Daryl and Pam Andrews, AMC Commercial Cleaning franchisees, have exceeded $1m in turnover. We spoke to the Andrews’ family about their insights and tips for successful franchising.

The couple became AMC business owners in 2004 after 20 years working for the brand as cleaners. They have since grown their client base to 57 Victorian sites, stretching from the Hume Highway to the South Australian border, and from the Murray River to the Victorian coast line. Their son Dilan has recently joined them in their journey.

Daryl Andrews spoke about the challenges and benefits of working with his wife, and now his son, on the business.

“The biggest challenges we have faced was forming a team of staff to clean our first site at the Maryborough Education College back in 2004,” he says.

“The other challenge has been the distance between sites in relation to staffing and managing them.”

The Andrews’ have their own team of cleaners, and say that many of their staff members have worked with them for four to five years.

“We hire very few people,” he says.

His tips for overcoming the challenge of hiring the right staff is communication, and generally using personal discretion. Experience is not necessarily a prerequisite, but he says that the majority of his staff is aged at least 40. Reliability is paramount in his selection of staff.

“If you employ cleaners/staff you should treat them as you would like to be treated,” Andrews explains. “The better that person is treated, we have found, the better that they will work for you. A bit of praise goes a long way.”

Andrews says there is support available in the franchise network and that includes training, and advisory assistance.  And franchises have access to a larger client base because many national organisations will prefer to outsource to one company. So there are definitely perks to being a franchisee with a national brand.

“You can’t beat being your own boss when your future is in your own hands.” he says.

“Being an AMC business owner has given us opportunities to expand and grow our business and the AMC management team has been a great support along the way – always available for advice and assistance.”

His advice for potential franchisees is that being hands-on in the role is important to success, rather than sitting back and expecting staff to perform.

Andrews believes that the key to working successfully with a spouse or family is that both know the job and how to treat staff. He outlined what’s important for franchisees:

• Having a “hands on” approach: Doing the work and being pro active as a franchisee is integral to success. The Andrew’s still clean on site.
• Properly managing staff: Daryl and Pam regularly visit sites to ensure jobs are completed properly
• Having experience in the business: Daryl and Pam worked for AMC for over two decades and “know what to look for”.

“We work for our profit,” says Andrews. “If you do the right thing and work hard you will succeed!”