Franchises · 2026 FDD · Wisconsin DFI filing 640564
Chem-Dry franchise cost, unit revenue and closures
Opening a Chem-Dry cost $77,600 to $248,295 in the 2026 FDD; the median unit sold $214,671 in the franchisor's most recent full year reported in the 2026 FDD (period not stated) figures; 37.4% of franchised units closed over three years.
Franchisor: Chem-Dry, Inc.. FDD issued 2026-03-30. Fiscal year end 2025-12-31. Figures re-found on the cited page 2026-11-03.
What a unit costs to open
single franchise, including the Initial Package and optional vehicle and equipment.
What a unit pays the franchisor
| Initial franchise fee | Initial License Fee $23,500 plus an Initial Package of $44,000 to $78,000 | Item 5, p. 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | Monthly Franchise Fee, a flat $491.40 per month (CPI-adjusted), plus a minimum yearly product purchase of $3,422 | Item 6, p. 11 |
| Advertising fund | Brand Marketing Fund contribution a flat $160 per month per franchise (may rise to $300) | Item 6, p. 11 |
amounts as listed in the Item 7 table (page 19); the Item 5 chart is an image. $2,350 discount if the license fee is paid within six months.
A flat monthly fee, not a percentage of sales.
What a unit sells
Item 19 is optional and is the franchisor's own representation. It is shown here as filed, with the franchisor's measure, sample and period, and nothing is estimated where it is missing.
| Measure | gross sales per responding franchisee (Total row of the quartile chart) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sample | 226 units: 226 responding franchise owners operating 584 Chem-Dry businesses who have operated at least one year full-time and reported through the franchisor's system (average 20.9 years in business); 231 franchisees that did not report are excluded. Figures are per owner, so multi-unit owners are counted once. The filing does not state the calendar period of the sales figures | |
| Period | most recent full year reported in the 2026 FDD (period not stated) | |
| High / low | $1,772,121 / $75,126 | |
Revenue to investment
Formula: Item 19 Total median / Item 7 total (midpoint, low, high). A ratio of 1.00 means one year of median unit revenue equals the investment; it says nothing about profit.
How many units open and close
| Franchised units | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of year | 1,437 | 1,283 | 1,100 |
| Opened | 25 | 15 | 1 |
| Terminated | 100 | 99 | 70 |
| Not renewed | 70 | 93 | 50 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased, other reasons | 9 | 6 | 40 |
| End of year | 1,283 | 1,100 | 941 |
| Company-owned, end of year | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Item 20, Table 1 p. 47; Table 3 totals p. 54.
Closures are the franchisor's Item 20 counts of units terminated, not renewed, or ceased for other reasons, summed over 2023–2025 and divided by franchised units at the start of 2023. Units the franchisor reacquired are not closures. This is an Item 20 count, not a failure rate.
Table 1A, legacy model; Table 3 prints the 2023 start as 1,437.
all three rows sum; Table 3's 2023 start (1,437) differs from Table 1's (1,439) by two.
Source and method
Every figure above comes from the Chem-Dry Franchise Disclosure Document issued 2026-03-30, as filed with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (filing 640564, registry record). The PDF is the franchisor's and is not hosted here; the item and page beside each figure is where to check it. Item 7 and Item 20 tables were read cell by cell; Item 19 was read by hand; each Item 20 year was checked to sum (start + opened − exits = end) before it was recorded.
The Legacy (Traditional) registration; Chem-Dry Plus, the household-based model, is a separate Wisconsin registration (640565) and a separate Table 1B with 22 outlets at the end of 2025..
Informational only, not professional, legal or investment advice. Unitnomics computes from the filing and does not advise on, rank, or refer to any franchise. Last reviewed: November 2026.