Assisting Hands Home Care

Assisting Hands charges a $48,500 franchise fee for a standard territory. Total investment of $97K to $180K puts it in the same range as Always Best Care ($90K-$146K) and below Brightstar Care's higher-end buildout requirements. The office-based model means your primary upfront costs are training, working capital, and technology — not equipment or extensive leasehold improvements.

The royalty structure is the most franchisee-favorable in this comparison group. Below $48,000/month in gross revenue, you pay 5%. Between $48K-$96K/month, 4.5%. Above $96K/month ($1.15M annualized), 4%. The minimum royalties are genuinely low: $50/week in year 1, $100/week in year 2, $200/week thereafter — meaning a startup franchise pays $2,600 in year 1 minimums, far below the $6,000/year minimums charged by some competitors. The National Advertising Fund takes just 0.5% (minimum $150/month).

For a franchise doing $2M in annual revenue ($167K/month), the blended royalty plus ad fund is approximately 4.5% — among the lowest effective rates in home care franchising.

Assisting Hands' Item 19 presents individual location revenues by geography rather than system-wide averages — an unusual approach that provides both more transparency and more complexity. The reporting group covers 181 franchised and 5 affiliate locations open at least 12 months, plus 9 locations owned by existing franchisees that opened more recently.

The range is the headline: $77,278 (a single-territory location in Clinton Township, MI) to $11,209,774 (a Cincinnati, OH operator running multiple territories under one business). The Cincinnati number is an outlier representing a sophisticated multi-territory operator, not a first-time franchisee result. The geographic spread suggests that local referral relationships with hospitals, discharge planners, and senior living facilities are the primary revenue driver — the same franchise in two different markets produces dramatically different results based on relationship-building rather than brand pull.

Assisting Hands has grown every year: 175 units in 2022, 189 in 2023, 207 in 2024. The 18-unit net gain in 2024 represents roughly 10% annual growth — strong for a service franchise in this size range. The system is smaller than Always Best Care (275 units) and much smaller than Home Instead, but has been growing faster on a percentage basis.

The smaller system size cuts both ways: you get more attention from corporate support, but the brand has less consumer recognition than a Home Instead or Comfort Keepers. In home care, this matters less than in consumer-facing franchises — the referral network of healthcare professionals cares about care quality and reliability, not brand name.

The wide revenue range ($77K to $11.2M) obscures what a typical new Assisting Hands franchise looks like in years 1-3. Ask the franchisor specifically for the median revenue of franchisees in their second and third years of operation, and ask to speak with owners in markets that resemble yours in demographics and payer mix.

Home care staffing is tight in most U.S. markets. Caregiver wages have risen significantly since 2022 — in many states, certified home health aides now earn $18-$22/hour — and your ability to win and retain caregivers at competitive wages determines whether you can accept client referrals when they come in. A franchise that can't staff shifts loses clients and referral partner trust quickly.