Home Instead Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $93K – $351K
- Disclosed sales
- $2.8M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- 2.7%
- on 194 loans
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Home Instead is an in-home senior-care franchise providing non-medical companionship, personal care, and support to elderly clients at home. Franchisees run an agency recruiting caregivers, coordinating schedules, and managing quality and billing.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Home Instead franchise requires a total initial investment of $93K – $351K, including a $54K – $56K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $2.8M[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 2.7% charge-off rate across 194 loans[1]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low - issued within the last 12 months
Evidence: strong✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✓ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $93K – $351K
- 41st pct Senior Care
- Avg gross sales
- $2.8M
- 37th pct Senior Care
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 5th pct Senior Care
- Units
- 634
- 99th pct Senior Care
- SBA charge-off
- 2.7%
- % of SBA 7(a) loans not repaid · median varies by category
Quick verdict · Senior Care · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Senior Care median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $93K – $351K including a $54K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $2.8M/year (median $2.4M).
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 91/100 (higher is better). SBA loan charge-off rate of 2.7% across 194 loans (well below the franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2025).
- GROWTHPositive: net +7 franchised outlets in the latest year (17 opened, 10 closed) (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Home Instead, Inc.
- Parent company
- Honor Technology, Inc.
- FDD Item 1, page 9 of the 2026 FDD
- Predecessor
- We have no predecessors
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer and Director
- Seth Sternberg
- Incorporated in
- Nebraska
- HQ
- 13323 California Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68154
- Auditor
- Deloitte & Touche LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $170.0M
- vs $157.5M prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Seth Sternberg
- Headquarters
- Nebraska
- Founded
- 1994
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 50
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 62% above the typical senior care franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $54K | $54K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $29K | $187K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $10K | $110K |
| Total initial investment | $93K | $351K |
Source: Home Instead 2026 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $93K – $351K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $29K – $187K
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $54K – $56K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $500 |
| Transfer fee | $25K |
| Renewal fee | $9K |
| Inventory (initial) | $0 – $8K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 159% above the senior care norm.
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for Home Instead until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$330K
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Home Instead unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $2.8M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $2.4M
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- Average Gross Sales per Franchised Business, 611 franchised businesses - reported beside median gross sales $2,352,450.95 and the count meeting or exceeding the average (242, 39%)
- Sample size
- 611 outlets
- vs category median 22 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $38K→$13.1MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 65 of the 2026 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- Disclosed in the 2026 filing, covering 2025
- Transparency
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · typical
Compared against 79 Senior Care brands
Revenue is 12.4x the investment midpoint. At typical franchise margins, this suggests a payback under 3 years.
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $2.8M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 12.4x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.0% (near the Senior Care median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 4/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System roughly stable (+1.6% 3-year CAGR) with 634 units.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Senior Care medians
How Home Instead Compares
Category median of published Senior Care brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 634
- Opened
- 17
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 10
- Terminated
- 4
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 1.6%
- Company-owned
- 8
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 99%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +1.6%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +1.6%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 4
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 46
- Reacquired
- 2
- Franchisor bought back
- Termination rate
- 0.2%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 0.8%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 45 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).
States derived from franchisee contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
254 current owners across 45 states; 20 former (terminated, transferred or not renewed) listed separately.
- NY 13
- TX 13
- IL 12
- FL 11
- GA 10
- PA 10
- NC 9
- NE 9
- NJ 9
- WA 9
- AL 8
- KS 8
- +33 more states
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 194
- Loan volume
- $89.9M
- Median loan
- $204K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 2.7%
- on 194 loans · rates vary by category · see methodology
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- 97.3%
- 5-yr charge-off
- N/A
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 59
- Defaults
- 5
- Typical loan rate
- 5.9%
- avg rate to borrowers
- Franchised industry avg
- 7.5%
- brand beats franchise avg ↓
- Jobs supported
- 13,418
- 14.9 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 31%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 67% went to startups / new businesses, 33% to established operators
Franchise vs independent — in home health care services, franchised businesses charge off at 7.5% vs 11.5% for independents — franchising is associated with 35% lower SBA default risk in this category.
Vintage analysis
Home Instead charge-off rate by loan vintage
Top lenders financing Home Instead franchisees
Showing 3 of 59 lenders. The full breakdown — every lender, state distribution, interest rates & risk ratings — is in the SBA Lending Report below.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Lender network · 7(a) + 504
SBA Lending Report
Full lending analysis for Home Instead from SBA 7(a) FOIA data.
- Principal loss rate
- 1.0%
- Avg SBA guarantee
- 68%
- Avg interest rate
- 5.93%
- Avg chargeoff amount
- $178K
- Lender concentration
- 30.9%
- Job velocity
- 14.9 per $100K
- NAICS benchmark
- 5.7%
- NAICS 621610
- Jobs supported
- 13,418
Top SBA lendersTop lender holds 31% of loans
| # | Lender | Loans | Volume | Default % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American National Bank | 60 | $34.5M | 1.7% |
| 2 | Wells Fargo Bank National Association | 17 | $6.6M | 0.0% |
| 3 | PNC Bank, National Association | 10 | $1.5M | 0.0% |
| 4 | Stearns Bank National Association | 8 | $4.6M | 12.5% |
| 5 | First National Bank of Pennsylvania | 6 | $9.5M | 0.0% |
| 6 | Bank of America, National Association | 5 | $108K | 20.0% |
| 7 | KeyBank National Association | 5 | $685K | 0.0% |
| 8 | The Huntington National Bank | 5 | $1.6M | 0.0% |
| 9 | Readycap Lending, LLC | 4 | $2.3M | 0.0% |
| 10 | Truist Bank | 4 | $1.2M | 0.0% |
Geographic failure vector
| State | Loans | Defaults | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| CACalifornia | 28 | 1 | 3.6% |
| TXTexas | 15 | 0 | 0.0% |
| PAPennsylvania | 14 | 0 | 0.0% |
| MAMassachusetts | 12 | 0 | 0.0% |
| OHOhio | 12 | 0 | 0.0% |
| AZArizona | 10 | 1 | 10.0% |
| FLFlorida | 10 | 0 | 0.0% |
| NCNorth Carolina | 7 | 1 | 14.3% |
| COColorado | 6 | 1 | 16.7% |
| MNMinnesota | 5 | 0 | 0.0% |
SBA 7(a) lending trend
Borrower profile
Source: SBA 7(a) + 504 FOIA loan-level data, matched by FranchiseVerdict
What could kill this investment?
SBA loans charge off at 2.7% — 83% below the 16.0% national norm, i.e. lower lender-observed risk.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Home Instead presents moderate-to-high risk due to stagnant growth, undisclosed profitability data, ongoing litigation history, and unverified revenue claims that require substantial validation before investment.
Why this reads harsher than the A grade: the grade weighs financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency across the whole filing, while this summary lists individual flags without that weighting. The flags are worth checking with current owners; neither is investment advice.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: the franchisor is a named party (defendant).
Three pending franchisee groups (WJM/Nebraska, Managed Care/California, REM/Michigan) allege breach of a March 2024 settlement agreement re: early renewal rights (Nebraska case dismissed with prejudice); L4 Enterprises franchisee suit alleging misrepresentation and lack of support; Home Instead-initiated suit against Bidwell Home Care to enforce non-compete (resolved via injunction); concluded suits against Head 2 Head and Elderly Care Services for Lanham Act/trade secret violations (settled 2024); concluded Elder Care Providers of Indiana suit resulting in $500,000 judgment for Home Instead (settled 2018).
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Deloitte & Touche LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Total revenues of $157,471,302 (FY2024, consolidated) comprise franchisor revenue $122,206,142, marketing fund revenue $33,715,023, and company-owned franchisee revenue $1,550,137. Audited consolidated financials of Home Instead, Inc. and Subsidiaries; parent Honor Technology, Inc. Auditor report dated April 30, 2025; CPA firm name not present as extractable text.
ⓘ These are the parent company's consolidated financials (the parent guarantees the franchisor), not this brand's standalone results — the figure reflects the whole corporate group, not this brand alone.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 91 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDStagnant unit growth (0.5% YoY) suggests mature/declining system with limited expansion opportunity
- 02HIGHMultiple litigation cases involving breach of non-compete and wrongful termination indicate franchisor-franchisee relationship strain
- 03MEDService-based model dependent on labor costs and local hiring, with no disclosed labor economics or staffing efficiency metrics
- 04MINORFranchisor winning wrongful termination counterclaims suggests potential aggressive contract enforcement or termination practices
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 7.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 5 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory population | 10,000 |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 45 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 3 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | NE |
| Litigation count | 9 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Three pending franchisee groups (WJM/Nebraska, Managed Care/California, REM/Michigan) allege breach of a March 2024 settlement agreement re: early renewal rights (Nebraska case dismissed with prejudice); L4 Enterprises franchisee suit alleging misrepresentation and lack of support; Home Instead-initiated suit against Bidwell Home Care to enforce non-compete (resolved via injunction); concluded suits against Head 2 Head and Elderly Care Services for Lanham Act/trade secret violations (settled 2024); concluded Elder Care Providers of Indiana suit resulting in $500,000 judgment for Home Instead (settled 2018).
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 28 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 16 hrs
- Training location
- Omaha, NE (or another designated location, or virtually)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 1 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee with franchisor input
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- WellSky or Care Platform
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: WellSky or Care Platform
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
274 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Home Instead franchise?
The total investment to open a Home Instead franchise ranges from $93K – $351K, with an initial franchise fee of $54K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Home Instead franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Home Instead FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $2.8M. The median is $2.4M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Home Instead?
Home Instead is franchised by Home Instead, Inc.. Its parent company is Honor Technology, Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Home Instead FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Home Instead FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Home Instead's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, Home Instead has a charge-off rate of 2.7% across 194 loans, meaning 2.7% of franchise loans were charged off. Charge-off rates are one proxy for franchise risk, though they do not capture all closures. This data comes from FOIA-sourced SBA lending records.
How many Home Instead franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Home Instead has 634 total units in the United States, including 626 franchised units and 8 company-owned units. 17 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Home Instead a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Home Instead as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 91 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
If you represent Home Instead, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.