TruBlue Total House Care, a growing handyman and home maintenance franchise with over 80 units, believes that aging in place starts with a safe home, and the company offers ongoing home maintenance and modification support to help seniors remain in their homes for as long as possible. For TruBlue’s rapidly growing roster of franchisees, this translates to a uniquely scalable business model. Here’s why…

“The great part about a service brand like this is that we are not limited to brick-and-mortar locations,” said TruBlue President Sean Fitzgerald. “With a retail or automotive business, for example, there is only so much you can do. In order to double business, you need to double your costs by opening another physical store. Because we aren’t limited by physical locations and because our employees are billed by the hour, you can scale and grow your business at a very minimal cost. It helps you grow exponentially.”

This home-based franchise model also allows for increased flexibility, Fitzgerald says. “You aren’t stuck with a lease, locked into any long-term expenses,” he said. “If you scale up and need to adjust because of market conditions, you can do so very easily. The risk of growth is completely minimized with a service brand like ours.”

And because seniors require ongoing help around the house, maintenance is not simply a matter of installing a few key modifications and moving on to the next job. That’s where TruBlue’s recurring service offering, Home Ally Maintenance & VIP programs provide a key differentiator from other brands in the home services industry. Home Ally Maintenance & VIP offers a lucrative recurring revenue model, offering maintenance services and reminders about routine maintenance scheduled regularly throughout the year. 

“People sometimes don’t realize how much routine maintenance needs to be done around the home,” said Fitzgerald. “If neglected, it leads to major and costly repairs. It is the Jiffy Lube mentality — if you look at your car, for example, people are conditioned to get routine maintenance. Everyone knows it. You don’t drive until it breaks down. You beed to think about your home the same way, but most people don’t realize that.” 

TruBlue’s subscription services allows homeowners, specifically busy adults and seniors, to ensure that their home maintenance is taken care of, whether it be mulching, picking up brush, touching up paint, putting batteries in smoke directors, fixing a sink, or otherwise. 

“We are much more than a handyman business,” said Fitzgerald. “The ultimate goal is to be our customers’ home service ally, their first call when something goes wrong with their home. Our second goal is to get our customers on one of our subscription-based home maintenance service programs, which gives the franchisee consistent, reliable business and really lends itself to scalability for the franchise owner. So much of our business is repeat clientele naturally — these are reoccurring clients calling us every quarter or so to fix something or upgrade something in their home. Our goal is to turn them into subscription-based customers so we can truly help them manage the maintenance and maintain the value of their most valuable asset: their homes.”

This subscription model creates strong cash flow for owners, Fitzgerald says. “It is predictable income coming in every single month,” he said. “It also gives us permission to check in with clients and ask if there is anything else they need us to do, which can lead to more business and revenue. It allows us to maintain that communication.”

Since scalability is such a key part of the TruBlue business model, Fitzgerald says the team makes sure to train franchise owners on everything they need to grow their business the right way from day one. “We structure the organization with the same roles, responsibilities and teams,” he said. “That means once you create one team, the rest — teams two, three, four, five and six — use the same process. It is very easily repeatable. You can leverage that infrastructure and replicate your success.” 

All of these factors help explain how TruBlue ended up closing out 2022 with a 26% increase in systemwide revenue. 

“Overall, if you are following the model, take care of customers and bring in referrals, you will be able to scale your business without too much marketing,” said Fitzgerald. “That organic growth is the beauty of TruBlue and we are excited to share that with more and more entrepreneurs.” 

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/.