Founded in 1979 in Omaha, Neb., Merry Maids is one of the largest home cleaning franchise networks in the world. Located in Mountain View, Calif., it has more than 600 locations throughout the United States and Canada. Additionally, Merry Maids has operations in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and the United Kingdom. The company cleans more than 300,000 homes, apartments and condominiums in North America every month. It has partnerships with Fresh Wave, Murphy Oil Soap and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.