Communities across the country need home services like painting, pressure washing, and home cleaning. Buying one of the top home service franchises is a great way to enter the home services industry with an established brand.
We’ve talked to numerous franchise owners to understand how owning a franchise is different from starting your own business. They share what it’s like as a franchisor and how to become a franchisee.
Plus, we’ll give you some recommendations from professional brokers to help you make an informed decision about which franchise to buy. Then we’ll discuss a couple of the major franchise families.
Keep reading or click on any of the links below to jump to that section:
What are home services?
The home services industry focuses on providing services to residential clients or other businesses. This industry is often less competitive than other types of businesses because there are fewer competitors in a given area.
For instance, there are 3.35 billion results for “restaurants near me” in my location, but only 192 million results for “HVAC companies near me.” That means it’s 17.45 times easier for an individual HVAC company to be found compared to a restaurant.
Going with a home services franchise makes it even easier because they have a national reputation already built in. Let’s look at some of the other reasons to buy a home service franchise.
Making Business Ownership Easy
There are many reasons that franchise ownership may be a better investment than starting your own business. We’ll discuss some of them here.
You can also read more about our process for evaluating franchises.
Brand Reputation
Home service brands take time to build. It can take two to five years to establish a brand, but when you purchase a home service franchise, some of that work is already done for you.
A franchisor has already built a successful network. They know how to succeed in the industry and will help you get faster results from your marketing.
Plus, consumers are likely to be familiar with the company. For instance, most homeowners are probably aware of franchises like One-Hour Heating & Air or Molly Maid.
More Structure
Franchisees have much more structure than other new business owners. When franchising, you’ll normally receive initial training and instruction.
Franchise companies normally require anywhere from three days to a month of on-the-job training before a franchise owner can start operations. This is to make sure that you’re prepared to operate the business based on franchise policies.
If you start a new business without a franchisor, you’ll have to learn and create policies from scratch.
Marketing Assistance
Part of the ongoing fees when you own a franchise goes to a national marketing fund that helps drive awareness across the market. Some franchisors also help with local marketing.
Business Systems
Franchise opportunities often have a monthly technology fee that helps cover customer relationship management software, websites, lead generation, call centers, and other resources. The top franchises may even have their own proprietary systems that are far superior to the systems a new business may be able to access.
Ongoing Support
The best service franchises invest in ongoing support to give you an advantage over other residential service providers. You’ll have a support network to help with everything from equipment challenges to tackling installation issues you haven’t faced before. You’ll also be kept up to date about industry innovations that are shaping the market.
Best Home Services Franchises
The home services franchises on this list have growing demand and high profit potential. We’ve also interviewed them and taken an in-depth look at their business models. The initial investment for each is under $250K, which means that all of them are competitive in their industry.
#1. Wise Coatings
Brandon Vaughn started Wise Coatings with just $15,000. This franchise opportunity requires:
• Franchise fee: $50K
• Total investment: $117.4K to $160K (including three months of working capital)
The company provides all the systems and marketing you need to make your residential service business successful. Check out our interview with Brandon below:
This floor coating company is worth investing in because its focus on customer service and referrals helps entrepreneurs make up to six figures monthly.
#2. MaidThis
Neel Parekh decided to get into home cleaning, but he didn’t want to be the one actually cleaning homes. He started MaidThis in 2013, and it stands out in the residential cleaning industry by offering a remote cleaning franchise.
• Franchise fee: $39K
• Total investment: $50.4K to $72.7K
• Royalty fee: 7%
Learn more about starting a remote cleaning business or check out our interview with Neel below:
Today, the company makes around $2M per year. There are over 17 franchisees where small business owners operate a remote cleaning franchise.
#3. Brown’s Pressure Washing
UpFlip and Joshua Brown are proud to present the Brown’s Pressure Washing franchise opportunity to help you start a pressure washing business. This franchise is a turnkey business opportunity.
• Licensing fee: $20K
• Total investment: $50K to $100K
• Royalty fee: 10%
The licensing fee includes pressure washing equipment, systems manuals, a website, and a contract. You’ll also gain access to video courses, an instructional boot camp, and an online community of fellow franchisees. The 10% royalty covers weekly coaching and admin support.
Check out our interview with Joshua Brown:
If this sounds like a good option for you, take a look at this free training for a sneak peek of what’s to come.
#4. Spray-Net
Carmelo Marsala founded Spray-Net to modernize the home painting industry and improve the painting process.
• Franchise fee: $45K
• Total investment: $170.8K to $241.8K
• Royalty fee: 8%
Learn more about starting a painting franchise below:
Spray-Net now has over 40 franchisees and multiple process patents, providing them with a competitive advantage in the home improvement industry.
#5. EverLine Coatings
John Evans started the Canadian franchising company EverLine Coatings. These companies don’t work directly on homes. Instead, they work with homeowners associations and businesses to repair parking lots.
• Franchise fee: $49.5K
• Total investment: $113K to $142K
• Royalty fee: 9% or $500 per territory + 3% (whichever is greater)
Find out more about Everline Coatings in our interview with John:
The average franchise owner makes nearly $900K in the first year. That’s a tremendous result compared to many small businesses that never earn over $100K annually.
#6. Pink’s Window Services
Pink’s Window Services is part of the ResiBrands family. The company focuses on cleaning windows, gutters, houses, solar panels, roofs, screens, and glass doors.
• Franchise fee: $59K
• Total investment: $128K to $166.5K
• Royalty fee: 18% + $1.5K per territory
Check out our interview with ResiBrands owners Brandon Downer and Carter Smith:
The Pink’s Window Services location in Austin, TX, earns $748,459 in revenue with a 47.84% profit margin.
#7. Garage Up
Garage Up is another ResiBrands franchise that focuses on remodeling garages.
• Franchise fee: $45K to $59K
• Total investment: $113K to $142K
• Royalty fee: 18% + $1,500 per territory
They specialize in garage door replacements, door openers, epoxy flooring, and garage storage solutions to help customers create the ideal garage.
#8. That 1 Painter
That 1 Painter belongs to the ResiBrands family of franchises. They provide painting, carpentry, odor removal, and pressure washing services.
• Franchise Fee: $59K
• Total investment: $164.7K to $332.4K
• Royalty fee: 18% + $1,500 per territory
The average franchise that had been open for at least 12 months reported revenue of $719,665.67 last year.
Broker Recommended Franchises
#9. Voda Cleaning & Restoration
Voda Cleaning & Restoration offers carpet and floor cleaning services. They also deal with insurance claims.
- Franchise fee: $66.6K
- Total investment: $176.2 and $257.9K
- Royalty fee: Approximately $6.4K per month, which includes 13.5% in fees with minimums
The franchise disclosure document includes a financial representation of $2.4M in revenue based on their corporate-owned location. The same location also reports a 60.1% gross profit margin and 26.9% adjusted EBITDA.
#10. Mosquito Squad
Mosquito Squad is a pest control franchise focused on eliminating mosquitoes.
- Franchise fee: $66.7K to $75K
- Total investment: $164.6K to $220.2K
- Royalty fee: 20% + variable monthly fees that can be over $500 per day
This franchise has an average annual revenue of $305K with a 51.5% gross margin and 26.3% operating margin.
#11. Conserva Irrigation
As a Conserva Irrigation franchise owner, you’ll be offering irrigation services to homeowners and businesses.
- Franchise fee: $49.5K
- Total investment: $84.8K to $110K
- Royalty fee: 9.5% + $40K in marketing annually + $300 monthly
Franchises average $777.7K in annual revenue with operating profits of 23.3%.
Premium Service Brands
Premium Service Brands is another major provider of home service franchises. They offer nine home services franchise opportunities:
- 360˚ Painting
- House Doctors
- Kitchen Wise & Closet Wise
- Maid Right
- ProLift Garage Doors
- RooterMan
- Rubbish Works Junk Removal
- The Grout Medic
- Window Gang
Want to join the Premium Service Brands family?
Home Service Franchise Businesses FAQ
Next, we’ll answer some questions about franchising opportunities.
How to buy a home services franchise
Starting a home services franchise is a fairly lengthy process. You’ll need to go through the following steps to start a home services franchise:
- Research and select a franchise.
- Review the franchise disclosure document.
- Secure financing.
- Sign the franchise agreement.
- Find and secure a business location.
- Obtain licenses and permits.
- Get the necessary equipment.
- Hire and train employees.
- Spread the word about your home services business.
What is the largest home service company?
Neighborly is the largest home services provider in the United States with more than 20 franchises available to buy. If you’re looking for franchising companies that provide home services, Neighborly is the top franchise company in the world based on size and revenues.
Each successful business opportunity has a different franchise disclosure document, initial franchise fee, and ongoing expenses. Their franchises include these brands:
- AireServ
- Dryer Vent Wizard
- Five Star Painting
- Glass Doctor
- HouseMaster
- Junk King
- Lawn Pride
- Molly Maid
- Mosquito Joe
- Mr. Appliance
- Mr. Electric
- Mr. Handyman
- Mr. Rooter Plumbing
- Portland Glass
- Precision Garage Door Service
- Rainbow Restoration
- Real Property Management
- Shelf Genie
- The GroundsGuys
- Window Genie
Interested in one of these home service franchises?
Are home services franchises profitable?
Home service franchises are normally profitable, but not all of them are equal. When you look at home services franchises, they typically have profit margins that range from 10% to 50%. These figures far surpass the typical service business profits of 3% to 15%.
This information is based on comparing our franchise database to our business ideas database in the UpFlip Academy.
What is the best home service franchise?
There’s no single franchise that will be the best for everyone. We provided you with a list of the top choices to help you analyze different opportunities and become your own boss. We also consulted professional franchise brokers to get their recommendations.
From pressure washing to garage doors, there are all types of service franchise opportunities in the home improvement field. The best franchise for you will depend on your budget, experience level, and local market.
Have any of these franchises caught your eye?
