FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

Verified — real FDD extraction

SBA-eligible · directory code S2376 since 2018

MOSQUITO AUTHORITY

Other · independent · est. —

Mosquito Authority is an outdoor pest-control franchise providing recurring mosquito and tick treatment for residential yards. A franchisee runs a home-based, route-driven service business, with technicians treating customer properties on a scheduled cycle through the warm-weather season.

MOSQUITO AUTHORITY net unit count declined -3.5% from 20232025 per its FDD Item 20.

New to franchising? Start here

A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.

Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:

  • Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
  • Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
  • Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).

The verdict

Proven & steady

Distress

0
STABLE

A real track record with an unremarkable region of the ledger: neither the growth nor the exits stand out, for better or worse. The standout in the record: owners who leave mostly sell rather than fail.

Exit rate · latest year

4.9%

fiscal 2025, per Item 20

Cost to open

$39K–$129K

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan defaults

7.1%

14 loans resolved — directional only

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth35%

3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1

Weak
Exit quality25%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Strong
Transfer / churn15%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Fair
Promise-keeping10%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Weak
Transparency15%

Item 19 disclosure + completeness

Strong

Systemwide units

2023–2025

-3.5%
541202354720245222025

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2025, 27 of 546 franchised outlets left the system — a 4.9% annualized exit rate. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.

Show the outlet tables
Status (FTC)202320242025
Outlets at start530541547
Opened14192
Transfers293625
Terminations000
Non-renewals032
Reacquired by franchisor310
Ceased — other reasons7725
Outlets at end541547522
Net change+11+6-25

The lender's view

SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present

Banks have made 48 SBA-backed loans to MOSQUITO AUTHORITY franchisees since 2018. Only 14 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 1 of them charged off.

Charge-off rate

14 resolved · too thin to rate

Loss given default

avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $

Expected loss

default rate × loss severity

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$160,925

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

76 mo

approval → charge-off, defaulted loans

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

7 vs 5

distinct banks still lending

Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)

Loan performance by state

SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO MOSQUITO AUTHORITY BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL

The owner's side of the deal

FDD × federal loan record

Who finances it

United Midwest Savings Bank National Association

59.6% of this brand's loans

That lender charges off 35.4% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.

Who buys it

72.1%

first-time franchise owners

The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.

Does experience help here?

Not enough resolved loans to split

Computed from 48 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to MOSQUITO AUTHORITY franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.

What it costs — and what it drags

FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty

Buying in means a $45K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $39K–$129K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$39K–$129K

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$45K

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

10%

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$1M/yr

Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.

Royalty you'd pay / yr

$100K

10% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$1M

royalties alone, excl. ad fund

This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.

Build a real pro-forma for MOSQUITO AUTHORITY with an independent CPA

Labor record

US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present

Federal investigators have concluded 2 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $7K in back wages for 14 workers. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.

Concluded cases

2

Back wages owed

$7K

Employees affected

14

Since 2020

0

Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual MOSQUITO AUTHORITY franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not MOSQUITO AUTHORITY itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2019.

Modeled risk

FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record

High risk

The public record puts this brand toward the riskier end of the systems we score — but the evidence is thin, so treat it as a range, not a number.

Risk percentile (range)

76–100 / 100

Directional

Modeled SBA charge-off

19.1%

Observed SBA charge-off

7.1%

Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (raises) · Single-lender dependence (lowers) · System size (log units) (lowers) · Investment ceiling (log) (raises). Thin loan history — treat this as a range, not a number. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.

Distress signals

news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits

No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for MOSQUITO AUTHORITY. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.

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MOSQUITO AUTHORITY franchise questions, answered from the filings

What percentage of MOSQUITO AUTHORITY franchises closed last year?

In MOSQUITO AUTHORITY's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 27 of 546 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 4.9%. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.

How much does a MOSQUITO AUTHORITY franchise cost?

Per MOSQUITO AUTHORITY's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $45K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $39K–$129K (Item 7).

What royalty does MOSQUITO AUTHORITY charge?

MOSQUITO AUTHORITY charges an ongoing royalty of 10.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.

Does MOSQUITO AUTHORITY disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — MOSQUITO AUTHORITY makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.

Is MOSQUITO AUTHORITY a good franchise to buy? Health score, exit rate & costs (2026) · Franchise Watch Desk