Bottom line
- Total investment $122K – $264K including a $43K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.8M/year (median $1.3M).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 41/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 138 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 Mr. Rooter unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
88%
Above typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Mr. Rooter units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$1.4M
on $7.0M purchase
Total debt
$5.6M
SBA $3.5M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Mr. Rooter franchisees operate residential and commercial plumbing and drain cleaning services, dispatching service technicians to customer locations for emergency repairs, routine maintenance, and drain cleaning. Daily operations involve taking service calls, managing field teams, scheduling appointments, and handling invoicing/collections for high-volume, service-based work.
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 · 19 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
Mr. Rooter presents moderate-to-elevated risk due to missing profitability data, litigation history, slow growth trajectory, and high capital requirements without clear net income benchmarks.
Score breakdown · what drove the 41 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNo Item 19 (Average Net Income) disclosed — cannot validate profitability claims or ROI timeline
- 02MINORSlow unit growth (2.9% YoY) suggests market saturation or franchisee satisfaction issues in a mature 218-unit system
- 03HIGHTwo trademark/IP litigation cases settled in recent history indicate brand protection vulnerabilities and competitive pressure
- 04MEDHigh initial investment ($122K–$263K) relative to disclosed average revenue ($1.76M) requires 7%+ gross margin just to break even on franchise fees in year one
- 05MINOR10-year term is longer than industry standard (5–7 years), locking franchisees into aging brand IP and limiting exit optionality
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
84 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Mr. Rooter · FDD (2024) PDF