How much does a Paul Davis franchise make?

The average Paul Davis unit reported $4,837,325 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $3,008,596. The filing discloses revenue and not profit, so what an owner keeps depends on the cost structure set out below. Fees come off the top first, at about 5.5% of sales across royalty, brand fund and the rest of the stack. Revenue is not income. Rent, wages, cost of goods and the franchise fees all come out before an owner is paid,

Breakdown

Paul Davis franchise unit economics

Paul Davis owners run insurance restoration contracting: water drying, mold removal and structural rebuilding. They work from a dedicated office inside a territory measured in population, most of them 500,000 to 800,000 people. Across 231 businesses trading two years or more the 2025 average was $4,837,325 of gross sales and the median $3,008,596. By the ninth year the sales target is $6.00 for every person in the territory. 120 of the 211 reporting businesses are below it.

By Scott Engler · Averan Advisors · Source: Paul Davis Restoration, Inc., 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) · Updated 22 September 2026

Where these figures come from

Primary source: Paul Davis Restoration, Inc., 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
Items read: Items 5 and 6 for fees; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure
Population: 231 of 277 locations
Our calculations: Marked on the page with an asterisk. Method
Last reviewed: 26 September 2026

Disclosure-based. Not a forecast, not an offer to sell a franchise, and not advice.

Key idea

The fee schedule sets one target and everything else follows it: $6.00 of sales for every person in your territory by the ninth year. The middle business sells $4.74 a head. 120 of the 211 reporting businesses are below $6.00. The average across 231 mature businesses is $4,837,325 against a median of $3,008,596.

Units reporting231 businesses, 2025

Average gross sales$4,837,325

Median gross sales$3,008,596

Sales a head, median$4.74

The minimum royalty asks $6.00 of sales for every person in your territory.120 of 211 reporting businesses sit below it and 65 sit below the $3.00 a head that applies in the third year *. The median works out at $4.74 a head, which makes sales per head of population the one number this brand runs on.
At a typical territory the ninth-year minimum asks $4,414,956 of sales.735,826 people at $6.00 *, against a median business billing $3,008,596, a $1,406,360 gap that turns a $120,344 royalty into a $176,598 one.
A mature business averages $4,837,325 and the median one $3,008,596.69 of 231 reach the average, which is 30%, and the largest billed $64,400,470, 13.3 times the average *, while the smallest reporting territory billed $3,181.
Thirteen businesses changed hands in 2025 at a median of 0.48 times prior-year sales.Prices ran from $1.00 to $8,500,000 *, two sold for a single dollar, one of them on $3,148,050 of sales in its prior twelve months, and the best multiple was 2.26.
Two years of trading is worth 3.67 times the revenue.$4,837,325 against $1,318,117 for businesses under two years *, and 4.33 times at the median, $3,008,596 against $695,361, so the build-up in this model is measured in years.

Top performers

What separates the top Paul Davis performers

Paul Davis splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $64,400,470 a year. The worst averaged $3,181. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $3,008,596. The average was $4,837,325. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.

Decided before you open

Trade area and site.A 20245.4× gap between bands is not an operating gap. Catchment, daytime population and what sits next door set the ceiling before the first customer arrives.
Capacity, fixed at build.Locations run 3,000 square feet. What you can sell is set by the build, and the build does not change after opening.
What you spend to open.Opening costs $298,800 to $804,900, a 2.7× range inside one brand. The high end usually buys more capacity, so the cheapest build is not always the cheapest route to the top band.

Live operating levers

Claims, the operating driver.This model bills on claims. The work is done first and the carrier pays later, so the owner funds wages and materials in between and the speed of collection matters as much as the volume won. 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 5.5% 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.

Context you underwrite around

The reporting screen.231 of 277 locations are behind these figures. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded, as are locations under the brand’s current size standard, so the numbers describe locations that cleared that screen, not the system as a whole.
What the disclosure leaves out.Item 19 publishes no profit or cost data for franchised locations. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.

Top performers

How far apart the locations are

First full year

This filing does not split its locations into performance bands, so the gap between the highest and lowest Paul Davis location is not disclosed. What it does publish is on the Model and Finance tabs.

Sales per person

Your territory is a population, and the brand prices it by the head.

First full year

Second full year

Third full year

Fourth full year

The minimum sales rate by year, and what it asks of a 735,826-person territory. The rates are as the brand reported it and the sales and royalty columns are *Averan calculation
Year	Minimum sales a head	Sales it implies *	Royalty it implies *
Partial year after opening	$0	n/a	n/a
First full year	$1.00	$735,826	$29,433
Second full year	$2.00	$1,471,652	$58,866
Third full year	$3.00	$2,207,478	$88,299
Fourth full year	$3.50	$2,575,391	$103,016
Fifth full year	$4.00	$2,943,304	$117,732
Sixth full year	$4.50	$3,311,217	$132,449
Seventh full year	$5.00	$3,679,130	$147,165
Eighth full year	$5.50	$4,047,043	$161,882
Ninth full year onward	$6.00	$4,414,956	$176,598

The brand reported the rate a head. We applied it to the middle territory of 735,826 people at the 4% royalty rate, both marked *.

The median business does $4.74 of sales a head. Across the 211 territories reporting both a population and a sales figure *, the middle of the system sits between the seventh-year and eighth-year rate, wherever each business happens to be in its own term.

120 of 211 sit below $6.00 a head and 65 sit below $3.00. *. 31% of reporting businesses sell less than the rate required from the third full year, so they pay the minimum.

A territory of 735,826 people is $1,406,360 short of the ninth-year target. $4,414,956 asked against $3,008,596 billed by the median business *. The royalty on actual sales is $120,344. The minimum is $176,598, so falling short costs $56,254.

The highest-selling business does $19.33 a head. $64,400,470 across 3,331,742 people *. That is three times the ninth-year rate and four times the middle of the system, which shows how much room a restoration territory holds.

The territory costs $0.26 a head to buy and $6.00 a head to hold. $130,000 for 500,000 people and $208,000 at the 800,000 maximum. The yearly sales target is 23 times the entry price *, which is the clearest statement of what this franchise asks of an owner.

What the fees come to

Five separate charges on the same invoiced dollar.

Franchise fees on an average and a median business. The rates are as the brand reported it and the dollar columns are *Averan calculation
Charge	Rate	On $4,837,325 *	On $3,008,596 *
Royalty	4% of gross sales	$193,493	$120,344
Strategic marketing plan	0.75% plus $500 a month	$42,280	$28,564
Guarantee fund	0.5% of gross sales	$24,187	$15,043
Indemnity fund	0.10% down to 0.04%, tiered	$4,102	$2,807
Total to the brand and its funds	n/a	$264,062, 5.46%	$166,758, 5.54%
Core software and reviews	$670 a month	$8,040	$8,040

Every rate is as the brand reported it and each dollar figure applies it to the stated sales level, marked * throughout.

The published royalty is 4% and the real load is 5.46%. $264,062 at the average business *. The extra 1.46 points come from the marketing plan, the guarantee fund and the indemnity fund, each billed on the same gross sales.

The load falls as sales rise. 5.46% at $4,837,325 and 5.54% at $3,008,596 *. The $500 monthly marketing charge and the tiered indemnity rate both reward scale, so the biggest businesses pay the smallest share.

Royalty runs on everything invoiced, including subcontracted work. Gross sales cover labor, material and services performed by the franchisee or by third-party vendors and subcontractors. Items the client or insurer pays direct. So the royalty base is wider than the cash the business handles itself.

The guarantee fund stops once it reaches its cap. $25,000 for the first 500,000 people, plus $2,000 for each further 100,000. A territory of 735,826 people costs $31,000 *, which is 0.5% of the middle business that takes two years. A resale pays 1% until the fund refills.

Cash to run the business day to day is a covenant, at $500,000 or 10% of last year’s sales. Whichever is larger applies, so $500,000 applies up to $5,000,000 of sales *. Above that, every extra million of sales requires another $100,000 to sit behind it.

What a business sold for

What thirteen owners actually got.

Resales closed during 2025, as the brand reported it
Closed	Price	Prior 12 months of sales	Price to sales	Price a head
1 January	$7,461,000	$3,305,686	2.26	$9.91
1 January	$7,461,000	$3,667,878	2.03	$8.90
30 June	$750,000	$453,370	1.65	$1.15
3 March	$1,200,000	$1,452,058	0.83	$1.23
29 August	$1,400,000	$1,839,811	0.76	$3.62
30 May	$1,600,000	$2,625,470	0.61	$4.15
30 January	$8,500,000	$16,348,823	0.52	$16.79
31 March	$250,000	$565,807	0.44	$0.37
8 October	$750,000	$2,164,161	0.35	$0.84
30 May	$750,000	$2,762,690	0.27	$2.20
30 December	$575,000	$4,190,246	0.14	$1.79
1 August	$875,000	$6,689,442	0.13	$1.35
19 March	$1.00	$3,148,050	0.00	$0.00

Prices, prior-year sales, ratios and price a head are as the brand reported it, with three combined-operation sales shown once each.

The median business sold for 0.48 times its prior year of sales. Across the 14 priced territories *, so an owner billing $3,008,596 should expect a conversation that starts near $1,444,126.

Two businesses sold for a single dollar. One of them on $3,148,050 of sales in its prior twelve months, a business with real revenue and a buyer taking it for the obligations. Is what a sale looks like when working capital and claim liabilities exceed the goodwill.

The two best multiples both closed on 1 January at $7,461,000. 2.26 and 2.03 times sales, at $9.91 and $8.90 a head, both Pennsylvania territories of roughly 800,000 people. The pair sets the practical ceiling for what this brand resells at.

The biggest seller by revenue got the fourth-lowest multiple. $8,500,000 on $16,348,823 of sales, which is 0.52, the highest price a head in the table at $16.79. So size raised the price and lowered the ratio at the same time.

Price a head runs from $0.00 to $16.79, with a median of $1.29. *, five times what the territory cost at $0.26 a head, which is the cleanest read on what building one of these businesses is worth.

What changes as a location ages

Year three is where this business becomes itself.

The two reporting groups for 2025, as the brand reported it, with the step added *Averan calculation
Measure	Two years and over	Under two years	Step *
Businesses	231	54	n/a
Average gross sales	$4,837,325	$1,318,117	3.67 times
Median gross sales	$3,008,596	$695,361	4.33 times
Reaching the average	69, 30%	20, 37%	n/a
Highest	$64,400,470	$9,070,345	7.10 times
Lowest reporting	$3,181	$4,351	n/a
Total reported	$1,117,421,990	$71,178,302	n/a

Every figure is as the brand reported it and the step column is marked *.

The median more than quadruples in the step across two years. $695,361 to $3,008,596 *. The step is wider than the averages suggest, because a few very large businesses lift the mature group's average far above its middle.

Only 30% of mature businesses reach their own average. 69 of 231, against 37% in the young group. The average is 1.61 times the median *, so an owner planning against $4,837,325 is planning against the top third of the system.

A young business already outbills a weak mature one. The best under-two-years business billed $9,070,345, and 65 mature businesses billed under $3.00 a head *, years open sets the odds here.

The system grew from 224 outlets to 277 in three years. 72 opened and 19 left, 26 departures for every 100 openings *, with 10 more franchises sold and in training at year end.

The territory is expressly non-exclusive. The protection is office location, national and regional insurer programs may be assigned to another franchisee where an owner declines or fails to qualify. Renewal may depend on hitting a sales volume or market penetration. Is the same $6.00 a head arriving by another route.

Questions we get asked

Questions an owner asks.

What does a Paul Davis business bill?

Across 231 businesses trading two years or more, the 2025 average was $4,837,325 of gross sales and the median $3,008,596, on $1,117,421,990 of reported sales in total. 69 of the 231 reached the average, which is 30%. The largest billed $64,400,470 and the smallest reporting territory $3,181. For the 54 businesses under two years old, the average was $1,318,117 and the median $695,361.

What does the brand take?

A 4% royalty on sales. The marketing plan costs 0.75% plus $500 a month. A further 0.5% of sales goes into a guarantee fund until it reaches its cap. A tiered indemnity fund fee running 0.10% down to 0.04%. On our reading that is 5.46% of an average business, which is $264,062. On top there is about $8,040 a year of software and review fees, plus estimating charges on top.

How does the minimum royalty work?

The minimum is a sales rate a head multiplied by territory population multiplied by the 4% royalty. The rate starts at $1.00 a head in the first full year and climbs to $6.00 from the ninth. At the median reporting territory of 735,826 people, the ninth-year rate implies $4,414,956 of sales and a $176,598 royalty. It is billed annually to the extent actual royalties fall short, and it is adjustable by the consumer price index.

What is the one number to run this business on?

Gross sales for each head of territory population. The median reporting business does $4.74, the fee schedule asks $6.00 from the ninth year, and the highest-selling business in the system does $19.33. 120 of the 211 reporting territories sit below $6.00 and 65 sit below $3.00.

What does a territory cost?

$0.26 for each person of population, so $130,000 at 500,000 people and $208,000 at the 800,000 ceiling. At least half is due in cash at signing and the balance can be financed over four years at 7%. Fees actually paid in 2025 ranged from $65,370 to $207,614. Veterans qualifying under VetFran get 25% off.

What does it cost to open?

$298,800 to $804,900 for a 500,000-person territory, including $150,000 to $200,000 of working capital for the first three months. A dedicated office in the territory is required, typically 3,000 square feet of office plus 8,000 of industrial at $5,000 to $15,000 a month. A full-sized extended van is required before opening. Cash to run the business day to day of $500,000, or 10% of last year’s sales if greater, is expected at all times.

What has a business sold for?

Thirteen resales closed in 2025 at prices from $1.00 to $8,500,000, a median of 0.48 times the prior twelve months of sales. A median of $1.29 a head of population. The two highest-selling multiples were 2.26 and 2.03. Two businesses sold for a single dollar, one of them on $3,148,050 of prior-year sales. A transfer costs $10,000 plus a resale fee of 2.5% of the sale price capped at $40,000.

Which two numbers should run monthly?

Sales for each head of population against $4.74 for the system median and against whichever minimum rate applies to your own year. And working capital against the greater of $500,000 and 10% of last year’s sales. Because it is a covenant as well as a cushion.

What this filing does not disclose

No profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
No cost lines. Wages, rent and cost of goods are not broken out, so margin cannot be rebuilt from the document.

Questions worth putting to Paul Davis

The filing answers what it answers. These are the gaps an owner or a buyer should close directly.

What do locations at the median spend on wages and rent as a share of sales? The filing reports sales only.
What separates the highest-selling locations from the lowest: trade area, years open, size, or the owner?
How long does a new location take to reach the average you publish, and what does the build-up look like month by month?
At what level of sales do the minimum charges stop applying and the percentage take over?
How many Paul Davis locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?

Part of our Home & Commercial Services Franchise Finance guide and the Restoration Franchise Finance guide · Āveran Franchise Resource Center

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Where this sits

the franchise library, all 243 brands · how franchise unit economics work · running the books across several locations · what Averan does for franchise owners

The same business, other brands

Paul Davis reads against the rest of the restoration group: 1-800 WATER DAMAGE · DRYmedic · PuroClean · Rainbow Restoration · Restoration 1 · ServiceMaster Restore. The restoration guide compares all of them on the same figures.

Questions owners ask next

The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.

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.
My payroll percentage keeps climbing. Is that a payroll problem?Usually it is a revenue problem wearing a payroll costume.
How much of Item 19 can I rely on?What a financial performance representation does and does not tell you.
What should I be looking at every week?The handful of numbers that move before the P&L does.

Where to next

Compare brands, every brand in the library on one screen
Item 19, how to read Item 19 of an FDD
What Items 5 and 6 must disclose
Checking the franchisor’s own finances
Fractional CFO, for the forecast behind a second location and the cash plan that carries it
Bookkeeping for franchise owners, what this looks like when someone else keeps the books
Āveran Franchise Resource Center, every breakdown in the library
Bookkeeping, monthly close built around the way your brand reports
Controller, when the numbers need someone reading them as well as recording them

Scott Engler

Founder & Principal, Averan Advisors

Averan provides bookkeeping, controller, and fractional CFO support for franchise owners and has Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors on the team. More about the team →

Paul Davis franchise unit economics

How much does a Paul Davis franchise make?

What separates the top Paul Davis performers

Decided before you open

Live operating levers

Context you underwrite around

How far apart the locations are

Your territory is a population, and the brand prices it by the head.

Five separate charges on the same invoiced dollar.

What thirteen owners actually got.

Year three is where this business becomes itself.

Questions an owner asks.

What does a Paul Davis business bill?

What does the brand take?

How does the minimum royalty work?

What is the one number to run this business on?

What does a territory cost?

What does it cost to open?

What has a business sold for?

Which two numbers should run monthly?

Questions worth putting to Paul Davis

Run your own numbers.

What is your territory earning a head?

Questions owners ask next

Where these figures come from.

What happens next

Paul Davis franchise unit economics

How much does a Paul Davis franchise make?

What separates the top Paul Davis performers

Decided before you open

Live operating levers

Context you underwrite around

How far apart the locations are

Your territory is a population, and the brand prices it by the head.

Five separate charges on the same invoiced dollar.

What thirteen owners actually got.

Year three is where this business becomes itself.

Questions an owner asks.

What does a Paul Davis business bill?

What does the brand take?

How does the minimum royalty work?

What is the one number to run this business on?

What does a territory cost?

What does it cost to open?

What has a business sold for?

Which two numbers should run monthly?

Questions worth putting to Paul Davis

Run your own numbers.

What is your territory earning a head?

Questions owners ask next

Other restoration brands

Minimum fees and fixed charges, in other categories

Where these figures come from.

What happens next