Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S1131 since 2017
MOSQUITO JOE
Other · independent · est. —
Mosquito Joe is an outdoor pest-control franchise providing recurring mosquito, tick, and flea treatments for residential and commercial properties. A franchisee runs a route-based service business, dispatching technicians in branded vehicles to spray customer yards on a scheduled cycle through the warm-weather season.
MOSQUITO JOE net unit count declined -2.6% from 2023–2025 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
The operating record is solid, but the FDD discloses a bankruptcy history (Item 4) — capped below a full endorsement. The main concern in the record: the system is shrinking.
Exit rate · latest year
5.8%
fiscal 2025, per Item 20
Cost to open
$150K–$192K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
14.6%
vs 14.8% avg across rated brands
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 24 of 415 franchised outlets left the system — a 5.8% annualized exit rate. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 396 | 418 | 417 |
| Opened | 28 | 23 | 16 |
| Transfers | 11 | 8 | 18 |
| Terminations | 5 | 24 | 23 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 418 | 417 | 407 |
| Net change | +22 | -1 | -10 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 111 SBA-backed loans to MOSQUITO JOE franchisees since 2013. Of the 41 that have resolved, 14.6% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
14.6%
6 of 41 resolved defaulted
72.3%
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
10.6%
default rate × loss severity
$273,136
what recent franchisees borrowed
48 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
11 vs 14
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO MOSQUITO JOE 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
37.3% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 35.1% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
63.0%
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 111 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to MOSQUITO JOE 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 $43K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $150K–$192K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$150K–$192K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$43K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
10%
of sales, ongoing
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 JOE with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 1 wage case against operators of this system, recovering $0 in back wages for 0 workers. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
1
Back wages owed
$0
Employees affected
0
Since 2020
1
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual MOSQUITO JOE franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not MOSQUITO JOE 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 2024.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks riskier than 86% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
86 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
18.6%
Observed SBA charge-off
14.6%
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (raises) · System size (log units) (lowers) · Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · Single-lender dependence (lowers). 15+ resolved loans stand behind this estimate. 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 JOE. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing MOSQUITO JOE's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →MOSQUITO JOE franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of MOSQUITO JOE franchises closed last year?
In MOSQUITO JOE's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 24 of 415 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 5.8%. 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 JOE franchise cost?
Per MOSQUITO JOE's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $43K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $150K–$192K (Item 7).
What royalty does MOSQUITO JOE charge?
MOSQUITO JOE charges an ongoing royalty of 10.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does MOSQUITO JOE disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — MOSQUITO JOE makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.
How often do SBA loans for MOSQUITO JOE franchises default?
Across 111 SBA-backed loans to MOSQUITO JOE franchisees since 2013, 6 of the 41 that have resolved were charged off — a 14.6% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.