Top Rail® Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $161K – $297K
- Disclosed sales
- $1.2M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Limited · 23 loans
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Top Rail Fence is a home-services franchise that sells and installs residential and commercial fencing, wood, vinyl, aluminum, and chain-link. Franchisees run a sales-and-install operation handling quotes, crews, and projects in a territory.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A TOP RAIL® franchise requires a total initial investment of $161K – $297K, including a $60K – $74K franchise fee and an ongoing 7.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average revenue per franchisee was $1.2M. This franchisor reports Item 19 per franchisee rather than per outlet, so the figure is not comparable with per-outlet averages[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), 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 scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $161K – $297K
- 65th pct Home Services
- Avg gross sales
- $1.2M
- Per franchisee, not per outletOutlet subset
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- 48th pct Home Services
- Units
- 167
- 72nd 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 $161K – $297K including a $60K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage revenue per franchisee of $1.2M/year (median $1.1M) (reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system). Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures.
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 68/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +74 franchised outlets in the latest year (75 opened, 1 closed); 14 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
- GROWTHSystem growing at 695.2% CAGR over 3 years with 167 total units. Strong expansion trajectory.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- HFB FenceCo Franchising, LLC
- Parent company
- HFB Franchisor Holdings, LLC (to become parent via consolidation transaction scheduled to close May 2025); ultimate parent HFB Enterprise 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
- Predecessor
- None disclosed (Franchisor has no predecessor)
- Prior franchisor entity
- 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
- $4.1M
- Most recent fiscal 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
- 2022
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 27
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 36% above 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 | $60K | $60K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $30K | $45K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $72K | $193K |
| Total initial investment | $161K | $297K |
Source: TOP RAIL® 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
- $161K – $297K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $30K – $45K
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $60K – $74K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- Tiered by sales volume · 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) | $30K – $60K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 107% above the home services norm.
Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
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 TOP RAIL® 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
$267K
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 TOP RAIL® 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
Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
- Avg gross sales
- $1.2M
- Per franchisee, per year — not per outlet
- Median gross sales
- $1.1M
- Per franchisee, not per outlet
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross sales
- Sample size
- 20 franchisees
- vs category median 32
- Range (low → high)
- $159K→$5.4MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 69 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
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · typical
Compared against 319 Home Services brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
The average franchisee generates $1.2M/year in gross sales. Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.0% (near the Home Services median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 4/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System expanding at 695.2% CAGR over 3 years across 167 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
Multi-unit rate
Only 1% of franchisees own multiple units. Could indicate challenging economics or a young system where operators haven't had time to expand.
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 Top Rail® Compares
Per franchisee, not per outlet - the category median is per-outlet only, so no comparison is shown
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
- 167
- Opened
- 75
- 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
- 0.6%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 1%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 1.0%
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 1
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 17
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 14
- 0.08 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 44
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 10.2%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Termination rate
- 0.6%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 0.6%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 27 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.
27
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
1 current owner across 1 state.
- NC 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.
- Total loans
- 23
- Loan volume
- $3.7M
- Median loan
- $162K
- average
- Charge-off rate
- Limited · 23 loans
- Limited SBA coverage: 23 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 · 23 loans
- 5-yr charge-off
- Limited · 23 loans
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 6
- Defaults
- 0
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
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: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation is required to be disclosed in this Item.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Kezos & Dunlavy
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Item 21 audited financials (Exhibit I) not present in text extract; all Item-21 balance-sheet/income figures and auditor name unavailable.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 68 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORNegative franchisor net worth -$3,029,564
- 02MINORNet loss -$1,027,156
- 03MINOROffsetting: revenue $4.1M, 167 units, turnover 0.6%
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 | Optional |
| 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 Commercial Arbitration Rules) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | North Carolina |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation is required to be disclosed in this Item.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 29 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 19 hrs
- Training location
- Our Home Office (Huntersville, NC), virtually, or other location we designate
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Field support
- 13 hrs/yr
- On-site visits per year
- Time to open
- 2 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisor defines the Designated Territory; franchisee selects site subject to Franchisor approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Fencecloud / Service Minder
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Fencecloud / Service Minder
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
1 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 TOP RAIL® franchise?
The total investment to open a TOP RAIL® franchise ranges from $161K – $297K, with an initial franchise fee of $60K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do TOP RAIL® franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the TOP RAIL® FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $1.2M. The median is $1.1M. Important context: Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures; Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns TOP RAIL®?
TOP RAIL® is franchised by HFB FenceCo Franchising, LLC. Its parent company is HFB Franchisor Holdings, LLC (to become parent via consolidation transaction scheduled to close May 2025); ultimate parent HFB Enterprise 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 TOP RAIL® 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 TOP RAIL® FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is TOP RAIL®'s franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for TOP RAIL® (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 TOP RAIL® franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, TOP RAIL® has 167 total units in the United States, including 167 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 75 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is TOP RAIL® a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates TOP RAIL® as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 68 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
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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.