The Flying LocksmithsFranchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A The Flying Locksmiths franchise requires a total initial investment of $150K – $400K, including a $75K franchise fee and an ongoing 8.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2024 FDD, average unit revenue was $714K[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 0.0% charge-off rate across 26 loans[1]. Verdict grade: A. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified June 18, 2026 · figures per the 2024 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $150K – $400K
- 55th pct Home Services
- Avg gross sales
- $714K
- 25th pct Home Services
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- 38th pct Home Services
- Units
- 93
- 52nd pct Home Services
- SBA default
- 0.0%
- system-wide median varies by category
Quick verdict · Home Services · color = vs category peers
Green = >15% above Home Services avg · No shading = within ±15% · Red = >15% below avg · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Only 0.0% of 26 SBA loans charged off, well below the 16% franchise average.
Franchised units fell from 97 to 92 over 3 years. Investigate why operators are leaving.
Bottom line
- Total investment $150K – $400K including a $75K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $714K/year (median $530K).
- Verdict A (Top Quintile) with a risk score of 5/100. SBA loan charge-off rate of 0.0% across 26 loans (well below the franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2024).
- System contracting at -5.2% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
- Legal entity
- TFL Franchise Systems, LLC
- Incorporated in
- MA
- HQ
- 859 Willard Street, Suite 100, Quincy, Massachusetts 02169
- Auditor
- WithumSmith+Brown, PC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $5.4M
- vs $6.3M prior year
Affiliated brands
- The Flying Locksmiths
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
The Flying Locksmiths franchisees provide emergency and scheduled locksmith services including residential lock repairs, commercial access control, automotive lockouts, and safe services. Typical daily operations involve responding to service calls, managing customer relationships, handling inventory of locks and tools, and performing field work often outside standard business hours. The business is labor-intensive with significant dependence on local licensing compliance and regulatory adherence.
- CEO
- Barry L. McMenimon
- Headquarters
- MA
- Founded
- 2015
- FDD year
- 2024
- States available
- 30
FDD Item 7 · 2024 filing · 17 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $75K | $300K | |
| Training and Training-Related Expenses | $6K | $8K | |
| Vehicle Expense | $10K | $15K | |
| Hand Tools | $1K | $2K | |
| Machinery | $4K | $5K | |
| Office Lease | $400 | $600 | |
| Initial Vehicle Inventory | $4K | $5K | |
| Communication Equipment | $100 | $200 | |
| Insurance | $400 | $500 | |
| Uniforms | $400 | $500 | |
| Legal Fees | $2K | $4K | |
| Business License(s) | $100 | $400 | |
| Initial Inventory | $5K | $5K | |
| Marketing Jump-Start Programnot refundable | $5K | $5K | |
| Career Plug Software | $795 | $795 | |
| Seamless Ai Software | $960 | $960 | |
| Additional Funds - 3 Months | $35K | $50K | |
| Total initial investment | $150K | $401K |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$71K
10.0% margin
Unlevered ROIC
22%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
4.4 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $150K – $400K
- Near category avg vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $35K – $50K
- Near category avg vs category
- Franchise fee
- $75K – $300K
- Below avg, review vs category
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- Gross Revenue · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 8.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Transfer fee | $5K |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Inventory (initial) | $10K – $10K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $714K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $530K
- Item 19 type
- gross_sales
- Sample size
- 80 units
- vs category median 25 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $47K→$2.8M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $233K→$1.4M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Transparency tier
- full
- Categorical assessment of disclosure depth
- Reporting year
- 2023
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Transparency
- 6 / 5
- vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Compared against 349 Home Services brands
vs Home Services averages
How The Flying Locksmiths Compares
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 93
- Opened
- 1
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 1
- Turnover rate
- 1.1%
- Company-owned
- 1
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 99%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (yr3)
- -1.1%
- Net unit change last year
- 3-yr CAGR
- -5.2%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Closed (3yr)
- 1
- Terminated (3yr)
- 1
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 0
- Transfers (3yr)
- 3
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Termination rate
- 25.0%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 25.0%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 30 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.
Available to sell in · Item 12
- California
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- New York
- North Dakota
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Virginia
- Wisconsin
States where the franchisor is registered to sell new franchises (FDD registration filings).
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 26
- Loan volume
- $3.4M
- Median loan
- $150K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 0.0%
- rates vary by category · see methodology
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- 100.0%
- 5-yr charge-off
- N/A
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 8
- Defaults
- 0
Vintage analysis
The Flying Locksmiths charge-off rate by loan vintage
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Premium insight
SBA Lending Report
Deep-dive into The Flying Locksmiths's SBA lending history: lender network, geographic footprint, interest rates, and more.
SBA Lending Report
- Principal loss rate and NAICS industry benchmark
- 8 lenders with concentration factor
- Per-state charge-off rates across 15 states
- Startup risk premium and job creation velocity
- 3-year lending trend
Instant access. No subscription.
With a 0.0% charge-off rate across 26 loans, banks have historically viewed this brand favorably for lending.
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Declining franchise system with active litigation over fraudulent misrepresentation and undisclosed regulatory burdens, coupled with missing financial disclosures (Item 19), creates moderate-to-high risk for new franchisees.
Litigation (Item 3)
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · WithumSmith+Brown, PC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- Must buy proprietary products: No
- Restricted to system-approved products: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 5 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHActive litigation alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and material non-disclosure of licensing/regulatory requirements
- 02MINORSystem declining at -1.1% YoY with only 93 units — indicates stagnation or contraction
- 03MEDItem 19 (Average Unit Volume) not disclosed — inability to validate $713,997 avg revenue claim or profitability
- 04MINORHigh initial investment ($150K-$400K) with 8% royalty against declining unit count raises sustainability concerns
- 05HIGHGoing Concern status is False, but litigation and unit decline suggest underlying franchise system stress
- 06MINORTerritory protection claims unverified without disclosure of how encroachment disputes are handled (see Black 13 case)
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Territory type | Population |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Territory population | 500,000 |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 1.5 years |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Termination notice | 15 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 2 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Massachusetts |
| Litigation count | 1 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 24 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 4 hrs
- Training location
- On-site and corporate
- Site selection
- franchisee
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Flight Control
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Flight Control
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
80 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
The Flying Locksmiths · FDD (2024) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a The Flying Locksmiths franchise?
The total investment to open a The Flying Locksmiths franchise ranges from $150K – $400K, with an initial franchise fee of $75K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do The Flying Locksmiths franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the The Flying Locksmiths FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $714K. The median is $530K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is The Flying Locksmiths's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, The Flying Locksmiths has a charge-off rate of 0.0% across 26 loans, meaning 0.0% of franchise loans were charged off. Charge-off rates are one proxy for franchise risk, though they do not capture all closures. This data comes from FOIA-sourced SBA lending records.
How many The Flying Locksmiths franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, The Flying Locksmiths has 93 total units in the United States, including 97 franchised units and 1 company-owned units. 1 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is The Flying Locksmiths a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates The Flying Locksmiths as a A-grade franchise with a risk score of 5 out of 100, based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. 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.
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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.