Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S2240 since 2017
ProLift Garage Doors
Home Services · independent · est. —
ProLift Garage Doors provides residential garage door repair, replacement, and installation services. A franchisee runs a mobile, van-based service business handling scheduled and emergency calls for homeowners in a defined territory.
ProLift Garage Doors net unit count grew +33.3% from 2017–2019 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
Too new to judge
Distress
16 franchised units over 3 disclosed years is not a track record — systems this early have realized only a fraction of their eventual failures. Judge the disclosures, not a verdict.
Exit rate · latest year
56.3%
vs 4.8% across 42 home services systems
Cost to open
$101K–$142K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
47.6%
21 loans resolved — directional only
Market density · Texas
Thin market
-51% thinner than the national average
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2017–2019
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2019, 9 of 16 franchised outlets left the system — a 56.3% annualized exit rate, vs 4.8% across 42 home services systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 5 | 12 | 16 |
| Opened | 10 | 10 | 9 |
| Transfers | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Outlets at end | 12 | 16 | 16 |
| Net change | +7 | +4 | 0 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 63 SBA-backed loans to ProLift Garage Doors franchisees since 2018. Only 21 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 10 of them charged off.
—
21 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$149,170
what recent franchisees borrowed
30 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
10 vs 2
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 PROLIFT GARAGE DOORS BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
United Midwest Savings Bank National Association
73.0% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 34.7% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
80.7%
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 63 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to ProLift Garage Doors 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 $101K–$142K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes no earnings claim (Item 19) — ask current and former franchisees for real numbers.
To open (Item 7)
$101K–$142K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$60K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
6%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — this brand discloses no Item 19 earnings; validate with current & former owners.
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 ProLift Garage Doors with an independent CPAModeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks riskier than 100% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
100 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
50.1%
Observed SBA charge-off
47.6%
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (raises) · Item 20 exit rate (raises) · System size (log units) (raises) · Single-lender dependence (lowers). 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 ProLift Garage Doors. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.
9 questions to ask a ProLift Garage Doors franchisee
Built from this brand's own disclosures · take it to your validation calls
The franchisor will give you a list of owners to call. Most buyers ask whether they like it. These are the questions built from what ProLift Garage Doors has actually disclosed — each one carries the number it came from, so you can tell whether the answer squares with the record.
- 01
ProLift Garage Doors’ own Item 20 shows 9 of 16 franchised outlets left the system in fiscal 2019 — about 56.3%. Do you know any of those owners, and do you know why they left?
A franchisor will call these “transitions.” An owner three doors down usually knows whether they sold at a profit or handed the keys back.
FDD Item 20 · FY2019
- 02
Item 7 says the low end to open is $101K, but the average recent SBA loan to a ProLift Garage Doors franchisee was $149K. What did you actually spend to open, all in?
Lenders size loans to real project costs. A large gap between the disclosed floor and what banks actually fund is the most common way buyers get underfunded.
FDD Item 7 vs SBA approvals FY2020+
- 03
You pay 6.0% royalty on gross sales, plus the ad fund, before any of your own costs. On your actual revenue last year, what did you take home as the owner — not revenue, take-home?
Royalty is charged on sales, not profit. This is the number the brochure never shows and the one your life actually runs on.
FDD Item 6
- 04
ProLift Garage Doors’ FDD makes no financial performance representation at all — legally, they've told buyers nothing about earnings. What did your first 24 months actually look like, month by month?
When a franchisor won't publish numbers, existing owners are the only source. Silence in Item 19 is a choice, not a requirement.
FDD Item 19 · 2020
- 05
How many months did it take to cover your own costs, and how much cash did you burn getting there?
Ramp-to-breakeven working capital is the most underestimated line in any franchise purchase, and the most common reason otherwise-good units fail.
Not disclosed in any FDD — ask an owner
- 06
Item 3 discloses 8 legal matters. Do you know what those were about, and were any brought by franchisees?
Franchisee-brought suits over territory, fees or support tell you how the franchisor behaves when there's a disagreement.
FDD Item 3 · 2020
- 07
What does the franchisor charge for that you didn't expect — required tech fees, mandatory remodels, approved-supplier pricing?
Required spending appears across Items 6, 8 and 11 rather than in one place, so buyers routinely miss the total.
FDD Items 6, 8, 11
- 08
If your agreement came up for renewal tomorrow at current terms, would you sign again?
The single most predictive question you can ask. A hesitation is the answer.
Ask every owner you speak to
- 09
Who else should I call — including someone who left?
The franchisor's list is curated by definition. Former franchisees are where the unflattering truth lives, and current owners usually know how to reach them.
Ask every owner you speak to
Want this as a checklist you can take to the calls?
I'll email you the printable version, and tell you if ProLift Garage Doors’ numbers move — a new filing, a rising exit rate, a distress signal. Unsubscribe in one click.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing ProLift Garage Doors's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
This page is what buyers see before they call you for validation. If the record above is wrong — or right in a way the numbers can't show — say so. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.
ProLift Garage Doors franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of ProLift Garage Doors franchises closed last year?
In ProLift Garage Doors's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2019), 9 of 16 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 56.3% — compared with 4.8% across 42 home services 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 ProLift Garage Doors franchise cost?
Per ProLift Garage Doors's 2020 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $60K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $101K–$142K (Item 7).
What royalty does ProLift Garage Doors charge?
ProLift Garage Doors charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2020 FDD.
Does ProLift Garage Doors disclose earnings (Item 19)?
No — ProLift Garage Doors's 2020 FDD makes no financial performance representation in Item 19. That is legal and common, but it means the franchisor publishes no earnings claim; ask current franchisees for real numbers.