Business models / Painting Business / Own a franchise

A painting business franchise, or your own?

Seven franchise brands run a painting business. Here they are beside the independent version of the same business, with each brand’s fees as it publishes them and worked out in dollars. A brand can bring customers an independent has to earn one by one. The question is whether it brings in more than it costs.

Typical for a painting business: $500k to $2M in sales, and the owner keeps 15% to 25% after paying for its own marketing. Change either to your own numbers.

Work each brand out at

How the two sides are counted

  • Sales. A brand’s name brings customers an independent wins one at a time, so each brand is worked out at the sales it reports where we have them, and at yours where we don’t.
  • Marketing. On your own you pay for all of it, about 8.5% of sales here. The ad fund does part of that job, so it is counted once, not twice.
  • Survival. New franchised businesses were about 5 to 6 points more likely to make it through their first two years in Census data, and about half of all new businesses close within five years. It is not in the dollars; each brand’s details give the sources.
The independent version

Your own painting business

Built and run under your own name

Cost to open
$59k to $189k
Annual sales
$1Mtypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$200,000
The owner keeps in a year, after about $85k of marketing
Taking new owners

Richard's Painting

Interior and exterior painting

Total investment
$60k to $110k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
Not listed
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 1% of sales
$150k
The owner keeps in a year at $1M in sales (your sales), after $60k to the brand
$50k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Five Star Painting

Painting

Total investment
$81k to $186k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$45k
Royalty + ad fund
6% to 7% of sales
$130k to $140k
The owner keeps in a year at $1M in sales (your sales), after $60k to $70k to the brand
$60k to $70k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Fresh Coat Painters

Residential and commercial painting

Total investment
$86k to $125k
Avg. annual sales
$595k to $659k
Franchise fee
$55k
Royalty + ad fund
4% to 6% + 12% of sales
$66k to $78k
The owner keeps in a year at $627k in sales (what it reports), after $100k to $113k to the brand
$122k to $134k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Color World Painting

House painting

Total investment
$107k to $168k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$140k
The owner keeps in a year at $1M in sales (your sales), after $80k to the brand
$60k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

360° Painting

Interior and exterior painting

Total investment
$112k to $196k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$65k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$140k
The owner keeps in a year at $1M in sales (your sales), after $80k to the brand
$60k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

That 1 Painter

Residential painting

Total investment
$113k to $189k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$59k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$140k
The owner keeps in a year at $1M in sales (your sales), after $80k to the brand
$60k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

CertaPro Painters

Residential and commercial painting

Total investment
$171k to $321k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$65k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 3% of sales
$140k
The owner keeps in a year at $1M in sales (your sales), after $90k to the brand
$60k less a year than on your own
Free account

See all 7 painting business brands side by side

  • Every brand’s investment and fees, and what the owner keeps against running your own
  • The yearly sales the first 3 report, and a plus to add brands to your comparison and benchmark them in your account
  • Members see the sales every franchisor reports, for every brand

Free, no card. A new account accepts the Terms and the Privacy Policy. smbnest is a self-assessment tool and never takes a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor.

Before you sign: what to read in the disclosure document

Every franchisor must give you its Franchise Disclosure Document at least 14 days before you sign or pay. These are the parts that answer the questions above.

  • Items 5 to 7, the fees and the investment. The franchise fee, every other fee (technology, training, transfer, renewal), and the full opening budget, including working capital.
  • Item 19, what owners earn. Whether the brand states owner sales or earnings at all, and for which units. Put its figures in the boxes above in place of the typical ones.
  • Item 20, units opened, closed and sold. How many owners left in each of the last three years, and a list of current and former owners you can call.
  • Item 12, the territory. Whether you get a protected area, and what the brand can open or sell inside it.
  • Item 21, the franchisor’s own finances. Whether the company behind the brand is in good health.

smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice. Fees are as each brand publishes them on its franchising page and in its disclosure document, reviewed in the month shown, and change; the figures in dollars are worked out at the sales you enter and are not a forecast. We never take a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor. Before you sign, speak with a franchise attorney and a qualified financial adviser, and call owners from the disclosure document.