraction with a high psi. This is when hot water with detergent is applied to the carpets at high pressure and then vacuumed up straight after. This causes problems like over wetting the carpets, which can cause carpet shrinkage and mould. In addition to this, due to the large amounts of water being used, it takes a long time to dry. This is not only inconvenient to the customer it can also cause a bad odour.

The further problem is the detergents they use. The detergents are never completely removed from the carpets. When the water evaporates the detergents, being oil based, never do quite evaporate, but instead stay in the carpets, attracting more dirt. Have you ever had your carpet cleaned and then a week later it looks like it hasn’t been cleaned at all or even worse than before? If yes, then you have probably used one of our competitors.

Other carpet cleaning companies boast “dry” cleaning of the carpets. The problem with dry cleaning solutions is the petroleum base products they put on to the carpets are never totally removed and dirt will also attract to the solution left in the carpets causing them to re-soil quickly. The most effective method of cleaning carpets is by using water but in small quantities, with carbonation and under low psi.

But how can you use water to clean carpets without causing the problems steam cleaners and dry cleaners cause? The Chem-Dry system uses water with a product called The Natural, which is water-soluble and made to carbonate the water and to break down dirt. This product has also a neutral PH, which leaves the carpets softer, and no natural oils are stripped from the carpets. When the carbonated solution is sprayed on the carpets, The Natural emulsifies the dirt changing it from a solid to a liquid. The tiny carbonated bubbles then help bring the liquefied dirt to the top of the pile ready for extraction. Either a buffer with a thick pad or a rotary PowerHead is then placed over the carpets to remove the dirt. Because the solution is carbonated, the carpets dry quickly as the solution wants to rise up instead of move down and evaporates quickly. The Natural is also water-soluble, with no detergents, so no dirt attracting residue is left in the carpets.

Q. I have never been involved with carpet cleaning before, is it something I can do?

A: Yes, most people who buy a Chem-Dry franchise have never been in the industry before. We will provide full training for you. Once you are trained, we would suggest cleaning your own home and then your family's and friends. It will not take long to build up your confidence. We are also happy for you to go and work with one of our franchises until you feel confident to do the work yourself.

Q. Do I get my own work or to Chem-Dry provide the work?

A: The answer to this question is both. Some of our competitors charge a monthly or weekly advertising levy separate to the franchise royalty. For example one that we know charges $1700 per month to their franchisees. While some franchisees don’t mind paying this at the start as they are looking for new business they find that when they have built up repeat customers that they are contracted to still pay this amount for their rest of their business life when really they are not needing many new customers. With Chem-Dry there is no advertising levy. We offer a pay as you go advertising program which is completely voluntary and you can jump in or off the program whenever you like. This means that you only pay us a percentage for work that we provide you and only when you want it. This is a one off fee for finding that customer. From then on that customer is yours.

Many of our new franchisees start off this way but it isn’t long until they learn how to secure work themselves and then call us to say that they do not need the work from the head office any longer. We have many franchises that are flat out doing the repeat and referral work that they already have and do not want any other work from our office.

Q. Is there and weekly guarantee for x amount of weeks when I first start?

A: You will see some franchise companies offer things like “$2000 per week guaranteed for first 10 weeks”. Often these companies build into their franchise price room to pay this guarantee. You will see that our franchise price is one of the most inexpensive around. In fact I challenge you to find a cheaper franchise with a better name than Chem-Dry. We prefer to skip the guarantees and provide a cheaper franchise leaving you with more money in your pocket to help you get kick started.

Q. I like what I have read, what’s the next step?

A: Either complete the application form provided on this website or call 1800 243 637 or 1800 ( CHEMDRY ) and speak us to today.