FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

Verified — real FDD extraction

SBA-eligible · directory code S0810 since 2017

HOME HELPERS HOME CARE

Senior Care · independent · est. —

Home Helpers Home Care is a non-medical in-home care franchise providing companionship, personal care, and support services that help seniors age in place. A franchisee runs a home care agency, recruiting and scheduling caregivers who serve clients in their homes across a protected territory.

HOME HELPERS HOME CARE net unit count grew +14.6% from 20232025 per its FDD Item 20.

New to franchising? Start here

A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.

Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:

  • Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
  • Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
  • Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).

The verdict

Proven & steady

Distress

0
STABLE

The operating record is solid, but the FDD discloses a bankruptcy history (Item 4) — capped below a full endorsement. The standout in the record: the system is growing.

Exit rate · latest year

3.5%

vs 5.6% across 20 senior care systems

Cost to open

$121K–$175K

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan defaults

4.3%

vs 14.8% avg across rated brands

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth35%

3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1

Strong
Exit quality25%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Strong
Transfer / churn15%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Strong
Promise-keeping10%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Strong
Transparency15%

Item 19 disclosure + completeness

Strong

Systemwide units

2023–2025

+14.6%
316202334420243622025

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2025, 12 of 344 franchised outlets left the system — a 3.5% annualized exit rate, vs 5.6% across 20 senior care systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.

Show the outlet tables
Status (FTC)202320242025
Outlets at start304316344
Opened314538
Transfers201020
Terminations544
Non-renewals333
Reacquired by franchisor1068
Ceased — other reasons145
Outlets at end316344362
Net change+12+28+18

The lender's view

SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present

Banks have made 87 SBA-backed loans to HOME HELPERS HOME CARE franchisees since 2005. Of the 46 that have resolved, 4.3% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.

Charge-off rate

4.3%

2 of 46 resolved defaulted

Loss given default

97.0%

avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $

Expected loss

4.2%

default rate × loss severity

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$341,989

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

58 mo

approval → charge-off, defaulted loans

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

13 vs 18

distinct banks still lending

Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)

SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO HOME HELPERS HOME CARE BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL

The owner's side of the deal

FDD × federal loan record

Manageable debt load

A typical HOME HELPERS HOME CARE buyer since 2020 borrowed $342K through SBA — about $48K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $1.1M, that is 4.3% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.

Who finances it

Live Oak Banking Company

9.4% of this brand's loans

That lender charges off 3.6% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.

Who buys it

56.4%

first-time franchise owners

The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.

Does experience help here?

+1.3pp

multi-unit vs single-unit owners

Owners of multiple units default at 5.3%; single-unit owners at 4.0%.

Computed from 87 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to HOME HELPERS HOME CARE franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.

What it costs — and what it drags

FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty

Buying in means a $50K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $121K–$175K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$121K–$175K

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$50K

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

6%

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$1M/yr

Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.

Royalty you'd pay / yr

$60K

6% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$600K

royalties alone, excl. ad fund

This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.

Build a real pro-forma for HOME HELPERS HOME CARE with an independent CPA

Labor record

US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present

Federal investigators have concluded 1 wage case against operators of this system, recovering $612 in back wages for 1 worker. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.

Concluded cases

1

Back wages owed

$612

Employees affected

1

Since 2020

1

Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual HOME HELPERS HOME CARE franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not HOME HELPERS HOME CARE itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2024.

Modeled risk

FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record

Moderate

Modeled from the public record, this brand sits mid-pack: riskier than 52% of systems we score.

Risk percentile

52 / 100

Loan-corroborated

Modeled SBA charge-off

12.9%

Observed SBA charge-off

4.3%

Top drivers: Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · System size (log units) (lowers) · Single-lender dependence (raises) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers). 15+ resolved loans stand behind this estimate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.

Distress signals

news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits

No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for HOME HELPERS HOME CARE. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.

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Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →

HOME HELPERS HOME CARE franchise questions, answered from the filings

What percentage of HOME HELPERS HOME CARE franchises closed last year?

In HOME HELPERS HOME CARE's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 12 of 344 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 3.5% — compared with 5.6% across 20 senior care systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.

How much does a HOME HELPERS HOME CARE franchise cost?

Per HOME HELPERS HOME CARE's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $50K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $121K–$175K (Item 7).

What royalty does HOME HELPERS HOME CARE charge?

HOME HELPERS HOME CARE charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.

Does HOME HELPERS HOME CARE disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — HOME HELPERS HOME CARE makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $1.1M. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.

How often do SBA loans for HOME HELPERS HOME CARE franchises default?

Across 87 SBA-backed loans to HOME HELPERS HOME CARE franchisees since 2005, 2 of the 46 that have resolved were charged off — a 4.3% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.

Is HOME HELPERS HOME CARE a good franchise to buy? Health score, exit rate & costs (2026) · Franchise Watch Desk