Website Closers Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $68K – $113K
- Disclosed sales
- $299K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Website Closers is a business brokerage franchise specializing in selling online, technology, and e-commerce businesses. Franchisees work as brokers, valuing businesses, listing them, and closing deals for commissions.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Website Closers franchise requires a total initial investment of $68K – $113K, including a $50K franchise fee. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $299K[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 scored6 of 7 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $68K – $113K
- 54th pct Real Estate
- Avg gross sales
- $299K
- 3rd pct Real Estate
- Royalty
- Not extracted
- Units
- 27
- 22nd pct Real Estate
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Real Estate · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Real Estate 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 $68K – $113K including a $50K franchise fee.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $299K/year (median $259K).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 61/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHNegative: net -2 franchised outlets in the latest year (2 opened, 4 closed) (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Website Closers Franchise Company, LLC
- Parent company
- Website Closers, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2025 FDD
- CEO title
- Executive Director
- Jason Guerrettaz
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- FL
- HQ
- 550 N. Reo St, Suite 300, Tampa, FL 33609
- Auditor
- Naper CPA Group
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $6.3M
- vs $8.8M prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Jason Guerrettaz
- Headquarters
- FL
- Founded
- 2019
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 14
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 32% below the typical real estate franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $50K | $50K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $15K | $40K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $3K | $23K |
| Total initial investment | $68K | $113K |
Source: Website Closers 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
- $68K – $113K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $15K – $40K
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $50K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Royalty
- Royalty is 50% of Net Commissions (reducible to 45%/40%/3…
- Ad fund
- 0.0%
- typical 3–5%
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty (flat) | 50% of Net Commissions, reduced based on performance tiers from 30%-50% |
| Marketing / ad fund | 0.0% |
| Technology fee | $0 |
| Training fee | $2K |
| Transfer fee | $25K |
| Renewal fee | $0 |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 22% below the real estate 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 Website Closers 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, 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
$118K
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 Website Closers 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, 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, 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
- $299K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $259K
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 Commissions
- Sample size
- 25 franchisees
- vs category median 53 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $17K→$1.8MCited, 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
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 0 / 10 · above
Compared against 101 Real Estate brands
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 $299K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 3.3x.
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 roughly stable (+4.0% 3-year CAGR) with 27 units.
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 Real Estate medians
How Website Closers Compares
Category median of published Real Estate 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
- 27
- Opened
- 2
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 4
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 14.8%
- Company-owned
- 1
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 96%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- -7.1%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +4.0%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Ceased ops
- 14.8%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 18 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
29 current owners across 18 states.
- CA 4
- FL 4
- OH 3
- PA 3
- TX 2
- AL 1
- CO 1
- GA 1
- IL 1
- MA 1
- MN 1
- NC 1
- +6 more states
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20; 1 entries carry no state. 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
No litigation, bankruptcy, or going-concern; audited financials with Item 19 disclosed (avg gross sales $298,522). 27 units with modest 4% growth. Financial figures (net worth/income) not provided in the profile, the main gap.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation required to be disclosed
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Naper CPA Group
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- 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 61 / 100 verdict
- 01HIGHNo litigation, bankruptcy, or going-concern
- 02MEDItem 19 disclosed, avg gross sales $298,522
- 03MEDFranchisor net worth/income not disclosed in profile
- 04MINOR27 units, 4% net growth
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 | 5 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 3 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory population | 10,000 |
| 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 | 100 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 3 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Orlando, Florida |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Florida |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 170 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 8 hrs
- Training location
- franchisor's facilities and on-site
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Field support
- 1 hrs/yr
- On-site visits per year
- Time to open
- 2 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee (home-based business); franchisor reviews/approves if not home office
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
30 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 Website Closers franchise?
The total investment to open a Website Closers franchise ranges from $68K – $113K, with an initial franchise fee of $50K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Website Closers franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Website Closers FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $299K. The median is $259K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Website Closers?
Website Closers is franchised by Website Closers Franchise Company, LLC. Its parent company is Website Closers, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Website Closers 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 Website Closers FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Website Closers's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Website Closers (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 Website Closers franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Website Closers has 27 total units in the United States, including 26 franchised units and 1 company-owned units. 2 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Website Closers a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Website Closers as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 61 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.