Why Now is the Time to Invest in a Non-Care, Senior Service Brand

TruBlue Total House Care, the franchise that provides subscription-based home maintenance and handyman services for seniors and families, saw significant growth in 2021, doubling its year-over-year revenue for the second straight year. That momentum has continued early in 2022, keeping the brand on pace early to reach its year-end goal of opening 40 new locations for a total of 100 units in operation. Now, with the senior population growing and the demand for home services skyrocketing post-COVID, the time has never been better to join the TruBlue Total House Care family.

“As a country, we are experiencing a change in how and where people want to age,” said Sean Fitzgerald, TruBlue’s President. “Plenty of companies have identified the growing desire from seniors to remain at home and, as a result, these companies have started offering more advanced in-home care services that address the medical needs that come with aging at home. However, almost no one is offering home maintenance specifically for seniors, despite staggering demand. We’re virtually alone in this segment, and we’ve seen tremendous growth as a result.”

A so-called “silver tsunami” of Baby Boomers is already hitting retirement age, and the senior population is growing fast. But today’s seniors are different from past generations in two important ways: First, more Americans are choosing to age in place, preferring to stay in their familiar surroundings. 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. Second, as the senior population grows, the expense of senior and assisted living communities grows along with it. The cost of care is quickly becoming out of reach for many seniors, and staying in their homes becomes their only option.

“Medical technology is helping people live longer, healthier lives, and as a result, the senior population is only going to continue to grow year after year,” said Fitzgerald. “As we saw with COVID, people are using their homes in much more versatile ways than they used to, and seniors are looking to age in place in the home that they’ve had for decades.” 

TruBlue services help seniors remain at home by performing safety assessments before modifying the space accordingly. The modifications made to the home make a safer and more comfortable space for seniors, reducing the risk of falls and other health hazards. TruBlue offers a range of customizable, subscription-based services that customers — whether they are seniors or just busy families — can bundle, depending on their unique needs and their unique home. 

For instance, its Helping Hands and House Care Plus plans have emerged as two of the brand’s most popular offerings. Helping Hands is a monthly service that allows TruBlue handymen to complete 90 minutes of to-do list items, such as changing light bulbs or fixing a leaky sink. The House Care Plus plan is preventative — a program in which TruBlue will come out once a quarter and focus on seasonal maintenance, such as changing air filters and testing smoke detectors. 

Matthew Neelan, franchise owner of TruBlue Cranberry in Pennsylvania, first discovered the need for senior home modifications while making deliveries as part of his former job with a bulk supply company. 

“It was clear a lot of people were trying to modify their homes or pay for home services because they were handicaped, older or just busy,” said Neelan. “Back in the day, a single company would come to do everything for one fee. But now, there is a separate company for every service — one does the lawn, one does mulching, one paints the house. Both older and younger people want to pay a price and just not worry about any of it. I started to come up with the idea of a house care company that takes care of everything. I did some Googling and sure enough, TruBlue was already doing it as the only national branded company that offers modifications for aging seniors. I bought into the brand hook, line and sinker.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Neelan decided to finally follow his entrepreneurial dreams and signed on with TruBlue in April of 2020. Despite the challenges that many other businesses faced during the pandemic, Neelan says the TruBlue concept has proven to be uniquely well-positioned for the current landscape. 

“The pandemic hit nursing homes very hard and many people in the older generation will now do anything they have to to stay in the home,” said Neelan. “Their home is everything. They have been in those houses for 30 or 40 years and they don’t want to go elsewhere. They don’t want to be in a strange place. We help them achieve that, and as a result, more and more people are reaching out."

Since opening his location, Neelan says he has seen a steadily-growing demand in his community of Pittsburgh and has been able to continue making connections with homeowners thanks to TruBlue’s recent wave of national partnerships. 

“The brand has been partnering with senior home visiting companies — those that can take care of the person, but can’t fix the house,” he said. “Franchisees are matched up with these companies and can build relationships. We also have relationships with companies that sell modification equipment.”

Fitzgerald says the TruBlue team aims to leverage this emerging national presence for major franchise expansion, especially as awareness around the importance of aging in place continues to increase. Since the start of 2022, TruBlue has added 10 new franchise locations, keeping the brand on pace to reach its goal of 100-plus locations by year’s end. With its handyman services, preventative maintenance and the growth of its senior-care offering, TruBlue shows no signs of slowing down.
 

“We’re really excited about the growth we’ve seen, but even more excited about what we’re able to provide for seniors and busy families,” said Fitzgerald. “We want to make sure the home environment is not only as safe as it can be but also well-maintained. We believe that if we focus on our customers and provide them with the best service possible, growth will organically follow. So far, that’s exactly what we’ve seen.”

TruBlue is actively seeking new franchise owners in markets across the country and has identified Orlando, Miami, Jacksonville and Naples, Florida, as well as Dallas and Austin, Texas, as key development markets.

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/.