Bathroom Refinishing
The shortcut: Don't buy the franchise. A Miracle Method franchise costs $35K-$65K up front plus 5-7% royalty for life. The actual skill is a 2-3 day manufacturer course and a $4K spray rig — every dollar of the 75-80% gross margin is yours, and the customer can't tell the difference between you and the franchisee.
Industry: Home Services | Investment level: Small — $5,000-$15,000 | Time to launch: 4-8 weeks (training class + rig + first booked job)
Best for: Anyone who can mask cleanly, work in a respirator for three hours straight, and walk a homeowner through what "cured" means without panicking them. Prior auto-body, painting, or HVL spray experience is a real edge but not required. What you'll likely make: $3,000-$5,000 month 3, $7,000-$10,000 month 6, $10,000-$14,000 month 12. Math is in Section 4.
Market Opportunity
The homeowner left a key in the planter and a check on the kitchen counter — two jobs, prepaid, both before 7am. The cast-iron tub in the first bathroom hasn't been touched since Carter: 60 inches of stained porcelain with a chip near the drain. You tape plastic sheeting up the walls, etch the surface, spray for 90 minutes while a box fan pulls vapor out the window, and sit in the van while it cures. By afternoon you're across town finishing a fiberglass tub you quoted at $475 because the shape is clean and the homeowner has somewhere to be. Four o'clock and you're done. Two jobs, $950 gross, about $90 in coatings — and neither homeowner was home for any of it.
That's the rhythm, and almost nobody outside the trade understands the margin math. A new tub plus a plumber plus drywall repair runs the homeowner $3,500-$8,000 and takes a week. You can hand them a tub that looks brand-new for $400-$700 in half a day. The customer is choosing between your number and a number with a comma in it — which is why the niche doesn't disappear in a recession. The worse housing gets, the more people refinish instead of remodel.
The catch is chemistry. Solvent-based coatings contain isocyanates, which is why most handy people who try this once never try it twice. The barrier is real — it just isn't expensive.
Start with this idea — free signup, no card required.
