Asp - America’s Swimming Pool CompanyFranchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY franchise requires a total initial investment of $84K – $210K, including a $40K franchise fee and an ongoing 7.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $852K[2]. Verdict grade: A. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified June 21, 2026 · figures per the 2025 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $84K – $210K
- 24th pct Home Services
- Avg gross sales
- $852K
- 28th pct Home Services
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- 28th pct Home Services
- Units
- 391
- 75th pct Home Services
- SBA default
- N/A
Quick verdict · Home Services · color = vs category peers
Green = >15% above Home Services avg · No shading = within ±15% · Red = >15% below avg · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Each dollar invested generates 5.8x in gross revenue, well above the typical 1.5-2.5x range.
99% cash-on-cash return (based on EBITDA). Above the 20% threshold most investors target.
Bottom line
- Total investment $84K – $210K including a $40K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $852K/year (median $573K), with an estimated 99% cash-on-cash return (based on EBITDA).
- Verdict A (Top Quintile) with a risk score of 5/100.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
- Legal entity
- ASP Franchising SPE LLC
- Parent company
- Authority Brands, Inc.
- Ultimate parent
- Apax Partners
- Predecessor
- ASP Franchising
- Prior franchisor entity
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 7120 Samuel Morse Drive, Suite 300, Columbia, Maryland 21046
- Auditor
- PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $219.1M
- vs $226.4M prior year
Independent franchisee associations
- Franchise Advisory Council (FAC)
Franchisee-led councils or alliances disclosed in Item 20. Indicates operator voice.
Overview
About
Franchisees operate mobile pool maintenance and cleaning services, servicing residential and commercial swimming pools in a protected territory. Daily operations include customer route scheduling, chemical balancing, equipment repair, and account management. Revenue is highly dependent on customer density and seasonal demand.
- CEO
- Stewart C. Vernon
- Headquarters
- MD
- Founded
- 1985
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 25
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing · 14 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $40K | $90K | |
| Leasehold Improvements and Lease Deposits | — | — | |
| Vehicle Wrapnot refundable | $3K | $4K | |
| Business Outfitting Feenot refundable | $4K | $4K | |
| Operations Outfitting Feenot refundable | $4K | $11K | |
| Truck Outfitting Feenot refundable | $6K | $6K | |
| Vehicle | $0 | $3K | |
| Office Equipment and Supplies | $90 | $5K | |
| Initial Advertising Feenot refundable | $6K | $58K | |
| Insurance | $4K | $6K | |
| Professional Fees | $1K | $2K | |
| Initial Training Expense | $642 | $2K | |
| Licenses and/or Bonds | $0 | $1K | |
| Additional Funds | $16K | $16K | |
| Total initial investment | $84K | $210K |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$94K
11.0% margin
Unlevered ROIC
57%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
21 mo
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $84K – $210K
- Better than avg vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $16K – $16K
- Near category avg vs category
- Franchise fee
- $40K – $90K
- Better than avg vs category
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- percentage_of_gross · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 8.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
- Payback period
- 1.0 yrs
- From FDD / Item 19
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 7.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $250 |
| Training fee | $500 |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Total fee load | 8.0% of rev |
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $852K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $573K
- Avg ebitda
- $146K
- Reported as EBITDA in FDD Item 19
- Cash-on-cash
- 99.4%
- Based on EBITDA / investment midpoint
- Item 19 type
- gross_sales
- Sample size
- 124 units
- vs category median 25 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $39K→$3.9M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $178K→$2.0M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Transparency tier
- full
- Categorical assessment of disclosure depth
- Transparency
- 10 / 5
- vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Compared against 349 Home Services brands
Revenue is 5.8x the investment midpoint. At typical franchise margins, this suggests a payback under 3 years.
vs Home Services averages
How Asp - America’s Swimming Pool Company Compares
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 391
- Opened
- 40
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 24
- Turnover rate
- 6.1%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (yr3)
- +4.3%
- Net unit change last year
- 3-yr CAGR
- +7.4%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Opened (3yr)
- 16
- Closed (3yr)
- 7
- Terminated (3yr)
- 20
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 0
- Transfers (3yr)
- 13
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Termination rate
- 1.0%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 0.4%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 24 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator. Not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Available to sell in · Item 12
- California
- Illinois
- Indiana
- New York
- Virginia
- Wisconsin
States where the franchisor is registered to sell new franchises (FDD registration filings).
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 60
- Loan volume
- N/A
- Amount data pending
- Median loan
- N/A
- Charge-off rate
- N/A
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- N/A
- 5-yr charge-off
- N/A
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 0
- Defaults
- 0
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
ASP presents moderate-to-caution risk due to undisclosed financial performance data, active litigation, anemic unit growth, and compressed profit margins relative to investment size.
Litigation (Item 3)
1 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: No
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 5 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHActive litigation (April 2024) involving breach of contract and post-termination obligations suggests franchisor enforcement issues or franchisee disputes
- 02MINORSlow unit growth of 4.3% YoY in a mature 391-unit system indicates market saturation or franchisee underperformance
- 03MEDNo Item 19 (Financial Performance Representations) disclosed — cannot verify if average $146,355 net income is achievable for median franchisees
- 04MINORTiered royalty structure creates misalignment: franchisees earning $100k+ pay lower rates, suggesting franchisor may struggle at lower revenue tiers
- 05MINORHigh initial investment ($84k-$210k) relative to median net income ($146k) means 7-14 month payback period with zero margin for error
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Postal zip codes based on residential pool counts |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Online sales rights | Granted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 2 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Maryland |
| Litigation count | 1 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
1 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 32 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 64 hrs
- Training location
- On-site and corporate
- Site selection
- joint
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Pool Brain
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Pool Brain
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
132 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY · FDD (2025) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY franchise?
The total investment to open a ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY franchise ranges from $84K – $210K, with an initial franchise fee of $40K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $852K. The median is $573K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY has 391 total units in the United States, including 364 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 40 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates ASP - AMERICA’S SWIMMING POOL COMPANY as a A-grade franchise with a risk score of 5 out of 100, based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.