The Designery Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $185K – $420K
- Disclosed sales
- $1.3M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Limited · 11 loans
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
The Designery is a home-improvement franchise providing custom kitchen, bath, and closet cabinetry design and remodeling. Franchisees run a design studio-and-install operation handling consultations, design, and installation in a territory.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A The Designery franchise requires a total initial investment of $185K – $420K, including a $55K – $69K franchise fee and an ongoing 7.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $1.3M[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 scored7 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $185K – $420K
- 53rd pct Business Serv…
- Avg gross sales
- $1.3M
- 2 outlets14th pct Business Serv…
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- 21st pct Business Serv…
- Units
- 73
- 43rd pct Business Serv…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Business Services · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Business 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 $185K – $420K including a $55K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $1.3M/year (median $1.3M).
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 76/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +52 franchised outlets in the latest year (53 opened, 1 closed); 26 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
- FLAGRevenue data based on only 2 outlets. Treat as directional, not definitive. Ask franchisees directly for current unit economics.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- A1 Kitchen & Bath Franchising, LLC
- Parent company
- HFB Franchisor Holdings, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 10 of the 2025 FDD
- Ultimate parent
- HFB Enterprise Holdings, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 10 of the 2025 FDD
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Jeffrey Dudan
- Incorporated in
- North Carolina
- HQ
- 107 Parr Drive, Huntersville, North Carolina 28078
- Auditor
- Kezos & Dunlavy
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $4.2M
- vs $1.5M prior year
Same owner · FDD Item 1, page 10
3 other brands on this site name HFB Enterprise Holdings, LLC as parent or ultimate parent in their own FDD.
Grouped by the owner's name as each filing prints it (this page: the 2025 FDD). Spelling variants of the same group may be listed apart; a brand is never grouped with an owner its filing does not name.
Overview
About
- CEO
- Jeffrey Dudan
- Headquarters
- NC
- Founded
- 2021
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 15
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 128% above the typical business services franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $55K | $55K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $20K | $50K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $111K | $316K |
| Total initial investment | $185K | $420K |
Source: The Designery 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
- $185K – $420K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $20K – $50K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $55K – $69K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 7.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $599 |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Inventory (initial) | $10K – $70K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 97% above the business services norm.
Based on only 2 outlets
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 The Designery 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 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
$338K
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 The Designery 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 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 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
Based on only 2 outlets
- Avg gross sales
- $1.3M
- Per unit/yr · from the Item 19 franchised-cohort breakdown (no single system-wide average disclosed)
- Median gross sales
- $1.3M
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- Actual (Showroom-based locations)
- Sample size
- 2 outlets
- vs category median 37 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $922K→$1.8MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 71 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 3 / 10 · above
Compared against 296 Business Services brands
Revenue is 4.5x 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 $1.3M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 4.5x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.0% (near the Business Services median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 6/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence. Sample size of 2 outlets — treat as directional only.
Operator retention
System expanding at 1725.0% CAGR over 3 years across 73 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 Business Services medians
How The Designery Compares
Category median of published Business 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
- 73
- Opened
- 53
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 1
- Terminated
- 1
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 1.4%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 1
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 1
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 26
- 0.36 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 28
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 15 states reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
15
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
Fast growth in a small system. Newer franchisors expanding quickly may not yet have the support infrastructure of larger systems.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 11
- Loan volume
- $2.8M
- Median loan
- $378K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- Limited · 11 loans
- Limited SBA coverage: 11 loans, rate hidden until 10 have resolved and loans reach 2% of franchised units
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- Limited · 11 loans
- 5-yr charge-off
- Limited · 11 loans
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 2
- Defaults
- 0
- Typical loan rate
- 10.1%
- avg rate to borrowers
- Franchised industry avg
- 17.1%
- n=1,155 loans
- Jobs supported
- 43
- 1.5 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 91%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 100% went to startups / new businesses, 0% to established operators
Franchise vs independent — in residential remodelers, franchised businesses charge off at 17.1% vs 22.4% for independents — franchising is associated with 24% lower SBA default risk in this category.
Top lenders financing The Designery franchisees
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Lender network · 7(a) + 504
SBA Lending Report
Full lending analysis for The Designery from SBA 7(a) FOIA data.
- Principal loss rate
- 0.0%
- Avg SBA guarantee
- 64%
- Avg interest rate
- 10.14%
- Lender concentration
- 90.9%
- Job velocity
- 1.5 per $100K
- NAICS benchmark
- 9.5%
- NAICS 236118
- Jobs supported
- 43
Top SBA lendersTop lender holds 91% of loans
| # | Lender | Loans | Volume | Default % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Huntington National Bank | 10 | $2.4M | N/A |
| 2 | b1BANK | 1 | $450K | N/A |
Geographic failure vector
| State | Loans | Defaults | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| TXTexas | 3 | 0 | -- |
| COColorado | 2 | 0 | -- |
| KYKentucky | 2 | 0 | -- |
| NYNew York | 2 | 0 | -- |
| TNTennessee | 2 | 0 | -- |
SBA 7(a) lending trend
Borrower profile
Source: SBA 7(a) + 504 FOIA loan-level data, matched by FranchiseVerdict
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
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: the franchisor is a named party (plaintiff).
Franchisor filed suit in North Carolina federal court seeking declaratory judgment that Franchise Agreements with Proverbs 163 Ventures, Inc. were properly terminated for breach of contract (failure to pay royalty/advertising fees, non-compete violation); franchisor also seeks damages and injunctive relief for trademark infringement.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Kezos & Dunlavy
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Franchisor's total revenue for FY2024 was $4,232,602, of which $2,546,609 (60%) derived from franchisees' required purchases via Approved Suppliers (including affiliate TD Fulfillment Services, LLC at $2,380,190 and rebates of $16,820 plus $149,599 from Marketing Fees).
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: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 76 / 100 verdict
- 01MINOROne franchisor-initiated termination suit
- 02MINORNo bankruptcy/going-concern/distress
- 03MEDAudited, Item 19 disclosed
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 9.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
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 | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory population | 80,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 25 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 28 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 7 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (AAA) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | North Carolina |
| Litigation count | 1 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Franchisor filed suit in North Carolina federal court seeking declaratory judgment that Franchise Agreements with Proverbs 163 Ventures, Inc. were properly terminated for breach of contract (failure to pay royalty/advertising fees, non-compete violation); franchisor also seeks damages and injunctive relief for trademark infringement.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 21 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 20 hrs
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- franchisor approval of franchisee-selected site
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Service Minder
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Service Minder
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a The Designery franchise?
The total investment to open a The Designery franchise ranges from $185K – $420K, with an initial franchise fee of $55K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do The Designery franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the The Designery FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $1.3M. The median is $1.3M. Important context: Based on only 2 outlets. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns The Designery?
The Designery is franchised by A1 Kitchen & Bath Franchising, LLC. Its parent company is HFB Franchisor Holdings, LLC. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is HFB Enterprise Holdings, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the The Designery 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 The Designery FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is The Designery's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for The Designery (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 The Designery franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, The Designery has 73 total units in the United States, including 73 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 53 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is The Designery a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates The Designery as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 76 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 The Designery, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
Other Business Services franchises
Compare similar franchise opportunities in the Business 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.