Settle the granted rights before large sums become irrevocable and before projections are finalized, because the overlap changes both. There is no fixed waiting period and no guaranteed processing time. Build the schedule from milestones you control: written confirmation, amended agreement, committed capital, then a reviewed application package.
Sequence commitments against unresolved facts
Set dates for the franchisor's written answer, counsel's review of any conflicting obligation, and the revised financial plan. Keep lease signatures, equipment orders and staff offers behind those dates where the contract allows. Prelaunch readiness can support a case, so being pre-opening is not itself a problem.
Delay decisions that assume a start date until the authorization actually held, and its recorded end date, are known. Two further calendars belong on the same page. A franchisor's own approval cycle may consider territory amendments only at set intervals, so ask when the next one falls before assuming a written answer can arrive within weeks.
An extension also reopens the enterprise question later, and the file examined then is the one the business actually generated in the meantime, so decide now which records the coming period will produce and who keeps them. Where the overlap remains unresolved at filing, say so plainly in the plan, with the date by which it is expected to resolve, rather than presenting a territory the agreement does not yet grant.