Under the March 23, 2026 FDD, a Fish Window Cleaning Business is an office-based service operation within an assigned Territory. The franchisee develops residential and commercial accounts, schedules work, employs cleaners, delivers Approved Products and Services, invoices customers and reports through required systems.
Legal franchisor: Fish Window Cleaning Services, Inc. FDD issued March 23, 2026. Formats: Small Package, Standard Package, Executive Package and optional Schedule J Semi Absentee Owner Addendum. Evidence: FDD Items 1, 6, 8, 11, 12, 15, 16, 19 and 20; Franchise Agreement Sections 5-9; Fishing Hole table of contents. Item 20 reporting date: December 31, 2025. Official pages checked July 29, 2026. No franchise-controlled public 2026 FDD was verified; FDD references are unlinked.
The franchisee owns the local sales, staffing, scheduling, service quality, billing and collection process; Fish Window Cleaning Services, Inc. supplies the Marks, Fishing Hole standards, Fish Proprietary System, national web presence, marketing administration and oversight; FWC Distributing Company and designated third parties control specified forms, equipment, software, payment and communications inputs.
What does the franchisee sell, and who buys it?
Each Package authorizes the same basic FISH WINDOW CLEANING business: approved window and specialty cleaning for residential clients and commercial clients. Package differences primarily concern Territory population, local marketing requirements and performance standards, not a separate service concept.
Approved services
Item 16 requires glass cleaning of all types and identifies gutter, light fixture, screen, door and sign cleaning among required Approved Products and Services. Official residential service information and commercial service information also describe awnings, skylights, chandeliers, mirrors and other location-dependent work.
Customer and account types
Demand includes homes, storefronts and other low-rise commercial properties. Work can be one-time, periodic or recurring. Item 19 defines a Commercial Route Job as a recurring commercial window-cleaning job meeting the system's stated service-frequency threshold within one of its 13 four-week accounting periods.
Customers enter through the franchisor-controlled website, local telephone, approved local outreach or a Corporate Account. The public site separates home service requests from business service requests; local offices confirm dates. It also offers routine monthly, quarterly or seasonal scheduling.
Sources: 2026 FDD, Items 1, 11, 16 and 19, pp. 1-2, 23-30, 37 and 43-48; Fishing Hole table of contents, pp. G-2 to G-7; official consumer service and scheduling pages.
How does work move through the unit?
The operating cycle links lead capture, property assessment, approved bidding, scheduling, field service, payment and reporting. The Fish Proprietary System is the central record for customer schedules, routes, billing, accounts receivable, sales, royalties and employee production.
Capture and qualify demand
Actor: Owner, Principal Owner, Designated Manager or salesperson.
Action: Receive a website, telephone, local-marketing or Corporate Account inquiry and identify the property, requested service and service area.
Output: A qualified residential or commercial opportunity inside an authorized Territory.
Assess and bid
Actor: Owner or trained salesperson.
Action: Scope the glass and specialty work, use approved estimate sheets and bidding procedures, and present pricing. The franchisee generally sets local prices; Corporate Account terms may bind participating outlets.
Output: Accepted proposal or scheduled follow-up.
Schedule and route
Actor: Office staff, owner or Designated Manager.
Required system: Fish Proprietary System, called Fish 3 in the Franchise Agreement.
Action: Record the customer, interval, appointment, route and work assignment.
Output: A routed job for a trained field employee.
Perform the service
Actor: Franchisee-employed technician or crew.
Required assets: Approved vehicle, equipment, supplies, uniforms, safety procedures and service methods.
Action: Complete the authorized cleaning and follow customer-service and warranty standards.
Output: Completed work ready for approval and payment.
Invoice and collect
Actor: Local office and customer.
Required systems: Fish Proprietary System, QuickBooks Essentials Online and USAePay through SwipeSum or another approved vendor.
Action: Issue the invoice, process payment at completion or manage the account receivable.
Output: Recorded sale and payment status.
Resolve, repeat and report
Actor: Franchisee, with franchisor assistance when required.
Action: Address complaints, set repeat intervals, enter Gross Sales, submit weekly reports, and provide monthly and annual financial records. An unresolved complaint must be escalated to the franchisor after three days.
Output: Closed service cycle, retained record and next scheduled visit where applicable.
Sources: 2026 FDD, Items 6, 8 and 11, pp. 8-10, 16-19 and 27-29; Franchise Agreement Sections 5.E, 5.O and 8.K-8.M, pp. 9-20; official terms governing estimate confirmation and post-completion payment.
Who runs the business and who cleans the windows?
The standard Franchise Agreement is a full-time, directly supervised operating model. The owner or Principal Owner manages the Business; trained employees perform field service; the franchisee remains the sole employer and controls hiring, discharge, wages, benefits, work assignments and staffing levels.
For an entity franchisee, Principal Owners must be actively involved, and owners of at least 5% must give the required guarantee. The unit must employ enough trained staff to serve customers efficiently. Employees and subcontractors need the required background check before entering a customer's home. The FDD gives no standard headcount, crew size, shift pattern or labor ratio.
Schedule J, the Semi Absentee Owner Addendum, permits a Designated Manager from opening. It is not passive: the owner, Principal Owner or Designated Manager must devote full-time attention; the Designated Manager and a salesperson must complete training; multiple vehicles must operate at launch; and the franchisor must approve a growth plan.
The official franchise FAQ similarly says owners are full-time while getting started and may later manage through an operations manager. That website description does not replace Item 15, Franchise Agreement Section 6 or Schedule J.
Sources: 2026 FDD, Items 11 and 15, pp. 29-30 and 37; Franchise Agreement Section 6, pp. 14-15; Schedule J, Semi Absentee Owner Addendum.
Which suppliers, vehicles and systems are mandatory?
The unit requires a non-home office and Territory P.O. Box, at least one approved commercial van, approved equipment and supplies, prescribed communications hardware, and software giving the franchisor direct operational and customer data access.
Required operating stack
Fish Window Cleaning Services, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, FWC Distributing Company, are Required Suppliers for specified proprietary items and trademark-bearing products. Item 8 also names ABC Window Cleaning Supply, Harris Technologies, Amazon, Little Giant or Gorilla Made, EDTM, Shu-Bee, Build a Sign, Market Maps, RingCentral, Starwipers, Microsoft 365, Intuit and SwipeSum as exclusive sources for specified Equipment Package or Office Package items at the FDD date.
Supplier status is changeable. The franchisor may add or remove approved vendors, designate a sole Required Supplier, receive vendor-use reports and require upgrades or replacements. A franchisee can request approval of an additional supplier for eligible items, but trademarked items and specified package components are excluded from that alternative-vendor process.
Sources: 2026 FDD, Items 8, 11 and 12, pp. 16-19, 27-29 and 31-34; Franchise Agreement Sections 5.A-5.E and 5.K-5.L, pp. 8-13.
What does the franchisor control, and what remains local?
Fish Window Cleaning Services, Inc. controls the brand-defined operating system and the information layer. The franchisee controls day-to-day employment and execution, but must make those decisions inside changing Fishing Hole standards, supplier restrictions, Territory rules, approved marketing and reporting requirements.
Franchisor controls
- Marks, website, domains and approved marketing materials.
- Approved Products and Services, methods, equipment and supplier status.
- Fishing Hole standards, warranties, audits, inspections and secret shoppers.
- Customer Information use, system data access and Corporate Account terms.
Franchisee decisions
- Hiring, discharge, pay, benefits, staffing and daily work assignment.
- Lease selection, local scheduling, routing, collections and legal compliance.
- Local pricing generally, subject to Corporate Accounts and lawful price controls.
- Customer-service execution, complaint resolution and approved local outreach.
Third-party dependencies
- Equipment, vehicle, apparel, signage and office suppliers.
- Microsoft 365, Intuit QuickBooks, SwipeSum and USAePay.
- Insurers, lessor, Internet provider and approved communications vendors.
- Corporate Account administrators when the franchisee elects to participate.
The strongest control is data-related. The franchisor has unrestricted access to Computer System data and controls Customer Information use. The franchisee acts as a processor and must follow privacy, security and breach-response rules. Required hardware, software and system upgrades remain a franchisee obligation.
Sources: 2026 FDD, Items 8, 11 and 16, pp. 16-19, 23-29 and 37-38; Franchise Agreement Sections 5.C-5.O, 6.D and 8.K-8.M, pp. 9-20.
How protected is the assigned Territory?
The FDD calls the Territory nonexclusive. While a compliant franchisee generally receives protection against another FISH WINDOW CLEANING franchise or affiliate-owned outlet being established under the same name inside the Territory, the agreement reserves multiple channel, account and service exceptions.
The Small Package covers about 75,000 people, the Standard Package 200,000 and the Executive Package 400,000. Boundaries may use counties, roads or ZIP codes; the office and P.O. Box must be inside the Territory. The official territory page says “protected,” while Item 12 defines the narrower contractual protection.
The franchisee needs permission to solicit or serve outside the Territory. Open Territory work may be withdrawn when the area is sold, with accounts transferred without compensation. Corporate Accounts may market inside the Territory, and another operator may serve when the franchisee is unwilling, unavailable or unqualified, or when the customer requests another provider.
Sources: 2026 FDD, Item 12, pp. 31-34; Franchise Agreement Sections 2.B-2.D, pp. 4-5.
What does Item 20 show about the operating network?
At December 31, 2025, the U.S. system comprised 275 franchised outlets and one affiliate-owned outlet. Fish Window Cleaning Services, Inc. itself owned no operating outlet; Item 20's “company-owned” label refers to the commonly owned affiliate business described in Item 1.
U.S. outlet composition at December 31, 2025
Interpretation: the operating network is almost entirely franchisee-run, while the single St. Louis affiliate-owned business provides a separate commonly owned operating reference point.
Source: 2026 FDD, Item 20, Table 1 and footnote, p. 48. Calculation: 275 ÷ 276 = 99.6%; 1 ÷ 276 = 0.4%; displayed percentages reconcile to 100.0%.
Franchised outlets rose from 264 at year-end 2023 to 269 in 2024 and 275 in 2025. Item 20 reports 13 additions, one termination and six other cessations during 2025, with no nonrenewals or reacquisitions. Four ownership transfers did not change the system total.
Which operating questions remain to be verified?
The FDD does not disclose a standard headcount, customer mix, crew productivity, Corporate Account volume, exact complaint workflow or every current Fishing Hole standard. These points require unit-level verification.
- Package and boundary: confirm the exact Territory map, population basis, Open Territory accounts and transition obligations.
- Supervision path: confirm whether the standard owner-supervised agreement or Schedule J applies from opening.
- Current supplier list: obtain the latest Required Suppliers, approved alternatives and sole-source items from the Fishing Hole.
- Technology scope: verify current Fish Proprietary System features, user permissions, hardware replacements and cybersecurity duties.
- Staffing design: ask how the specific market divides sales, office, management and technician functions without assuming a standard headcount.
- Corporate Accounts: identify active accounts, required pricing, insurance, commissions, payment terms and service-level obligations.
- Service menu: confirm which additional services the location is approved and equipped to provide; official pages state that add-ons vary.
- Quality process: review current warranty rules, customer-response deadlines, inspection criteria and secret-shopper procedures.
How does Fish Window Cleaning operate after opening?
The central mechanism is local acquisition and fulfillment of residential cleaning and recurring or project-based commercial accounts. The franchisee must coordinate sales, trained labor, routes, quality, collections and reporting. The strongest dependency is the franchisor-controlled Fishing Hole, Fish Proprietary System, Customer Information and supplier specifications. Territory population distinguishes the Small, Standard and Executive Packages; Schedule J changes management structure. The largest undisclosed question is the staffing and Corporate Account mix required in the selected market.
Official context: Fish Window Cleaning franchise overview and official service and payment terms. Contractual operating claims above are governed by the March 23, 2026 FDD and attached agreements.
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