1 thing to verifyFranchisor financials: moderate concern
360 Painting — full diligence report
The median 360 Painting unit reports $36k/mo in revenue.
Opening one costs $112k–$196k.
DisclosedItem 19 · 46 units reporting · Item 7 · 148 open units
Both figures are the franchisor’s own, straight out of the disclosure document. What is masked below is the rest of the analysis — and the capital check that follows measures your cash against that opening range.
Everything below is in the report. Every figure is cited to an FDD Item and page, and labelled with where the number came from. The labels are free. The numbers are what you are buying.
Franchise Edge automates franchise diligence. We read the franchisor’s own Franchise Disclosure Document — the filing a franchisor is legally required to hand you at least 14 days before you sign anything or pay anything — and run the work that takes a buyer weeks by hand: every disclosed cost, the unit economics behind the headline, the full fee stack, and what happened to the units that opened before you.
Your analysis is ready. The framework is below — every section, every cited figure, every question, exactly as it appears in the report.
New to FDDs? Here is what is in one
An FDD runs to 23 numbered Items and a few hundred pages. Four of them do most of the work in this report:
Item 7— what it costs to open, low to high. That is the range above, and it is the franchisor’s own estimate.
Item 19 — what units actually earn. A franchisor is not required to publish one at all; when it is missing, or when it reports profit where you expected revenue, that is itself a finding.
Item 20 — openings, closures, transfers and terminations, year by year. This is where churn shows up, and where a growth story either holds or does not.
Item 6 — the ongoing fees. Royalty and ad fund get quoted on a discovery call; the rest of the list usually does not.
Every figure in the report is cited to its Item and page, so you can check any of it against the document yourself.
Disclosedstated in this FDDDerivedour calculation from disclosed figuresBenchmarkour industry range, because the FDD does not disclose itInferredAI classification
Drag to enter the capital you have available.
Against the total investment the franchisor discloses in Item 7. What it means for your loan, your coverage ratio and your payback is locked.
What it costs to open
14 locked
Item 7, as the franchisor states it. 14 line items.
Franchise FeeDisclosedItem 7, p. 18Locked
VehicleDisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
Real Estate and/or Leasehold ImprovementsDisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
Equipment & SuppliesDisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
InsuranceDisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
SignageDisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
Technology FeeDisclosedItem 7, p. 18Locked
Grand OpeningDisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
Training ExpensesDisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
Licenses/BondsDisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
Professional FeesDisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
Designated Manager SalaryDisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
MarketingDisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
Additional Funds (6 months)DisclosedItem 7, p. 18 – Locked
Buyer-fit underwriting
5 locked
What the deal asks of you, against what you told us you have.
Capital gapDerivedLocked
Loan neededDerivedLocked
Net worth requirementDisclosedItem 5Locked
Liquid capital requirementDisclosedItem 5Locked
Margin after fees, rent and debtDerivedLocked
The cash ladder — Median 50% Franchisees
13 locked
13 rungs, monthly, from disclosed revenue down to what the operator actually keeps. Every rung is labeled with where its number came from.
1. Gross revenueDisclosedLocked
2. − Franchise feesDisclosedLocked
3. − Fixed monthly feesDisclosedLocked
4. − Rent & occupancyDisclosedLocked
5. = Margin after fees & rentDerivedLocked
Not profit. Cost of goods, labor and operating costs have not been subtracted yet.
6. − Cost of goodsBenchmark – Locked
7. − LaborBenchmark – Locked
8. − Other operating costsBenchmark – Locked
9. = Operating EBITDABenchmark – Locked
Before debt service, owner compensation, depreciation and taxes. The modeled cost range straddles zero: at its favorable end this unit turns an operating profit, and at its unfavorable end it does not turn one at all. The range is this wide because cost of goods, labor and other operating costs are not disclosed in an FDD and are modeled from category bands.
10. − Debt serviceDerivedLocked
11. = Cash after debt, before owner drawBenchmark – Locked
All cash, so this is rung 9 unchanged. The operator has not been paid out of this yet. Rung 9 straddles zero, so this rung inherits that: the unfavorable end of the modeled cost range leaves nothing to draw from.
12. Debt-service coverage ratioDerivedLocked
13. Years to recover the build-outDerivedLocked
How you pay for it
9 locked
The loan this unit would need, and whether the unit can carry it.
Loan amountDerivedLocked
RateBenchmarkLocked
TermBenchmarkLocked
Monthly paymentDerivedLocked
Cash you put inDerivedLocked
Cash after debtDerived – Locked
Return on your cashDerivedLocked
Debt-service coverage ratioDerivedLocked
What this unit could supportDerivedLocked
Ongoing fees and hidden costs
10 locked
10 separate charges in the agreement. Most buyers find four.
RoyaltyDisclosedItem 6Locked
Marketing Fund ContributionDisclosedItem 6Locked
Contact Center FeeDisclosedItem 6Locked
Local advertisingDisclosedItem 6Locked
Technology FeeDisclosedItem 6Locked
Accounting and Business Advisory Services FeeDisclosedItem 6Locked
1 things this document cannot settle, and how to settle them.
Operational tripwires
Locked finding
Franchisor financial condition
6 locked
6 findings from the audited statements.
1 medium
Locked finding
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Operational tripwires
0 locked
No clause here carried enough detail to report. That is not a clean bill of health — Items 8, 12 and 17 are where these live.
System scale and turnover
5 locked
Item 20, year-end.
Item 20's own outlet table does not close: the outlets the franchisor states were open at the start of the year, plus the year's openings, less the year's closures, do not come to the year-end count in the same table. One of those four figures is wrong, or Table 3 breaks closures out in a column this reading missed. Ask the franchisor to walk you from Table 1 to Table 3 before you rely on any turnover figure — the one on this page or the one in the document.
Total unitsDisclosedItem 20, p. 43Locked
OpenedDisclosedItem 20, p. 43Locked
ClosedDisclosedItem 20, p. 43Locked
Changed handsDisclosedItem 20, p. 43Locked
Owner turnoverDerivedLocked
153 outlets were open at the start of the year, as Item 20 Table 1 discloses. Every rate below is a share of that starting count, not of today's.
Leaving — renewal, exit and transfer
31 locked
Item 17, counted rather than characterised. 19 terms the table states, across how long you are in, how it ends, how you sell it and what happens after — plus the grounds it gives each side to end the agreement, and 12 questions to take to a franchisee.
How long you are inHow it endsHow you sell itWhat happens after
Initial termDisclosedItem 17, pp. 38-41Locked
RenewalDisclosedLocked
Longest possible holdDisclosedLocked
Cost to renewDisclosedLocked
Renewal is on the then-current agreementDisclosedLocked
Franchisor may terminate without causeDisclosedLocked
Defaults you can cureDisclosedLocked
Defaults you cannot cureDisclosedLocked
Grounds the table gives you to terminateDisclosedLocked
Franchisor approval required to transferDisclosedLocked
Conditions for approvalDisclosedLocked
Right of first refusalDisclosedLocked
On death or disabilityDisclosedLocked
Non-compete after you leaveDisclosedLocked
RadiusDisclosedLocked
Non-compete while you are inDisclosedLocked
How disputes are resolvedDisclosedLocked
WhereDisclosedLocked
Under which state's lawDisclosedLocked
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Who to call, and what to ask
13 locked
14 questions, grouped for operators running a unit today, operators who left last year, placing whoever answers the phone.
What do you actually run for cost of goods, as a percent of sales?
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Who runs it
5 locked
5 executives, with tenure and prior operating history.
Chief Executive OfficerChief Operating OfficerGeneral CounselChief Development OfficerPresident of 360 Painting