GrassRoots Turf
Bottom line
- Total investment $157K – $314K including a $50K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $658K/year (median $597K).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 51/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 10 loans (below the industry average).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one GrassRoots Turf unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
26%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 GrassRoots Turf units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$527K
on $2.6M purchase
Total debt
$2.1M
SBA $1.3M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
GrassRoots Turf franchisees operate lawn care and turf management services, handling residential and/or commercial grass treatment, maintenance, and landscaping. Day-to-day activities include scheduling service appointments, managing field crews, applying treatments, customer communication, and billing/invoicing. The business model is labor-intensive with seasonal revenue fluctuations typical of outdoor services.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 3 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 phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Small, stagnant franchise system with undisclosed profitability metrics, questionable franchisor stability, and insufficient unit growth to justify investment risk.
Score breakdown · what drove the 51 / 100 rating
- 01MINORNo Item 19 (Net Income) disclosure creates opacity on actual profitability despite $658k average revenue
- 02MINORMinimal unit growth of 4.8% YoY suggests market saturation or franchisee dissatisfaction
- 03HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE, indicating potential financial instability at franchisor level
- 04MINORHigh initial investment range ($157k-$313k) with 7% royalty creates significant break-even burden
- 05MED23-unit system is small with limited brand recognition and economies of scale
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
15 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
GrassRoots Turf · FDD (2026) PDF