Mosquito Shield franchise unit economics
Mosquito Shield franchisees spray homes for mosquitoes and ticks, selling seasonal recurring service contracts with prepay across one or more territories.
Mosquito Shield franchise at a glance
Mosquito Shield’s one company-owned business had adjusted EBITDA of 35% of income in 2025. Mosquito Shield’s FDD calls it adjusted because the royalty is restated at the 8% rate a new franchisee pays.
Mosquito Shield franchisees averaged $398,950 of sales in 2025, with a median of $235,812, according to Item 19 of Mosquito Shield’s 2026 FDD, issued 8 April 2026. The 66 in that group are 17%* of Mosquito Shield’s 384 locations. Fees paid to Mosquito Shield come to about 10%* of sales. A Mosquito Shield franchise costs $120,525 to $162,420 to open.
- A Mosquito Shield franchise costs $120,525 to $162,420 to open, including a $54,500 initial franchise fee, according to the brand's 2026 FDD.
- Mosquito Shield charges a royalty of 8% of sales and a 2% brand fund contribution.
- 30% of reporting Mosquito Shield locations reached the average.
- At the average Mosquito Shield location, wages took 11.3%, rent and space costs took 1.8% and cost of goods took 31.2% of sales.
- Work out Mosquito Shield's fees at your own sales with the minimum fee calculator.
These figures come from Mosquito Shield's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, as the brand reported them, and were read by Averan Advisors.
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Talk to Averan → Move your books and accounting to Averan →- Customers per territory runs 50.9 to 139.6 while revenue per customer holds between $585.79 and $751.54. That is a difference of 2.7 times on count against a difference of 1.3 times on price *.
- The company-owned profit and loss shows 35.0% adjusted EBITDA, carrying marketing at 5.2%. A franchisee must spend the greater of $50,000 or 10%. Restated at the franchisee's own obligations the figure is 28.2% *.
- The year-five minimum is $283,500 for one territory and $173,250 per territory at four. The average reporting franchisee bills $74,154 per territory *.
- Retention is 82.5%, so the average franchisee replaces 98 customers a year at $267 each. That is $26,112 of acquisition cost, 6.5% of average revenue, purely to stand still *.
- Openings fell from 99 in 2023 to 13 in 2025, against 38 terminations. Zero new franchised outlets are projected for 2026.
How much does a Mosquito Shield franchise make?
The average Mosquito Shield unit reported $398,950 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $235,812. The brand’s disclosure document puts adjusted EBITDA at its one company-owned business at 35% of revenue. Fees come off the top first, at about 10% of sales across royalty, brand fund and the rest of the stack. Revenue is not income. Rent, wages, cost of goods and the franchise fees all come out before an owner is paid. The figures for the highest-selling and lowest-selling businesses are below.
Top performers
What separates the top Mosquito Shield performers
Mosquito Shield splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The top group averaged $1,002,272 a year. The lowest averaged $101,342. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $235,812. The average was $398,950. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Site and trade area.The top band sells 9.9× the bottom band. Catchment, daytime population and neighboring businesses affect where a location falls.
- Territory.This model sells from a territory, with no storefront. Population density sets how much driving sits between jobs.
- Opening cost range.Opening costs $120,525 to $162,420, a 1.3× range inside one brand.
- Lease cost.Occupancy cost ran 1.8% of sales in this filing. Rent stays the same when sales fall, so it takes a larger share of sales at lower-selling locations.
Live operating levers
- Products and materials.Products and materials take 31.2% of sales, against adjusted EBITDA of 35.0%. The levers are buying terms, price discipline and waste.
- Occupancy cost.Rent and building costs take 1.8% of sales here. The rent is fixed when the lease is signed, so this share falls only as sales per square foot rise.
- Accounts.Accounts bill year after year. Track how many you keep as well as how many you win.
- Fees.Mosquito Shield’s fees run about 10.0% of sales, and Mosquito Shield sets no minimum royalty.
Context you underwrite around
- Locations included.These figures cover 66 of 384 locations. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded.
- The franchisor reports its own locations too.The franchisor reports its own locations alongside the franchised ones. Treat them as a guide to what is possible. They do not represent the system: they are operated by the franchisor, usually mature, and usually few.
Top performers
How far apart the locations are
Mosquito Shield reports its locations in performance groups, from the highest-selling to the lowest. The group-by-group figures are in the tables on the Model and Finance tabs.
Customers per territory
Sales, territories and customers by quartile, 2025
| quartile | Average gross sales | Median | Range | Territories held | Customers | Revenue per territory * | Customers per territory * | Revenue per customer * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | $1,002,272 | $788,100 | $434,589 – $2,732,473 | 10.0 | 1,396 | $100,227 | 139.6 | $717.96 |
| Second | $342,703 | $350,373 | $264,217 – $430,388 | 4.0 | 456 | $85,676 | 114.0 | $751.54 |
| Third | $181,665 | $170,767 | $138,857 – $239,504 | 4.3 | 271 | $42,248 | 63.0 | $670.35 |
| Fourth | $101,342 | $100,946 | $49,389 – $129,597 | 3.4 | 173 | $29,806 | 50.9 | $585.79 |
| All 66 | $398,950 | $235,812 | $49,389 – $2,732,473 | 5.38 | n/a | $74,154 | n/a | $756.54 |
Gross sales, territory counts and customer counts are as the brand reported it; the three right-hand columns are marked *.
Revenue per customer sits between $585.79 and $751.54 across every quartile. That is a difference of 1.3 times *. Meanwhile customers per territory runs 50.9 to 139.6, 2.7 times. The service is priced the same everywhere; what separates a $1,002,272 business from a $101,342 one is how many households each holds.
The first quartile bills $100,227 per territory and the fourth bills $29,806. That is 3.4 times *. Set against a territory of roughly 80,000 single-family homes, the top quartile has signed up 139.6 of them and the lowest-selling 50.9. So even the highest-selling group is serving under two households in a thousand.
The second quartile holds 4.0 territories and bills $342,703; the fourth holds 3.4 and bills $101,342. A comparable amount of ground produces 3.4 times the revenue *. Territory count accounts for very little here; household penetration accounts for almost everything.
The median franchisee bills $235,812 against an average of $398,950. Only 20 of 66 reach the average. The first quarter's own range runs from $434,589 to $2,732,473, 6.3 times inside one quartile. That says the top group is itself carried by a few very large operators.
System sales grew 11.5% in 2025 and 12.5% in 2024. That is $23,770,555 to $26,747,121 to $29,830,420 *. Mosquito Shield system sales grew in both years while the outlet count fell 28 in 2025, so the growth is arriving inside existing businesses.
Customer economics, 2025
| Measure | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Total customers | 36,884 |
| Retention rate | 82.5% |
| Average revenue per customer | $756.54 |
| Prepay dollars collected | $6,670,757.55 |
| Prepay percentage, 2024 | 24% |
| New customer sales, mosquito only | $6,155,996 |
| New customer sales, tick only or add-on | $525,423 |
| New customer sales, perimeter only or add-on | $269,341 |
| New customer sales, event | $112,121 |
| Customer acquisition cost | $267 |
| Lifetime value of a customer | $2,521 |
| Lifetime value against acquisition cost * | 9.4 times |
| Prepay as a share of system sales * | 22.4% |
Figures are as the brand reported it; the last two rows are marked *.
At 82.5% retention the average franchisee loses 98 customers a year. That is 559 customers each, 17.5% of them gone *. Replacing them at the filed $267 acquisition cost is $26,112, 6.5% of average revenue spent before the business grows by a single household.
Lifetime value is 9.4 times acquisition cost. That is $2,521 against $267 *. That is a high ratio by any standard, and it points the whole model at one decision. Buy as many customers as the season and the cash will have, because each one repays its cost more than nine times over four years.
$6,670,757 of the year's revenue was collected before the season started. That is 22.4% of system sales, or $101,072 for an average franchisee, 25.3% of their annual revenue arriving in the winter *. For a seasonal service, that prepay is the working capital (cash to run the business day to day). The share of customers taking it is the number to push.
New customer sales were $7,062,881, 23.7% of the year. Of that total, $6,155,996 was mosquito service alone and $906,885 was tick, perimeter and event work. The add-on categories are 12.8% of new customer revenue *, which is where an owner with a full book grows without adding a single household.
The brand’s own profit and loss
Profit and loss for the company-owned business, 2025
| Line | Amount | Share of income |
|---|---|---|
| Total income | $2,490,179 | 100.0% |
| Cost of goods sold | $777,179 | 31.2% |
| Wages and personnel | $282,086 | 11.3% |
| Royalties, at the new franchisee rate | $199,214 | 8.0% |
| Marketing and advertising | $129,396 | 5.2% |
| Bank charges | $78,384 | 3.1% |
| Facilities and supplies | $45,346 | 1.8% |
| Insurance | $25,989 | 1.0% |
| Technology | $18,860 | 0.8% |
| Travel and entertainment | $16,557 | 0.7% |
| Contract services | $13,804 | 0.6% |
| Equipment repairs | $13,698 | 0.6% |
| Local tax, fines and licensing | $13,586 | 0.5% |
| Miscellaneous | $3,975 | 0.2% |
| Total costs | $1,618,074 | 65.0% |
| Adjusted profit | $872,105 | 35.0% |
| At the 10% advertising requirement * | $752,483 | 30.2% |
| And after the 2% brand fund fee * | $702,679 | 28.2% |
Dollar figures and shares are as the brand reported it, reordered here by size; the last two rows are marked *.
The statement has marketing at 5.2% where a franchisee owes 10%. That is $129,396 against $249,018 *. Lifting that one line to the contractual minimum takes the margin from 35.0% to 30.2%. Subtracting the 2% brand fund fee that appears nowhere in the statement takes it to 28.2%.
Cost of goods is 31.2% and wages are 11.3%. Together they take 42.5%. On a route business spraying the same treatment at the same price everywhere, that leaves a genuinely wide gross profit. It is why the model tolerates a $267 acquisition cost against a $756.54 annual customer.
Bank charges are 3.1% of income, larger than insurance, technology and equipment repairs combined. That is $78,384. On a business collecting from thousands of households by card, merchant fees behave like a cost of sale, and at that size they are worth negotiating as one.
This business bills $2,490,179 on a territory larger than the current standard. That is more than twice the first quarter's average of $1,002,272, and the business had more than five years of history before the franchisor bought it. So read the 35.0% as what a mature, oversized operation produced.
Royalties are shown at the 8% a new franchisee pays. Our two further restatements follow the same logic. They show what this Mosquito Shield business would have kept had it carried every obligation the current agreement imposes.
The minimum
Minimum gross sales by period
| 12-month period | 1 territory | 2 territories | 3 territories | 4 territories | 5 territories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | $45,000 | $67,500 | $90,000 | $110,000 | $140,000 |
| Second | $90,000 | $135,000 | $180,000 | $220,000 | $280,000 |
| Third | $157,500 | $236,250 | $315,000 | $385,000 | $490,000 |
| Fourth | $236,250 | $354,375 | $472,500 | $577,500 | $735,000 |
| Fifth and beyond | $283,500 | $425,250 | $567,000 | $693,000 | $882,000 |
| Fifth and beyond, per territory * | $283,500 | $212,625 | $189,000 | $173,250 | $176,400 |
The schedule is as the brand reported it; the per-territory row is marked *, dividing each figure by the territory count.
The lowest per-territory minimum in the table is $173,250; the average reporting territory bills $74,154. That is 2.3 times apart *. For a single territory the year-five figure is $283,500, 3.8 times what the average territory in this system actually produced in 2025.
Missing the minimum costs 8% of the shortfall in royalty. A four-territory franchisee at the third quarter's $181,665 against a $693,000 requirement owes royalty on the gap: $40,907 *, on top of the royalty already paid. That is 22.5% of the year's revenue, and it arrives alongside the right to shrink the territory.
The per-territory requirement falls as territory count rises. That is $283,500 for one, $212,625 each for two, then $189,000, $173,250 and $176,400 *. So buying a second territory lowers the bar on the first by $70,875, which is an argument for scale that sits entirely outside operations.
The first-period minimum is $45,000 and the fifth-period one is $283,500. That is a 6.3-times climb across four years, with the largest rise between periods two and four. The fourth quartile averages $101,342 across 3.4 territories, which sits below the three-territory second-period figure of $180,000.
What the fees come to
| quartile | Gross sales | Royalty at 8% | Brand fund at 2% | Local advertising | Total with local advertising | Share with local advertising |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | $1,002,272 | $80,182 | $20,045 | $100,227 | $200,454 | 20.0% |
| Second | $342,703 | $27,416 | $6,854 | $50,000 | $84,270 | 24.6% |
| All 66 average | $398,950 | $31,916 | $7,979 | $50,000 | $89,895 | 22.5% |
| Third | $181,665 | $14,533 | $3,633 | $50,000 | $68,166 | 37.5% |
| Fourth | $101,342 | $8,107 | $2,027 | $50,000 | $60,134 | 59.3% |
Ours, built from the filed rates applied to filed revenue.
Including local advertising, the obligation is 20.0% of revenue at the first quartile and 59.3% at the fourth. The royalty and brand fund paid to the brand are 10% at every level. The $50,000 minimum advertising charge is why: it is 5.0% of the first quarter's revenue and 49.3% of the fourth's *. Below $500,000 of sales this brand costs a fixed sum, and the smaller the business the harder that lands.
Every franchisee below $500,000 pays the same $50,000 of advertising. That covers three of the four quartiles and the system average. Read alongside the customer economics ($267 to acquire a customer worth $2,521) that $50,000 buys about 187 customers a year at the filed cost *, against an average book of 559.
Required monthly services add further fixed cost. Bookkeeping costs $200 to $500 a month through an approved vendor, a sales center $300 to $750 a month and accounting software up to $250 a month. At the top of those ranges that is $18,000 a year *, 17.8% of the fourth quarter's entire revenue.
The network and what it costs to open
Franchised territories, 2023 to 2025
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminations | Non-renewals | Reacquired | Ceased, other | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 373 | 99 | 56 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 416 |
| 2024 | 416 | 66 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 435 |
| 2025 | 435 | 13 | 38 | 0 | 23 | 3 | 384 |
As the brand reported it; every row reconciles exactly.
Openings ran 99, 66 and 13 while terminations ran 56, 46 and 38. The system added 43 territories in 2023, 19 in 2024 and lost 51 in 2025. Recruitment has slowed by 87% across two years while departures have slowed by 32%.
Zero new franchised outlets are projected for 2026. That compares with 4 agreements already signed and waiting to open. An existing owner should read that as the franchisor consolidating around the territories it has.
140 territories terminated in three years out of a base near 400. That is 35% of the system. Read alongside the 45 units excluded from the performance tables for operating outside material compliance, the picture is of a brand actively resetting who holds its ground.
Buying a territory
| Item | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $54,500 | $54,500 |
| Local advertising expenditure | $35,000 | $50,000 |
| Franchise starter package | $23,600 | $23,600 |
| Customized vehicle | $2,100 | $20,470 |
| Additional funds, three months | $1,500 | $5,000 |
| Training expenses | $1,500 | $2,700 |
| Lease and utility deposits | $0 | $1,500 |
| Storage-related expenses | $0 | $1,200 |
| Professional fees | $350 | $1,200 |
| Annual conference registration deposit | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Insurance premiums | $675 | $900 |
| Business management software | $250 | $250 |
| Licenses and permits | $50 | $100 |
| Total | $120,525 | $162,420 |
As the brand reported it, reordered here by size.
Discounts available
- Mosquito Shield charges $45,000 for a second territory, $35,000 for a third, and stepping down to $23,500 for a tenth, versus $54,500 for the first.
From Item 5 of the Mosquito Shield 2026 FDD. The costs on this page use the full initial franchise fee for one unit, before any discount.
The territory costs 68 cents a home. That is $54,500 for roughly 80,000 single-family homes, and $1.00 for each home above that *. A tenth territory costs $23,500, 43% of the first, so the cumulative price of ten is $349,500 against $545,000 at the single-territory rate.
$89,500 of the low column goes to the franchisor. That is the $54,500 fee, the $23,600 starter package, the $1,000 conference deposit and $10,400 of vehicle customization at the low end, 74% of a $120,525 build *. The remainder is largely the $35,000 opening advertising push.
The build is 0.30 to 0.41 times the average franchisee's revenue. That is $120,525 to $162,420 against $398,950 *. The build is light for the revenue it supports, since a Mosquito Shield business runs on a van, a tank and a storage unit.
Working capital of $1,500 to $5,000 covers three months. Mosquito Shield is a seasonal trade, where 22.4% of the year's revenue arrives as prepay before the season and the $50,000 advertising requirement starts in year two. The prepay is what funds the spring, and building that prepay percentage is the most valuable cash-management habit in this model.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
How much does a Mosquito Shield franchise make?
Mosquito Shield franchisees averaged $398,950 of sales in 2025, with a median of $235,812, according to Item 19 of Mosquito Shield’s 2026 FDD, issued 8 April 2026. The 66 in that group are 17%* of Mosquito Shield’s 384 locations. Fees paid to Mosquito Shield come to about 10%* of sales. A Mosquito Shield franchise costs $120,525 to $162,420 to open.
What should a Mosquito Shield business be billing?
The 66 franchisees who had completed more than two full seasons by 31 December 2025 averaged $398,950 of gross sales with a median of $235,812, ranging from $49,389 to $2,732,473. 20 of the 66, 30%, reached the average. By quartile the averages were $1,002,272, $342,703, $181,665 and $101,342, held across an average of 10.0, 4.0, 4.3 and 3.4 territories respectively. That works out at $100,227, $85,676, $42,248 and $29,806 per territory, and $74,154 across all 66. System-wide sales were $29,830,420 in 2025, up from $26,747,121 and $23,770,555.
What does the customer book look like at Mosquito Shield?
Mosquito Shield had 36,884 customers system-wide in 2025 at an average of $756.54 each, with an 82.5% retention rate calculated system-wide. Customer acquisition cost was $267 and lifetime value $2,521, built from $499 in year one and $674 in each of years two to four. Prepayments of $6,670,757 were collected in autumn 2025 and the following winter, 22.4% of the year's sales, against a 2024 prepay percentage of 24%. New customer sales totaled $7,062,881, of which $6,155,996 was mosquito service and the balance tick, perimeter and event work. By quartile, customers per territory ran 139.6, 114.0, 63.0 and 50.9 while revenue per customer ran $717.96, $751.54, $670.35 and $585.79.
What does a profit and loss look like at Mosquito Shield?
The only one published belongs to a company-owned business in southeast Pennsylvania the franchisor acquired in early 2025. It had more than five years of history and a territory larger than the current standard. On income of $2,490,179: cost of goods 31.2%, wages 11.3%, royalties 8.0% at the new franchisee rate, marketing 5.2%, bank charges 3.1%, facilities 1.8%, insurance 1.0% and seven smaller lines, for total costs of 65.0% and adjusted EBITDA of 35.0%. That statement has marketing below the 10% a franchisee must spend and shows no brand fund fee; restated at both, the margin is 28.2%.
What fees does Mosquito Shield charge?
Royalty is 8% of the greater of actual gross sales or the minimum gross sales required for that period, collected weekly by direct transfer. A brand fund fee takes 2% of gross sales on the same schedule. Local advertising must reach the greater of $50,000 or 10% of gross revenues each year after the first. Required services add further cost: bookkeeping through an approved vendor at $200 to $500 a month, a sales center at $300 to $750 a month, accounting software at up to $250 a month. Software and technology fees are at vendor rates. No advertising cooperatives exist today, though one may be formed with contributions up to $25,000 a year, credited against the local advertising requirement.
Who does bookkeeping for a Mosquito Shield franchise?
The franchise agreement requires bookkeeping through an approved or designated vendor at $200 to $500 a month. So the question here is less who keeps the ledger and more who reads it. Three things need watching. The first is prepay: 22.4% of system revenue arrives before the season. That is deferred revenue on the balance sheet and cash in the bank at the same time. Treating it as either one alone misstates both the year and the runway. The second is the minimum gross sales schedule, which governs territorial protection and lets the franchisor collect 8% of any shortfall. So the accrual has to be measured against the greater of actual sales and the required minimum for the anniversary year, which runs from the opening date. The third is the minimum advertising charge of the greater of $50,000 or 10%. For most of this system, that is a fixed $50,000 and has to be tracked against approved spend. Underneath all three, the measure that actually moves the business is customers per territory, because revenue per customer varies little across the whole distribution. Averan provides bookkeeping, controller, and fractional CFO support for franchise owners and has Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors on the team.
Questions worth putting to Mosquito Shield
These are questions the Mosquito Shield filing leaves open. An owner or a buyer can put them to Mosquito Shield directly.
- Is the profit figure in Item 19 before or after owner pay, and how many locations sit below it?
- Which factors does Mosquito Shield see in its highest-selling locations, such as trade area, years open and size?
- How long does a new location take to reach the average you publish, and what does the build-up look like month by month?
- At what level of sales do the minimum charges stop applying and the percentage take over?
- How many Mosquito Shield locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Numbers Check runs the same checks on your own numbers. It scores where you stand and compares you with Item 19 of your brand’s FDD. It works out what one location earns and spends, and builds a 13-week cash forecast. Checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →How many households per territory are you serving at Mosquito Shield?
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Talk to AveranWhere these figures come from.
Every figure here comes from Mosquito Shield Franchise, LLC’s 2026 FDD and is unaudited by us. We are unaffiliated with the brand. Calculations of our own are labeled where they appear, the figures describe past performance at other businesses and are not a projection of yours. This page is an educational summary. It is not an offer to sell a franchise, and it is not financial, legal or tax advice. Mosquito Shield® is a registered trademark of its owner. How Averan reads a Franchise Disclosure Document.
These figures come from the brand's disclosure. They are not a forecast, an offer to sell a franchise or advice. Source: Mosquito Shield Franchise, LLC, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, issued 8 April 2026.
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Mosquito Shield reads against the rest of the lawn, pest and irrigation group: Conserva Irrigation · Lawn Doctor · Mosquito Joe · Mosquito Squad · Pestmaster · The Grounds Guys. The lawn, pest and irrigation guide compares all of them on the same figures.
Questions owners ask next
The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.
- At what level of sales does a minimum fee stop costing me more than the percentage?It works out the sales level where a minimum fee stops applying.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?It builds a 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- My payroll percentage keeps climbing. Is that a payroll problem?It shows how to tell whether payroll is rising or revenue is falling.
- Revenue was the highest it has been. Why did profit not move?It traces where the extra revenue went, line by line.
- At what point do spreadsheets stop coping?It explains what changes at around ten units and why lenders care.