A full-time Hommati owner-operator may generate an estimated pre-tax owner-operator benefit of roughly $32,000 to $92,000 per year, with a base scenario near $56,000. This is not passive business profit: it includes the economic value of work performed by the owner.
What does Hommati’s Item 19 actually measure?
Hommati’s official measure is Annual Gross Profit, not owner earnings. For the 2026 FDD, it equals Annual Gross Revenues minus specified cost-of-service items, including royalty payments, the Technology/Syndication Fee, card fees, certain upload and floor-plan charges, virtual-service fees, sales tax, and specified program revenue splits.
Crucially, the FDD says Annual Gross Profit does not deduct normal operating expenses such as insurance, online accounting software, labor, auto costs, advertising, phone, or internet. A marketing statement that calls the figure “profit” therefore should not be read as net income, cash flow, or owner take-home pay. See the official Hommati franchise information alongside the controlling definition in the 2026 FDD, Item 19, pages 37–42.
| Official Item 19 cohort | Annual Gross Revenues | Annual Gross Profit | Population / attainment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time median, all operating ages | $98,238 | $81,544 | 25 outlets; 48% met or exceeded the stated Gross Profit |
| Full-time average, all operating ages | $154,732 | $129,723 | 25 outlets; 36% met or exceeded the stated Gross Profit |
| Full-time average, operating over 5 years | $230,553 | $194,106 | 11 outlets |
| Part-time median, all operating ages | $20,597 | $14,469 | 35 outlets; 49% met or exceeded the stated Gross Profit |
The strongest same-brand evidence shows revenue and a source-defined gross-profit measure. It does not show operating profit, EBITDA, net income, distributions, owner salary, or after-tax take-home pay. The FTC’s franchise-buying guide specifically warns that gross sales and averages can obscure expenses and individual variation.
How is the owner-operator earnings range calculated?
The estimate subtracts a cash operating-expense ratio from each FDD Gross Profit anchor. The formula is: estimated owner-operator benefit = FDD Annual Gross Profit − (FDD Annual Gross Revenues × cash operating-expense ratio).
The base 47.4% ratio is derived from the IRS 2023 sole-proprietorship income statement for “Other miscellaneous services”: total deductions less cost of sales, depreciation, mortgage interest, and other business interest, divided by business receipts. This broad category is the closest official operating-expense proxy located, but it is not specific to Hommati or real-estate media. The conservative and upside cases move that benchmark by three percentage points. See the IRS nonfarm sole-proprietorship statistics and the Census definition of NAICS 541922 Commercial Photography.
| Scenario | Revenue and Gross Profit anchor | Cash expense ratio | Estimated owner-operator benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Full-time median: $98,238 revenue; $81,544 Gross Profit | 50.4% | $32,055 |
| Base | Full-time average: $154,732 revenue; $129,723 Gross Profit | 47.4% | $56,416 |
| Upside | Over-5-year full-time average: $230,553 revenue; $194,106 Gross Profit | 44.4% | $91,793 |
Annual pre-tax cash benefit before financing principal and personal income taxes
Interpretation: The range is driven by both FDD revenue/Gross Profit anchors and a ±3 percentage-point operating-expense sensitivity. The scenarios are analytical cases, not probabilities or franchisor forecasts. Sources: 2026 FDD, Item 19, pages 37–42; IRS Statistics of Income, tax year 2023.
- Owner labor: no salary is deducted for the owner. The output is owner-operator benefit, combining residual business cash and compensation for the owner’s work.
- Debt and depreciation: depreciation, business interest, financing principal, and personal income taxes are excluded from the modeled cash expense ratio. Hommati states in Item 10 that it does not offer or guarantee financing.
- Capital expenditures: replacement vehicles, cameras, drones, computers, and other periodic capital spending are not deducted. Those costs reduce cash available when incurred.
- Scenario anchors: conservative uses the overall full-time median, base uses the overall full-time average, and upside uses the over-5-year average. The upside case therefore reflects a more mature cohort.
How does owner involvement change the result?
Owner involvement is the central economic variable. Item 15 permits a full-time owner-operated model or a part-time executive-managed model. An executive-managed franchise must hire either a General Manager or both a 3D/Drone Pilot and an Agent Development Manager before opening; without those hires, the owner must devote full-time attention and cannot be employed elsewhere during normal business hours.
For an illustrative General Manager case, the model subtracts the BLS May 2023 annual mean wage of $79,530 for General and Operations Managers in NAICS 541920 Photographic Services. This wage does not include employer payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, insurance, benefits, recruiting, or turnover costs. See the BLS Photographic Services wage table.
Manager-run residual subtracts only the $79,530 wage proxy; actual employer cost would be higher
Interpretation: At the FDD full-time median and average anchors, the modeled cash benefit does not cover the BLS General Manager wage before employer burden. Even the mature-cohort upside leaves only about $12,000 after the wage proxy. This does not prove a manager-run unit will lose money; it shows why staffing, pricing, sales volume, and local wage quotes must be verified before assuming semi-absentee income.
The owner-operator range should not be described as passive profit. Part of the $32,000–$92,000 compensates the owner for sales, client development, photography, drone work, travel, editing oversight, administration, and supervision. A manager-run buyer must replace that labor with paid staff and absorb employer costs.
Which recurring fees are already reflected, and which are not?
The 2026 FDD’s Annual Gross Profit already deducts several franchisor and service costs, but it leaves out material operating expenses. That distinction prevents double-counting and explains why the published Gross Profit cannot be used as owner income.
- Royalty — included in Annual Gross Profit. Item 6 uses a descending monthly scale: 8% on the first $12,500 of royalty-bearing Gross Revenues, 7% from $12,501 through $16,667, and 6% above $16,667.
- Technology/Syndication Fee — included in Annual Gross Profit. The recurring fee is $195 per month under the higher initial-fee option or $495 per month under the lower initial-fee option.
- Local advertising — excluded from Annual Gross Profit. Item 6 requires 4% of Gross Revenues or $500 per month, whichever is greater, including specified direct-mail and social/email spending.
- Labor, vehicle, insurance, accounting, phone, and internet — excluded from Annual Gross Profit. These are among the operating costs captured indirectly through the IRS benchmark.
- National advertising fund — not active as of the FDD date. Item 6 reserves the right to implement a fee up to 4% of Gross Revenues; a future implementation would reduce owner economics unless offset by higher sales or other savings.
- Initial investment — not an annual expense. Item 7’s $39,872–$49,223 or $64,372–$74,223 startup ranges are not subtracted from one year of revenue. Replacement capital and financing are separate cash-flow questions.
What limits the reliability of the earnings range?
The estimate has LIMITED confidence because the current Item 19 does not report operating profit or owner compensation. The main uncertainty is the amount of excluded operating expense for a specific territory and staffing model.
The FDD’s lowest full-time Annual Gross Profit was $25,184 and its highest was $682,688. Neither value reveals final owner income because excluded expenses are unknown. Actual owner earnings can therefore fall below or exceed the modeled range. The FTC’s guidance on evaluating financial performance representations recommends requesting written substantiation and testing whether the disclosed population matches the buyer’s intended operation.
What should a prospective owner verify before relying on the estimate?
A buyer should replace the broad benchmark with territory-specific evidence. The most useful verification is a reconciled bridge from each franchisee’s Annual Gross Revenues to cash available before debt principal and personal taxes.
- Request the written substantiation supporting the 2026 Item 19 tables, including the royalty-report data, survey questionnaire, treatment of missing responses, and calculations behind each cohort.
- Ask at least five full-time franchisees for actual annual spending on local advertising, auto mileage or vehicle ownership, commercial auto and drone insurance, software, phone/internet, editing, subcontractors, and equipment replacement.
- Interview franchisees near the median, not only top performers, and ask how many hours the owner works in sales, field production, editing oversight, administration, and client service.
- For an executive-managed model, obtain written local compensation quotes for a General Manager or the required 3D/Drone Pilot plus Agent Development Manager structure, including payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, benefits, training, and turnover.
- Compare Item 19’s full-time and part-time cohorts with Item 20’s current and former franchisee lists, then ask former owners why they left and whether revenue, workload, staffing, or territory conditions were material.
- Model debt service separately. The scenario excludes financing principal and does not calculate personal income tax or after-tax take-home pay.
Decision-useful earnings view
The strongest defensible range is approximately $32,000 to $92,000 in annual pre-tax owner-operator benefit, with a base scenario near $56,000. It is scenario-based, not an official Hommati owner-earnings disclosure. The most important driver is owner involvement: replacing the owner’s labor with a paid General Manager can absorb most or all modeled residual cash. The largest unresolved uncertainty is the territory-specific operating expense load that Item 19 excludes. Before deciding, verify the Item 19 substantiation, reconcile actual operating expenses with current franchisees, and test staffing assumptions with both current and former owners.