FranchiseVerdict
FirstLight Home Care logo
FV-00940·STRONGExcellent91

FirstLight Home Care

Health & Wellness - Senior CareFranchising since 2010Website
Investment
$151K – $256K
81st pct Senior Care
Avg revenue
$1.5M
53rd pct Senior Care
Royalty
5.0%
6th pct Senior Care
Units
284
89th pct Senior Care
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $151K – $256K including a $52K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $1.5M/year (median $1.2M).
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 42/100.
  • System growing at 39.9% CAGR over 3 years with 284 total units — strong expansion trajectory.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
FirstLight HomeCare Franchising, LLC
Parent company
Cornerstone Franchise Brands, LLC
Incorporated in
Delaware
HQ
7870 East Kemper Road, Suite 400, Cincinnati, Ohio 45249
Auditor
Douglas Corey & Associates, P.C.
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$19.4M
vs $22.5M prior year

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one FirstLight Home Care unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $1,545,696
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: personal services
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $151K–$256K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $66K–$129K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

113%

Above typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%
ROIC above 100% usually means the revenue figure is a system-wide aggregate or top-cohort number rather than a single-unit average. Verify the "Revenue · per unit" field against the brand's FDD Item 19 detail tables before relying on this output.

Store EBITDA · annual
$340K
EBITDA margin
22.0%
Total invested
$301K
Payback
11 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 FirstLight Home Care units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

27.9%

3.42× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

2.92×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$11.2M

on $23.2M purchase

Total debt

$12.0M

SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note

SBA 7(a) request ($11.6M) exceeds the $5M program cap. Excess capped automatically; backfill via conventional or equity.

Overview

About

FirstLight franchisees operate in-home care services, managing caregiver scheduling, client acquisition, and service delivery (personal care, companionship, medication reminders). Day-to-day operations involve caregiver recruitment/training, client care management, regulatory compliance, and billing/collections in a geographically protected territory.

CEO
Glee McAnanly
Founded
2009
FDD year
2026
States available
37

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$151K – $256K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$66K – $129K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$52K
Royalty
5.0%
percentage of gross sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
The greater of 1% of Gross Revenues received per month or…
Total fee load
6.0%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$1.5M
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$1.2M
Item 19 type
Gross Revenue
Sample size
194 units
vs category median 23 · large
Range (low → high)
$152K$11.3M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
4 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · typical
Revenue rank53th
vs Health & Wellness - Senior Care peers
Investment cost rank81th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank6th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank89th
vs Health & Wellness - Senior Care peers
Risk score rank10th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
284
Opened
52
Last reporting year
Closed
6
Turnover rate
2.1%
Company-owned
0
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
100%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+19.3%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+39.9%
Compounded over last 3 years
2024
284+46
Franchised units
2025
238
Franchised units
2026
203
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 10 states with active franchisees

The Territory Map

Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 10 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

No SBA loan data available for this brand.

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

42
Risk · 0-100
STRONG42 / 100

FirstLight presents moderate-to-cautionary risk due to undisclosed profitability metrics, ambiguous royalty terms, and rapid growth that lacks corresponding financial transparency.

Score breakdown · what drove the 42 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDNet income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 — unable to verify actual profitability despite $1.55M average revenue claims
  2. 02MINORRoyalty structure includes undefined 'Minimum Performance Standard' threshold that could trigger higher payments regardless of actual gross revenue
  3. 03HIGHNo litigation disclosed but home care industry faces inherent regulatory and liability risks (caregiver background checks, client safety, wage/labor compliance)
  4. 04MINOR19.3% YoY unit growth may indicate aggressive recruitment masking underlying franchisee satisfaction or retention issues
  5. 05MEDInitial investment range ($151K-$256K) is substantial with no disclosed net income baseline to evaluate ROI timeline

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Zip codes
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
Ohio

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
40 hrs
On-the-job training
62 hrs

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

63 numbers

Locked
(772) 925-••••
FL
(321) 221-••••
FL
(949) 940-••••
CA

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

FirstLight Home Care · FDD (2026) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above