A founder I’ve never met posted something on Reddit last week that stopped me cold — because he wasn’t talking about bathroom renovations at all. He was talking about marketing agencies. And the math was identical.
The post described signing a $5,000-a-month marketing retainer with a slick agency. Big pitch, impressive case studies, a “VP of Strategy” on the Zoom call. The wire cleared. The founder disappeared. The VP stopped responding. The account got handed to a 22-year-old juggling 14 clients simultaneously.
He eventually dug into the math — where that $5,000 was actually going every month. Here’s what he found:
- 40% — Founder’s profit and overhead
- 30% — Sales commission for the rep who closed him
- 20% — Account manager producing the weekly PDF report
- 10% — The junior media buyer actually doing the work
Ten percent. One person, doing the real work, for ten cents on every dollar. The rest funded the pitch, the brand, and the machine that sold him on it.
I read that and immediately thought: that’s exactly what happens when a franchise bathroom company sends someone to your door.
The Franchise Version of the Same Math
The big branded names in bathroom renovation — the ones running TV ads, booking home shows, and sending polished salespeople to your kitchen table — are running a version of the same structure. The numbers aren’t published, but the cost architecture isn’t a secret either.
Every dollar you hand over to a franchise operation gets distributed across a system designed primarily to sustain itself. Here’s a reasonable approximation of where a $15,000 project actually goes:
- 25% — Franchise royalty fees and national marketing levies
- 20% — Local overhead, office, management
- 20% — Advertising and lead generation
- 15% — Sales rep commissions
- 10% — Proprietary materials (plastic panels, sourced in bulk)
- 10% — The installer — the one doing the actual work in your home
The installer walks into your home to do the hardest, most consequential part of the entire transaction — and they’re working with the smallest share of your money. They’re also working with whatever materials the franchise mandates, which in most cases means thin acrylic or PVC panels pressed to look like stone.
This matters. A lot. Because the person doing the work and the quality of the materials they’re given are the only two variables that actually determine whether your shower is any good five years from now.
The installer walks into your home to do the hardest part of the entire transaction — and they’re working with the smallest share of your money.
Why the Product Reflects the Math
It’s not that franchise companies hire bad people. It’s that the cost structure forces a product decision. You can’t spend 10% of the contract value on materials and labour and also use real tile, quality fixtures, and certified tradespeople. The math doesn’t allow it.
So they use plastic panels. Pre-printed sheets designed to look like stone. They install quickly, ship cheaply, and the franchise can source them at scale. The one-day install promise is a direct product of the cost model, not a genuine benefit to you.
Here’s the honest problem with that product choice: a shower’s only job is to stay watertight. Permanently. Plastic panels depend almost entirely on surface caulking to do that. Caulking technology has improved, but a product that stays intact forever doesn’t exist. When it fails, the repair is expensive and disruptive — and the warranty document, however boldly it’s printed, doesn’t make the water damage any less real.
Real ceramic or stone tile, properly installed over a waterproofed substrate, doesn’t have this problem. It’s how showers have been built for a hundred years because it works.
How We Allocate the Same Dollar
Tilewright isn’t a franchise. There’s no royalty structure, no national marketing fund, no commissioned closer in a polo shirt running a high-pressure one-appointment script at your kitchen table.
We’re a focused operation with decades of hands-on construction experience, purpose-built to convert one thing — your existing tub area — into a well-built, properly waterproofed, genuinely attractive shower. That’s it.
Here’s roughly where your money goes with us:
- 35% — Skilled tradesperson labour — certified, experienced, accountable
- 30% — Quality materials — real tile, Canadian fixtures, proper waterproofed substrate
- 20% — Marketing and lead acquisition
- 15% — Business operations and margin
No franchise fee leaving the province. No sales commission on a one-day close. No account manager producing reports on why your money hasn’t produced results yet.
When a Tilewright crew arrives at your home, they’re experienced tradespeople who are compensated properly, working with materials we didn’t have to cut corners on, following a documented process built from the ground up. That’s what your money is buying.
The One Question That Settles It
The Reddit founder ended his post with a simple observation: he was paying $5,000 a month not for results, but to fund the machine that sold him. The actual work got a rounding error.
There’s a version of that same question worth asking any bathroom renovation company before you sign anything:
If I’m paying $15,000 for this shower — what percentage of that is going toward the person installing it and the materials they’re using?
Ask it plainly. See what you get. If the answer is vague, or the subject gets changed, or you’re suddenly being shown a warranty brochure — you have your answer.
We’re happy to walk through ours. The numbers aren’t complicated, and we’re not embarrassed by them.
Ready to see exactly what you’re getting before you decide? Pricing is published. No appointment required to get a number. No closer, no pressure. Build your quote here.