How Sean Fitzgerald Turned TruBlue Home Service Ally into a Growing Franchise

Sean Fitzgerald didn’t set out to become a franchisor. After struggling to find the right people to expand a business he started in college, he decided to explore franchising. 

“No one runs a business like an owner does,” Fitzgerald told 1851 Franchise Founder and Publisher Nick Powills on his “Franchisor Hot Seat” podcast. “Our business was unique, and it was replicable … I found it very intriguing because we knew how to run the businesses. We just needed people with passion to run it.”

In his current role at TruBlue Home Service Ally, Fitzgerald has built a brand that caters to a unique market: seniors looking to age in place. TruBlue provides essential home maintenance services that go beyond traditional senior care, focusing on ensuring a safe and well-maintained environment. With an innovative business model and a commitment to supporting franchisees, TruBlue has carved out a niche in the booming senior services industry.

During the Q&A, Fitzgerald discusses the importance of building strong relationships between franchisors and franchisees. He emphasizes that success comes from setting clear expectations, providing the right support and maintaining consistency across the brand. 

A summarized transcript of Fitzgerald’s interview with Powills has been included below. It has been edited for clarity, brevity and style.

Nick Powills: What I want to start off with — call it the five-minute segment. Frame your story. How did you accidentally fall into franchising?

Sean Fitzgerald: It goes back a couple of years when I was in college. I actually started a business, and as we grew, we had success and wanted to expand to multiple locations. But we struggled to find people who could run the other locations. They didn’t run it like I did. They didn’t have the passion. We had a hard time with that. We always came back to the idea that no one runs a business like an owner does.

Our business was unique, replicable, and we thought, let’s look at franchising as a model. I found it intriguing because we knew how to run the business. We just needed passionate people to run it.

That’s the beauty of franchising: you have best practices and a system, and you marry that with a franchisee, who is the owner. They have passion, plus the knowledge of the market they’re in — especially when you expand into other states and areas. The whole concept works. Franchising really works.

From a franchisee’s perspective, I think it’s the best opportunity for someone to succeed in starting a business. When you look at the challenges of launching a business from scratch, there are all these little things — like what kind of business cards, what kind of name, what POS system to use, how to find customers, who the right customers are. There’s so much you don’t know when you’re starting a business, but the franchisor already has all those things answered and proven. All you have to do is focus on execution.

I think franchising sets people up for success as business owners. It’s a way to live the American dream, build an asset and, as you can see, I’m very passionate about it. I think it’s a great formula for both the franchisor and the franchisee. It just sets you up for success.

Powills:  If you go back to when you were a first-time franchisor, and you say, here's the roadmap that you built, has it changed drastically, or does the roadmap to winning as a franchisor remain the same today as it did then?

Fitzgerald: Yeah, absolutely. I think the formula is still the same. The difference was me, understanding the relationship between a franchisor and a franchisee, and having confidence in that aspect of it.

When people launch a franchise, it’s interesting. I was just at a conference last week, sitting next to someone getting ready to launch their franchise system with no franchisees yet. I told her, your first 10 franchisees are going to be critical, but at the same time, you have to be the franchisor.

My lesson learned was that the first 10 we brought on, I let them walk all over me, and it hurt the brand because they started doing their own things. We didn’t get consistency.

In hindsight, I would have required them to work more collaboratively with everyone. You can’t just say, “This is what the operations manual says, you must do it.” There’s a balance between relationship building and helping them understand that we’re trying to build something bigger. Collectively, we all succeed if the brand succeeds.

That was my advice — make sure you have confidence in the system and understand the relationship between a franchisor and a franchisee.

We’re not going to run their business for them. They still have the responsibility of executing the business. Franchisees have to look internally too — if things aren’t working, why? It’s an execution piece, not necessarily the system.

Powills: When you’re saying that, and this is a fresh thought, but when you were talking about your first 10 franchisees and the mistakes you make with them, I almost think — and this is a big statement — that either the franchisor needs to be capitalized enough to build at least five units of their own, or actually build those five units.

If you think about the decisions being made, when you have unit one and you’re thinking, okay, my next nine units will be run by franchisees, you’re almost equal in what you’re doing day-to-day.

Or there’s a franchisor who sells off their first unit and doesn’t own any, letting franchisees run them all. Then you have the undercapitalized franchisor who says yes to everyone.

If you really want to do franchising the right way, and yes, you can catch lightning in a bottle with a tremendous concept that sells easily, but most franchisors — 87% — don’t sell a unit in their first two years of operating.

Why? It’s usually tied to capital. So, when you say that, I think it’s an interesting insight. To set a franchise brand up for success, it almost has to be capitalized enough to open five units or reinvest some of that capital back into the business. How does that resonate with you?

Fitzgerald: Yeah, I think it depends on the concept. If it’s brick-and-mortar, 100%. In a brick-and-mortar franchise, you need two or three locations to prove the model outside of the original location. 

Service brands, like we are now with TruBlue, are different. We’re not driven by real estate or location; it’s home-based, home services in the home. So it’s really 100% about owner execution.

From that standpoint, having multiple locations isn’t as impactful because it’s about the execution of the local owner. But it depends on the concept and industry. At the very least, you need a proven concept to instill confidence in both coaching and the franchisees.

Powills: All right, let's move to segment two. Why this brand? I think what you just said translates well into this. If we compare TruBlue’s investment range to other brands — apples to apples — you’re part of a multi-brand franchisor, which means there are shared resources and data that make this more impactful. So, when looking at an apples-to-apples royalty, it creates a point of differentiation. Comment on that, and then tell us about the franchise opportunity.

Fitzgerald: With TruBlue, we’re extremely unique. We focus on two main customer bases: seniors aging in place and homeowners needing light handyman services. Coming from the senior industry, I’ve seen a lot of support for aging in place from a care perspective. However, one of the big challenges is preventing falls, which often happen due to homes not being well-maintained.

TruBlue provides an opportunity to serve the senior industry with non-care, non-medical services, without the complexities and regulations of running a senior care business. It’s a nine-to-five operation because we work during the day, and it’s not care-based. This makes TruBlue a unique opportunity, especially with the growing trend of aging and healing in place, as hospitals are pushing for quicker discharges and home-based recovery, but the home environment remains a challenge.

We offer light handyman work, home maintenance and senior modifications. One of our key offerings is our maintenance subscription program, which benefits both busy adults and seniors. For seniors, the challenge isn’t just major modifications, but simple tasks like changing a light bulb. What seems easy for us can be a big issue for a senior, and poor lighting is a major cause of falls. Light home maintenance is crucial for their safety.

TruBlue’s business model is strong in traditional handyman services, but where we really stand out is in collaborating with the senior and medical industries. No one else offers what we do, and the demand for our services is only going to grow. I believe we’ll see more services like ours being subsidized by programs like Medicare Advantage, as we’re already seeing coverage for some of these services. The opportunity with TruBlue is truly tremendous.

Powills: One comment, one follow-up question. You said we wouldn’t need help changing a light bulb ourselves, but I have to say, because of our personal relationship, my brain went back to you changing the light bulb in my house because I didn’t know how. That’s happened multiple times. So, for the record, I do need help with that stuff, and I’m not a senior yet.

Follow-up question: Is it hard to find the right candidate? I understand the business opportunity, but most people don’t come to the table saying they’re passionate about this category. Do you have to find people looking for an investment type and then land on TruBlue? How does that first interaction usually work?

Fitzgerald: Yeah, you know, if people are looking for a service industry opportunity or something in the senior industry, when they discover us, they get excited. Our challenge is that people don’t really know what we do. But once they hear about it, they get excited. Many of our owners have said they were looking at a senior care business, and when they found TruBlue, they knew it was the right fit.

What’s really cool is that we’re in the senior industry, but we’re not senior care. We’re kind of floating on the outside, hoping people see us. We’re starting to get a lot of senior care operators who own a senior care franchise and then add TruBlue because it complements their business. It helps keep their clients in their homes longer, and they can refer the work, trusting that it will be done right.

I have one owner who’s been operating a senior care franchise for 20 years. He recently bought a TruBlue and told me that over the years, countless people asked him for recommendations for maintenance, handyman services or senior modifications. He never referred anyone because he didn’t trust anyone to do it right. That shows how badly our services are needed, and building that trust with customers is key.

We’ve built TruBlue on a model of trust, similar to a senior care operation. Our employees are background-checked, monitored and insured. We apply the same standards you’d see in the senior care industry to our technicians, which makes us a great opportunity.

For anyone looking for an opportunity to bet on themselves, this is it. If you feel like you can build a good team, tell our story and connect with the community, it’s not hard. People just need to know who we are and what we do. But you have to be a good storyteller and able to connect. If you’re someone who wants to sit behind a computer and look at spreadsheets all day, or if you’re looking for a purely mathematical business with brick-and-mortar throughput and projections, this isn’t for you.

You need to be the face of the brand and connect with the community. If you’re comfortable doing that and building teams, I don’t know of a better opportunity for someone with that personality. And I know I’m biased, but the opportunity we see today is tremendous. The only thing preventing us from exploding is building more coverage and awareness in communities about what we do.

Powills:  Let's switch over to the investment. Most buyers will ask this question, but what's the cost to get in and how much can I make? How would you answer that?

Fitzgerald: Yeah, so our investment is under $100,000, ranging from $65,000 to $95,000. We can't answer how much you can make from an Item 19 perspective, but we do have an Item 19 that shows our revenues and we have owners exceeding a million dollars in revenue.

How much you can make really depends on how the business is structured. We’re in a high-margin business with low overhead. Most of our owners launch home-based and the technicians are the cost of goods sold, meaning they’re billable hours. We explain to our owners that we’re almost like a leasing company, leasing our employees to homeowners. It’s all about billable hours, and with low overhead, you can do quite well.

Our time to breakeven is short compared to other franchise investments because we don’t have brick-and-mortar locations or major equipment. So, it can be a quick path to breakeven. Like any service industry, time is on your side — the more customers you get, the more repeat business and referrals you receive.

If you're operating correctly, your business will continue to grow. That's why we have owners who’ve been in the system for over 10 years, and the brand has been around for just 11 years. They're continuing to grow.

Powills: And if you're a franchise buyer, through your due diligence, Item 19 will give you more information on the potential, and talking with franchise operators will make a big difference. All right, let's close with this, which I would argue is the most important thing, especially coming from the leader of the organization: What’s the vision for the business as we go forward?

Fitzgerald: I have two visions: one short-term and one long-term. The short-term vision is to help people age in place. I want to change the way people are aging today. For most, it doesn’t end well. When families decide a loved one can no longer stay in the home, they typically sell the house, which is often not in good condition, so they take a hit. Flippers buy these homes and make 20-30% flipping them. The person ends up in a nursing home, which can cost $8,000 to $10,000 a month. After a few years, the money runs out and they go into state-run nursing homes, which is not a good situation. It’s a sad way for people to spend the rest of their lives.

I want people to live the rest of their lives in their homes. Senior care and companion care companies help people age at home successfully, but what’s been missing is keeping the home safe and well-maintained. By working with the medical and senior community, we can provide the peace of mind families need, allowing people to stay in their homes. This is not only cheaper but also retains the value of the home if it’s well-maintained. This is what makes our business purposeful and exciting. Our owners are passionate about helping their communities.

My long-term vision, and I say this jokingly, is to be the Jiffy Lube of the home. Jiffy Lube did a great job in the '90s and 2000s of instilling in people the importance of routine car maintenance. Everyone now routinely gets their car serviced, even if they don’t know exactly what’s being done. We want to do the same thing for homes. There are things that need to be done quarterly and annually, for both seniors and busy adults, but most people don’t realize this. If they did, it would save them a lot of money on repairs, just like with a car.

My big vision is that every homeowner has a service plan with TruBlue for routine maintenance. We offer affordable packages to take care of quarterly and annual tasks, saving people money and preserving the value of their homes.

Powills: Love ending with the vision. I continuously say bet on the jockey, not on the horse. And clearly, Sean has a tremendous vision for where this company is going to go.

Watch the full interview above or on YouTube.