Nurse Next Door franchise unit economics
Nurse Next Door franchisees run an in-home care business inside a territory holding at least 10,000 residents aged 65 and over. Scheduling and intake handled by a central Care Services Center in Vancouver. 35 territories averaged $221,375 in their first twelve months, 32 averaged $525,653 in their second year and 15 averaged $922,781 in their third. Royalty, the Care Services Center fee and the brand fund together take 13% of gross sales.
- Primary source
- Nurse Next Door Home Healthcare Services (USA) Inc., 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
- Items read
- Items 5 and 6 for fees; Item 7 for cost to open; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure; Item 20 for the location count
- Population
- 15 of 71 locations
- Our calculations
- Marked on the page with an asterisk. Method
- Last reviewed
- 26 September 2026
Disclosure-based. Not a forecast, not an offer to sell a franchise, and not advice.
The fees take 13% of gross sales here (5% royalty, 7% for the Care Services Center that runs your scheduling and intake, 1% to the brand fund) plus at least $19,200 a year in fixed charges. At the first-year median of $139,239 that load reaches 26.8% of everything you bill. By the third-year average of $922,781 it settles at 15.8%. The whole first three years is a race to get the percentage down by getting the revenue up.
- Fees take 26.8% of sales at the first-year median and 15.8% at the third-year average. $37,301 on $139,239, against $145,617 on $922,781.
- Hitting $40,000 a month for six straight months cuts the Care Services Center fee from 7% to 5%. The average territory bills $34,117 in month twelve, $5,883 short of starting the clock.
- The average territory has about ten clients at the end of year one. $34,117 of month-twelve sales at $3,348 per client per month.
- 31 territories closed in five years and 14 of them shut inside twelve months. Against a network that peaked at 74 and stands at 71.
- Sales run $221,375, $525,653 and $922,781 across years one, two and three. Medians of $139,239, $373,360 and $620,532.
How much does a Nurse Next Door franchise make?
The average Nurse Next Door unit reported $922,781 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $620,532. The brand’s disclosure document discloses revenue and not profit, so what an owner keeps depends on the cost structure set out below. Fees come off the top first, at about 13% of sales across royalty, brand fund and the rest of the stack. Revenue is not income. Rent, wages, cost of goods and the franchise fees all come out before an owner is paid. The figures for the highest-selling and lowest-selling businesses are below.
Franchise fees
What the fees come to at each stage. (Items 5 and 6)
| Stage | Gross sales | Royalty | Care Services Center | Brand fund | Local marketing | Technology | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1, median | $139,239 | $6,962 | $9,747 | $1,392 | $12,000 | $7,200 | $37,301 | 26.8% |
| Year 1, average | $221,375 | $11,069 | $15,496 | $2,214 | $12,000 | $7,200 | $47,979 | 21.7% |
| Year 2, median | $373,360 | $18,668 | $26,135 | $3,734 | $12,000 | $7,200 | $67,737 | 18.1% |
| Year 2, average | $525,653 | $26,283 | $36,796 | $5,257 | $12,000 | $7,200 | $87,535 | 16.7% |
| Year 3, median | $620,532 | $31,027 | $43,437 | $6,205 | $12,411 | $7,200 | $100,280 | 16.2% |
| Year 3, average | $922,781 | $46,139 | $64,595 | $9,228 | $18,456 | $7,200 | $145,617 | 15.8% |
Ours, applying the 5% royalty against its annual minimum, the Care Services Center fee at the greater of 7% of gross sales or $300 a month, the 1% brand fund, the local marketing requirement of the greater of $1,000 a month or 2% of gross sales capped at $2,000 a month. The $600 monthly technology maintenance fee.
The fixed minimum is $19,200 a year, payable from day one. $12,000 of local marketing and $7,200 of technology maintenance, regardless of what you bill. At the first-year median that alone is 13.8% of gross sales, before a single percentage point of royalty or Care Services Center fee.
The Care Services Center fee is larger than the royalty. 7% against 5%, and at the third-year average it is $64,595 a year. What you get for it is round-the-clock intake, scheduling, virtual consults, attendance monitoring and overnight coverage run out of Vancouver. So this is an outsourced back office charged as a percentage.
The load falls 11 points between the first-year median and the third-year average. 26.8% to 15.8%, on a fee schedule that stays exactly the same. The fixed $19,200 simply becomes a smaller share. That is the arithmetic case for pushing hard on the build-up.
The gate that cuts two points.
| Condition | Requirement | Where the network stands |
|---|---|---|
| Time in operation | 12 months | n/a |
| Operational excellence audit | 80% or better | n/a |
| Monthly gross sales | $40,000 for six consecutive months | Month 12 average: $34,117 |
| Reward | Care Services Center fee falls from 7% to 5% | Worth $18,456 at the third-year average |
Conditions as the brand reported it.
The average territory ends year one $5,883 a month short of even starting the six-month clock. $34,117 against $40,000. The median territory, at $23,815, is $16,185 short. Only the top quartile, billing $81,642 in month twelve, clears the bar with room to spare.
Two points is $18,456 a year at the third-year average. Set against the scheduling work you take back in-house. Is a coordinator's salary somewhere between $45,000 and $60,000 in most markets. So unbundling pays only once your volume makes that coordinator busy. At the third-year median of $620,532 the saving is $12,411, which is well short of a full-time hire.
The minimum royalty escalates whether you grow or stand still. $6,250 in year one, $26,250 by year five, $42,276 by year ten and $51,154 from year twelve. 5% equals the year-five minimum at $525,000 of sales and the year-ten minimum at $845,518. Half of third-year territories sell less than $620,532. A territory that stops there starts paying a minimum.
Top performers
What separates the top Nurse Next Door performers
Nurse Next Door publishes one average, $922,781, and nothing else. The gap between its best and worst locations is not in the filing. The middle location sold $620,532. The average was $922,781. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Territory, and how much of it is real.This model sells from a territory rather than a building, quoted at 10,000 residents. Two owners with the same brand and different ground are running different businesses, and density decides how much driving sits between jobs.
- What you spend to open.Opening costs $119,286 to $217,210, a 1.8× range inside one brand. The high end usually buys more capacity, so the cheapest build is not always the cheapest route to the top band.
Live operating levers
- Billed hours, the operating driver.This model bills on billed hours. The owner pays for every hour worked and bills only the hours a client accepts, so the job is to keep those two close and to protect the gap between the rate charged and the rate paid. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Membership and rebooking.A recurring plan turns a high-fixed-cost business from an appointment book into a subscription, which smooths the utilisation that drives the wage line. Rebooking before the customer leaves is what builds it, not marketing spend afterwards.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites.Fees run about 13.0% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
- The first year.This filing shows how a new location builds up, so the ramp can be underwritten from the document rather than assumed. Read two things out of it: the month sales cross the point where costs are covered, and how much cash you fund before that month arrives. Everything before break-even is paid for by you.
Context you underwrite around
- The reporting screen.15 of 71 locations are behind these figures. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded, so the numbers describe locations that cleared that screen, not the system as a whole.
- What the disclosure leaves out.Item 19 publishes no profit or cost data for franchised locations. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.
- What the rest of the category shows.Across the 25 Senior Care brands in this library that do publish bands, the top group sells 15.0× the bottom at the typical brand, and a median 34% of locations reach their own average *. Assume a spread of that order here until the franchisor shows you otherwise.
The first year, month by month
Three years of gross sales.
| Period | Territories | Average | Median | Top 25% average | Highest | At or above average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Months 1 to 12 | 35 | $221,375 | $139,239 | $526,527 | $771,306 | 10 (29%) |
| Months 13 to 24 | 32 | $525,653 | $373,360 | $1,319,927 | $2,134,807 | 10 (31%) |
| Months 25 to 36 | 15 | $922,781 | $620,532 | $1,789,703 | $2,312,857 | 6 (40%) |
As the brand reported it, measured to 30 September 2025.
Year two is a 2.4-fold step and year three adds 76% more. $221,375 to $525,653 to $922,781, with medians moving $139,239 to $373,360 to $620,532. In residents that is $22.14 a year from each senior in the territory rising to $92.28. So even a third-year territory is reaching under a tenth of one percent of the households it covers.
The top quartile bills more than twice the average in every group. $526,527 against $221,375 in year one, $1,319,927 against $525,653 in year two and $1,789,703 against $922,781 in year three, ratios of 2.4, 2.5 and 1.9. The gap opens in the first twelve months and then travels with you.
Fewer than a third of territories reach their own group's average. 29%, 31% and 40% across the three years. The average is pulled by a top-quarter tail, so the median is the number to plan against. The year-one median of $139,239 is a business making about $11,600 a month.
Exit rate and clients.
| Month 12 | Month 24 | Month 36 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average | $34,117 | $52,124 | $85,504 |
| Median | $23,815 | $29,000 | $80,900 |
| Top 25% average | $81,642 | $137,630 | $165,619 |
| Highest | $143,446 | $217,242 | $197,100 |
| Annualized average | $409,404 | $625,488 | $1,026,048 |
| Clients at the average | 10.2 | n/a | n/a |
Month 12, 24 and 36 figures as the brand reported it.
Ten clients is what a year of work produces at the average territory. $34,117 a month at $3,348 a client. The median territory has about eight and a half. Against a territory of 10,000 seniors, the first year is about finding the first dozen households.
A client is worth $40,176 a year at the average rate. $3,348 a month, and the top disclosed client runs $18,150 a month, $217,800 a year from one household. Monthly sales for each client run from $586 to $18,150. Hours vary more between clients than the hourly rate does. So a single high-hours case moves a young territory's whole year.
Month twelve annualizes to $409,404 against a first-year total of $221,375. The exit rate is 1.85 times the year's average, which is what a ramp looks like from inside. The same comparison at month 36 gives $1,026,048 against $922,781, a ratio of 1.11. So by year three the curve has flattened and growth has to come from somewhere other than the build-up.
What it costs to open, and the network
What it costs to open.
| Line | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $72,000 | $72,000 |
| Technology start-up fee | $8,000 | $8,000 |
| Pre-opening branding and promotion | $7,000 | $7,000 |
| Insurance, workers compensation, crime cover and bonds | $4,900 | $21,500 |
| Consultant or director of nursing | $0 | $15,000 |
| Everything else to open | $7,386 | $43,710 |
| Additional funds, three to six months | $20,000 | $50,000 |
| Total | $119,286 | $217,210 |
As the brand reported it, except the two grouped lines. Are marked *. The insurance line adds general insurance, workers compensation, first and third party crime cover and state bonds. The remainder adds training travel, office equipment, legal and accounting, leased premises, utility deposits, the opening local marketing payment, a vehicle, computers, licenses and permits, accreditation and the first three months of the workplace software.
Cash to run the business day to day of $20,000 to $50,000 covers three to six months. Half of first-year territories sell less than $139,239, and the fixed minimum is $19,200. The low end of the opening range leaves little spare cash. The month-twelve median of $23,815 says the business is still building through the whole period that money has to cover.
A director of nursing can add $15,000 before you open. Whether you need one depends on your state's licensure, and the licenses and permits line runs $200 to $5,000 with accreditation up to $8,500 on top. Three separate costs follow the same state rules. Most of the gap between the $119,286 low and the $217,210 high is where the business operates.
The network of locations. (Item 20)
| Year | Start | End | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 50 | 74 | +24 |
| 2024 | 74 | 73 | −1 |
| 2025 | 73 | 71 | −2 |
As the brand reported it.
14 of the 31 closures happened inside twelve months. Against a network that has ranged between 50 and 74 territories across the period, that is a heavy first-year members leaving rate. It matches the shape of the fee table, where the load sits above 20% of sales for the whole of a typical first year.
The network added 24 territories in 2023 and lost three across the two years since. 50 to 74 to 73 to 71. A system that stops growing while the brand reports global expansion is consolidating around the territories that work. So the comparison set you are measured against is getting stronger.
Your territory is protected. A territory holds at least 10,000 residents aged 65 and over. The brand keeps other owners' territories out of it, even as that population grows. Clients from outside the territory require the out-of-territory services policy.
Questions we get asked
What should my territory be billing?
Across the disclosed group, gross sales averaged $221,375 in months 1 to 12, $525,653 in months 13 to 24 and $922,781 in months 25 to 36, with medians of $139,239, $373,360 and $620,532. The top quartile averaged $526,527, $1,319,927 and $1,789,703. Month by month, the average territory billed $34,117 in month twelve, $52,124 in month twenty-four and $85,504 in month thirty-six.
What does the brand cost in total?
13% of gross sales (a 5% royalty against an escalating annual minimum, 7% for the Care Services Center and 1% to the brand fund) plus $12,000 a year of required local marketing and $7,200 a year of technology maintenance. In practice that works out to 26.8% of sales at the first-year median, 18.1% at the second-year median and 15.8% at the third-year average. Technology user fees of $4.65 a caregiver and $21.00 a franchisee account apply beyond the included licenses.
How do I cut the Care Services Center fee?
By unbundling. Once you have operated twelve months, scored 80% or better on an operational excellence audit and reached $40,000 in monthly gross sales for six consecutive months, you may give up the scheduling service in exchange for a two-point reduction, taking the fee from 7% to 5%. You also need good standing with zero outstanding defaults and a signed Unbundled Declaration Form. The average territory bills $34,117 in month twelve, so most owners are a quarter or two of growth away from starting the six-month clock.
How many clients do I need?
The disclosed average gross sales per client per month in the twelfth month is $3,348. A median of $2,812, a high of $18,150 and a low of $586. At the average that puts the average territory at about ten clients after a year and the median at about eight and a half. Reaching the $40,000 a month unbundling gate is roughly twelve clients at the average rate; reaching the third-year average of $85,504 a month is about twenty-six.
Who does bookkeeping for a Nurse Next Door franchise?
The fee stack has three moving parts on one base the royalty against an annual minimum, the Care Services Center at a rate that can step down. A local marketing minimum applies for most of the first two years. So what franchise fees cost as a share of sales changes as the business grows. Monthly gross sales are the compliance number as well as the management number, since the unbundling gate turns on six consecutive months above $40,000. Gross sales per client is the one benchmarked operating ratio, so report it beside client count each month and read your own position against $3,348. Averan provides bookkeeping, controller, and fractional CFO support for franchise owners and has Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors on the team.
- No profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
- No cost lines. Wages, rent and cost of goods are not broken out, so margin cannot be rebuilt from the document.
Questions worth putting to Nurse Next Door
The filing answers what it answers. These are the gaps an owner or a buyer should close directly.
- What do locations at the median spend on wages and rent as a share of sales? The filing reports sales only.
- What did the highest and lowest locations sell last year, and what explains the gap?
- How long does a new location take to reach the average you publish, and what does the build-up look like month by month?
- At what level of sales do the minimum charges stop applying and the percentage take over?
- How many Nurse Next Door locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
Run your own numbers.
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