Field operations software·Franchise service networks

Know which accounts are in trouble while you can still fix them.

Lodestar keeps the contract, the cleaning schedule, the inspections, the photos and the billing on one record for every account. Then it tells you which accounts need someone today, and why.

Built for franchisors, regional developers and the support offices behind them.

Meridian Business Park, Ste 200

Northgate Facility Services LLC · Unit 441

$209.00per month

Health

88 Healthy

Serviced since

2023

Rooms

Needs attention · 4 items

contract_absent

No signed service agreement on file after 3 years of service.

key_never_verified

Two keys were cut. Neither has ever been physically verified.

theme_recurring

Restrooms written up in 9 inspections over 37 months.

commitment_open

Machine scrub quote promised on Feb 3 and never sent. 208 days ago.

None of these moved the health score.

Sample account. Each line comes from a rule that runs against every account, not from someone reading through the notes.

Why Lodestar

You are responsible for work you do not perform yourself.

In a franchise network the standard is set in one office and delivered in hundreds of buildings by owners you don’t employ. Most of the software sold into this industry was built to bill that work. Very little of it was built to run it.

Your system lists records, not problems

Billing software can tell you what is on file for an account. It cannot tell you which twenty accounts out of twelve hundred are heading toward a cancellation, because nothing on the screen ever makes that call.

The schedule and the complaints live apart

The cleaning schedule sits in one system and the inspection findings in another. Nobody can point to the task a complaint is actually about, so the same restroom gets written up for three years and no one can prove it.

Cancellations arrive already decided

By the time notice comes in, the problems behind it were fixable for weeks. Without a list, a deadline and a check after every clean, saving an account comes down to luck and a good phone call.

The product

One record per account, with everything attached to it.

The contract, the schedule, the inspections, the franchisee, the access details, the photos and the money all sit on the same account. Lodestar reads them together and opens each screen with a short, plain summary of what is going on, backed by the records underneath it.

Account health you can explain

A score on its own teaches people to ignore it. Every screen in Lodestar starts with the specific things that are wrong or overdue, and each one comes from a rule you can look up, adjust, and explain to a franchisee who disagrees with it.

●An attention list on every tab, covering access, scope, quality and billing.
●Findings tie back to a scheduled task and to a spot on the site map, so a pattern has an address.
●Promises made to the customer are recorded when they happen, not found in notes eight months later.
●Missing information says what it is and why it matters, instead of showing a blank.

Accounts

Customer record

Scope, quality, access, supplies and financials on one page, each starting with a summary instead of a table.

Scope

Cleaning schedules

Task level scope, linked to the inspection findings raised against each task, in both directions.

Quality

Inspections and complaints

Every finding names the scheduled task behind it. If there is no task behind it, it is a new request and gets priced as one.

Retention

Cure periods

A fixed deadline, a list the customer agrees to, a review after every clean, and a 90 day watch on everything that passed.

Network

Franchisee placement

Rank candidates on distance, route fit and capacity, then run the offer, walkthrough, first clean and accounting in one place.

Revenue

Special services

Quote, signature, scheduling, photo verification and invoicing, with the office and franchisee split shown to both sides.

Pricing

Rate changes

The reason first, then the math from the old rate to the new one, and three ways to answer: confirm, ask for a call, or decline.

Access

Site maps and credentials

Markers for entry, alarm, keys, water and supplies on a floor plan. Codes stay masked, and every reveal is logged.

Field

Mobile completion

Crews close out jobs from a phone with before and after photos for each area, plus a way to report work they could not finish.

Money

Payouts and billing

Franchisee payouts, splits shown as a formula, receivables, and a live QuickBooks Online connection.

Growth

Sales and prospecting

A map of nearby prospects, measurements captured on site, a bid builder, and follow-up sequences that run for a year on their own.

Workflow

Process engine

Your states, rules and approvals are configuration, so network policy is enforced by the software instead of by memory.

The same six statuses everywhere

Draft

Scope and price built on site

Quote

Sent to the customer as a document

Signed

Signature stored with the record

Scheduled

Assigned, with the payout stated

Verified

Photographed against the quote

Invoiced

Billed, split and posted

Your office, the franchisee and the customer all see the same status on the same job. That by itself removes most of the calls that start with “where are we on this?”

Who it’s for

One system for your office, your franchisees and your customers.

Three groups look at the same job from different sides. Each will put up with a lot, except being told something different from the other two.

Primary · The franchisor

The office that owns the standard

A ranked list of the accounts that need someone today, with the reason attached to each one, instead of a report you have to read to find the problem.

●Every account measured against the same rules
●Documentation on agreements, keys and promises
●Cancellations routed into a cure process before they become losses
●Unit economics per account, not just per quarter

The franchisee

The owner doing the work

Franchisees use what respects their time and their money. Every message Lodestar sends them opens with the payout and the reason they are being asked.

●Offers that show distance, route fit and payout up front
●Schedule, access, scope and photos in one phone app
●Complaints that name the task, so a dispute has facts
●Splits shown as a formula, with the math on the page

The customer

The building being serviced

Everything the customer sees is a document, branded to the local office, that still makes sense when it gets forwarded to whoever signs for it.

●Quotes, sign-offs and receipts that read like records
●A page for every decision: confirm, ask, or decline
●No rate change applied without a confirmation
●Photo evidence tied to the areas they paid for

How we build

Four things we will not compromise on.

Every screen in Lodestar was argued over by people who have to live with the result. These are the arguments that kept winning.

Give the reason before the number.

A price change with no explanation reads like a billing error. Every increase opens with why, in the customer’s own words, and shows how you get from the old rate to the new one.

Lead with the payout.

That is what the franchisee opened the email for. Putting the money first and the request second gets far better follow-through than another policy reminder.

Always leave an honest way out.

If the only button on the screen says Confirm complete, crews will confirm work that did not happen and you will hear about it from the customer. Reporting a problem has to be as easy as confirming.

A save needs a follow-up plan.

When an account is rescued, the same tasks stay on every inspection sheet, an inspection is scheduled within 14 days, and a miss opens a complaint automatically.

Who we are

We have spent our careers in this industry.

Lodestar was built by people who have worked inside franchise service businesses. We have written the cleaning schedules, cut the keys, walked the buildings, and sat across from the customer who wants to cancel and the franchisee who thinks the complaint is unfair.

That is why the product is shaped the way it is. We did not start with a data model and look for workflows to hang on it. Most of these screens started as a specific bad afternoon: a quote promised and never sent, a key nobody could find, a rate increase that showed up with no explanation and cost an account that had been happy for six years.

We build for commercial cleaning first, because it is the hardest version of the problem. The work is performed by independent owners, the contracts renew quietly, and nobody notices the quality until it slips. What we learn there carries over to the other franchise service trades that work the same way.

We are a small team. We ship carefully, and we would rather give you one workflow you trust than nine you put up with.