Franchise Facts Report → brands → The Grout Expert
The Grout Expert franchise — is it worth it?
Medium risk Stable network
The Grout Expert is a home services franchise with a low initial investment, but it is a very new brand with only one operating outlet.
Everything below is free, read straight off The Grout Expert's registered filing, with where the numbers land against home services peers. Weighing The Grout Expert against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.
Figures above are as disclosed in The Grout Expert's most recent FDD (registered 2024). Source: California Dept. of Financial Protection and Innovation — Franchise Registration · filing app-30678 — check it yourself. See every other California-registered franchise.
Considering The Grout Expert? See what else fits your budget
Tell us your budget and the industries you're open to. We'll match you with 5–10 franchises whose own FDDs fit — ranked by earnings disclosure, growth and closure rate — and email you the list. The Grout Expert will be on it if it fits.
The Grout Expert franchise profit — what the FDD discloses
Plainly: The Grout Expert does not disclose franchise profit or revenue. Its most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-backed earnings figure for The Grout Expert — any number quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure. The absence is itself worth weighing (77% of home services franchisors in our corpus do disclose); the fees, litigation and outlet churn The Grout Expert's FDD does contain are on this page. For brands that put earnings on paper, see Home services & home improvement franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings.
The Grout Expert lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
The Grout Expert's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2024) discloses no litigation in Item 3. That is a real signal rather than a gap: the FTC Franchise Rule requires a franchisor to disclose material litigation involving itself, its predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 in a current filing means there was nothing it was required to report. It is worth reading alongside the churn numbers — a system can have a clean Item 3 and still be losing franchisees, which is what Item 20 shows.
The Grout Expert closures & failure rate
Before you sign, The Grout Expert will hand you a list of current owners to call as references — and they choose who's on that list. It won't include the owners who quit, got bought out, or were forced out last year. The FDD does report that number, even though the reference list leaves those people off. Below is what The Grout Expert's most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a home services of this kind.
The closest thing an FDD has to a failure rate is Item 20 — outlet openings, closures, terminations and non-renewals, reported by the franchisor. The Grout Expert's latest tables show a stable franchised network. Its franchised-outlet closure rate — closures, terminations and non-renewals against outlets — is 0%, against a home services median of 5.1% — at or better than the category. Net franchised outlets moved 0 to 1 in the latest reported year.
Who owns The Grout Expert?
The Grout Expert's franchise is offered by The Grout Expert Franchising, Inc. — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2024), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at CA DFPI; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it.
Home services franchises at a similar investment level
Anyone weighing The Grout Expert is really weighing it against the other brands their money could go into. These are the closest by total initial investment (FDD Item 7), each with its own FDD-based page.
The Grout Expert franchise — frequently asked
Who owns The Grout Expert — who is the franchisor?
The Grout Expert's most recently filed FDD (2024) names The Grout Expert Franchising, Inc. as the franchisor — the entity you would actually sign the franchise agreement with, as stated on the disclosure document itself. A registry filing names the franchisor, not necessarily its ultimate parent company.
How much does a The Grout Expert franchise cost?
The Grout Expert's most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at $23,550 – $49,000, with an initial franchise fee of $17,500 and a 6% royalty. That price is the franchisor's own estimate of what it takes to open, not a quote. Against home services peers it sits in the top quartile (median $162,725).
How much profit does a The Grout Expert franchise make?
The Grout Expert makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-disclosed revenue or profit figure for The Grout Expert at all — and profit would never be disclosed even where earnings are, because it depends on your rent, labor and how you operate. Any profit figure quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure.
Does The Grout Expert disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
No — The Grout Expert's most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation. Its absence is worth weighing: 77% of home services franchisors in our corpus do disclose.
Are there lawsuits against The Grout Expert?
No — The Grout Expert's most recently filed FDD (2024) discloses no litigation in Item 3. Franchisors must disclose material litigation involving themselves, their predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 is a genuine signal rather than an omission.
Is The Grout Expert a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from The Grout Expert's numbers alone — it comes down to how its investment, earnings, litigation and franchisee churn stack up against home services peers and against your own budget. Our read on this filing is medium risk. Every figure behind that read is on this page for free. If you're comparing options, the free shortlist on this page matches you with 5–10 franchises that fit your budget and industry.
Get a free email when something changes on The Grout Expert or home services: a new FDD registration, a new lawsuit, an outlet count that shifts, or Item 19 earnings going from undisclosed to disclosed. Pulled straight from the same state registries this page is built on.