How Much Does a Weathersby Guild Franchise Owner Make?

Independent owner-earnings analysis

$2,300–$22,200 per year

A defensible published scenario for one U.S. Weathersby Guild territory is approximately $2,300 to $22,200 in annual estimated owner-operator benefit, with a base scenario near $10,000. This is not an official earnings result. The 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document provides no sales, profit, or owner-compensation figures, so the range uses structural FDD facts, a broad IRS repair-business benchmark, and clearly labeled revenue assumptions.

Evidence mode: D — structural FDD-anchored estimate Confidence: Limited Format: One U.S. service territory FDD: Issued March 5, 2026

Officially, it discloses no revenue, profit, cash flow, owner compensation, or outlet-performance distribution. Weathersby Guild’s Item 19, page 21, states that the franchisor does not make representations about future franchisee performance or past company-owned or franchised outlet performance. Therefore, no average owner salary, median Gross Sales, EBITDA, or operating-profit figure can be attributed to the franchisor.

The strongest same-brand evidence instead describes the business structure and recurring obligations. The FDD offers a single business within a specified territory for furniture repair, restoration, refinishing, claims handling, and related services. Item 15, page 18, requires direct, day-to-day, full-time supervision by the owner or an approved managing shareholder or partner. A separate approved manager is permitted, but that manager must complete training.

The range is estimated by applying a broad government repair-business margin to three explicit revenue scenarios, then subtracting the FDD royalty and a fixed annual fund allowance. It is a structural scenario for one U.S. territory, not a prediction of the performance of the 50 franchised outlets reported at year-end 2025.

The IRS Nonfarm Sole Proprietorship Statistics report business receipts, deductions, and net income on Schedule C. In the 2023 Table 1 “miscellaneous repairs” row, all returns together reported approximately $24.44 billion of receipts and $3.23 billion of net income less deficit, producing a derived 13.2% net-income margin. The category is broader than furniture repair, includes businesses of many sizes, and is not franchise-specific.

What assumptions produce the three scenarios?

The model uses $100,000, $175,000, and $250,000 of annual Gross Sales as editorial sensitivity points, not FDD-reported sales levels. The margin inputs are 10.2%, 13.2%, and 16.2%—the 13.2% IRS aggregate benchmark minus three percentage points, unchanged, and plus three percentage points. Each scenario then deducts the 7% royalty and $900 fixed annual allowance.

• Revenue: $100,000 Conservative, $175,000 Base, and $250,000 Upside. These figures are analytical inputs; they are not averages, medians, quartiles, or forecasts from the FDD.
• Operating margin before franchise fees: 10.2%, 13.2%, and 16.2%, centered on the 2023 IRS “miscellaneous repairs” aggregate net-income margin.
• Franchise charges: 7% of Gross Sales plus $900 annually. The $900 uses the higher monthly reference in Item 6 because the FDD contains both $75 and $67 references.
• Owner compensation: not deducted. IRS sole-proprietorship net income generally combines residual business return with compensation for the proprietor’s labor, so the output is labeled owner-operator benefit.
• Interest and depreciation: embedded in the aggregate IRS tax-basis measure and not separately recoverable. Capital expenditures, financing principal, and personal income taxes are excluded.

How does estimated owner-operator benefit change across the revenue scenarios?

Annual pre-tax benefit after the modeled operating margin, 7% royalty, and $900 fixed allowance.

Interpretation: Revenue growth helps, but the 7% royalty and modest benchmark margin keep residual owner benefit comparatively thin in all three scenarios.

Source and method: Weathersby Guild 2026 FDD, Item 6, pages 3–4; Item 19, page 21; IRS 2023 Nonfarm Sole Proprietorship Table 1; independent calculations rounded to the nearest $100.

Owner involvement changes the model from a small positive owner-operator benefit to a negative manager-run residual at all three modeled revenue levels. This is an estimated comparison for one U.S. territory. It reflects the FDD’s full-time supervision requirement and a separately sourced manager-wage proxy; it is not an official result for existing Weathersby Guild franchisees.

The manager-run sensitivity subtracts $65,180, the 2023 national 25th-percentile annual wage for BLS General and Operations Managers. BLS excludes self-employed workers, and the proxy does not include payroll taxes, benefits, recruiting costs, or the FDD’s $6,000 training fee for a new or replacement manager. Actual employment cost could therefore be higher.

What remains for the owner after adding a paid manager?

Owner-operated benefit is shown to the right of zero; manager-run residual is shown to the left.

Owner-operated benefit Manager-run residual

Interpretation: At these sales and margin assumptions, the enterprise does not generate enough residual to fund a paid full-time manager and still provide positive owner earnings.

Source and method: Scenario benefit above less a $65,180 wage proxy from BLS May 2023 national estimates. Payroll burden, benefits, and manager training are excluded, so this is not a full employment-cost estimate.

The largest variables are actual territory revenue, the true expense structure of a full-time furniture-repair operation, and whether the owner supplies the required management labor. The uncertainty is material because Item 19 supplies no same-brand revenue distribution, expense ratios, gross margin, operating profit, or owner compensation for the 2025 outlet population.

Sales and service mix

Claims handling, restoration, refinishing, commercial work, and consumer work may have different ticket sizes, material costs, travel intensity, and collection patterns. No same-brand mix or Gross Sales distribution is disclosed.

Benchmark selection

The IRS all-return margin is 13.2%, while the positive-net-income subset is 27.1%. At the same $175,000 revenue, substituting the profitable-only margin would raise the modeled owner-operator benefit from about $10,000 to about $34,200. The higher result is not used as the base because that cohort excludes deficit returns.

Owner labor

A sole proprietor’s net income does not deduct a salary for the proprietor. The model therefore blends residual business return and labor value. A manager-run owner cannot treat the owner-operated number as passive profit.

Debt and taxes

Item 10, page 8, states that the franchisor does not offer or guarantee financing. Debt principal and personal income taxes are excluded. Interest and depreciation are embedded only at the broad IRS benchmark level and cannot be isolated.

System population

Item 20 shows 54 franchised outlets at the start of 2025 and 50 at year-end, with two terminations and two outlets ceasing operations for other reasons. Those counts provide system context but no outlet-level financial explanation.

A buyer should treat the $2,300–$22,200 range as a diligence framework and replace every scenario input with written, territory-specific evidence. The most useful evidence will come from Item 19 substantiation, current and former franchisee records, current fee invoices, and operating statements for comparable U.S. territories.

• Ask for Item 19 substantiation: confirm in writing that no later amendment or supplemental financial performance representation adds sales or profit information.
• Interview multiple franchisees: request annual Gross Sales, direct labor, materials, vehicle expense, insurance, workspace cost, bad debt, royalty, Brand Fund/eStatus payments, and owner hours for 2023–2025.
• Separate owner labor from business return: identify whether reported “income” includes unpaid owner management, repair work, sales activity, claims administration, or bookkeeping.
• Resolve the fixed-fee discrepancy: obtain the current written monthly Brand Fund and eStatus invoice because Item 6 contains both $75 and $67 references.
• Match the territory: compare customer concentration, mover and insurer relationships, travel radius, residential density, commercial demand, and local wage levels.
• Model financing separately: add actual interest and principal payments only after loan amount, rate, term, collateral, and working-capital needs are known.