TruBlue Total House Care, the franchise that provides subscription-based home maintenance and handyman services for seniors and families, is emerging as a true disruptor in the franchising industry as more and more entrepreneurs sign on with the brand. Elizabeth (Liz) Estline and Tom Meissner, for example, are long-time residents of North San Diego who launched the senior-focused, full-service home maintenance brand in their community last year.

Estline’s background includes business ownership, property management, operations management and administration. Meissner has been in Information Technology for the last 35 years, mainly working in customer relationship management and project management. They are both long-time residents of North San Diego, currently living in University City.

“Both of us have owned our own businesses in the past,” said Meissner. “Liz ran a music teaching company, and I ran two of my own small software consulting firms over the years. We also both have that experience of working for other people, but I personally was struggling with the work-life balance, and the company I was in was going through a transition and the idea of finding another large IT job was not the direction I wanted to go. I wanted to have more control and follow my own skill sets. I was looking for a way out of corporate America.”

Estline says she was going through the same transition, and when Meissner brought up the idea of starting their own business together, she thought it was a great idea. “We started looking at different franchises,” she said. “We wanted to get going with cash and get to profit as fast as possible.”

With this in mind, Meissner says the home service industry was their primary target. “I had a friend who exited IT and went into franchising for a window covering franchise, and we liked the idea of home services and wanted to find something that could work in Southern California,” he said. “We looked at everything from concrete cleaning to kitchen renovation, but there was no passion for those concepts. It didn’t get us out of bed.”

When the couple discovered TruBlue Total House Care, they were immediately intrigued. “As we read a little more and saw the senior care focus, we loved that,” he said. “Serving the senior community is something that makes you feel good, and I had a grandmother who ultimately had to move out of her house after having a few falls. She desperately missed her own home. Liz’s parents are also aging and want to stay in their home. The idea of aging in place is important. It was a passion play that we could feel good about.”

According to the National Council on Aging, 90% of those seniors say they plan to remain in their homes for the next 5–10 years. TruBlue helps those seniors age in place by performing thorough safety assessments for each home before modifying the space to make it safer and more comfortable for seniors, reducing the risk of falls and other health hazards. And while most at-home senior care services focus on light housekeeping, bathing and meal prep, TruBlue offers support both inside and outside of the home to help seniors age safely in place for longer. In addition to serving seniors, TruBlue’s handyman services also appeal to busy adults and families.

As experienced entrepreneurs, Meissner and Estline saw that TruBlue’s business model was well-positioned for success. “In many ways, the TruBlue business model combined all the best parts of other concepts we looked at,” Estline said. “It is a solid model, and strong support is in place to get the business up and running.”

For example, Meissner says the couple was drawn to the lower start-up costs — $65,000 to $91,000 — and the fast time to ramp up. This is largely due to the brand’s simplified operational model, which requires no brick-and-mortar location. 

“Some of the franchisees we talked to were seeing profits after the first few months,” he said. “The franchise also offers the Winner’s Circle program, and we wanted to take advantage of that as well.”

The Winner’s Circle is an exclusive program that rewards hard-working franchise owners that hit predefined milestones by refunding their entire franchise fee over time. 

Meissner and Estline officially opened their TruBlue operation in North San Diego in late 2021 and have since seen exceptional growth. “Our brand promise for trustworthiness has played very well in the area,” said Meissner. “We started with handyman services for busy families, and now that we’ve built a customer base, we are pivoting to seniors. We’ve had over 1,000 leads since October, which is great.”

Now, as referrals, repeat customers and close rates continue to increase as the duo establishes brand recognition in San Diego, they say their goal is to build self-sustaining operations to focus on expanding in the future. 

“Elizabeth and Tom are great additions to the TruBlue family, and we’ve been happy to see them scale their business so quickly in San Diego,” said Sean Fitzgerald, TruBlue’s President. “When you have a low cost of operations monthly, with high demand and high margins, that's a great formula for success. We are excited to continue partnering with qualified and passionate franchisees as we bring TruBlue’s much-needed service to new communities across the country.”

The total investment estimate for a TruBlue Total House Care franchise ranges from $65,050–$91,400. To learn more about franchising with TruBlue, please visit https://trubluefranchise.com/.