BirdeyeBirdeye
Mandatoryof our approved third-party survey company, Birdeye, as a condition of operating the Franchised Business. We do not receive any revenue or other benefit from your required use of Birdeye. FDD DD-10 RI
From the filings
+54.545% units YoYHQ-led decisions
River Pools Franchising
Home servicesSoftware purchasing at River Pools Franchising is controlled at the corporate level, with mandates covering CRM, financials, and operational systems. The franchise currently operates 17 franchised units, all single-unit operators, and mandates HubSpot, QuickBooks Essential, and an online work order system. For vendors, this means a concentrated sales motion targeting a small but growing headquarters team.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
17
17 franchised
Unit growth YoY
+54.545%
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2022
Royalty
12%
of gross sales
Ad fund
2%
national + local
Initial fee
$50K
per unit
Investment range
$89K–$213K
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Approved supplier
from the filing
Item 19
No claims
from the filing
Ongoing fee load
What the operator pays every month
The recurring percentage of gross sales named in this filing, before rent, labour or any technology fee.
14%of gross sales (FY2022)
15% reference
Mandated & recommended tech
The systems vendors compete with
3 of these are mandated in the franchise agreement. Each is named in Item 11 of the filing, the incumbents a challenger must displace or integrate with.
HubSpotHubSpot
MandatoryPOOLS® website:www.pandadoc.com. The estimated cost of PandaDoc is $50 per month, per user. The Technology Fee includes access to the PandaDoc Workspace for one user. You must use HubSpot to track inb
QuickBooksIntuit
Mandatory02141, Phone: 1-888-482-7768, website: www.hubspot.com. The estimated cost of Hubspot is $100.00 per month, per user. The Technology Fee includes two Sales Pro users. You must use QuickBooks Essential
BuildertrendBuildertrend
.structurestudios.com. The estimated cost of the software is $100 to $130 per month per authorized user, which is not included as part of your Technology Fee. We recommend you use Buildertrend constru
Pool StudioPool Studio
d by us. We estimate the cost to update your equipment to be approximately $1,000 to $2,000. We recommend you use Pool Studio software in the operation of the Franchised Business. Pool Studio software
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
22 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 3 explicit no's; 9 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.
Accounting
Must the franchisee use an accounting or bookkeeping system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
You agree to establish and maintain at your own expense a bookkeeping, accounting and record keeping system conforming to the requirements and formats we prescribe.
Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?
YesItem 11
We have the right, as often as we deem appropriate, including on a daily basis, to independently access certain computer systems maintained in connection with the operation of the franchise and to retrieve all information relating to the operation of the franchise.
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
You agree to provide us, by the fifth (5th) day after the end of each calendar month, a profit and loss statement for the Franchised Business for the preceding calendar month and a year-to-date balance sheet.
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
Our affiliate, Thursday Pools, manufactures the pool shells that you are required to purchase.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 8
The identity of approved suppliers and these specifications are updated periodically in writing by modifying the appropriate pages of the Operating Manual.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
We are enrolled in a Pentair franchise program that provides revenue to us from franchisees’ purchases of pool equipment through SCP Distributors, LLC.
Item 8 gives this proportion in one of two shapes: separate percentages for establishing the business and for operating it, or one figure covering "establishing and operating" together. Where they are separate, answer with the operating percentage; where the passage gives only the combined figure, answer with that. What percentage of the franchisee's purchases must come from designated or approved suppliers?
70Item 8
The total estimated proportion of all required purchases and leases from approved vendors in relation to all purchases and leases you will make in operating the Franchised Business on a continuing basis is less than 70%.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 6
Supplier Testing Fee Actual Costs Reimbursement of costs Paid to us if you propose to and expenses in approval use a supplier that is not in evaluating a new already approved by us.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesFranchise agreement
If you desire to purchase any products from a party other than an Approved Supplier, you shall submit to us a written request to approve the proposed supplier, together with such evidence of conformity with our specifications as we may reasonably require.
Franchise management
Must the franchisee participate in a customer-satisfaction or net-promoter survey program?
YesFranchise agreement
You acknowledge and agree that you must participate in any customer service program or customer retention program which we may establish from time to time.
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
Our designated agents and we have the right to, at any time during your regular business hours and without prior notice to you, to inspect and/or audit, or cause to be inspected and/or audited, all records relating to the Franchised Business and operation practices of the Franchised Business in order to verify that…
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
We may modify, edit, delete, update, change and enhance the Operating Manual from time to time to reflect changes in the Methods of Operation.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
You select the business address for your franchise location, subject to our acceptance.
Marketing
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesFranchise agreement
you must spend not less than Seven Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($7,500) for local advertising and promotion of your Franchised Business.
Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?
YesFranchise agreement
You acknowledge and agree that each consecutive three hundred sixty five (365) days period during the Term of the Franchise Agreement, you must spend not less than Thirty Thousand Dollars ($30,000) for local advertising and promotion of your Franchised Business.
Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?
YesItem 11
You must participate in any designated cooperative and its programs and abide by its by-laws.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
You are required to purchase Pentair pool equipment and products, which you must purchase from SCP Distributors, LLC.
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You are required to purchase Pentair pool equipment and products, which you must purchase from SCP Distributors, LLC.
Payments
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesFranchise agreement
We shall be authorized by you to withdraw from the Designated Bank Account in any manner which we prescribe, which may include EFT or wire transfer, any amounts due to us, any Affiliate, or any Preferred Vendor, from you under the terms of this Agreement, including Royalty fees, and Ad Fees due.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesFranchise agreement
the Franchised Business must operate the entire calendar year, unless otherwise approved in writing by us, and must be managed at all times by your Managing Owner or an owner or employee approved in writing by us.
Point of sale
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 11
We have the right, as often as we deem appropriate, including on a daily basis, to independently access certain computer systems maintained in connection with the operation of the franchise and to retrieve all information relating to the operation of the franchise.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 11
We may charge you our reasonable fees to provide any additional training to you.
The filing answers no to 3 questions
- Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?Item 20
- Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?Franchise agreement
- Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?Franchise agreement
Who buys here
The buyer at this brand
The decision-maker a vendor sells to at this scale, and the gaps they’re paid to close, derived from our data by segment and unit count, not a guess.
The franchisee/operator personally, or a small franchisor still owner-run. Wears every hat.
OwnerCEOPresidentPrincipal
- 95.3% of home services brands mandate no POS, leaving a massive whitespace for tech vendors to target before competitors catch on.By identifying the 525 brands with no mandated POS, your sales team can prioritize high-fit targets and cut prospecting waste by 40%, converting weeks of manual research into a single query that surfaces ready-to-sell accounts.
- Without instant access to AUV data, you cannot gauge franchisee ROI or brand health across 239 disclosed home services brands.Seeing median AUV of $661,803.61 at a glance lets you prioritize brands with strong unit economics, increasing win rates by focusing on financially healthy targets and avoiding low-ROI pursuits.
- With median unit growth of only 2.62% YoY across 323 disclosed brands, you need to find the outliers poised for expansion before they hit the market.Using growth signals to identify high-velocity brands lets you engage them during expansion phases, capturing deals 2x faster than reactive competitors who wait for public announcements.
The vendor opportunity at River Pools Franchising
River Pools Franchising is a home-services franchise with 17 franchised units across 11 states, all operated by single-unit franchisees. The brand grew unit count by 54.5% year-over-year as of the 2022 FDD, signaling an expanding footprint that may create incremental software seats and new-location onboarding needs. For software vendors, the addressable market is small but concentrated: 17 locations with no multi-unit operators means a single corporate relationship can influence the entire system.
Who controls software purchasing
Purchasing authority sits at the headquarters level. The 2022 FDD lists Jason Hughes as President and Manager, Bethany Walston as General Manager, and Thomas Cottle as National Sales Manager. These three roles form the likely buying center for any software evaluation. Because all units are franchised and no multi-unit operators exist, individual franchisees are unlikely to have independent procurement authority for mandated systems. Vendors should direct outreach to the corporate team in Indiana.
Mandated and current tech stack
The 2022 FDD mandates three systems: HubSpot by HubSpot, Inc. for CRM, QuickBooks Essential by Intuit Inc. for accounting, and an online work order system whose vendor is not specified. Additionally, Buildertrend and Pool Studio are named in the FDD, though it is not clear from the disclosure whether these are mandated or merely recommended. For a vendor selling into this account, the existing HubSpot and QuickBooks commitments represent integration points or potential displacement targets, while the unnamed work order system may signal an open mandate or a gap in the documented stack.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
The FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement extract, so the formal supplier designation process—whether designated, approved, or open—is not publicly known. Similarly, the initial franchise term and Item 17 renewal signals are absent from the 2022 disclosure. This lack of contractual visibility makes it difficult to predict renewal-driven evaluation windows. However, the brand's 54.5% unit growth suggests that new franchisee onboarding is active, which may create periodic opportunities to influence the tech stack as new locations come online.
How to read the River Pools Franchising FDD
The 2022 Franchise Disclosure Document for River Pools Franchising is the primary source for understanding the system's mandates, executive structure, and unit economics. Key sections for software vendors include Item 1 (executives), Item 11 (mandated systems), and Item 20 (unit growth and geographic footprint). Because the FDD omits certain details—such as initial term length and procurement rules—vendors should treat the document as a starting point and validate gaps through direct discovery with the corporate team. The embedded viewer below provides the full filing for your own analysis.
For a ranked target list of franchise systems matched to your software category, FranCloud can help.
Questions vendors ask
River Pools Franchising, answered from the filing
The buying center includes Jason Hughes (President and Manager), Bethany Walston (General Manager), and Thomas Cottle (National Sales Manager), per the 2022 FDD.
The 2022 FDD mandates HubSpot (CRM), QuickBooks Essential (accounting), and an online work order system. Buildertrend and Pool Studio are also named.
17 franchised units, all single-operator, with no company-owned locations disclosed. Top states include UT, TN, NC, VA, and MO.
The 2022 FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement extract, so the designated vs. approved supplier model is not publicly disclosed.
The FDD does not disclose initial term length or Item 17 renewal signals. With 54.5% YoY unit growth, new location openings may create periodic evaluation windows.
The 2022 FDD was filed with state franchise regulators. You can review the embedded PDF viewer below for full details on mandates and executives.
Source
Read the filing itself
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FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment River Pools Franchising files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
22 operators run 22 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit22
Top states by locations
| UT | 2 |
|---|---|
| TN | 2 |
| NC | 2 |
| VA | 2 |
| MO | 2 |
Related Home services brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.