Pool Scouts recently scored a major win by signing a four-unit deal with private equity firm FranBridge Capital to bring the pool cleaning franchise to the Greater Atlanta area. 

The signing aligns with the Virginia Beach, Virginia-based brand’s plans to expand throughout the state of Georgia and beyond. Pool Scouts, which currently has more than 50 territories across eight states, has further room for expansion in Georgia, with two remaining available territories in the Atlanta metro as well as two in the cities of Columbus and Macon. In addition to Georgia, Pool Scouts is targeting Baltimore; Columbia, South Carolina; Greensboro, North Carolina; Las Vegas; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans; San Antonio, Houston and Dallas, Texas for further growth. 

The FranBridge Capital team is led by CEO and Partner Jon Ostenson, Chairman and Partner Allan Young and Operating Partner Christian Pillat. The trio already owns several Atlanta-area businesses in the home services sector, including franchises with Home Clean Heroes, which, like Pool Scouts, falls under parent company Buzz Franchise Brands. 

Ostenson, Young and Pillat cited a strong leadership team as a major reason to go with Buzz Franchise Brands, as well as an increasing desire on the part of homeowners to improve their spaces as they forgo spending money on travel in the wake of COVID-19. 

“Another highlight is that they are forward-thinking when it comes to technology,” Pillat said of Buzz Franchise Brands. “Oftentimes, tech is what sets home service brands apart. Everyone has had a negative experience with a home service brand, and the Buzz Franchise Brands process does not allow for those to happen. Simply put, we love their systems. We look forward to executing their systems and maintaining the highest level of service in a market that is fragmented and historically unreliable.”

The team is eager to be a go-to for customers in their market. 

“The goal is to successfully launch four Pool Scouts territories and six Home Clean Heroes territories within the next nine months,” Pillat said. “This will be a scaled rollout. The dream is to become a brand name in the Atlanta area for pool and house cleaning services. As a private equity firm, we also want to return strong funds to our investors.” 

Atlanta is a desirable market for a Pool Scouts franchise for a variety of reasons. 

“First, the city is growing rapidly and attracting top talent and big-name brands,” Pillat said. “With the home services market being so fragmented, there is a massive opportunity within Atlanta to become the premier home service provider by leveraging technology to provide safe, punctual and professional home services experiences. For Pool Scouts specifically, Atlanta is currently the number-one growing pool market in the nation according to the number of pool permits being issued.” 

The Pool Scouts leadership is excited to have FranBridge Capital on board and believes the new deal will bode well for further brand growth in the region and prove that, while young, Pool Scouts is a lucrative business opportunity that provides franchisees with industry-leading support. 

“The leadership team at FranBridge Capital will make a critical addition to the Pool Scouts franchise system,” President Michael Wagner said. “Jon, Allan and Christian are sophisticated business executives who are also well-established in the Atlanta area. They know their market extremely well and will be able to hit the ground running in terms of identifying and serving their clientele.”

The startup costs for a Pool Scouts franchise range from $80,400 to $133,300. The franchise fee for a single territory is $20,000. To learn more about franchising with Pool Scouts, visit https://poolscoutsfranchise.com/.