Restoration franchise finance
Averan read the 2026 FDDs of nine restoration brands.
The median brand here reports average revenue of $1,245,467 an unit. Percentage fees at the median brand come to 10% of sales. The median cost to open runs $196,325 to $318,860.
Brands9
Median revenue an unit$1,245,467
Median percentage fees10%
Median royalty8%
Find a restoration brand
9 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.
- 1-800 WATER DAMAGEquartile · Single territory outproduces a second by 64%
- DRYmedic Territory and franchisee quartiles read against a three-part annual floor - minimum royalty, flat-dollar local marketing and software - that holds whatever the territory bills
- Paul Davis Revenue by group · The fee schedule prices the territory by the head and most businesses sit below the rate it sets
- PuroClean The same seven revenue tiers published three times - for all franchisees, for those employing a business development rep, and for those without one - plus a conversion cohort, against an eight-bracket royalty stepping 10% to 3% that resets every January
- Rainbow Restoration Revenue by group · Descending license-fee ladder set annually, so each threshold is a cliff worth 1% of itself
- Restoration 1territory_groups · Full-time business development split published
- ServiceMaster Restoreprogram_groups · Logged sales calls published beside revenue
- SERVPRO No financial performance representation · Royalty_ladder
- Storm Guard Full P&L · Average job size converts the brand’s disclosure document into jobs a week
The figures, brand by brand
| Measure | Median | Brands | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average sales per unit | $1,245,467 | 8 of 9 | Median of each brand’s disclosed average |
| Median sales per unit | $719,841 | 8 of 9 | Median of each brand’s disclosed median |
| Initial franchise fee | $60,000 | 9 of 9 | |
| Royalty | 8% | 9 of 9 | Headline rate |
| Brand or advertising fund | 1.8% | 8 of 9 | |
| Percentage fees, all in | 10% | 9 of 9 | Royalty, funds and local marketing set as a share of sales |
| Cost to open, low | $196,325 | 9 of 9 | |
| Cost to open, high | $318,860 | 9 of 9 | |
| Profit margin | Fewer than three disclose | 2 of 9 | Each brand’s own profit line; definitions differ |
| Labor, share of revenue | Fewer than three disclose | 2 of 9 | |
| Building costs, share of revenue | Fewer than three disclose | 2 of 9 | |
| Unit growth, 2025 | 3% | 9 of 9 | (End − start) ÷ start |
| Customers lost, 2025 | 3.8% | 6 of 9 | 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 restoration are running
What the top performers can do that others cannot
5 of the 9 brands here sell work paid by an insurer. Rostering against demand is the constraint: wages run 31.8% of sales at the middle brand, more than any other line.
What the customer is buying
The customer buys restoration billed to a carrier rather than the homeowner. At 2 of them the model is different: the customer buys work that repeats on a schedule, which asks something else of the owner. A location at the middle brand sells $1,245,467 a year; the top group sells $4,698,595. 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 $4,698,595 against $172,044 at the bottom. Trade area and site set that range before an owner takes a booking.
How the money works
Opening costs $108,503 to $804,900 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 wages 31.8%, occupancy 3.8%, cost of sales 47.9%, franchise fees 10.0% of sales. What is left runs 11.3% at the middle brand, which is $533,291 a year at the top group and $19,527 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: $100,260, $12,455, $14,323, $16,814, $4,837,325, $51,064, $770,375, 20245.4, 37.1.
Top performers
These are the things that separate top performers in restoration
At the typical restoration brand, the best group of locations sells $4,698,595 a year. The worst group sells $172,044. That is $4,526,552 more a year, 27.3 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. 8 of the 9 brands here publish bands; the rest disclose no spread at all.
Decided before you open
- What it costs to open.Opening costs run $108,503 to $804,900 across the group, and the top of a single brand’s range is typically 1.9 times its bottom. The top group sells $4,698,595 a year against a build that tops out at $804,900, so at the heavy end of the range a location sells $5.84 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 $1,245,467 at the middle brand and $4,698,595 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.
- Rent is one number, and it lands twice.Occupancy runs 3.8% of sales at the middle brand, which on median sales of $1,245,467 is $46,705 of rent a year. That same $46,705 is 1.0% of sales at the top group and 27.1% at the bottom. Nobody negotiated a worse lease. The top performers move this line by putting more sales through the same square footage: longer earning hours, a second daypart, and a site picked for traffic rather than for the rate.
Live operating levers
- 5 of the 9 brands here are paid by an insurer rather than by the homeowner.The work is done first and the money arrives later, sometimes much later, because a carrier pays on its own schedule. The owner has to fund wages and materials in the meantime, so the speed of collection matters as much as the volume of work won.
- 2 of the 9 brands here run routes.The van is paid for by the day, so what matters is how many stops fit into that day. Two owners with the same brand and the same hours earn different money when one has customers clustered together and the other drives across town between jobs. The top performers fill in the map they already have before they buy more territory. They are DRYmedic, Restoration 1.
- 2 of the 9 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 Paul Davis, PuroClean.
- 2 of the 9 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 SERVPRO, Storm Guard.
- 2 of the 9 brands here can widen what they sell without widening the building.Selling a product alongside the service, or moving customers onto a higher tier of it, raises what an hour of the same room earns. It is the only way to lift the ceiling without spending money on more space or more hours. They are SERVPRO, Storm Guard.
- Wages. Same labor market, different result.Wages run 31.8% of sales at the middle brand and 23.7% to 39.8% across the 2 that disclose it. These brands hire from the same pool at the same rates, so a 16-point spread is not a pay-rate gap. It is scheduling and productivity: rostering against booked demand hour by hour, managing sales per paid hour as the number, and keeping enough of the pay variable that the line falls when the week is quiet. On the top group’s $4,698,595 of sales, a point of wages is $46,986 a year; on the bottom group’s $172,044 it is $1,720. The same discipline is worth more where the volume already is.
- Cost of what you sell. The line that compounds.Products and materials take 47.9% of sales at the middle brand, 43.8% to 52.0% 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 2 brands that publish a profit line, the middle one keeps 11.3% of sales, from 10.0% to 12.7%. 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 11.3% margin steady and the top group earns $533,291 against $19,527 at the bottom, a difference of $513,764 a year that comes from volume alone.
- What the brand charges. The line that works backwards.Fees run a median 10.0% of sales across 9 brands, from 5.5% to 21.1%. 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 $4,698,595 the fees cost $469,860 a year; at $172,044 they cost $17,204. The percentage is the same and the burden is not.
Context you underwrite around
- How many brands show a ramp.2 of 9 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.
9 brands
1-800 WATER DAMAGE
Restoration
- 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 13.0% 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.
DRYmedic
Restoration
- Routes, the operating driver. This model bills on routes. The van costs the same whatever it does that day, so the owner works on how many stops fit into it and how far apart they are. 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 21.1% 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.
Paul Davis
Restoration
- 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.
PuroClean
Restoration
- 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 12.6% 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.
Rainbow Restoration
Restoration
- 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 10.0% 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.
Restoration 1
Restoration
- Cost of what you sell. Products and materials take 43.8% of sales, against 10.0% 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.
- Occupancy, the line that does not flex. Rent and building costs take 4.9% of sales here. Sales per square foot and the hours the space is earning are the only two ways to move it, because the rent itself is fixed at signing.
- Routes, the operating driver. This model bills on routes. The van costs the same whatever it does that day, so the owner works on how many stops fit into it and how far apart they are. 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 6.0% 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.
ServiceMaster Restore
Restoration
- 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 14.0% 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.
SERVPRO
Restoration
- 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.
- Service and retail mix. Attachment rate on retail, and the share of customers on the higher service tiers, lift what each hour earns without adding an hour or a room. It is the only lever that raises the ceiling without spending capital.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 7.2% 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.
Storm Guard
Restoration
- Cost of what you sell. Products and materials take 52.0% of sales, against 12.7% 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.
- Occupancy, the line that does not flex. Rent and building costs take 2.6% of sales here. Sales per square foot and the hours the space is earning are the only two ways to move it, because the rent itself is fixed at signing.
- 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.
- Service and retail mix. Attachment rate on retail, and the share of customers on the higher service tiers, lift what each hour earns without adding an hour or a room. It is the only lever that raises the ceiling without spending capital.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites. Fees run about 7.0% 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.
- What should I be looking at every week?The handful of numbers that move before the P&L does.
- Do I need a bookkeeper, a controller, or a CFO?What each one owns, and the point at which the next one pays for itself.
Part of our Home & Commercial Services Franchise Finance guide · Other types: Commercial cleaning · Mechanical trades · Lawn, pest and irrigation · Carpet and floor care · Remodel, garage and closets · Painting · Residential cleaning · Window cleaning and exteriors · Handyman and home repair
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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.