Painting franchise finance
Averan read the 2026 FDDs of five painting brands.
The median brand here reports average revenue of $620,490 an unit. Percentage fees at the median brand come to 11% of sales. The median cost to open runs $96,050 to $194,600.
Find a painting brand
5 brands in this guide, each from its own 2026 FDD. Open one, or pick two and compare them.
The brands in this group
Each brand has its own business model breakdown, with every figure set out against the brand’s disclosure document it comes from.
- 360 Paintingconsolidated average and median plus quartiles and three cohort, gross sales only · A $60,000 minimum advertising charge
- CertaPro Paintersfull_list · Minimum royalty equals 6% of the sales hurdle
- Five Star Painting Revenue by group · Per-capita and per-job figures combine into a job count, and four filed figures contradict four others
- Fresh Coat Gross revenue AND gross profit percentage by quartile for two consecutive years on the same 62-franchise basis, plus a four-rung franchise fee rebate ladder
- WOW 1 DAY PAINTINGgroup · Minimum royalty charged per subterritory
The figures, brand by brand
| Measure | Median | Brands | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average sales per unit | $620,490 | 4 of 5 | Median of each brand’s disclosed average |
| Median sales per unit | $520,230 | 4 of 5 | Median of each brand’s disclosed median |
| Initial franchise fee | $54,900 | 5 of 5 | |
| Royalty | 6% | 5 of 5 | Headline rate |
| Brand or advertising fund | 2% | 5 of 5 | |
| Percentage fees, all in | 11% | 5 of 5 | Royalty, funds and local marketing set as a share of sales |
| Cost to open, low | $96,050 | 5 of 5 | |
| Cost to open, high | $194,600 | 5 of 5 | |
| Profit margin | Fewer than three disclose | 1 of 5 | Each brand’s own profit line; definitions differ |
| Labor, share of revenue | Fewer than three disclose | 0 of 5 | |
| Building costs, share of revenue | Fewer than three disclose | 0 of 5 | |
| Unit growth, 2025 | -2% | 4 of 5 | (End − start) ÷ start |
| Customers lost, 2025 | 9.9% | 4 of 5 | Terminated, non-renewed, reacquired and ceased, ÷ opening units; transfers excluded |
Each figure is the median of the brands that disclose it, and the Brands column counts them.
How we calculated this
Revenue is each brand's own reported figure on its own unit basis, so the median describes the group and no single brand. Growth and customers lost are our calculations from each brand's outlet table. Where fewer than three brands disclose a figure, no benchmark is shown.
The model
The business model the top performers in painting are running
What the top performers can do that others cannot
3 of the 5 brands here sell one job at a time.
What the customer is buying
The customer buys a quoted job, usually once. A location at the middle brand sells $620,490 a year; the top group sells $1,340,110. The offer is the same at both ends of that range, so the difference is volume rather than product.
Who the customer is, and how often they come back
This is an acquisition business. Each job is won again, so lead flow, the close rate and what the average job is worth decide the year. A median 30% of locations reach their own brand’s average, so most of the system is below the number the brand advertises, and the gap is usually a demand gap rather than an effort gap. The top group sells $1,340,110 against $221,087 at the bottom. Trade area and site set that range before an owner takes a booking.
How the money works
Opening costs $82,200 to $320,500 across the group, and inside one brand the top of the range is typically 1.9 times the bottom. At the middle brand the cost stack runs cost of sales 58.2%, franchise fees 11.0% of sales. What is left runs 9.3% at the middle brand, which is $124,630 a year at the top group and $20,561 at the bottom. The percentage barely moves between them; the dollars do. Cash and earned revenue arrive in different periods here, so the cash forecast matters more than the profit line in any given month.
Also disclosed across this group: $0, $2,102,015, $25,130, $453,268, $6,205, 4.2.
Top performers
These are the things that separate top performers in painting
At the typical painting brand, the best group of locations sells $1,340,110 a year. The worst group sells $221,087. That is $1,119,023 more a year, 6.1 times over, for the same brand on the same agreement. Across these brands, a median of 30% of locations reach their own brand’s average. The average describes the top of a system, not the middle. 4 of the 5 brands here publish bands; the rest disclose no spread at all.
Decided before you open
- What it costs to open.Opening costs run $82,200 to $320,500 across the group, and the top of a single brand’s range is typically 1.9 times its bottom. The top group sells $1,340,110 a year against a build that tops out at $320,500, so at the heavy end of the range a location sells $4.18 for every dollar it cost to open. That build is recovered inside a year or two of sales at that end of the system.
- What a location sells.Average sales run $620,490 at the middle brand and $1,340,110 at the top group. Format and site decide most of that before an owner does anything, which is why the same operator produces different results in different trade areas.
Live operating levers
- 3 of the 5 brands here sell one job at a time.Every job has to be won again. The owner gives a quote, some share of those quotes turns into work, and each job that lands is worth a certain amount. The top performers raise the share that closes and the size of the average job before they spend more money on leads, because buying more leads is the expensive way to get the same revenue. They are CertaPro Painters, Five Star Painting, WOW 1 DAY PAINTING.
- 2 of the 5 brands here publish how a new location builds up.Where a brand shows its first year month by month, an owner can see when sales finally cover the costs and how much cash has to be put in before that point arrives. Where a brand does not show it, that curve has to be guessed at, and the guess is usually optimistic. They are 360 Painting, CertaPro Painters.
- Cost of what you sell. The line that compounds.Products and materials take 58.2% of sales at the middle brand, 54.1% to 62.2% across the 2 that disclose it. Buying on the brand program rather than locally, holding the price list instead of discounting to close, and counting waste weekly are what separate the ends of that range, and each of them compounds with volume, which is why the gap widens as a location grows.
- What is left at the end. Where the gap comes from.Of the 1 brands that publish a profit line, the middle one keeps 9.3% of sales, from 9.3% to 9.3%. The cost lines above move by a few points between the best and worst locations while sales move by multiples, so the top performers are not running a cheaper business. They are running the same cost base over more revenue. Hold that 9.3% margin steady and the top group earns $124,630 against $20,561 at the bottom, a difference of $104,069 a year that comes from volume alone.
- What the brand charges. The line that works backwards.Fees run a median 11.0% of sales across 5 brands, from 8.8% to 16.0%. Where a minimum sits underneath the percentage, the weakest location pays the highest effective rate, so the fee line costs most exactly where it can least be afforded. The top performers clear the minimum early and stop thinking about it. At $1,340,110 the fees cost $147,412 a year; at $221,087 they cost $24,320. The percentage is the same and the burden is not.
Context you underwrite around
- How many brands show a ramp.2 of 5 filings in this group show how a new location builds up. For the rest the first year has to be assumed, and the assumption is usually wrong in the same direction.
- What is not banded.1 brands publish no bands at all, so their spread is unknown rather than narrow. Read a single average as the upper-middle of a distribution you cannot see.
Operating levers
What each brand’s top performers actually work on
The levers the filing supports, brand by brand. Three to five each, read from that brand’s own 2026 FDD. Filter by type of business, or open a brand for the figures underneath.
5 brands
360 Painting
Painting
- Painting jobs, the operating driver. This model bills on painting jobs. Every job is quoted, so the owner works on how many quotes close and how many crew days each job takes. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 13.9% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
- The first year. This filing shows how a new location builds up, so the ramp can be underwritten from the document rather than assumed. Read two things out of it: the month sales cross the point where costs are covered, and how much cash you fund before that month arrives. Everything before break-even is paid for by you.
CertaPro Painters
Painting
- Cost of what you sell. Products and materials take 54.1% of sales, against 9.3% kept at the end. Buying terms, price discipline and waste are where this is won, and each of them compounds at volume. Small movements here move the result more than anything else, because nothing else in the structure is that large.
- Jobs, the operating driver. This model bills on jobs. Every job is won again, so the owner works on how many quotes turn into work and what the average job is worth when it does. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 9.4% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
- The first year. This filing shows how a new location builds up, so the ramp can be underwritten from the document rather than assumed. Read two things out of it: the month sales cross the point where costs are covered, and how much cash you fund before that month arrives. Everything before break-even is paid for by you.
Five Star Painting
Painting
- Jobs, the operating driver. This model bills on jobs. Every job is won again, so the owner works on how many quotes turn into work and what the average job is worth when it does. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 16.0% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
Fresh Coat
Painting
- Cost of what you sell. Products and materials take 62.2% of sales. Buying terms, price discipline and waste are where this is won, and each of them compounds at volume.
- Painting jobs, the operating driver. This model bills on painting jobs. Every job is quoted, so the owner works on how many quotes close and how many crew days each job takes. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 8.8% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
WOW 1 DAY PAINTING
Painting
- Jobs, the operating driver. This model bills on jobs. Every job is won again, so the owner works on how many quotes turn into work and what the average job is worth when it does. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- The gift card book. Gift cards are sold before the service is delivered. The top performers are not selling more of them by accident, they are running a deliberate seasonal push into the holidays and out of it again. The accounting follows: a gift card is deferred revenue until it is redeemed, so cash and earned revenue arrive in different periods.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 11.0% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
Questions owners ask next
The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.
- Money arrives before the service does. How should that be booked?Deferred revenue, and why the bank balance and the profit line disagree.
- At what level of sales does a minimum fee stop costing me more than the percentage?How royalty, ad fund and minimums actually work on a monthly statement.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?A 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- Revenue was the highest it has been. Why did profit not move?Where the extra revenue went, line by line.
- At what point do spreadsheets stop coping?What changes at around ten units, and why lenders care.
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Finance Diagnostic runs the same checks on your own numbers. It scores where you stand and compares you with Item 19 of your brand’s FDD. It works out what one location earns and spends, and builds a 13-week cash forecast. Checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →How many jobs did you run last week?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around job count, a minimum fee your brand imposes. A chart of accounts mapped to the benchmark you are being measured against.
Request the reviewWhere these figures come from
Every figure here comes from the brands' 2026 FDDs and is unaudited by us. We are unaffiliated with the brands. The medians, growth and customers lost figures are our own calculations. The figures describe past performance at other businesses. They are not a projection of your results. This page is an educational summary and is not an offer to sell a franchise or financial, legal or tax advice. All trademarks belong to their owners. How Averan reads a Franchise Disclosure Document.