Lawn Squad
Bottom line
- Total investment $79K – $118K including a $45K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $4.2M/year. Estimated payback in 0.1 years.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 57/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 4 loans (below the industry average).
- Emerging franchise — only 3 years of franchising with 16 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.
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 LAWN SQUAD unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
378%
Above typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 LAWN SQUAD units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
38.9%
5.16× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.16×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$3.8M
on $12.6M purchase
Total debt
$8.8M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Lawn Squad franchisees operate lawn care and landscaping services, managing crews to perform routine maintenance (mowing, edging, trimming) and seasonal services for residential and commercial clients. Day-to-day operations include scheduling appointments, managing field teams, customer billing/collections, and equipment maintenance within their protected territory.
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 · 14 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, non-growing system with undisclosed going concern issues, unverifiable financial claims, and potential franchisor stability problems despite reasonable unit economics.
Score breakdown · what drove the 57 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHGoing Concern status indicates franchisor financial distress or viability questions
- 02MINOROnly 16 units with unknown growth trajectory suggests stagnant or declining system
- 03MEDNo Item 19 (financial performance representations) disclosed — cannot validate average revenue/net income claims independently
- 04MINORHigh royalty rate (7%) combined with seasonal lawn care business may compress margins during off-season
- 05MINORSignificant gap between average revenue ($420k) and average net income ($703k) is mathematically impossible and raises data integrity concerns
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
16 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
LAWN SQUAD · FDD (2025) PDF