> National chain business model don't seem to be particularly
> competitive as you suggest. In Maine, if you want someone to clean
> your house, you can hire off the books. Let's say the off the books
> rate is, oh, $10 for one maid/one hour. Since, according to
> Ehrenreich, 25-30% of the market is for cleaning services, the rest
> for independent contractors, then probably even in Maine, as in
> Syracuse, Cortland and Ithaca, you can find the networks of friends,
> colleagues, and acquaintances that will hook you up with a maid you'll
> trust. So, Merry Maids is charging $100/hr for four maids. I'm trying
> to figure out how Merry Maids thinks they can compete when you can
> probably get four maids on the black market for $40?
answer: they can't. i'm convinced the market for merry maids is people who aren't comfortable for one reason or another using independent cleaning ladies [sic] or don't want to do the work to find someone they trust and like. it's kind of a captive market, in a way. the real question, imo, at least for merry maids, is whether their franchises (and i think, though i may be wrong, that they're entirely or almost entirely franchised) can survive on that market segment, the 25-30%, which sounds like about the right number.