FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

Verified — real FDD extraction

SBA-eligible · directory code S2095 since 2017

360 Painting

Other · independent · est. —

360 Painting is a residential and commercial painting franchise covering interior and exterior work. A franchisee runs a home-based operation, quoting jobs and managing painting crews and subcontractors for homeowners and business clients in a defined territory.

360 Painting net unit count grew +33.0% from 20172019 per its FDD Item 20.

New to franchising? Start here

A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.

Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:

  • Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
  • Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
  • Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).

The verdict

Proven & steady

Distress

0
STABLE

The operating record is solid, but the FDD discloses a bankruptcy history (Item 4) — capped below a full endorsement. The main concern in the record: too many owners are failing outright rather than selling.

Exit rate · latest year

27.7%

fiscal 2019, per Item 20

Cost to open

$99K–$140K

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan defaults

33.3%

vs 14.8% avg across rated brands

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth35%

3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1

Strong
Exit quality25%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Weak
Transfer / churn15%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Strong
Promise-keeping10%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Strong
Transparency15%

Item 19 disclosure + completeness

Strong

Systemwide units

2017–2019

+33.0%
88201710120181172019

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2019, 28 of 101 franchised outlets left the system — a 27.7% annualized exit rate. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.

Show the outlet tables
Status (FTC)201720182019
Outlets at start6888101
Opened302644
Transfers000
Terminations202
Non-renewals000
Reacquired by franchisor000
Ceased — other reasons81326
Outlets at end88101117
Net change+20+13+16

The lender's view

SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present

Banks have made 109 SBA-backed loans to 360 Painting franchisees since 2015. Of the 42 that have resolved, 33.3% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.

Charge-off rate

33.3%

14 of 42 resolved defaulted

Loss given default

80.6%

avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $

Expected loss

26.9%

default rate × loss severity

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$177,903

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

39 mo

approval → charge-off, defaulted loans

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

12 vs 7

distinct banks still lending

Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)

11'183345'2050'21

SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO 360 PAINTING BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL

The owner's side of the deal

FDD × federal loan record

Manageable debt load

A typical 360 Painting buyer since 2020 borrowed $178K through SBA — about $27K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $368K, that is 7.4% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.

Who finances it

United Midwest Savings Bank National Association

80.7% of this brand's loans

That lender charges off 35.0% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.

Who buys it

93.3%

first-time franchise owners

The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.

Does experience help here?

Not enough resolved loans to split

Computed from 109 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to 360 Painting franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.

What it costs — and what it drags

FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty

Buying in means a $60K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $99K–$140K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$99K–$140K

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$60K

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

6%

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$1M/yr

Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.

Royalty you'd pay / yr

$60K

6% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$600K

royalties alone, excl. ad fund

This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.

Build a real pro-forma for 360 Painting with an independent CPA

Labor record

US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present

Federal investigators have concluded 2 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $734 in back wages for 5 workers. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.

Concluded cases

2

Back wages owed

$734

Employees affected

5

Since 2020

1

Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual 360 Painting franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not 360 Painting itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2025.

Modeled risk

FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record

High risk

Modeled from the public record, this brand looks riskier than 99% of systems we score.

Risk percentile

99 / 100

Loan-corroborated

Modeled SBA charge-off

33.2%

Observed SBA charge-off

33.3%

Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (raises) · Single-lender dependence (lowers) · Item 20 exit rate (raises) · Investment ceiling (log) (raises). 15+ resolved loans stand behind this estimate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.

Distress signals

news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits

No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for 360 Painting. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.

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360 Painting franchise questions, answered from the filings

What percentage of 360 Painting franchises closed last year?

In 360 Painting's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2019), 28 of 101 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 27.7%. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.

How much does a 360 Painting franchise cost?

Per 360 Painting's 2020 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $60K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $99K–$140K (Item 7).

What royalty does 360 Painting charge?

360 Painting charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2020 FDD.

Does 360 Painting disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — 360 Painting makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2020 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $368K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.

How often do SBA loans for 360 Painting franchises default?

Across 109 SBA-backed loans to 360 Painting franchisees since 2015, 14 of the 42 that have resolved were charged off — a 33.3% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.

Is 360 Painting a good franchise to buy? Health score, exit rate & costs (2026) · Franchise Watch Desk