Bottom line
- Total investment $50K – $223K including a $0 franchise fee.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 69/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 5 loans (below the industry average).
- System contracting at -5.2% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
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 Sonitrol unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
35%
In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Sonitrol franchisees operate electronic security and alarm monitoring services, typically selling and installing burglar alarms, fire detection systems, and 24/7 monitoring services to residential and commercial clients. Franchisees manage customer acquisition, installation, service calls, and client retention while the parent company handles central station monitoring. Revenue is primarily recurring monthly monitoring fees supplemented by installation and service charges.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 32 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
Declining unit base, undisclosed financials, material litigation history, and outdated royalty benchmarks create significant due diligence gaps and execution risk.
Score breakdown · what drove the 69 / 100 rating
- 01MINORDeclining unit count (-1.4% YoY) suggests market saturation or franchisee dissatisfaction in a 133-unit system
- 02MINORNo average revenue or net income disclosure (Item 19) prevents validation of ROI claims and profitability benchmarks
- 03HIGHMaterial litigation history including system failures, deceptive trade practices, fire-related losses, and active class action against parent company
- 04MINORRoyalty structure based on 2009 historical data (15+ years old) raises questions about relevance and franchisee profitability in current market
- 05MINORVariable royalty capped at 4.0% suggests unpredictable cost structure and potential for disputes over calculation methodology
- 06MINORZero franchise fee may indicate brand is incentivizing recruitment over quality screening or reflects market weakness
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
82 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Sonitrol · FDD (2022) PDF