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The company offers ongoing inhome maintenance and home modification support to help seniors remain at home for as long as possible.

Now, with the senior population growing and the demand for home services skyrocketing post-COVID, the brand is looking for qualified and passionate franchise partners to help spearhead growth throughout the country, aiming to more than triple its size in franchise units by the end of 2025. Specifically, the TruBlue business model is designed for entrepreneurs who are looking to add a complementary business to their existing senior care portfolio.

“TruBlue was created to complement the senior care industry,” said TruBlue President Sean Fitzgerald. “The main challenge seniors have with aging in place is maintaining the home environment. So by being able to provide home assessments and modification solutions, it ensures senior care operators, whether they are in- home health, medical care, transportation or another senior care service, can add more value to their business - and ultimately their clients.”

Fitzgerald says TruBlue’s business model is also very similar to what existing senior care operators may be used to. “A senior care franchise business usually has the sales and marketing side, which is referral driven, the admin side, such as billing and scheduling, and then the care side, treating the clients,” he said. Our model is very similar; you are just swapping caregivers for handymen, or technicians. Anyone who already has that senior care infrastructure in place can utilize their team to grow their TruBlue handyman and home services business for seniors and busy adults. They already know this space, the models are operating very similarly, and it complements their existing business.”

Jeff Pittman, for example, is a TruBlue owner in Wilmington, North Carolina, who previously owned a senior transportation business called Carolina Mobile Transport. When he originally started that business, it was because he saw a clear need for a company that could help seniors get to their appointments. When COVID hit and fewer seniors were traveling to in-person appointments, Pittman started looking for a new way to help the elderly in his community.

“As part of Carolina Mobile Transport, we heard a lot about the home maintenance seniors needed to be able to continue to age safely and comfortably at home. I was thinking about taking on that need by myself when I found TruBlue,” Pittman said. “Our community is having a huge building boom, especially for retirees, and TruBlue allows me to help them enjoy those homes for as long as possible.”

TruBlue’s professional technicians can help with handyman repairs and odd jobs, yard work, seasonal services and minor home renovations. TruBlue also works with homeowners, realtors and rental property owners who need to get homes move-in ready quickly and keep them maintained, as well as business clients. While TruBlue can work with homeowners of all kinds, Pittman and his team are uniquely skilled in helping seniors.

Plus, while most senior care concepts require medical accreditation or training, TruBlue is completely non-medical, saving the franchise owner money, time and energy. TruBlue franchise owners can also tap into this demand with completely low startup costs and a simplified operational model, which requires no brick-and-mortar location.

“The operations are also much simpler because it is not medical, less regulations, and you don’t need as many employees,” said Fitzgerald. “That makes it a really great add-on to existing businesses.”

By adding TruBlue to their portfolio, senior care operators can also maintain a larger percentage of their clientele, Fitzgerald says. “The top reasons someone loses a client in the senior care industry is that they are hospitalized, they have to leave the home for assisted living or they pass away,” he said. “Many of those issues could be a result of falls. That is why fall prevention is a big topic, and senior care companies know this. With TruBlue’s three-step process, which includes a home safety assessment, modifications and maintenance, senior care operators can better prepare their clients for aging in place.”

This is also part of the reason why TruBlue continues to see new national partnerships with existing senior care companies across the country. “Big companies much larger than us are partnering with us because they see how our service is needed and related to their business,” said Fitzgerald. “They are utilizing our network of franchisees to provide those services, and it will only become more prevalent as awareness around aging in place grows.”

Additionally, TruBlue’s subscription services allows homeowners, specifically busy adults and seniors, to ensure that their home maintenance is taken care of, whether it be mulching, picking up brush, touching up paint, putting batteries in smoke directors, fixing a sink, or otherwise.

“We are much more than a handyman business,” said Fitzgerald. “The ultimate goal is to be our customers’ home service ally, their first call when something goes wrong with their home. Our second goal is to get our customers on one of our subscription-based home maintenance service programs, which gives the franchisee consistent, reliable business and really lends itself to scalability for the franchise owner. So much of our business is repeat clientele naturally — these are recurring clients calling us every quarter or so to fix something or upgrade something in their home. Our goal is to turn them into subscription-based customers so we can truly help them manage the maintenance and maintain the value of their most valuable asset: their homes.”

This subscription model creates strong cash flow for owners, Fitzgerald says. “It is predictable income coming in every single month,” he said. “It also gives us permission to check in with clients and ask if there is anything else they need us to do, which can lead to more business and revenue. It allows us to maintain that communication.”

Since scalability is such a key part of the TruBlue business model, Fitzgerald says the team makes sure to train franchise owners on everything they need to grow their business the right way from day one. “We structure the organization with the same roles, responsibilities and teams,” he said. “That means once you create one team, the rest — teams two, three, four, five and six — use the same process. It is very easily repeatable. You can leverage that infrastructure and replicate your success.”