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How Lawn Squad is bringing a tech-forward, repeatable lawn treatment model to more markets, pairing strong unit economics with platform support as it scales into 2026.
Lawn Squad has officially earned a place on 1851 Franchise’s 2026 Fastest Growing Emerging Franchises list — a recognition that highlights brands shaping the future of franchising through innovation, momentum and strong demand. As interest from franchisees continues to climb, Lawn Squad is entering a pivotal phase of expansion.
“I think there are several drivers that are promoting growth right now,” said Josh Minturn, vice president of franchise development for Lawn Squad’s parent company, Authority Brands. It really starts with the foundation of the brand. We have a wonderful concept with a lot of technology. We have built a mousetrap that is effectively better than a lot of local competitors. But most importantly we have really great people that are managing the brand that are leading the brand and that again creates that foundation for us to succeed.”
Lawn Squad traces its roots to Weed Pro, a lawn care business founded in 2001 by Rob Palmer in Ohio, built around the idea that consistent, science-based treatments and reliable service win long-term customers. Over time, Weed Pro evolved into Lawn Squad and joined the Authority Brands portfolio, giving the concept a larger platform for growth and franchising.
“Rob Palmer is our brand president and also the founder of Lawn Squad and his experience in the industry is second to none,” Minturn said. “He has been on numerous boards. He is all in on all things lawn, right? So, if you’re talking about growing it, he is the expert on those things.”
The model leans hard into execution and repeatability: centralized support that helps owners capture and route leads, tighten scheduling and deliver a consistent customer experience, paired with systems designed to help operators run efficiently in the field. The franchise pitch emphasizes technology, marketing support and a structured operating playbook, plus the back-end lift that comes with being part of a larger home services platform.
“It starts when that customer calls in. We’re able to deliver a quote over the phone very very accurately because we use technology to measure the size of the yard. So we know exactly how much product it’s going to take to deliver a really great service on that yard,” Minturn said. “Of course, we can confirm what we believe to be true by going out and visiting that yard and making sure the grass that we thought was on the property is accurate, but again, we can do a lot of it using technology. Then, of course, we can let the consumer know that we’re on our way, we’ve showed up, we’ve completed their service. And then we can also do that in a very very timely fashion because the equipment that we use is designed with a lot of technology built in.”
In the first half of 2025, Lawn Squad welcomed nine new franchise owners and added 10 new territories, including its first location in Utah, which marked the brand’s first expansion into the Western United States.
“I think the message that we are communicating about Lawn Squad is resonating with those sources, those channels of leads, so that’s really exciting and I think that’s what’s contributing to our growth,” Minturn said.
Home services is a speed business. The operators who win are the ones who pick up the phone, get on the calendar quickly and keep customers coming back season after season. Lawn Squad is built for that pace, with the kind of marketing and customer-support infrastructure behind it that would take years to build on your own.
“If we get them to buy into the service and we can create this very predictable recurring revenue type of income stream,” Minturn said, “then of course we’re well positioned to sell that idea to prospective franchises.”
Lawn Squad’s next step is straightforward: keep adding territories, but keep the service tight as it grows. That means more investment in the tools and support that make the day run smoother — from technology and operations help to customer-facing systems that keep execution consistent as new markets come online.
“For an emerging brand at Authority Brands, there’s a major advantage that brands outside of our platform don’t necessarily get right away,” Minturn said. “So things like leveraging our scope and scale to get buying power, it’s already done, right? So franchises stepping into the brand, they can enter in with an amazing amount of buying power on vehicles and equipment and everything else that they need, the consumables in that particular line of work because Authority Brands already purchases a whole bunch of vehicles and a lot of equipment and a lot of consumables for the other brands that we own.”
Lawn Squad’s pitch comes down to execution. When the phones are answered, the schedule stays tight and the service shows up the way customers expect, the business has room to compound. As the brand adds more territories in 2026, the aim is to keep that discipline in place — and give new owners a clear runway to build a book of recurring customers.
Stay tuned throughout the rest of the month for 1851 Franchise's full Fastest Growing Emerging Franchises series to explore the other innovative brands making waves in the industry.
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