These are independent pre-tax scenarios for a mature Superior Fence & Rail reporting-franchise business at roughly the scale of the 2024 Item 19 benchmark cohort. The strongest official figure is $353,232 of “Total Revenue Less Cost of Revenues and certain disclosed operating expenses,” but the FDD explicitly says that additional costs are omitted. The result is reported per franchise business or portfolio, not per territory and not per owner. Evidence confidence is limited because the owner-earnings ranges rely materially on an external manager-wage benchmark and explicit editorial assumptions for revenue variation and omitted expenses.
The owner-earnings ranges are analytical scenarios, not an Item 19 financial performance representation by Superior Fence & Rail Franchisor, LLC. They combine identified 2026 FDD facts with separately identified revenue and omitted-cost assumptions, plus a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics manager-wage benchmark. Actual results can differ materially by territory count, location, sales, materials, installation labor, occupancy, financing, owner involvement, staffing and execution.
Legal franchisor: Superior Fence & Rail Franchisor, LLC, a subsidiary of Outdoor Living Brands Holdco, LLC within the Empower Brands organization. Document: 2026 Superior Fence & Rail Franchise Disclosure Document, issued January 23, 2026 and amended June 26, 2026. Item 19 status: official revenue, gross-margin and specified-expense disclosures; no direct owner compensation, EBITDA, net income or cash-flow disclosure. Operating format: a U.S. fencing business selling and installing wood, steel, aluminum and vinyl fencing and related products for residential and commercial customers, consistent with the official Superior Fence & Rail service site. Date checked: July 14, 2026.
Average Revenue minus the FDD’s listed cost of revenues and listed operating expenses; not net income.
The disclosed ratio for the 2024 mature-franchise benchmark cohort.
Average for 44 reporting franchisees; the median was $2,996,725.
Part 1 covered 44 franchisees operating 97 territories; 25 were multi-territory operators.
May 2024 median wage for general and operations managers in construction; benefits and payroll burden are extra.
What does the 2026 Item 19 actually report?
Officially, Item 19 reports an average $353,232 after the specified costs listed below, equal to 10.1% of $3,497,555 average Revenue for 44 U.S. reporting franchisees that had operated full-time for at least two years as of December 31, 2024. It does not call this amount operating profit, EBITDA, net income, cash flow or owner compensation.
| Official Item 19 measure | Average amount | % of Revenue | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3,497,555 | 100.0% | Receipts from products and services, excluding taxes and refunds under the FDD definition. |
| Total Cost of Revenues | $2,049,786 | 58.6% | Materials, installation labor, vehicle expense and other direct costs of revenue. |
| Operating Expenses | $1,094,537 | 31.3% | Listed royalties, marketing, sales commissions, office and warehouse payroll, occupancy and other disclosed expenses. |
| Total Revenue Less Cost of Revenues and certain disclosed operating expenses | $353,232 | 10.1% | An official residual before additional costs that the FDD says each franchisee incurred. |
The FDD’s three disclosed layers reconcile to 100% of average Revenue.
Interpretation: The 10.1% amount is the strongest earnings-adjacent same-brand evidence, but it is not a complete profit measure because Item 19 says additional costs and expenses are not reflected. Source: 2026 Superior Fence & Rail FDD, Item 19, Part C, pp. 41–43.
The broader 12-month table for the period ending September 30, 2025 reports $3,011,403 average Gross Revenue and $2,598,212 median Gross Revenue across 93 franchisees operating 285 territories. Those sales figures cannot be substituted for owner income. Sixty-six of the 93 operators held multiple territories and reported their revenue as one location, so the numbers are not per-territory economics. Source: 2026 FDD, Item 19, pp. 39–40.
What annual owner-earnings range is reasonable?
Estimated manager-run pre-tax owner earnings range from approximately $10,000 to $235,000, while estimated owner-operator benefit ranges from approximately $115,000 to $340,000. These are not probabilities or FDD quartiles; they are sensitivity cases anchored to the official 2024 average Revenue and official specified-cost residual.
Owner-operator benefit = manager-run earnings + $105,260 labor value when the owner personally replaces that manager role.
| Scenario | Revenue assumption | Additional-cost allowance | Manager-run / owner-operator benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | $2,798,044 | 6.0% of Revenue | $9,443 / $114,703 |
| Base | $3,497,555 | 4.0% of Revenue | $108,070 / $213,330 |
| Upside | $4,197,066 | 2.0% of Revenue | $234,677 / $339,937 |
- Revenue spread: 80%, 100% and 120% of the FDD’s $3,497,555 average Revenue. This is an editorial spread because Item 19 does not disclose a compatible distribution for the specified-cost residual.
- Additional-cost allowance: 6%, 4% and 2% of scenario Revenue for costs omitted from the official residual. This sensitivity is not reported by the franchisor.
- Manager wage: $105,260, the BLS May 2024 median for general and operations managers in construction. Payroll taxes, incentives and benefits are not added, so a fully loaded hired-manager cost could be higher.
- Debt and taxes: acquisition debt interest, principal payments, capital expenditures, depreciation and personal income taxes are excluded. These figures are pre-tax operating scenarios, not take-home pay.
Annual pre-tax dollars; owner-operator benefit includes the market value of work performed by the owner.
Interpretation: Replacing a paid Designated Business Manager can add labor value, but that increment compensates the owner for active management and is not passive business profit. Sources: 2026 FDD, Item 19, pp. 41–43; Item 15, pp. 34–35; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Can a Superior Fence & Rail owner be manager-run or passive?
Manager-run operation is contractually possible because the 2026 FDD allows the required Designated Business Manager to be an employee, but the model is not automatically passive. Item 15 requires direct, on-site supervision, the manager must be approved where applicable and must complete training, and the FDD states that business success or failure depends on the franchisee’s efforts.
- Manager-run pre-tax owner earnings: residual cash after modeled operating costs and a paid manager wage, before acquisition debt, capital expenditures and personal taxes.
- Owner-operator benefit: manager-run residual plus the supported market value of the management labor personally performed by the owner. It combines business profit and labor compensation.
- Owner salary or draw: a method of paying the owner, not a separate economic return. Paying a salary can reduce business profit while leaving total pre-tax owner benefit broadly unchanged before payroll and tax effects.
- Distributions and retained earnings: depend on cash needs, entity structure, working capital, debt covenants and owner decisions; Item 19 does not disclose them.
The official $353,232 residual already subtracts modeled royalties, the National Brand Fund, local advertising and marketing, plus the other listed expenses in Item 19. The 2026 Item 6 royalty schedule is 6% on year-to-date Gross Revenue below $2 million, 5% from $2 million to under $4 million and 4% at $4 million or more; the National Branding & Marketing Fee is 1%. Those charges should not be subtracted a second time from the disclosed residual.
Why can actual owner earnings differ so much?
Uncertainty is material because the official earnings-adjacent disclosure is an average from a voluntary mature-franchise subset, mixes single-territory and multi-territory businesses, and omits additional costs. The largest unresolved issue is whether a specific franchisee’s P&L already includes full Designated Business Manager compensation and which other expenses sit below the disclosed residual.
| Uncertainty | What the FDD reveals | Effect on an earnings estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Voluntary sample | Seventy-six franchisees participated in the 2024 benchmarking study; the key average-cost table uses a 44-franchise mature subset. | Results may not represent nonparticipants, newer operators or all system owners. |
| Portfolio aggregation | Twenty-five of the 44 key reporting franchises operated multiple territories; the table covers 97 territories. | The $353,232 residual is not a single-territory or per-territory result. |
| Average versus median | Average Revenue was $3,497,555, while median Revenue was $2,996,725; only 16 of 44, or 36%, met or exceeded the average. | The average can overstate the central owner’s sales scale. |
| Omitted expenses | The FDD expressly says each franchisee incurred additional costs not reflected in the official residual. | Owner earnings must be below $353,232 unless owner labor or another excluded benefit is added separately. |
| New-unit ramp | The key cost table is limited to franchises open full-time for at least two years. | A new territory should not be modeled as immediately achieving the mature-cohort scale. |
| System movement | Item 20 reports 309 franchised outlets at September 30, 2025, with 38 openings and 11 terminations during fiscal 2025. | Openings and terminations reinforce the need to examine local and cohort-specific records rather than rely on one average. |
What should a buyer verify before relying on the range?
A buyer should reconcile the scenario against the current Item 19 substantiation and actual franchisee P&Ls for comparable territory counts, climates and operating ages. The official disclosure supports the starting residual, but only franchise-specific records can resolve the omitted-cost and manager-compensation questions.
- Request written Item 19 substantiation and ask for the exact chart of accounts behind “additional costs and expenses” excluded from the $353,232 residual.
- Ask whether Designated Business Manager compensation, incentives, payroll taxes and benefits are included in “Office and Warehouse Salaries, Wages, Payroll Taxes and Benefits” for each reporting franchise.
- Separate single-territory operators from multi-territory portfolios and compare only businesses with a similar number of mature territories.
- Compare average and median Revenue, plus the low and high results, rather than treating the average as the expected outcome.
- Interview current and former franchisees listed in Item 20 about materials, installation labor, sales commissions, local advertising, occupancy, seasonality, working capital and capital expenditures.
- Model acquisition debt interest and principal separately, then review entity-specific tax consequences with qualified legal and tax advisers.
What is the most defensible earnings takeaway?
The strongest defensible annual range is approximately $10,000–$235,000 of manager-run pre-tax owner earnings or $115,000–$340,000 of owner-operator benefit for a mature reporting-franchise business at the modeled revenue scale. The range is scenario-based, not an official owner-income claim. The most important earnings driver is the spread between Revenue and direct materials plus installation labor; the largest unresolved uncertainty is the full set of costs below Item 19’s $353,232 specified-cost residual, especially manager compensation. A buyer should verify those accounts in the Item 19 substantiation and in interviews with comparable single-territory and multi-territory franchisees before using the figures in a financing or household-income plan.
FDD citations: 2026 Superior Fence & Rail Franchise Disclosure Document, cover; Items 6, 15, 19 and 20, pp. 12–16, 34–35 and 38–53. No public franchisor-hosted copy matching the 2026 amended document was identified, so the FDD citations are intentionally unlinked.
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