Spaulding Decon franchise cost: $162,510-$204,550 with a $49,500 fee and 8% royalty. What crime scene cleanup franchising requires, OSHA rules included.
Quick answerA Spaulding Decon franchise costs $162,510 to $204,550 in total investment, including a $49,500 franchise fee, per published FDD figures. Ongoing fees run an 8% royalty plus a 1.5-2% brand fund, and buyers need $75,000 in liquid capital. Because the work involves blood and biohazards, OSHA's bloodborne pathogen standard governs every job.
Expect $162,510 to $204,550 all-in to open a Spaulding Decon franchise, including a $49,500 initial franchise fee, per Item 7 of the company’s franchise disclosure document as reported by franchise research firms that track its filings. Summaries covering the 2025 disclosure hold that range steady at roughly $162,000 to $205,000. Qualifying requires $75,000 in liquid capital and a $250,000 minimum net worth.
One disclosure up front: Spaulding Decon is not yet among the 2,000+ FDDs VetMyFranchise has parsed, so the figures in this guide come from public FDD summaries rather than our own extraction. Where sources disagreed, we flag it.
The business itself is crime scene and trauma cleanup, biohazard removal, hoarding cleanouts, meth lab decontamination, mold remediation, and odor removal. Laura Spaulding, a former police officer, founded the company in Tampa in 2005 after seeing families left to clean up crime scenes themselves; it began franchising in 2015. Before going further, make sure you understand what a Franchise Disclosure Document contains. The FTC’s consumer guide to buying a franchise covers what the document is legally required to tell you.
| Cost Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $49,500 |
| Payments to franchisor or affiliates before opening | $87,000-$102,000 (per published FDD summaries) |
| Vehicle, equipment, PPE, insurance, training travel, working capital | Balance of the $162,510-$204,550 range |
The range sits well below most restoration franchises because there is no storefront to build. You’re outfitting a van, buying specialized decontamination equipment and personal protective gear, covering insurance, and holding working capital while the referral pipeline develops. Total investment varies mainly with territory size and whether you lease office space or run from home initially.
That structure cuts both ways. Low fixed overhead means slow months hurt less than they would in a leased-retail model. It also means the barrier to entry for independent competitors is low, which is why the regulatory moat discussed below matters more here than in most service categories.
Spaulding Decon charges an 8% royalty on gross sales plus a brand fund contribution of 1.5%, which some FDD summaries report at up to 2%. Published summaries also note a monthly minimum royalty, so a dead-quiet month still produces a fixed payment to the franchisor.
Combined, plan on roughly 9.5-10% of every revenue dollar going out before local marketing spend. That’s mid-pack for the category: below Servpro’s 12.5% combined load, above what some smaller restoration systems charge. Our guide to franchise royalty fees explains how minimums and percentage structures interact in slow-ramp businesses.
| Factor | Spaulding Decon | Bio-One | Servpro | PuroClean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total investment | $162,510-$204,550 | $132,145-$217,595 | $263,305-$385,570 | ~$101,000-$262,000 |
| Franchise fee | $49,500 | $60,000 | $100,000 | $59,000 |
| Royalty | 8% | 7.5% (monthly minimums) | 10% | 3-10% by service line |
| Ad/brand fund | 1.5-2% | 2% | 2.5% | 2% |
| System size | ~22 franchised units | 113 franchisees reporting (2025 FDD) | 2,354 franchised units | ~500 units |
Servpro figures come from the brand’s 2026 FDD parsed in VetMyFranchise’s database; Spaulding Decon, Bio-One, and PuroClean figures come from public FDD summaries (Bio-One and PuroClean per their 2025 FDDs; PuroClean’s low end reflects its financed equipment option). See the full PuroClean cost breakdown for how that range works.
The strategic picture: Bio-One is the direct crime-scene competitor, larger and owned by multi-brand platform Five Star Franchising. Servpro and PuroClean are insurance-driven restoration systems that treat biohazard as a service line rather than the core business. Spaulding Decon is the specialist with the smallest system and the lowest entry fee among the four. Our restoration franchise roundup covers the broader category.
The 2023 FDD’s Item 19 reported average gross sales of $288,260 per unit, per Vetted Biz’s summary, and Vetted Biz modeled owner-operator earnings of roughly $34,600 to $43,200 on that base. Summaries of the 2025 disclosure report a much stronger figure: average unit revenue near $508,000 across a system generating about $20 million.
Treat that jump with appropriate caution. In a system of roughly 22 franchised locations, a handful of mature, well-run territories can move the average dramatically, and averages say nothing about the median first-year operator. Revenue mix matters too: crime scene work pays premium rates but arrives unpredictably, while hoarding, mold, and meth decon jobs fill the calendar between callouts. Ask the franchisor for the underlying unit-by-unit data during due diligence, and ask current franchisees what year one actually looked like.
Vetting a franchise in this category? A full 12-section FDD analysis covers Item 7 fee footnotes, Item 19 earnings claims, litigation history, and a buyer verdict personalized to your capital and market. See a complete $49 report example.
Crime scene cleanup is not licensed like plumbing, but it is regulated work, and the compliance load is a real operating cost that doubles as a barrier to fly-by-night competition.
Federal. OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030, applies to any employer whose workers have reasonably anticipated contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials. OSHA confirmed in a 2007 interpretation letter that this covers cleanup contractors specifically, regardless of how long the blood has been at the scene. In practice that means a written exposure control plan reviewed annually, documented training, employer-paid PPE, sharps handling procedures, free hepatitis B vaccination offers to exposed employees, and post-exposure medical follow-up. Every technician you hire triggers these obligations.
State. Several states regulate the waste side. California requires anyone commercially removing human blood or bodily fluids from trauma scenes to register with the Department of Public Health as a Trauma Scene Waste Management Practitioner under the Medical Waste Management Act, and to show a contract with a registered medical waste transporter or permitted facility. Meth lab decontamination carries its own certification programs in some states and counties. You cannot legally throw biohazardous material in a dumpster anywhere in the country; disposal runs through permitted channels, and that vendor relationship is part of your cost structure.
Regulation as a moat is a recurring pattern in home services. The best pest control franchises operate behind state applicator licensing the same way; the paperwork that annoys you also keeps undercapitalized competitors out.
The economics favor an owner who can handle the human side. Jobs originate from police referrals, coroners, property managers, and grieving families, and the work is 24/7 on-call by nature. If you want a business you can hand to a manager from day one, or you’re squeamish about what the job actually involves, this category will grind you down regardless of the brand on the van.
The buyer this fits: comfortable with emergency-response scheduling, capable of compassionate face-to-face sales in the worst week of a customer’s life, and disciplined about compliance documentation. The small system size is the honest trade-off. You get territory availability and founder access that 2,000-unit systems can’t offer, and you accept that the brand won’t pre-sell your market the way a Servpro yard sign does.
The total investment for a Spaulding Decon franchise runs $162,510 to $204,550, including a $49,500 initial franchise fee, per the company's FDD as summarized by franchise research firms. Summaries covering the 2025 disclosure hold that range at roughly $162,000 to $205,000. The company also requires $75,000 in liquid capital and a $250,000 minimum net worth.
Spaulding Decon charges an 8% royalty on gross sales plus a brand fund contribution of 1.5% of gross sales, which some FDD summaries report at up to 2%. Published summaries also note a monthly minimum royalty, meaning slow months still generate a fixed check to the franchisor. Combined, plan on roughly 9.5-10% of revenue going out the door before local marketing.
Published summaries of Spaulding Decon's 2025 disclosure report average unit revenue of approximately $508,000, up from the $288,260 average gross sales in the 2023 FDD's Item 19. For category context, rival Bio-One disclosed 2024 average gross revenue of $385,067 across 113 franchisees, with the top quartile averaging $762,596. These are revenue figures, not profit; Vetted Biz's model estimated owner-operator earnings of roughly $34,600 to $43,200 on the older $288K revenue base.
There is no federal license for crime scene cleanup, but the work is regulated. OSHA's bloodborne pathogen standard (29 CFR 1910.1030) applies to any employer whose workers clean up blood, requiring a written exposure control plan, annual training, PPE, and free hepatitis B vaccination offers. Several states add registration requirements: California, for example, requires trauma scene waste practitioners to register with the Department of Public Health and contract with a registered medical waste transporter.
Spaulding Decon has the lower franchise fee ($49,500 vs $60,000) and a slightly higher royalty (8% vs 7.5%), while Bio-One has the larger system, with 113 franchisees reporting in its 2025 FDD Item 19 versus roughly 22 franchised Spaulding Decon locations. Bio-One's disclosed average revenue was $385,067 for 2024; published summaries put Spaulding Decon's near $508,000. Compare current FDDs directly and interview franchisees in both systems before deciding.
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