What Neighborly requires of its franchisees

Neighborly does not issue a single franchise agreement that governs all its brands. Each brand operates under a separate FDD, a separate franchise agreement, and a separate franchisor legal entity. There is no unified "Neighborly" insurance requirement. What the brands share is a structural template — and the departures from that template are where the compliance risk lives.

Across the Neighborly brand portfolio, the shared pattern for core required coverages is:

General liability at $1,000,000 per occurrence — including Products/Completed Operations and Personal Injury and Advertising Injury — and $2,000,000 aggregate. Every active Neighborly FDD reviewed by Rikor requires this floor. Products/Completed Operations is the component that responds when work your operation performed last year produces a claim this year. For trades like plumbing, HVAC, and restoration, the completed operations tail is the most significant insurance exposure the franchisee carries.

Commercial auto liability at a combined single limit no less than $1,000,000 on owned, non-owned, and hired vehicles. The range extends to $2,000,000 if the franchisor specifies. All service vehicles, work trucks, and personal vehicles used for business calls are captured. An employee's personal vehicle used on a service run is not covered under a personal auto policy — the commercial auto requirement exists for that reason.

Workers' compensation at state-required levels, required regardless of whether your state mandates it. This is consistent across every Neighborly brand reviewed. For trades with elevated injury rates — restoration, HVAC installation — this coverage is not optional in practice regardless of what the law requires.

Cyber liability at $500,000 per claim and $500,000 aggregate. The Neighborly template includes a cyber requirement at this limit across brands that have updated their FDDs since 2023. Confirm your specific brand's current Item 8 before assuming cyber is or is not required.

Additional insured, primary and non-contributory, waiver of subrogation in favor of additional insureds, and A.M. Best A-VIII carrier minimums are consistent across the Neighborly portfolio.

The entity names are not consistent. This is where multi-brand Neighborly operators create compliance failures without knowing it. The confirmed franchisor legal entities:

Mr. Rooter SPV LLC. Aire Serv Inc. Mr. Electric SPV LLC. Five Star Painting SPV LLC. Molly Maid SPV LLC. Glass Doctor SPV LLC. Dryer Vent Wizard SPV LLC. HouseMaster SPV LLC. Window Genie SPV LLC. The Grounds Guys SPV LLC. Mosquito Joe SPV LLC. Mr. Appliance SPV LLC. Mr. Handyman SPV LLC. Rainbow International Holdings Inc.

Notice two things. Most Neighborly brands follow the "[Brand Name] SPV LLC" pattern. But Aire Serv uses "Aire Serv Inc." And Rainbow Restoration's franchisor is "Rainbow International Holdings Inc." — a completely different entity structure. A franchisee who assumes the entity name follows the pattern will be wrong on both of those brands.

Requirements diverge significantly between Neighborly's plumbing brands and its restoration and pest control brands. Each brand's full coverage requirements are covered in the individual brand guides below.

How Neighborly insurance requirements vary by brand

The divergence in Neighborly's requirements tracks the divergence in risk profiles. Neighborly's brands span 11 trades. The further apart the trades are in operational risk, the more different the insurance requirements — and the more dangerous it is to assume one brand's setup transfers to another.

The clearest example is the plumbing-to-restoration comparison. Mr. Rooter Plumbing and Rainbow Restoration are both Neighborly brands. Both send crews into homes. Both require the same core liability structure. But a $34,000 water intrusion from a plumbing repair and a $280,000 Category 3 water loss from a restoration job are not the same completed operations exposure. The same GL limit can be inadequate for one and sufficient for the other.

The second divergence point is cyber liability. Neighborly's more recently updated FDDs include the $500,000 cyber requirement in Item 8. Franchisees operating under older FDDs may not have that requirement stated explicitly. A Neighborly franchisee who added a second brand after 2023 may have one FDD that requires cyber and one that predates the requirement — two separate compliance standards on the same renewal.

Multi-unit Neighborly operators face a specific trap when combining coverage. It is sometimes possible to use the same carrier and the same policy structure for two Neighborly brands. It is rarely possible to use the exact same policy for both without modification. Trade endorsements differ. Entity names differ. The completed operations sub-limits appropriate for a Mr. Appliance service franchise are not the same as those appropriate for a Rainbow Restoration large-loss operation.