QuickBooks
Mandatoryending on your providers and the number of services you choose to purchase. • We require that you purchase third party software or license software as a service (SaaS) (currently, QuickBooks) from us
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
Color World Painting
Home servicesSoftware purchasing at Color World Painting is directed from headquarters in Maryland, where a lean executive team—including the VP of Operations and a Senior Director of Marketing—controls vendor selection. The system currently mandates QuickBooks and a proprietary franchisee portal, leaving room for complementary tools across 45 franchised locations. With an average unit volume of $149,062 and a 10-year initial term, the addressable market is modest but concentrated.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
46
45 franchised
Unit growth YoY
-10%
vs prior filing
AUV
$149K
Item 19, 2023
Royalty
6%
of gross sales
Ad fund
2%
national + local
Initial fee
$50K
per unit
Investment range
$107K–$168K
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Approved supplier
from the filing
Non-compete
2 years
from the filing
Item 19
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 (FY2024)
15% reference
Mandated & recommended tech
The systems vendors compete with
2 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 Online
Mandatoryitems. BuyMax negotiates purchasing arrangements with many of these vendors. As of the date of this disclosure document, they include: Accounting Software. Currently, you must use QuickBooks online. C
Scorpion
lson has been the Senior Vice President of Franchise Development of AB Inc. since January 2023. From January 2015 to December 2022, he was the Senior Vice President, Franchise for Scorpion Marketing i
SuccesswareAuthority Brands
venue of $1,029,268 from purchases by COLOR WORLD PAINTING franchisees, which was 52% of our total revenue. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, our affiliates, BuyMax and Successware, had rev
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
21 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 3 explicit no's; 10 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
We and our affiliates earn a profit on products and services we sell to you directly, and we and our affiliates receive rebates, administrative fees, commissions, licensing fees, or other benefits from unaffiliated vendors and distributors with respect to their sales of products or services to you or other COLOR…
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 11
We may, in our discretion, create a franchisee advisory council to communicate ideas, including proposed advertising policies.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 11
We have the right to change to a different vendor for all of these systems and, in some cases, required items may only be available through us and/or designated vendors.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
As of the date of this disclosure document, we receive rebates, licensing fees, administrative fees, commissions or other compensation from some vendors ranging from 2% to 15%.
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 your required purchases and leases from us and approved suppliers will be 80% to 100% of all purchases and leases in operating the Franchised Business, but this amount is subject to change.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 8
We may require you to pay a fee to cover our costs of reviewing a proposed vendor, which you must pay whether or not we approve the vendor.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
If we require you to use an approved vendor for a particular item, but you wish to purchase the item from a source that we have not approved, you may submit a written request for approval of the vendor, unless it is an item for which we have designated a specific vendor.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee hereby irrevocably assigns to Franchisor all telephone listings and numbers at any time used by Franchisee in any printed or internet telephone directory in connection with the operation of the Franchised Business
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
You will be required to implement industry-standard administrative, physical, and technical security measures and devices to protect data from unauthorized access, acquisition, loss, destruction, disclosure or transfer, including firewalls and anti-virus systems.
Franchise management
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesItem 1
We have the right to change the Operations Manual and the System Standards at any time.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 12
If you wish to rent commercial space, it must be located within your Territory and you must request approval from us, which we may grant or refuse in our sole discretion, and submit a copy of the proposed lease prior to signing it.
Marketing
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesItem 11
prior to the opening of your Franchised Business, you must pay us a non-refundable fee of $7,000 for pre-opening and grand opening marketing.
Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?
YesItem 16
You are also required to participate in any customer loyalty programs we prescribe.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
Equipment, Inventory, and Supplies. You must purchase or lease your equipment, inventory, and supplies used in the operation of your Franchised Business from the suppliers and manufacturers that we designate from time to time.
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You must purchase or lease your equipment, inventory, and supplies used in the operation of your Franchised Business from the suppliers and manufacturers that we designate from time to time.
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 payment by Automated Clearing House (ACH) or electronic funds transfer and you must designate an account at a commercial bank of your choice at the time of signing your Franchise Agreement and furnish the bank with authorizations at the time of signing your Franchise Agreement to permit us to…
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesItem 16
You may be required to participate in programs relating to gift cards, gift certificates, stored value cards, online or mobile coupons or credits, online or mobile ordering systems, and other electronic money programs we prescribe for Franchised Businesses.
People
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
All products that carry the Marks must be purchased only from us or suppliers approved or designated by us.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
We have the right to specify the point-of-sale (POS) system, customer relationship management (CRM) system, back-office system, software applications, audio/visual equipment, security systems, electronic payment devices, and other hardware, software, and network connectivity for the Franchised Business.
Sales and CRM
Must the franchisee use a CRM system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
You must use our designated customer relationship management (CRM) software in the operation of your Franchised Business.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 6
We can charge a training Remedial and reimburse us for our begins fee: (a) if we require Optional reasonable out of pocket remedial training as a result Training costs of your failure to comply with our Brand Standards; (b) for re-training persons who are repeating a training program, or their substitutes; and (c)…
The filing answers no to 3 questions
- Must the franchisee use an accounting or bookkeeping system designated or approved by the franchisor?Item 8
- Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?Item 11
- Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?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 franchisor's owner/CEO decides; an ops or franchise-development lead may evaluate.
VP SalesHead of SalesCROSales Director
- 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.
- Teams spend weeks manually combing through FDDs to assess unit counts and financials across 554 active home services brands.Replacing manual FDD research with instant corpus search saves 15+ hours per brand evaluation, allowing your team to assess 10x more targets and accelerate pipeline velocity by 30%.
- 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.
The vendor opportunity at Color World Painting
Color World Painting operates 46 total units—45 franchised and 1 company-owned—according to its 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document. The system posted an average unit volume of $149,062 and charges a 6% royalty on gross sales. Year-over-year unit growth was -10%, so the addressable base is contracting slightly. For a software vendor, the immediate market is 45 franchised locations, all of which operate under a 10-year initial term with renewal conditions that explicitly require updated computer systems.
The executive team is small and centralized. Stewart Vernon serves as CEO and also holds the title Executive Vice President of Emerging Brands at AB Inc. Christopher Ring is President. Day-to-day operations and vendor evaluation likely fall to Jon Boston, Vice President of Operations, and Carrie Robinson, Director of Franchise Support. Marketing technology decisions sit with Nathan McFarland, Senior Director of Marketing for Indoor and Emerging Brands at AB Inc. No parent company is on file, and the brand appears independently owned, though the AB Inc. titles suggest a shared services relationship.
Who controls software purchasing
Purchasing authority is concentrated at headquarters. The FDD does not describe a franchisee advisory council or decentralized procurement model. With only one company-owned unit, the franchisor’s leverage comes from brand standards and the renewal process rather than direct operational control. Jon Boston and Nathan McFarland are the most relevant contacts for a software pitch: Boston oversees operations and compliance, while McFarland manages marketing and likely any customer-facing or lead-generation tools.
Because the system mandates specific technology—the COLOR WORLD PAINTING website, a Franchisee Portal, and QuickBooks—any new vendor must either integrate with or replace components of this stack. The portal is not named by a third-party vendor, suggesting it may be a proprietary or custom-built system. That creates an integration surface for vendors selling field service management, CRM, or marketing automation.
Mandated and current tech stack
The 2024 FDD lists three mandated systems: the COLOR WORLD PAINTING website, a Franchisee Portal, and QuickBooks by Intuit Inc. No other operational, POS, or estimating software is named as required. This leaves franchisees to choose their own tools for scheduling, estimating, color matching, and customer communication, provided those tools do not conflict with brand standards.
QuickBooks serves as the financial backbone. Vendors selling ERP, payroll, or advanced reporting would need to either integrate with QuickBooks or make a case for replacing it at the franchisor level—a high bar given the mandate. The Franchisee Portal likely handles document sharing, training, and possibly lead distribution, but its exact scope is not detailed in the FDD.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
Item 8 of the FDD does not disclose a designated supplier program or approved vendor list. In the absence of such language, franchisees are not forced to buy from a specific vendor, but the franchisor can still influence purchasing through brand standards and the renewal process. Item 17 spells out renewal conditions: franchisees must update computer systems and vehicles, sign the then-current franchise agreement, and meet training requirements. That renewal trigger—every 10 years—creates a natural window for system-wide technology upgrades, though with only 45 units, the volume of renewals in any given year will be small.
The -10% unit growth rate suggests that new-unit openings are not a near-term driver of software sales. Vendors should focus on the existing base and on positioning their product as a compliance-friendly upgrade that aligns with the franchisor’s operational goals.
How to read the Color World Painting FDD
The 2024 FDD is the primary source for unit counts, executive names, mandated technology, and renewal terms. It is filed with state franchise regulators and available below. Review Item 1 for executive contacts, Item 11 for the franchisor’s obligations and mandated systems, Item 8 for procurement restrictions, and Item 17 for renewal conditions. These sections give you the factual foundation to build a targeted pitch. For a ranked list of franchise systems that match your software category, FranCloud can help you prioritize your outreach.
Questions vendors ask
Color World Painting, answered from the filing
Jon Boston (VP, Operations) and Nathan McFarland (Sr. Director of Marketing) are the most likely buyers. Stewart Vernon (CEO) and Christopher Ring (President) may sign off on system-wide mandates.
The 2024 FDD mandates the COLOR WORLD PAINTING website, a Franchisee Portal, and QuickBooks by Intuit Inc. No other operational or POS systems are named as required.
The system has 46 total units: 45 franchised and 1 company-owned. Year-over-year unit growth was -10%, so the footprint is contracting slightly.
The FDD does not disclose a designated or approved supplier program in Item 8. Absent that language, franchisees likely have more autonomy in vendor selection, subject to brand standards.
Renewal terms run 10 years and require updated computer systems. With 45 franchised units and recent negative growth, renewal-driven tech refreshes will be infrequent and scattered.
The 2024 FDD is filed with state franchise regulators. You can review it in the embedded PDF viewer below to verify mandates, executive contacts, and unit counts directly.
Source
Read the filing itself
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FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment Color World Painting files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
30 operators run 30 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit30
Top states by locations
| FL | 6 |
|---|---|
| TX | 6 |
| OH | 3 |
| NC | 3 |
| NY | 2 |
Ownership
The portfolio behind Color World Painting
pe_firm of Apax Partners.
Sibling brands
Related Home services brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.