Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S1431 since 2017
Right at Home
Other · independent · est. —
Right at Home is an in-home care company providing non-medical companion care, personal care, and support services for seniors and adults with disabilities. A franchisee runs a local home care agency from a small office, recruiting and scheduling caregivers who serve clients in their homes and building referral relationships with hospitals, discharge planners, and families.
Right at Home net unit count grew +39.3% from 2013–2018 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 & strong
Distress
Enough units and history to judge, and the record is good: growing or stable units with clean exits by the standards of its disclosed record. The standout in the record: the system is growing.
Exit rate · latest year
2.3%
fiscal 2018, per Item 20
Cost to open
$80K–$147K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
3.2%
vs 14.8% avg across rated brands
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2013–2018
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2018, 11 of 475 franchised outlets left the system — a 2.3% annualized exit rate. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 269 | 338 | 379 | 433 | 465 | 475 |
| Opened | 78 | 50 | 59 | 47 | 24 | 7 |
| Transfers | 9 | 23 | 20 | 14 | 20 | 16 |
| Terminations | 7 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 14 | 11 |
| Outlets at end | 338 | 377 | 433 | 465 | 475 | 471 |
| Net change | +69 | +39 | +54 | +32 | +10 | -4 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 177 SBA-backed loans to Right at Home franchisees since 2005. Of the 95 that have resolved, 3.2% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
3.2%
3 of 95 resolved defaulted
85.4%
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
2.7%
default rate × loss severity
$635,535
what recent franchisees borrowed
44 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
23 vs 28
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 RIGHT AT HOME BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
A typical Right at Home buyer since 2020 borrowed $636K through SBA — about $88K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $940K, that is 9.4% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.
Who finances it
Live Oak Banking Company
17.4% 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
43.2%
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?
−2.7pp
multi-unit vs single-unit owners
Owners of multiple units default at 2.3%; single-unit owners at 5.0%.
Computed from 177 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to Right at Home 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 $80K–$147K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$80K–$147K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$50K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
5%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$50K
5% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$500K
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 Right at Home with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 23 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $226K in back wages for 376 workers. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
23
Back wages owed
$226K
Employees affected
376
Since 2020
4
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Right at Home franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Right at Home 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
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks safer than 62% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
38 / 100
Measured
Modeled SBA charge-off
11.1%
Observed SBA charge-off
3.2%
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · System size (log units) (lowers) · Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · Single-lender dependence (raises). 50+ resolved loans and complete disclosure data — the score is checkable against the brand's observed rate. 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 Right at Home. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Right at Home's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Right at Home franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Right at Home franchises closed last year?
In Right at Home's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2018), 11 of 475 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 2.3%. 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 Right at Home franchise cost?
Per Right at Home's 2019 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $50K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $80K–$147K (Item 7).
What royalty does Right at Home charge?
Right at Home charges an ongoing royalty of 5.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2019 FDD.
Does Right at Home disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Right at Home makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2019 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $940K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.
How often do SBA loans for Right at Home franchises default?
Across 177 SBA-backed loans to Right at Home franchisees since 2005, 3 of the 95 that have resolved were charged off — a 3.2% 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.