Ingeniux
Mandatoryainting Services Businesses. You must obtain website development, search engine optimization, and related online marketing services from our designated suppliers. We currently use Ingeniux Corporation
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
Ace Painting Franchising
Home servicesSoftware purchasing at Ace Painting Franchising is controlled at the corporate level, with mandates flowing from the CEO and VP of Finance. The franchisor already requires franchisees to use QuickBooks Online, Ingeniux Corporation’s IGX Vendor SaaS Services, and Ace Hardware Painting Services’ proprietary business operations software. With only 11 total units (8 franchised), the addressable market is small, but the centralized tech stack creates a single point of sale for vendors who can integrate with or replace mandated systems.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
11
8 franchised
Unit growth YoY
—
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2025
Royalty
6%
of gross sales
Ad fund
2%
national + local
Initial fee
$50K
per unit
Investment range
$89K–$153K
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Approved supplier
from the filing
Non-compete
2 years
from the filing
Item 19
No claims
from the filing
Ongoing fee load
What the operator pays every month
The recurring percentage of gross sales named in this filing, before rent, labour or any technology fee.
8%of gross sales (FY2025)
15% reference
Mandated & recommended tech
The systems vendors compete with
1 of these are mandated in the franchise agreement. Each is named in Item 11 of the filing, the incumbents a challenger must displace or integrate with.
QuickBooks
ed to upgrade the operating system to a higher system once your system is no longer supported), and a high- speed Internet connection, with the Microsoft Office suite standard and QuickBooks online ve
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
15 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 5 explicit no's; 14 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.
Accounting
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesItem 6
You will also report Gross Revenues through monthly, quarterly, and annual reports
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
Ace Hardware and its network of retailers (collectively, the “Ace Suppliers”), some of whom are owned by Ace Hardware, are approved suppliers of certain goods, materials, supplies, fixtures, equipment, and inventory, including paint and paint supplies, used in your Ace Hardware Painting Services Business.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
141000Item 8
In 2024, based on tracking mechanisms implemented in Ace Hardware retail stores, approximately $141,000 of its revenues was derived from sales of products to our franchisees.
Item 8 gives this proportion in one of two shapes: separate percentages for establishing the business and for operating it, or one figure covering "establishing and operating" together. Where they are separate, answer with the operating percentage; where the passage gives only the combined figure, answer with that. What percentage of the franchisee's purchases must come from designated or approved suppliers?
80Item 8
We estimate that purchases in accordance with our standards and specifications will comprise 80 to 90 percent of the product purchase requirements for the ongoing operations of an Ace Hardware Painting Services Business.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
Once we designate a particular supplier for a particular product or service, if you want to utilize similar materials or services in your Ace Hardware Painting Services Business from a supplier that has not previously been approved by us, you will need to first obtain our approval.
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
Therefore, you must be PCI compliant by following and adhering to the then-current PCI DSS, currently found at www.pcisecuritystandards.org, or any similar or subsequent standard for the protection of cardholder data throughout the term of your Franchise Agreement.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesItem 9
s. Inspection and audits Section 16.3 ITEM 6
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
You must obtain our prior written consent for any Business Location outside of your home.
Marketing
Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?
YesItem 11
You may not create, have or use any other social media accounts related to your Ace Hardware Painting Services Business other than the ones we provide.
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesItem 11
For your initial marketing activities, you must spend between $7,500 and $9,000 in the period starting 30 days before opening, and continuing through the end of the second full month after opening of your franchise.
Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?
YesItem 11
Beginning with the third full month of operation of your Ace Hardware Painting Services Business through the end of your first Contract Year, you must spend at least $15,000, increasing to $24,000 for your second Contract Year, and $30,000 for each Contract Year thereafter as your Minimum Individual Marketing…
Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?
YesItem 11
We may require you to join a Local Advertising Group that includes other franchisees in your market area.
Payments
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesItem 6
We currently require you to pay fees and other amounts due to us or our affiliates via electronic funds transfer (“EFT”) or other similar means.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 11
You will be responsible for paying the travel, lodging and other costs for you, your Franchise Manager, or your other representatives, and you will be required to pay us our standard fees for conducting additional training in accordance with our then current fee schedule.
Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?
YesItem 11
You or your Franchise Manager must attend one regional meeting for your region and our annual national convention each year if we hold these meetings.
The filing answers no to 5 questions
- Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?Item 11
- Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?Item 8
- Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?Item 8
- Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?Item 8
- Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?Item 11
Who buys here
The buyer at this brand
The decision-maker a vendor sells to at this scale, and the gaps they’re paid to close, derived from our data by segment and unit count, not a guess.
The franchisee/operator personally, or a small franchisor still owner-run. Wears every hat.
OwnerCEOPresidentPrincipal
- 95.3% of home services brands mandate no POS, leaving a massive whitespace for tech vendors to target before competitors catch on.By identifying the 525 brands with no mandated POS, your sales team can prioritize high-fit targets and cut prospecting waste by 40%, converting weeks of manual research into a single query that surfaces ready-to-sell accounts.
- Without instant access to AUV data, you cannot gauge franchisee ROI or brand health across 239 disclosed home services brands.Seeing median AUV of $661,803.61 at a glance lets you prioritize brands with strong unit economics, increasing win rates by focusing on financially healthy targets and avoiding low-ROI pursuits.
- With median unit growth of only 2.62% YoY across 323 disclosed brands, you need to find the outliers poised for expansion before they hit the market.Using growth signals to identify high-velocity brands lets you engage them during expansion phases, capturing deals 2x faster than reactive competitors who wait for public announcements.
The vendor opportunity at Ace Painting Franchising
Ace Painting Franchising operates a small but centrally controlled network of 11 painting service locations, 8 of which are franchised. For software vendors, the opportunity is narrow: the total addressable market is just those 8 franchised units, all of which must comply with technology mandates set by the Colorado-based franchisor. There is no disclosed average unit volume (AUV) in the 2025 FDD, so revenue-based sizing isn’t possible. However, the franchisor’s tight grip on the tech stack means a single successful pitch to HQ could unlock all franchised locations at once.
The royalty rate is 6.0% of gross sales, and the initial franchise term runs 10 years. No year-over-year unit growth rate is disclosed, suggesting either a young or slow-growing system. Vendors should weigh the small unit count against the ease of a centralized sale.
Who controls software purchasing
Software purchasing authority sits squarely at the corporate level. The 2025 FDD lists Andy Bell as Chief Executive Officer and Jeff A. Klos as Vice President, Finance. Together, they represent the most likely buying center for any technology that touches accounting, operations, or marketing. Colette Bell, VP of Franchise Development, and Karen T. Bloomfield, VP of Marketing, may influence tools that affect franchisee onboarding or brand consistency, but the mandate structure points to finance and operations as the core decision-making functions.
No multi-unit operators are mapped in our corpus, meaning all franchised locations are likely single-unit owner-operators with no independent purchasing power. This reinforces the HQ-centric sales approach: you’re selling to a small executive team, not a dispersed network of franchisees.
Mandated and current tech stack
The FDD is unusually explicit about required software. Franchisees must use QuickBooks Online by Intuit Inc. for accounting, Ingeniux Corporation’s IGX Vendor SaaS Services, and Ace Hardware Painting Services’ proprietary business operations software. An intranet site is also mandated, though no specific vendor is named for that component. These systems are not optional—they are listed as mandatory in the franchise disclosure.
For vendors, this stack presents both a barrier and an opportunity. QuickBooks Online is deeply entrenched, but add-on or integration plays around field service management, estimating, or customer communication could find a foothold if they complement the existing mandates. Ingeniux’s presence suggests a web content or digital experience layer that may be ripe for adjacent tools. The proprietary Ace Hardware Painting Services software is a black box; understanding its APIs or limitations could reveal replacement or enhancement angles.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
Item 8 of the FDD contains no extract regarding designated or approved suppliers, so the procurement model is not formally structured around a preferred vendor list. Instead, the franchisor appears to control technology adoption through direct mandates in the franchise agreement and operations manual. This means sales cycles will likely depend on building a relationship with the CEO or VP of Finance and demonstrating compliance value.
Renewal terms offer a potential trigger for software evaluations. Franchisees can acquire additional 10-year successor terms if they meet conditions including signing the then-current franchise agreement and conforming to the current operations manual. Those successor agreements may contain materially different terms, including updated technology requirements. Vendors should monitor renewal cycles and any updates to the operations manual that signal openness to new tools.
How to read the Ace Painting Franchising FDD
The 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document is the definitive source for understanding this franchisor’s obligations, restrictions, and technology mandates. It is filed with state franchise regulators and available for review below. Key sections for software vendors include Item 11 (franchisor’s assistance, advertising, computer systems, and training), which lists the mandated tech stack, and Item 17 (renewal, termination, transfer, and dispute resolution), which outlines when franchise agreements come up for renewal and what conditions apply. Item 1 lists the executives who control purchasing, and Item 8, though silent here on procurement, is where you’d normally find supplier restrictions.
For a ranked target list of franchise systems that match your software category, FranCloud can help you prioritize based on tech mandates, unit counts, and decision-maker accessibility.
Questions vendors ask
Ace Painting Franchising, answered from the filing
CEO Andy Bell and VP of Finance Jeff A. Klos are the likely decision-makers, given their executive roles and the franchisor’s centralized mandate over accounting, operations, and intranet software.
The FDD mandates QuickBooks Online, Ingeniux Corporation IGX Vendor SaaS Services, Ace Hardware Painting Services business operations software, and an intranet site—all required for franchisees.
11 total units: 8 franchised and 3 company-owned. All appear to operate under the same tech mandates, making 8 the addressable franchised market for third-party vendors.
The FDD does not disclose a designated or approved supplier list in Item 8. Procurement appears to be directly controlled by HQ through mandated software requirements rather than a formal supplier program.
With 10-year initial terms and successor terms of 10 years, renewal-driven tech evaluations may occur near the end of each term. No recent unit growth data suggests infrequent, small-scale openings.
The 2025 FDD is filed with state franchise regulators. You can view it directly in the embedded PDF viewer below—no need to request it from the franchisor or a third-party depository.
Source
Read the filing itself
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FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment Ace Painting Franchising files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
4 operators run 4 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit4
Top states by locations
| TN | 2 |
|---|---|
| WI | 1 |
| IL | 1 |
Ownership
The portfolio behind Ace Painting Franchising
strategic_multibrand of Ace Hardware.
Sibling brands
Related Home services brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.