Tim McCullen’s Window Gang company services 1,600 towns and cities in 15 states, most of them on the East Coast but also stretching into the Southeast and Midwest.
Tim McCullen started his own window washing business as a part-time summer job. Carrying a mop and bucket, he walked into the local Chick-fil-a, McDonald’s and Walmart stores to find work near his small coastal community of Wrightsville Beach, just outside of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Thirty-seven years later, McCullen’s Window Gang company, which specializes in environmentally friendly exterior cleaning services for residential and commercial customers, has grown into major player in the home services space. The company’s large footprint extends into 1,600 towns and cities in 15 states, most of them on the East Coast but also stretching into the Southeast and Midwest.
In May, McCullen sold the thriving company he started with a bucket and mop to Premium Service Brands as he looks forward to the next exciting chapter for his business. He’s stayed on as the brand’s president.
“Why did I decide to sell the company? I’m almost 60 and it was just time to let someone who has had a lot more success growing franchise companies than me take over that part of the business. Premium Service Brands has the systems in place and the numbers to make that happen,” McCullen said about the acquisition. “If you don’t grow you die in this business.”
The acquisition of Window Gang increases Premium Service Brands’ portfolio of home services brands to nine and its franchise units to over 1,200. The largest brand for the company, in terms of unit counts, is RooterMan with 722. Window Gang, which started franchising in 1996, has 229 locations and 360° Painting has 136 locations. The Charlottesville, Virginia-based multi-brand franchisor—which also owns Maid Right, Kitchen Wise & Closet Wise, House Doctors, Rubbish Works and The Grout Medic—has opened 41 units so far this year with 47 more in development.
PSB’s existing Renew Crew franchise is rebranding under the Window Gang name as part of the deal, with McCullen continuing to lead operations from his company’s base in Taylorsville, North Carolina. The agreement also allows McCullen to retain control of 10 Window Gang corporate locations as a PSB franchisee, three of which are in his home state of North Carolina.
“Window Gang is an optimal addition to our lineup and leverages the same end-user as our existing brands,” said CEO Paul Flick.
McCullen credits Window Gang’s success to adjustments the company has made over the years, including increasing the number of cleaning services it offers.
Window Gang offers 12 services with 90 percent of the company’s revenue being generated by window cleaning, gutter cleaning and fresh wash.
“We offer 12 services now, but the 90 percent of our revenue is probably still window cleaning, gutter cleaning and fresh wash, with 50 percent of that coming from window cleaning,” said McCullen, whose company uses a proprietary wash and wax cleaning solution it claims repels dust, dirt and pollen twice as well as standard chemical cleaners.
McCullen, who learned the value of good customer service working for his father, the company’s customer retention rate was around 78 percent. He also noted that 60 percent of his business remains residential with 40 percent being commercial.
“When we first started the company, our name was Sky Window Washing, but we changed it to Window Gang when our customers saw us show up on job sites with five or more people and would say, ‘Wow, you have brought quite the gang with you.’ From that point we changed our name to Window Gang and came up with that logo, with the guy who looks like a gang member,” McCullen said.
Asked what he personally looks forward to the most following the acquisition, McCullen said it was not having to do sales.
“Truth is I’m not a very good sales person,” he said. “Our growth has basically been organic growth, with a lot of family and friends and their family and friends taking on new locations. With Premium we have a huge company behind us with something like 100 in the corporate office. I have maybe five in corporate, so it’s strength in numbers,” said McCullen.
He estimates spending a total of $20,000 on advertising for his company in the last 37 years.
Window Gang founder and brand president Tim McCullen looks forward to the next exciting chapter after his company was acquired by Premium Service Brands.
Despite selling his family-owned and operated company to large national franchisor and losing some control of it, McCullen said he looks forward to continuing to do what he does best, which is running operations and setting up new franchisors with the equipment they’ll need to operate their businesses.
“I have no reason to leave the business and I don’t think they have any reason to get rid of me,” McCullen said. “We both have a common goal of growing this brand across the country, and we need each other to do that.”
The initial investment range for a Window Gang franchise is from $40,000 to $125,000, according to its FDD, with a franchise fee of $25,000.