A U.S. DUCTZ owner may generate roughly $46,000 to $604,000 in estimated pre-tax owner earnings per year under the three modeled cases, with a base scenario of about $207,000. This is a manager-run operating estimate for a DUCTZ Business, not a franchisor-reported profit figure. The 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document reports 2025 Gross Sales, while an official U.S. Census industry expense benchmark supplies the margin proxy.
Data basis
Legal franchisor: DUCTZ International, LLC. Document reviewed: 2026 U.S. Franchise Disclosure Document issued March 30, 2026 and amended April 26, 2026. Item 19 status: official Gross Sales disclosure, but no operating profit, EBITDA, net income, cash flow or owner compensation disclosure. Population: 36 Reported Franchisees operating 63 Territories for the full January 1–December 31, 2025 Measurement Period. Benchmarks: U.S. Census Bureau 2022 Service Annual Survey for NAICS 56179 and BLS May 2023 industry-specific manager wages. Checked: July 18, 2026.
Brand and operating-format context was cross-checked against the official DUCTZ franchise website, the BELFOR Franchise Group DUCTZ profile and the official DUCTZ company overview. No matching 2026 FDD was verified on a franchise-controlled public domain, so FDD references below are cited in plain text by Item and page.
What does the DUCTZ FDD actually report?
Officially, Item 19 reports revenue rather than owner earnings. For the 2025 Measurement Period, the 36 Reported Franchisees had median annual Gross Sales of $605,143 and average annual Gross Sales of $777,690. Those figures apply per franchisee, and the population includes both single-territory and multi-territory owners.
The FDD defines Gross Sales broadly as operating revenue received in cash, services in kind, barter or exchange, excluding sales tax and returns. Item 19 says the data came from monthly Gross Sales reports submitted by franchisees and was not audited. It also states that the tables do not provide complete operating costs such as payroll, rent, royalties, technology, marketing, owner salary, benefits, inventory, professional fees, interest, depreciation or other expenses. Revenue therefore cannot be read as owner take-home pay.
All 36 Reported Franchisees, 2025.
The average is 28.5% above the median.
Full-year Item 19 reporting population.
Derived from Census NAICS 56179 aggregate data.
Royalty, maximum brand fund and technology fee at median sales.
BLS 2023 annual mean wage for the industry.
| Item 19 population | Franchisees | Average Gross Sales | Median Gross Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom 25% group | 9 | $134,663 | $145,690 |
| All Reported Franchisees | 36 | $777,690 | $605,143 |
| Top 25% group | 9 | $1,629,055 | $1,622,597 |
Source: 2026 DUCTZ Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 19, pp. 59–62. Quartile labels describe historical groups, not the probability that a new business will fall into a group.
The overall average is materially higher than the median, and the disclosed range runs from $21,795 to $2,033,178. That dispersion is the strongest warning against applying one “typical” profit number to every DUCTZ territory. The median is the cleaner central revenue anchor, but it still says nothing directly about payroll, trucks, referrals, rent, debt or owner compensation.
Does owning more territories automatically mean more earnings?
No. Official 2025 Item 19 data show higher revenue per owner for the three-or-more-territory group, but much lower average revenue per territory. The three owners in that cohort averaged $1.45 million per owner across 22 Territories, or about $197,581 per Territory. Shared overhead may help, but ramp-up, staffing and management layers prevent a simple one-unit multiplication.
| Territories owned | Owners | Median revenue per owner | Average revenue per territory |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Territory | 25 | $525,159 | $682,214 |
| 2 Territories | 8 | $620,082 | $370,082 |
| 3 or more Territories | 3 | $1,427,779 | $197,581 |
Source: 2026 DUCTZ Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 19, pp. 61–62. Per-owner and per-territory measures are not interchangeable.
How was the annual earnings range estimated?
The estimate multiplies three FDD-reported revenue anchors by an official industry operating-surplus proxy. The conservative case uses the Bottom 25% median, the base case uses the overall median, and the upside case uses the Top 25% median. These are analytical cases, not forecasts or probability bands.
The operating-margin center is 34.24%, derived from $13.533 billion of 2022 operating revenue less $8.899 billion of operating expenses in the U.S. Census Service Annual Survey for NAICS 56179, Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings. The conservative and upside margins are the benchmark minus and plus 3 percentage points.
- Revenue anchors are official: $145,690, $605,143 and $1,622,597 are historical DUCTZ Item 19 medians for the Bottom 25%, total population and Top 25% groups.
- Margin is a benchmark: 31.24%, 34.24% and 37.24% are not DUCTZ margins. The ±3 percentage-point spread is an editorial sensitivity because the Census publication does not provide a DUCTZ-specific distribution.
- Franchise fees are not double-counted: the Census operating-expense aggregate is an all-in industry proxy that includes broad operating-cost categories. DUCTZ royalty, marketing and technology charges are shown separately for diligence, but are not subtracted a second time.
- Definition: modeled earnings are before personal income taxes, financing principal and owner-specific interest. Capital expenditures are excluded. Depreciation cannot be isolated from the Census aggregate.
| Scenario | FDD revenue anchor | Scenario margin | Estimated pre-tax owner earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative Scenario |
$145,690 | 31.24% | $45,517 |
| Base Scenario |
$605,143 | 34.24% | $207,215 |
| Upside Scenario |
$1,622,597 | 37.24% | $604,291 |
Estimated annual manager-run owner earnings before personal taxes, owner-specific interest and debt principal.
Interpretation: most of the range comes from the exceptionally wide Item 19 revenue distribution, not from the six-percentage-point margin span.
Sources: 2026 DUCTZ FDD, Item 19, pp. 59–62; U.S. Census Bureau 2022 Service Annual Survey tables; Service Annual Survey methodology. Calculations use full-precision inputs and are rounded to the nearest dollar.
The 34.24% margin is a national aggregate for employer firms in a broader building-services category. DUCTZ combines HVAC cleaning and restoration work, and its exact labor mix, referral channel, equipment intensity and territory economics may differ. The benchmark is useful for a disciplined bridge from revenue to operating surplus, but it is not evidence that a particular DUCTZ Business will achieve that margin.
How does owner involvement change the result?
An active owner who genuinely replaces a paid full-time manager could add about $89,540 of labor value to the modeled residual. That produces an estimated owner-operator benefit of about $135,000, $297,000 or $694,000 across the three cases. It is not pure business profit: part of the amount compensates the owner for full-time work.
Item 15 requires an approved Managing Owner or Designated Manager to devote full-time, year-round best efforts to manage, promote and enhance the DUCTZ Business. A Managing Owner must be an owner; an approved Designated Manager need not hold equity. The FDD also requires a trained person and a Service Technician. Item 7 specifically contemplates the Managing Owner serving as the Service Technician in the low initial-cost estimate, so owner labor can affect both management and field payroll.
Manager-run residual compared with owner-operator benefit after adding the BLS $89,540 labor-value proxy.
Marker key: outlined circle = manager-run residual; filled circle = owner-operator benefit sensitivity.
Interpretation: the $89,540 gap is labor compensation, not passive return. The add-back is appropriate only when the owner actually performs work that otherwise requires a paid manager and does not create another staffing gap.
Source: BLS May 2023 occupational wages for Services to Buildings and Dwellings, General and Operations Managers annual mean wage. The source is industry-specific but older than the FDD, so it reduces confidence.
Manager-run interpretation
Normal management labor remains an operating expense. The residual is modeled pre-tax owner earnings before debt principal and owner-specific financing interest. It is closer to business profit, but still based on a broad industry expense structure.
Owner-operator interpretation
The owner replaces a paid manager and receives both residual business economics and the market value of labor performed. Calling the full amount “profit” would overstate passive economics.
Which DUCTZ fees have the clearest earnings impact?
The clearest ordinary FDD charges are a 10% royalty, a Brand Marketing Fee of up to 1% if established, and a current Technology Fee of $45 per week. At the $605,143 Item 19 median, those amounts total about $68,905 per year, equal to 11.39% of Gross Sales before any optional referral or account-specific charge.
| Recurring FDD charge | Disclosed rate or amount | At $605,143 median sales | Treatment in scenario |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 10% of Gross Sales | $60,514 | Included conceptually in all-in Census expense proxy |
| Brand Marketing Fee | Up to 1%, if established | $6,051 | Modeled at maximum only for fee-load illustration |
| Technology Fee | $45 per week | $2,340 | Annualized for fee-load illustration |
| Ordinary total shown | 10% + up to 1% + fixed fee | $68,905 | Not deducted again from scenario margin |
Source: 2026 DUCTZ Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 6, pp. 10–18. Calculations are rounded to the nearest dollar.
Other charges can be material but are not ordinary across every dollar of sales. A NORA Fee may be up to 5% of Gross Sales generated by a managed national or regional account. Referral fees are optional and, according to the FDD, may range from 0% to 30% of a job invoice. The earnings model does not invent a universal percentage for those channels.
The FDD also imposes minimum monthly royalty requirements after the first year if designated Minimum Gross Sales are not achieved. The minimum monthly royalty rises from $920 in months 13–24 to $2,300 after month 48. A low-sales operator therefore may face an effective royalty rate above 10% during a weak month.
Why is the earnings confidence limited?
Confidence is limited because the same-brand evidence stops at Gross Sales. Item 19 does not disclose DUCTZ payroll, direct job costs, vehicle expense, rent, operating profit, EBITDA, net income, owner salary or cash flow. The model therefore relies on an external NAICS 56179 aggregate whose business mix is broader than one franchise system.
- Population uncertainty: 36 franchisees is the full-year reporting group, but it mixes 25 single-territory owners and 11 multi-territory owners. Per-owner revenue does not reveal unit-level cost structure.
- Distribution uncertainty: the Item 19 lowest and highest results differ by more than $2 million. Location, commercial relationships, restoration projects and local capacity can dominate the outcome.
- Expense uncertainty: Census data aggregate many employer firms. They do not identify DUCTZ royalty treatment, technician productivity, lead-source commissions, trucks, insurance or owner wages separately.
- Cohort uncertainty: Item 19 includes businesses open throughout 2025, but it does not publish profit by age, territory size, service mix, owner role or metropolitan market.
- Financing uncertainty: debt principal and owner-specific interest are outside the scenario. Two buyers with identical operations can have very different cash available after loan payments.
What does Item 20 add to the risk picture?
Officially, the franchised outlet count declined from 68 at the end of 2023 to 64 at the end of 2024 and 63 at the end of 2025. In 2025, Item 20 reports six franchised openings and seven terminations. It also reports that all five company-owned outlets were sold to franchisees during 2025, leaving no company-owned outlets at year-end. These counts do not prove profitability or failure, but they are relevant context for franchisee interviews and cohort analysis.
What should a buyer verify before relying on the range?
A buyer should rebuild the model from actual franchisee profit-and-loss statements rather than treating the published range as a forecast. The most useful questions concern direct labor, vehicle utilization, referral-channel economics, owner hours and debt.
- Request Item 19 written substantiation and confirm the exact 2025 Gross Sales for comparable single-territory, full-year operators.
- Ask current and former franchisees for payroll, payroll taxes, technician count, owner salary, vehicle costs, insurance, rent or storage, software and local advertising as percentages of Gross Sales.
- Separate owner labor from operating profit: identify whether the owner manages, sells, performs technical work or replaces more than one paid role.
- Identify revenue from national accounts, regional accounts, contractors, insurers and other referral sources, then quantify the related NORA or referral fees.
- Model financing separately with the buyer’s actual financed amount, interest rate, term, vehicle obligations and working-capital needs.
- Compare 2025 results with 2024 and year-to-date 2026 records to test whether a single restoration project or customer concentration distorted annual sales.
The FTC Consumer’s Guide to Buying a Franchise explains how to use the disclosure document and investigate an opportunity. For this earnings question, the decisive evidence is not another revenue multiple; it is comparable franchisee operating statements with owner compensation and management labor shown separately.
What is the strongest defensible earnings view?
The strongest defensible view is a scenario-based manager-run range of about $46,000 to $604,000 in annual pre-tax owner earnings, with a base case near $207,000. The figure is not official DUCTZ profit data; it is anchored to official 2025 Item 19 Gross Sales and an external Census operating-expense proxy. An owner who truly replaces a paid manager could have an owner-operator benefit about $89,540 higher, but that increment compensates labor rather than representing passive profit.
The most important earnings driver is revenue scale within the very wide Item 19 distribution. The largest unresolved uncertainty is the actual DUCTZ cost structure by territory, service mix and owner role. Before making a decision, a buyer should verify Item 19 substantiation, obtain comparable franchisee profit-and-loss statements, reconcile all recurring fees and ask franchisees exactly how owner labor, manager payroll, debt and one-time restoration projects affected their cash results.