Buildingstars franchise: the $795 entry fee, how the model works, reviews and the independent option

What is Buildingstars and who owns it?

Buildingstars is a commercial cleaning franchisor headquartered at 33 Worthington Access Drive in St. Louis, Missouri. It says it has three decades of commercial cleaning experience and focuses on office buildings and medical offices, not restaurants, gyms or retail (Buildingstars janitorial franchise). The company is privately held; its website does not name its owners, so Item 1 of the franchise disclosure document is where you will find the franchisor entity, its parents and its officers.

Buildingstars sells two kinds of franchise. A master franchise owner develops and supports a region. A janitorial franchise owner cleans the accounts the regional support center assigns (Buildingstars franchise FAQ). That is the same master-and-unit structure used by Anago, Stratus and Jan-Pro. Our overview of cleaning franchises covers the rules and fee types all of them share; this page is about what is specific to Buildingstars.

The thing Buildingstars is known for is the price of entry. Its franchise page calls the $795 upfront fee “one of the most cost-effective entry points in the commercial cleaning industry” (Buildingstars franchise opportunities). What that fee buys, and what it does not, is the subject of the rest of this guide.

How does the Buildingstars franchise model work?

You sign a franchise agreement and pay $795, receive an equipment package and a starting base of office accounts, and clean them. Your regional support center finds and manages additional accounts as you grow, bills and collects, markets, and handles customer service (Buildingstars). You pay the system a share of revenue for that, on terms set out in the FDD.

Three janitorial programs

Buildingstars says it offers three franchise programs for three growth stages: doing the work yourself, managing a small team, and managing accounts with a small team in each building. It names the first two levels Technician and OnSite Manager, and calls the third “The Corporate,” which it describes as the only large-building franchise option in the industry. If you start at the Technician level, 100% of the initial franchise fee is credited toward the next level (Buildingstars FAQ). You can start part-time while keeping a job.

Account selection

Buildingstars says the accounts a franchise owner receives “can make or break” the business, and that it uses a Degree of Management Difficulty Matrix to screen out daycare centers, retail, health clubs, movie theaters, restaurants and bars, so its owners clean office buildings and similar accounts (Buildingstars FAQ). It also reports a 98.5% average yearly customer retention rate (Buildingstars). Both are the company’s own figures; the FDD’s Item 19 is where any backed-up performance claim must appear, and Buildingstars says it is “the only cleaning franchise” that can back its Corporate program with a written earnings claim.

The master franchise

Master owners are region-specific and are expected to have B2B service sales experience, a $2 million to $5 million net worth, $500,000 in liquidity and a 720+ FICO score, according to the FAQ and master page (Buildingstars master franchise). Buildingstars says it gives master candidates a list of current master and unit owners to call and invites them to a Discovery Day in St. Louis, followed by a 14-day wait before a final decision.

The practical point for a janitorial buyer: your accounts, your invoices and your growth all come through the regional center. That is the service, and it is also the reason that what you keep depends entirely on the fee schedule in Items 5 and 6, not on the $795.

How much does a Buildingstars franchise cost?

Buildingstars posts a $795 upfront fee for the janitorial franchise and an initial investment of $145,700 to $320,500 for a master franchise (Buildingstars FAQ). It does not post the total Item 7 investment for the janitorial levels, the price of the OnSite Manager or Corporate programs, or the royalty.

What $795 does and does not tell you

A $795 fee paired with accounts worth $1,000 to $5,000 a month does not fit the usual janitorial arithmetic, where California’s DFPI says the fee is typically about half of the accounts’ first-year gross (California DFPI: Janitorial Service Franchises). That gap is the question to ask: is the $795 the whole initial fee, or a down payment with the balance financed from your billings? Is the equipment package included or paid off over time? Is there a fee per additional account? The answers are in Items 5, 6, 7 and 10 (financing) of the FDD. Buildingstars’ site does not answer them, and we are not going to guess.

A hypothetical example

Suppose your starting accounts bill $3,000 a month ($36,000 a year) and the royalty, support and any financing payments together take 30% of collections. These are illustrative numbers, not Buildingstars’. You would see about $25,200 a year before supplies and fuel, cleaning perhaps 15 to 20 hours a week in the evenings. That is a solid part-time income and a thin full-time one, which is consistent with how Buildingstars describes its Technician level: a part-time start you can grow from. Use the commercial cleaning calculator to see what billing you would need at your target hours.

Which FDD items matter most for a Buildingstars buyer?

The FTC Franchise Rule (16 CFR Part 436) requires the franchisor to give you its disclosure document at least 14 calendar days before you sign a binding agreement or pay anything, and sets out the 23 items it must contain (16 CFR Part 436 on eCFR). For a $795 fee people are tempted to skip the reading. Do not. The items below decide what the business is.

• Item 5 (initial fees). Whether $795 is the whole fee for the Technician level, and what the OnSite Manager and Corporate levels cost.
• Item 6 (other fees). The royalty, management or support fee, any technology fee, insurance, and the cost of additional accounts. Add them up as a share of collections.
• Item 7 (initial investment). The full table: equipment, supplies, insurance, licenses, vehicle and the additional funds you need before revenue starts.
• Item 10 (financing). If any part of the equipment or fee is financed by the franchisor, the terms and interest.
• Item 11 (franchisor’s obligations). The account commitment: how much monthly billing, by when, in what size of accounts, and what happens if you decline or lose one.
• Item 19 (financial performance). Buildingstars says it backs its Corporate program with a written earnings claim. Read it, and ask how many owners it covers and over what period.
• Item 20 (outlets). Openings, closures, transfers and terminations over three years, with the contact lists for current and former owners.
• Item 17 (termination and transfer). Whether you can sell the franchise and recoup the fee, an ability Buildingstars says is much greater for Corporate owners.

What do public records and regulators document about Buildingstars?

A search of CourtListener’s published opinions for “Buildingstars” returned zero results on October 28, 2026 (CourtListener search). That covers published court opinions, not every docket, arbitration or complaint, and Item 3 of the FDD is where any litigation the Rule requires must be listed. We found no regulator action naming the company and no news investigation of it. We are not going to imply one.

What is documented is the model Buildingstars uses. Two sources describe it:

• California DFPI. The state regulator explains that in a typical janitorial franchise the fee buys a package of accounts, the franchisor usually promises accounts for one year only, lost accounts often need not be replaced, billing is controlled by the franchisor so you are not paid until it is, and non-competes often cover your spouse and children. It also warns that the control these systems exert over franchisees makes them vulnerable to employee misclassification claims under California’s AB 5 (DFPI).
• ABA Journal, September 2014. The article reports on suits by franchisees of Coverall, Jani-King and CleanNet who argued they were employees rather than business owners, including a 2010 Massachusetts ruling against Coverall and a $7.5 million CleanNet settlement (ABA Journal). Buildingstars is not mentioned. The legal question, whether an account-package franchisee is an independent business, applies to every brand built this way.

Buildingstars’ own positioning addresses one of the DFPI’s warnings directly: it says it screens accounts for size, hours and industry so owners are not handed difficult accounts. Whether that holds in your region is a question for the owners on the Item 20 list.

What do Buildingstars reviews tell you, and what should you ask owners?

Buildingstars reviews online are mostly Google reviews from offices being cleaned, plus the owner testimonials on the company site. Both say something about the brand and nothing about the fee schedule. The owners on the Item 20 list are the real review, and Buildingstars says it gives janitorial and master candidates a list of current franchise owners to speak with; use it, and add former owners from Item 20.

1. Was $795 your whole upfront cost? What else did you pay in the first three months, and was any of it financed?
2. How much monthly billing did your first accounts carry, how many buildings was it spread across, and how far apart were they?
3. What share of collections goes to Buildingstars each month, every fee included? Can I see a statement?
4. Have you lost an account? Was it replaced, and how quickly?
5. Have you moved from Technician to OnSite Manager? What did the upgrade cost after the credit?
6. How long after the customer pays do you get paid?
7. Have you ever brought in your own client, and how was it handled?
8. What do you clean with, and must you buy it through the system?
9. For former owners: why did you leave, and what did you walk away with?

The FDD must disclose any confidentiality agreements that limit what franchisees can say. If several people decline to talk, that item may explain why.

Buildingstars franchise vs starting an independent office cleaning company

Buildingstars offers a cheap door into office cleaning: accounts, equipment, billing and a name for $795 up front and a share of revenue after. An independent owner pays more up front (insurance, bond, equipment, software), earns nothing until the first contract, and then keeps every dollar and owns the customer.

The independent path is in our guide to starting a commercial cleaning company. For the back office a support center provides, cleaning software covers bookings, recurring schedules, client records, reminders and card-on-file billing. Broombook is one option, free for an owner who cleans with up to 2 cleaners, and $39 a month on Pro for a bigger crew with no per-cleaner fee (pricing, features). It does not find accounts; that is the thing Buildingstars sells that no subscription replaces.

A fair test: Buildingstars’ smallest package is accounts billing $1,000 a month. One small office cleaned twice a week bills about that. If you believe you could win one such office in three months of evening visits to office parks with a bond and insurance in hand, going independent costs you three months and saves you the royalty for as long as you operate. If you would not make those visits, $795 for a first account and someone to bill it is a reasonable price for a start.

Who is a Buildingstars franchise right for?

Buildingstars fits someone who wants to start cleaning offices part-time with almost no cash, does not want to sell, and will read Items 5, 6 and 11 to learn what the $795 leaves out. It fits poorly if you want to own the customer, set your own prices, or need full-time income from the first package.

• Good fit: a first-time owner keeping a day job, happy with evening office work, who sees the Technician level as a paid apprenticeship with a path to a team.
• Poor fit: an experienced cleaner with referrals, or anyone whose budget depends on income beyond the first year of assigned accounts.
• Master candidates: the $2 million net worth and $500,000 liquidity listed are the gate; the real diligence is calling other masters about unit churn.
• Before you sign: take the full 14 days, have a franchise lawyer read Items 6, 10, 11 and 17, and check how your state treats janitorial franchisees. This guide is not legal or financial advice.