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From the filings

HQ + multi-unit

TruGreen

Home services

TruGreen sets computer-system specifications — a Windows 10-class PC plus software for routing, customer accounts, pesticide/fertilizer tracking and profit-and-loss reporting — rather than naming one designated vendor, so franchisees choose their own supplier within those specs. With only 38 of the system's 259 locations franchised, and VP & Chief Information Officer Ayman Taha at HQ, this is a small, company-owned-heavy system to pitch.

For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.

Live signals

Total units
259
38 franchised
Unit growth YoY
0%
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2021
Royalty
8%
of gross sales
Ad fund
1%
national + local
Initial fee
$40K
per unit
Investment range
$82K–$192K
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Standards based
from the filing
Non-compete
1 years
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.

9%of gross sales (FY2021)

Ongoing fees: 9% of gross sales (FY2021)Royalty 8%, Ad fund 1%. Total 9% of gross sales. Drawn against a 15% reference scale.

15% reference

Royalty 8%Ad fund 1%

Franchisor behaviours

What the franchisor requires

15 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 7 explicit no's; 12 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.

Accounting

Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?

Yes

Franchise agreement

Franchisee also must provide Franchisor with a calendar year operating budget by March 30th for that calendar year in the form that Franchisor requires.

How the franchisor buys

Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?

Yes

Item 8

Other than vehicles (as described below), we or our affiliates are not an approved vendor for any products or services.

Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?

Yes

Franchise agreement

Franchisor may from time to time modify the list of approved types, models, brands, and/or suppliers, and Franchisee shall not, after receipt of notice of such modification, reorder any type, model or brand, or from any supplier, that is no longer approved.

How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?

0

Item 8

During our fiscal year ending December 31, 2020, we received no revenue as the result of Franchisees’ purchases or leases.

Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?

Yes

Item 8

For some of the foregoing purchases in accordance with specifications, we and you together, because we operate and purchase under the same trade name, may receive volume discounts, in the form of manufacturer and wholesaler rebates, when we both purchase from the same vendor.

Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?

Yes

Item 8

We may charge you or the vendor our costs in evaluating the alternative vendor.

Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?

Yes

Item 8

You may telephone our corporate purchasing division in Memphis (901/251-3726) to obtain approval for vendors we have not already approved.

Communications

Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?

Yes

Franchise agreement

As between Franchisee and Franchisor, Franchisor has the sole rights to and interest in all telephone and telecopy numbers and directory listings associated with the Mark.

Franchise management

Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?

Yes

Franchise agreement

Franchisor and its designated agents shall have the right to any reasonable time and upon twenty-four (24) hours prior notice (written or oral) to Franchisee to: (1) inspect the Business Premises; (2) observe and video tape the operations of the Franchise, including the performance of services at customer premises;

Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?

Yes

Franchise agreement

Franchisor may modify the Operating Manual from time to time to reflect changes in System Standards.

Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?

Yes

Item 11

Before opening, you select your business site within your Territory subject to our approval.

Marketing

Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?

Yes

Item 11

You are required to spend at least 4% of gross receipts on approved local advertising and promotion for your TruGreen business each Franchise Year, as described in Item 6.

Operations

Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?

Yes

Item 16

Chemicals, supplies, products and equipment used in your TruGreen business must be approved by us (see Item 8 of this disclosure document).

People

Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?

Yes

Item 15

Your business must be directly supervised “on-premises” by a manager who has successfully completed our training program or who is not required to attend our training program.

Training

Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?

Yes

Franchise agreement

Franchisee completes, to Franchisor’s satisfaction, any new training or refresher programs as Franchisor may reasonably require.

The filing answers no to 7 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 a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?Item 11
  • Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?Item 11
  • Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?Item 8
  • Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?Item 11
  • Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?Item 11

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.

Sales LeaderRegional 100 499

HQ leadership: CEO/President + VP Ops/Franchise + a first dedicated IT/systems owner.

VP SalesHead of SalesCROSales Director
  1. 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.
  2. Teams spend weeks manually combing through FDDs to assess unit counts and financials across 554 active home services brands.Replacing manual FDD research with instant corpus search saves 15+ hours per brand evaluation, allowing your team to assess 10x more targets and accelerate pipeline velocity by 30%.
  3. 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.

The vendor opportunity at TruGreen TruGreen runs 259 locations in the home-services segment, but the franchised footprint is small: just 38 locations are franchised, with the remaining 221 company-owned. Franchised-outlet count held flat year over year.

Who controls software purchasing TruGreen requires a computer system meeting its standards — currently a Windows 10-class PC — plus software that manages routing, customer accounts, pesticide and fertilizer tracking, accounts receivable and profit-and-loss statements. VP and Chief Information Officer Ayman Taha, under President and CEO John Cowles, is the clearest technology contact at HQ.

Tech named in the FDD, and what is actually required The filing requires a computer system and management software built to its own specifications, which franchisees may source from any qualifying vendor under the specifications-only supplier model.

Procurement, renewals, and timing TruGreen runs a specifications-only supplier model: franchisees may buy from any vendor that meets the standards in the confidential Operating Manuals, and can request approval for alternative vendors beyond the approved list. The royalty is 8% of gross receipts under $500,000 in a Franchise Year, stepping down through four bands to 5% above $5 million, on a 5-year term with one additional 5-year term offered to a new franchisee who meets the renewal conditions. The operator base is almost entirely single-unit, concentrated in Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Louisiana and Mississippi.

How to read the TruGreen FDD The 2021 Franchise Disclosure Document below spells out the exact computer-system specifications and the renewal conditions. Talk to FranCloud for a ranked list of home-services franchise systems worth pitching next.

Questions vendors ask

TruGreen, answered from the filing

VP and Chief Information Officer Ayman Taha is the clearest technology contact at TruGreen HQ, under President and CEO John Cowles. Because TruGreen sets specifications rather than a designated vendor, individual franchisees still choose which supplier meets those specs.
TruGreen requires a computer system meeting its standards — currently a personal computer with Windows 10 or a comparable operating system — plus software that can manage routing, customer accounts, pesticide and fertilizer tracking, accounts receivable and profit-and-loss reporting.
TruGreen runs 259 locations in the home-services segment, but only 38 are franchised — the remaining 221 are company-owned.
TruGreen uses a specifications-only model: franchisees may buy from any vendor that meets the standards set in the confidential Operating Manuals. There is an approved-vendor list, but franchisees can also request approval for alternative vendors.
The initial term is 5 years, and a new franchisee who meets the renewal conditions — notice, compliance, upgrades and training, a renewal fee and the then-current agreement — is offered one additional 5-year term. Franchised-outlet count held flat year over year.
The embedded PDF viewer below holds TruGreen's 2021 Franchise Disclosure Document — use it to check the exact computer-system specifications before you pitch.
Source

Read the filing itself

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TruGreen2021 FDDView only

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Operator footprint

Who runs the locations

45 operators run 47 mapped locations. 1 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.

Operators by units owned

Single-unit44
2–9 units1

Top states by locations

MT6
WY3
NE3
LA3
MS3

Ownership

The portfolio behind TruGreen

unknown of outdoor home services.

Related Home services brands

Wise CoatingsConcrete CraftHi Tech Deck FranchiseClintarHeroes Lawn CareGrassRoots Turf

Primary franchise filings · updated September 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.