Made in the Shade Blinds & More Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $78K – $108K
- Disclosed sales
- $624K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Made in the Shade Blinds & More is a home-services franchise that sells and installs custom blinds, shades, and shutters through in-home consultations. Franchisees run a low-overhead, mobile sales-and-install operation in a territory.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Made in the Shade Blinds & More franchise requires a total initial investment of $78K – $108K, including a $68K – $78K franchise fee. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $624K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: medium - issued 12 to 24 months ago; a newer filing is likely on file
Evidence: strong✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored6 of 6 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $78K – $108K
- 18th pct Home Services
- Avg gross sales
- $624K
- 13th pct Home Services
- Royalty
- Not extracted
- Units
- 117
- 62nd pct Home Services
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Home Services · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Home Services median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $78K – $108K including a $68K franchise fee.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $624K/year (median $439K).
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 93/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +10 franchised outlets in the latest year (16 opened, 6 closed); 6 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
- FLAG6 units terminated last reporting year (5.1% of the system). Ask existing franchisees why.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Made in the Shade Blinds and More LLC
- Predecessor
- Made in the Shade Blinds and More (sole proprietorship d/b/a, operated June 2004 - November 2012)
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- CEO
- Joshua Morse
- Incorporated in
- TX
- HQ
- 2523 Boardwalk St, San Antonio, TX 78217
- Auditor
- Muhammad Zubairy, CPA PC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $2.7M
- vs $2.0M prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Joshua Morse
- Headquarters
- TX
- Founded
- 2012
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 38
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 45% below the typical home services franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $68K | $68K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $2K | $5K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $9K | $35K |
| Total initial investment | $78K | $108K |
Source: Made in the Shade Blinds & More 2025 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $78K – $108K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $2K – $5K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $68K – $78K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Royalty
- No royalty fee disclosed. Franchisor revenue comes from r…
- Ad fund
- No required national advertising fund contribution. Franc…
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Technology fee | $150 |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $6K |
| Inventory (initial) | $100 – $200 |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales land near the home services norm.
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for Made in the Shade Blinds & More until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for royalty rate, ad fund rate, COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$96K
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Made in the Shade Blinds & More unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for royalty rate, ad fund rate, COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for royalty rate, ad fund rate, COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $624K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $439K
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- Average Revenue from a survey of franchisees sent March 2025, responses covering the most recently completed calendar year - reported beside average close rate 69%, average sale price $4,179 and average gross product margin 45%
- Sample size
- 70 outlets
- vs category median 32 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $110K→$2.7MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 41 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 6 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 319 Home Services brands
Revenue is 6.7x the investment midpoint. At typical franchise margins, this suggests a payback under 3 years.
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $624K/year in gross sales. Median is $439K — top performers pull the average up, so a typical unit earns less. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 6.7x.
Disclosure
Transparency score 6/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System expanding at 15.8% CAGR over 3 years across 117 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Home Services medians
How Made in the Shade Blinds & More Compares
Category median of published Home Services brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 117
- Opened
- 16
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 6
- Terminated
- 6
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 5.1%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +15.8%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +15.8%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 6
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 6
- 0.05 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 9
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 12 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator. Not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
96 current owners across 12 states.
- KS 55
- FL 17
- CO 8
- AZ 3
- CA 3
- GA 3
- IA 2
- AR 1
- CT 1
- DE 1
- HI 1
- IL 1
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Moderate-to-caution risk profile driven by non-disclosure of profitability metrics, slow unit growth, and opaque fee structure that prevents ROI validation.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Muhammad Zubairy, CPA PC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
FY2024 Total Revenues of $2,746,438 comprise Franchise fees $1,064,274, Rebate $1,417,235, and Other Income $264,929 (audited, year ended December 31, 2024).
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 93 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDNet income not disclosed — unable to assess actual profitability after flat monthly fees and operating costs
- 02MINORSlow unit growth (9.3% YoY) suggests market saturation or franchisee satisfaction issues in a mature 117-unit system
- 03MEDHigh franchise fee ($67.5k) plus $78-107.7k total investment with unclear payback period and no disclosed profit margins
- 04MINORFlat fee structure (vs. royalties) obscures true cost burden — flat fees may increase annually without revenue correlation
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Exclusive territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory population | 150,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | No |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 50 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | No |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 0 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 2 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Texas (city/county where franchisor HQ is located) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | TX |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 43 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 15 hrs
- Training location
- San Antonio, Texas and franchisee's location (for vendor on-site OJT)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 2 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
96 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Made in the Shade Blinds & More franchise?
The total investment to open a Made in the Shade Blinds & More franchise ranges from $78K – $108K, with an initial franchise fee of $68K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Made in the Shade Blinds & More franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Made in the Shade Blinds & More FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $624K. The median is $439K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Made in the Shade Blinds & More?
Made in the Shade Blinds & More is franchised by Made in the Shade Blinds and More LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Made in the Shade Blinds & More FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Made in the Shade Blinds & More FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Made in the Shade Blinds & More's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Made in the Shade Blinds & More (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many Made in the Shade Blinds & More franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Made in the Shade Blinds & More has 117 total units in the United States, including 117 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 16 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Made in the Shade Blinds & More a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Made in the Shade Blinds & More as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 93 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
If you represent Made in the Shade Blinds & More, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
Other Home Services franchises
Compare similar franchise opportunities in the Home Services category
Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.