FranchiseVerdict
POOL SCOUTS logo
FV-02000·STRONGExcellent91

Pool Scouts

Cleaning - Commercial & JanitorialFranchising since 2016Website
Investment
$103K – $135K
47th pct Commercial & …
Avg revenue
$292K
8th pct Commercial & …
Royalty
8.0%
43rd pct Commercial & …
Units
81
66th pct Commercial & …
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $103K – $135K including a $50K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $292K/year. Estimated payback in 0.6 years.
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 22/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 21 loans (below the industry average).
  • System growing at 6120% CAGR over 3 years with 81 total units — strong expansion trajectory.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Pool Scouts Franchising, LLC
Parent company
Buzz Franchise Brands, LLC
Incorporated in
Virginia
HQ
2829 Guardian Lane, Suite 100, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
Auditor
Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer, P.C.
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$1.7M
vs $2.5M prior year

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 POOL SCOUTS unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $292,084
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: restoration
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $103K–$135K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $20K–$40K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

18%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$26K
EBITDA margin
9.0%
Total invested
$149K
Payback
68 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 POOL SCOUTS units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

49.9%

7.57× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

1.88×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$117K

on $584K purchase

Total debt

$467K

SBA $0.3M + senior + seller note

Overview

About

Pool Scouts franchisees operate residential pool maintenance and cleaning services, managing weekly/bi-weekly customer visits for chemical balancing, equipment inspection, and debris removal. Day-to-day involves scheduling service calls, managing technician teams or performing solo service work, customer relationship management, and seasonal upsells (equipment repairs, opening/closing services). Revenue scales with customer roster size and geographic territory density.

CEO
Brian M. Garrison
Founded
2015
FDD year
2024
States available
16

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$103K – $135K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$20K – $40K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$50K
Royalty
8.0%
Percentage of Net Revenue · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
10.0%
vs 9–13% typical
Payback period
0.6 yrs
From v3 / Item 19

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$292K
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
Item 19 type
Average and Median Revenue and Metrics
Sample size
60 units
vs category median 32
Range (low → high)
$47K$1.4M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
9 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Revenue rank8th
vs Cleaning - Commercial & Janitorial peers
Investment cost rank47th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank43th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank66th
vs Cleaning - Commercial & Janitorial peers
Risk score rank0th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
81
Opened
13
Last reporting year
Closed
5
Turnover rate
6.2%
Company-owned
2
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
98%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+11.3%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+61.2%
Compounded over last 3 years
2022
79+8
Franchised units
2023
71
Franchised units
2024
49
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 12 · 16 states reported

The Territory Map

FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.

16

states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

Total loans
21
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

22
Risk · 0-100
STRONG22 / 100

Moderate risk profile with opaque financial disclosures, corporate stability questions, and non-standard royalty structure offsetting otherwise solid unit growth and no litigation.

Score breakdown · what drove the 22 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDNo Item 19 (Financial Performance Representations) disclosed — cannot independently verify claimed $292k average revenue or $203k net income figures
  2. 02HIGHGoing Concern = False suggests potential financial instability at corporate level despite unit growth
  3. 03MINOR11.3% YoY unit growth is modest for a maturing franchise; no clarification on whether growth is organic or includes acquisitions
  4. 04MINOR8% royalty on Net Revenue (unusual metric — most use Gross Revenue) creates ambiguity in actual franchisor take and incentivizes cost manipulation

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Zip Codes
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
5 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
Virginia

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
30 hrs
On-the-job training
31 hrs
POS system
ServiceMinder
Operating tech stack

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

3 numbers

Locked
(757) 625-••••
VA
(112) 050-••••
(757) 625-••••
VA

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

POOL SCOUTS · FDD (2024) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above