Residential and commercial mid and high-rise window cleaning franchise, Squeegee Squad, has been stirring up a lot of recognition within the franchise world. As a leader and major international player in the window cleaning industry, the franchise experienced a record breaking year in 2013 and is continuing this trend in 2014.
Jack Ruegsegger founded this Minneapolis based company with his brother, Joe Ruegsegger, in 1999, just after graduating college. After working as a window washer throughout school, Joe turned down the typical 9-5 job working for someone else and started Jack & Joe’s Window Cleaning Inc., the official corporate name of this million dollar business.
Our team spoke with Jack in order to learn more about how the company has been ambitiously developing and refining in order to fulfill their vision, being the best window cleaning company in the world. Jack described his market niche as affluent home owners and building owners that will, quite frankly, never get on a ladder to wash windows. He explained that the franchise offers a recession resistant, staple service, much like lawn-care or janitorial services. Locations have grown each year since 1999, including recession years, and “we are selling about 15 new franchises on average every year,” Jack added.
What makes Squeegee Squad a winner among other options in the industry? Jack expressed that although they have 1-2 competitors in each of the three segments, their expertise goes far beyond superior customer service. “Squeegee Squad is the only window cleaning franchise that can train franchisees in the niche of high-rise business,” Jack claimed. By training and becoming experienced in Rope Access, Practical Rigging Safety, and Fall Protection, plus following the ANSI/IWCA 1-14.1 OSHA safety standard, Squeegee Squad is able to offer this service no other company does, not to mention additional training in bosun’s chair repelling, swing-stage and man-lift work.
When asked what makes Squeegee Squad so appealing to investors, Jack said, “We find that investors are attracted when they know they will get the biggest contracts within their state.” He went on to explain, “We start actively bidding on these contracts before we even have a franchisee.” In other words, the franchise wins contacts all over the country, which are then spun to either current franchise owners, or future franchise owners. Jack believes this is their value proposition. Franchisees feel confident knowing they have the security of a large commercial contract backing them while making the investment.
It’s obvious that the franchise offers may benefits that appeal to investors, but what is even more impressive is that investors from other countries come to Squeegee Squad to express interest in bringing the franchise over to their country. Squeegee Squad sold their first international franchise in 2009, after their franchisee in Brazil found them on the internet. They now have business in Brazil, Nigeria and Panama. Jack alluded to the fact that international markets are most interested in their commercial cleaning and went on to say, “Communication and cultural differences are sometimes a challenge, but they come to us looking for commercial high rise services, and no one else does it like us.”
As far as advice for getting into franchising as a whole, Jack said to, “Be brave. Be tough. There’s no job security working for someone else so I encourage people to start an investment in themselves.”
If you are interested to learn more about Squeegee Squad, contact one of our franchise consultants.
