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. After seeing significant growth in 2021, doubling its year-over-year revenue for the second straight year, the brand is well on its way to reaching 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 future of TruBlue Total House Care is looking bright.

“The ultimate vision for TruBlue is to become an integral part of helping people live in worry-free homes — both seniors and busy adults,” said Sean Fitzgerald, TruBlue’s president. “For seniors, the need is about making sure the home is not only safe and equipped properly, but also well maintained. Falls are the number one cause of major injuries for seniors, and usually, the little to-do list is what causes those falls. For busy adults, we want to take care of home maintenance so they can have their weekends back and more time to spend with family.”

TruBlue offers a range of customizable, subscription-based services that customers 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. 

And while the subscription model serves as a key differentiator in the handyman industry, it’s the preventative maintenance within the House Care Plus plan that truly helps the brand stand out. 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. 

Based on a survey of its franchisees, around 40% of the brand’s customers repeat within 90 days. Fitzgerald says this happens because TruBlue offers a relationship built on trust, as its handymen are screened, background-checked and covered under TruBlue’s insurance — something difficult to find with traditional handyman service providers.

“Today, handyman services are transactional,” said Fitzgerald. “Something breaks, and you call someone to come fix it. But my ultimate goal is to do what Jiffy Lube did in the automotive industry. Jiffy Lube came up in the 90s with the idea that you should get your oil changed every 3,000 miles, and it conditioned people to understand that if you maintain your car, you can save the headache of service down the road, which can pop up at any time. That’s what we want to do in the home. We don’t want to just fix things, we want to prevent them from breaking. It’s the next generation of handyman services”

To achieve that vision, TruBlue has continued to partner with national senior care providers as a way to enter the homes of more seniors and become more readily available across the country. 

In 2021, the brand launched collaborative programs with The Helper Bees, for example, an insurtech company aiming to transform the at-home experience for seniors, as well as Right at Home, the largest and fastest-growing in-home senior care franchise. This year, TruBlue also announced a partnership with Honor, the world’s largest senior care network and its technology platform. All of these brands will leverage their partnerships with TruBlue to perform safety assessments for clients while helping TruBlue reach a growing number of new customers. 

“As we develop more referral sources like senior care companies, we want to bring awareness as it relates to aging in place,” said Fitzgerald. “In terms of the future, we believe at-home care will soon be covered with medicare programs, which means TruBlue could be subsidized under medicare advantage. If our modifications can help us prevent falls, that will positively impact the costs of medical expenses. That makes us similar to preventative medical care.”

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 and preventative maintenance for seniors, TruBlue shows no signs of slowing down.

“Franchising is our model to grow, and we are looking for partners who want to not only deliver on our promise but also develop local relationships with other senior companies in their market,” said Fitzgerald. “That will be key to our success and growth as we expand our footprint."

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 initial investment to start a TruBlue Total House Care ranges from $65,000 to $91,000, and interested owners can visit www.trubluefranchise.com to learn more about franchise opportunities.