Wonderly Lights Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $100K – $125K
- Disclosed sales
- $200K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (1)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Wonderly Lights is a home services franchise that designs, installs, and maintains premium holiday and permanent outdoor lighting. Franchisees run local operations, managing design, installation crews, and seasonal accounts.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A WONDERLY LIGHTS franchise requires a total initial investment of $100K – $125K, including a $20K franchise fee and an ongoing 7.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average revenue per franchisee was $200K. 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: 2026 filing · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low - the current year's filing
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
- $100K – $125K
- 34th pct Home Services
- Avg gross sales
- $200K
- Per franchisee, not per outlet
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- 48th pct Home Services
- Units
- 43
- 40th 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 $100K – $125K including a $20K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage revenue per franchisee of $200K/year (median $140K). Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures.
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 65/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +3 franchised outlets in the latest year (6 opened, 3 closed) (Item 20).
- FLAGItem 4 discloses a bankruptcy of an officer or of a company an officer ran, not of the franchisor. Review Item 4 for details.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- BFB Light Franchising, LLC
- Parent company
- BFB Light Holdings, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2026 FDD
- Ultimate parent
- Buzz Franchise Brands, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2026 FDD
- CEO title
- President
- Brian M. Garrison
- Incorporated in
- Delaware
- HQ
- 2829 Guardian Lane, Suite 100, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
- Auditor
- Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $351K
- vs $26K prior year
Same owner · FDD Item 1, page 8
3 other brands on this site name Buzz Franchise Brands, LLC as parent or ultimate parent in their own FDD.
Grouped by the owner's name as each filing prints it (this page: the 2026 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
- Brian M. Garrison
- Headquarters
- VA
- Founded
- 2022
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 15
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 33% below the typical home services franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $20K | $20K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $6K | $15K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $74K | $90K |
| Total initial investment | $100K | $125K |
Source: WONDERLY LIGHTS 2026 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
- $100K – $125K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $6K – $15K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $20K – $20K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 12.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 7.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% |
| Technology fee | $395 |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Total fee load | 12.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 66% below the home services norm.
Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures
Source: FDD 2026 · 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 WONDERLY LIGHTS 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
$123K
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 WONDERLY LIGHTS 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: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures
- Avg gross sales
- $200K
- Per franchisee, per year — not per outlet
- Median gross sales
- $140K
- 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
- 12 franchisees
- vs category median 32 · small
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- The FDD edition these figures were read from
- Transparency
- 7 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
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 $200K/year in gross sales. Median is $140K — top performers pull the average up, so a typical unit earns less.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 12.0% — above the Home Services median of 8.0%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 7/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
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 Wonderly Lights 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 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 43
- Opened
- 6
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 3
- Terminated
- 3
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 7.0%
- Company-owned
- 1
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 98%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 3
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 0
- 0.00 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 5
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 4 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
5 current owners across 4 states.
- MD 2
- FL 1
- GA 1
- MI 1
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20; 23 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 loan disclosures. This brand has only 1 7(a) loan on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 1
- Loan volume
- $150K
- Median loan
- $150K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (1)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 1 loan, rate hidden below 10
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- Under 10 loans (1)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (1)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 1
- Defaults
- N/A
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 required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
Subject: an officer. An officer’s own bankruptcy or a company an officer ran, not the franchisor’s
Dave Warn (VP of Franchise Development) and Karen Denise Warn jointly filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition on April 24, 2014; plan confirmed August 20, 2014; discharge entered January 27, 2020 (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, Case No. 14-24219).
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
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 65 / 100 verdict
- 01HIGHOld officer personal bankruptcy (2014, discharged 2020) - low weight
- 02MINOREarly-stage franchisor treated as minor
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 12.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | Exclusive territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory sizeℹ | up to 25,000 Targeted Households |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 15 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Virginia Beach, VA (mediation under Franchise Agreement) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Virginia |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 42 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 38 hrs
- Training location
- Virginia Beach, Virginia (onsite) preceded by remote/online training
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- franchisee selects and franchisor approves only
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Integrated Business Management System
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Integrated Business Management System
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
28 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 WONDERLY LIGHTS franchise?
The total investment to open a WONDERLY LIGHTS franchise ranges from $100K – $125K, with an initial franchise fee of $20K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do WONDERLY LIGHTS franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the WONDERLY LIGHTS FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $200K. The median is $140K. Important context: Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns WONDERLY LIGHTS?
WONDERLY LIGHTS is franchised by BFB Light Franchising, LLC. Its parent company is BFB Light Holdings, LLC. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is Buzz Franchise Brands, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the WONDERLY LIGHTS 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 WONDERLY LIGHTS FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is WONDERLY LIGHTS's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for WONDERLY LIGHTS (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 WONDERLY LIGHTS franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, WONDERLY LIGHTS has 43 total units in the United States, including 42 franchised units and 1 company-owned units. 6 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is WONDERLY LIGHTS a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates WONDERLY LIGHTS as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 65 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?
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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.