FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

Verified — real FDD extraction

SBA-eligible · directory code S2890 since 2018

Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING.

Cleaning & Restoration · independent · est. —

Shine is a home services franchise offering window cleaning, pressure washing, gutter cleaning, and seasonal holiday lighting design and installation. A franchisee operates a crew-based mobile service business from a small office or home base, serving residential and light commercial customers year-round by pairing cleaning work with holiday lighting season.

Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. net unit count grew +33.9% from 20232025 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 & strong

Distress

0
STABLE

Enough units and history to judge, and the record is good: growing or stable units with clean exits by the standards of its disclosed record. The standout in the record: the system is growing.

Exit rate · latest year

2.7%

vs 3.1% across 25 cleaning & restoration systems

Cost to open

$142K–$203K

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan defaults

5.6%

18 loans resolved — directional only

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

Strong
Transfer / churn15%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Fair
Promise-keeping10%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Strong
Transparency15%

Item 19 disclosure + completeness

Strong

Systemwide units

2023–2025

+33.9%
562023742024752025

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2025, 2 of 74 franchised outlets left the system — a 2.7% annualized exit rate, vs 3.1% across 25 cleaning & restoration systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.

Show the outlet tables
Status (FTC)202320242025
Outlets at start505674
Opened7203
Transfers059
Terminations110
Non-renewals000
Reacquired by franchisor000
Ceased — other reasons002
Outlets at end567475
Net change+6+18+1

The lender's view

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

Banks have made 40 SBA-backed loans to Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. franchisees since 1993. Only 18 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 1 of them charged off.

Charge-off rate

18 resolved · too thin to rate

Loss given default

avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $

Expected loss

default rate × loss severity

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$261,000

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

93 mo

approval → charge-off, defaulted loans

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

6 vs 3

distinct banks still lending

Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)

Loan performance by state

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

The owner's side of the deal

FDD × federal loan record

Elevated debt load

A typical Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. buyer since 2020 borrowed $261K through SBA — about $42K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $348K, that is 12.1% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.

Who finances it

the Huntington National Bank

24.0% of this brand's loans

That lender charges off 10.1% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.

Who buys it

44.8%

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 40 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. 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 $50K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $142K–$203K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$142K–$203K

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$50K

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

7%

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

$70K

7% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$700K

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 Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. with an independent CPA

Modeled risk

FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record

Elevated

Modeled from the public record, this brand sits mid-pack: riskier than 70% of systems we score.

Risk percentile

70 / 100

Loan-corroborated

Modeled SBA charge-off

15.5%

Observed SBA charge-off

5.6%

Top drivers: System size (log units) (raises) · Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (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 Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING.. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.

Before you sign anythingfree · 30 min · no commission

A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING.'s numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.

Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →

Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. franchise questions, answered from the filings

What percentage of Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. franchises closed last year?

In Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING.'s latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 2 of 74 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 2.7% — compared with 3.1% across 25 cleaning & restoration systems tracked here. 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 Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. franchise cost?

Per Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING.'s 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $50K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $142K–$203K (Item 7).

What royalty does Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. charge?

Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. charges an ongoing royalty of 7.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.

Does Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $348K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.

Is Shine, SHINE WINDOW CARE AND HOLIDAY LIGHTING, SHINE WINDOW CARE, and SHINE HOLIDAY LIGHTING. a good franchise to buy? Health score, exit rate & costs (2026) · Franchise Watch Desk