Ace Hardware Painting Services

The franchise fee is $50,000 for a standard territory of up to 70,000 households, scaling to $80,000 for up to 100,000 households at $1 per additional household over the 70K threshold. Existing franchisees adding a second location pay $36,000–$66,000; veterans get $5,000 off the standard fee. Discounts cannot be combined.

Total investment of $89,250 to $153,470 is comparatively lean for a home services franchise — the absence of a commercial build-out is the main reason. The biggest line items are the franchise fee, a required initial marketing spend of $7,500–$9,000 in the opening window, and $15,000 in 3-month working capital. Computer hardware and software runs $2,500–$5,500.

The ongoing fee structure is 6% royalty on gross revenues plus 2% national brand fee — 8% combined, which is above average for painting franchises (most charge 5–7% combined). The technology fee adds $640/month ($7,680/year), which is notable for a home-based concept. Local advertising is mandatory at $15,000 in Year 1, escalating to $24,000 in Year 2 and $30,000+ in Year 3 — a significant fixed obligation before you've built revenue. There's also a $1,500 penalty fee if you miss the required annual convention, which is a minor irritant but tells you something about the culture.

Ace Hardware Painting Services provides no Item 19 financial performance representations. The FDD explicitly states the franchisor makes no representations about franchisee future financial performance or the historical performance of existing outlets. With only 8 franchised units open as of the 2025 FDD, there isn't a meaningful sample to draw from anyway. Before committing, ask directly to speak with the 8 existing franchisees — that's your only real data source. Painting franchise revenues in the industry typically range from $500K to $2M+ for established operators, but those benchmarks apply to mature concepts with training, referral systems, and brand pull. Whether Ace's name translates into painting leads at that level is unproven.

This is an early-stage franchise launch from an established brand. Through 2023, Ace had only 1 company-owned pilot and 2 company-owned stores (the predecessor MSP and affiliate AHHS operations). In 2024, 8 franchised units opened and 0 closed — the system now stands at 11 total units (8 franchised, 3 company-owned). That's a zero-closure record so far, but the sample size is too small to draw conclusions. The concept is in a growth-testing phase. Whether Ace can scale this to a nationally recognized home services brand — competing against established painting franchises like CertaPro, Five Star Painting, and Painter1 — is the central question this FDD cannot answer.

No Item 19 is the single biggest flag. You're making a $90K–$150K commitment with no disclosed earnings data — not even a revenue range from the company-owned pilot locations. The escalating local advertising minimums ($15K → $24K → $30K annually) create a heavy fixed cost that doesn't flex with your revenue ramp. The $640/month technology fee is on the high end for a painting franchise where your main tools are brushes and rollers. At 8% combined royalty and brand fee, your fee burden is above the painting franchise average. Finally, the required annual marketing spend in the brand fund can grow — the FDD reserves the right to change the brand fee with 30 days' notice, and you have no protection against increases in the technology fee.