ServiceMaster Clean is a franchisor selling and supporting fire and water disaster restoration, janitorial, and floor care services franchisees throughout the United States, Canada, and ten other countries. The franchises provide both commercial and residential services.
History
The ServiceMaster Company was founded in 1929 in Chicago, Illinois, as a moth-proofing company by Marion E. Wade, a former minor league baseball player. In 1937 it expanded into rug and carpet cleaning, and the first in-home carpet cleaning customer was served using products developed by Wade. The ServiceMaster Company incorporated in 1947 with six employees and revenue of $125,000. In 1952, the first franchise was sold, establishing one of country's first franchise business models. The ServiceMaster Clean name was now in use. In the late 20th century, further expansion of The ServiceMaster Company’s Consumer Services business formed a network of service companies. Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, this network included ServiceMaster Clean, Terminix, TruGreen, Merry Maids, Furniture Medic, and AmeriSpec. Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc., based in New York City, acquired The ServiceMaster Company in 2007. In 2011, Hank Mullany, a former Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. executive, was appointed as CEO for all ServiceMaster brands, and Thomas J. Coba, former COO of Subway, was named president of ServiceMaster franchise brands, including ServiceMaster Clean, Merry Maids, Furniture Medic and AmeriSpec. The company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. Nikhil Varty was appointed chief executive officer in July 2017. In 2018, ServiceMaster spun offfrontdoor, inc., the parent company of American Home Shield.
Organizational structure
ServiceMaster Clean, a subsidiary of The ServiceMaster Company, has 4,500 independently owned and operated franchises worldwide. It has the doing-business-as name of ServiceMaster Residential/Commercial Services Limited Partnership and uses the “ServiceMaster Clean” trademarks and systems. Its primary service areas are disaster restoration services, including water damage cleanup and restoration; janitorial and commercial specialty cleaning; and residential cleaning and floor care, including carpet cleaning. The company has a number of patents.
