Qualicare franchise unit economics
Qualicare franchisees run a home-care agency inside a zip-code territory of up to 300,000 people. Nine reporting owners held 27 territories between them and averaged $852,618 of net revenue against a median of $330,000. The royalty is 5% of sales or $1,200 a month for each territory, whichever is higher. At three territories each, the average owner pays the minimum.
- Primary source
- Qualicare, 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
- 9 of 33 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 royalty is 5% of sales or $1,200 a month for every territory held, whichever is greater. Nine owners held 27 territories, so the typical owner faces a $43,200 minimum a year. 5% of the average $852,618 of sales is $42,631. The average owner pays the minimum, not the percentage.
- The minimum beats the rate at the system average. $43,200 against $42,631 of royalty at three territories *, so the owner who exactly matches the average pays a fixed sum.
- Escaping the minimum takes $288,000 a year for each territory held. *, $864,000 for the three-territory owner, which sits above the filed average.
- The average is 2.58 times the median. $852,618 against $330,000, with 3 of 9 owners reaching the average, a $522,618 gap * driven by one agency at $2,913,355.
- The median owner has a 22.47% franchise fees. $74,160 on $330,000 *, against 9.31% at the average and 6.95% at the top, because $61,200 of it is fixed.
- Twenty-nine territories opened and eighteen were terminated in three years. On a base that started at 26 and finished at 33, customers lost of roughly two thirds of the system.
How much does a Qualicare franchise make?
The average Qualicare unit reported $852,618 of revenue in the 2025 disclosure document, and the median reported $330,000. 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 9.3% 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.
Average against median
One agency at $2.9m pulls the average away from everyone.
| Fiscal year | Owners | Territories | Average | Median | Highest | Lowest | Reaching the average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 9 | 27 | $852,618 | $330,000 | $2,913,355 | $105,613 | 3, 33% |
| 2024 | 10 | 22 | $647,614 | $238,071 | $2,689,905 | $18,985 | 3, 30% |
| 2023 | 8 | 24 | $646,457 | $519,828 | $1,944,962 | $71,430 | 3, 38% |
Every figure is as the brand reported it, covering owners open and operating for the full fiscal year.
Exactly three owners reached the average in each of the three years. Out of 8, 10 and 9, so the shape of this system has held steady while its size has moved.
The average rose 32% in 2025 while the median rose 39%. $647,614 to $852,618 against $238,071 to $330,000 *, the typical owner improved faster than the aggregate.
The median fell 54% in 2024 and recovered 39% in 2025. $519,828 to $238,071 to $330,000 *, still a third below where it stood two years earlier.
The lowest figure moved from $18,985 to $105,613. A 456% rise *. The clearest sign in the table that the lowest-selling agencies are being worked harder or replaced.
These are revenue figures before every operating cost. Royalty, fund, marketing, software, rent, wages and owner compensation all come out of them, so the median of $330,000 is a top line.
Top performers
What separates the top Qualicare performers
Qualicare splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $2,913,355 a year. The worst averaged $105,613. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $330,000. The average was $852,618. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 27.6× gap between bands is not an operating gap. Catchment, daytime population and what sits next door set the ceiling before the first customer arrives.
- Territory, and how much of it is real.This model sells from a territory rather than a building, quoted at 300,000 people. 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 $98,150 to $174,150, 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.
- The gift card book.Gift cards are sold before the service is delivered. The top performers are not selling more of them by accident, they are running a deliberate seasonal push into the holidays and out of it again. The accounting follows: a gift card is deferred revenue until it is redeemed, so cash and earned revenue arrive in different periods.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites.Fees run about 9.3% 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.
Context you underwrite around
- The reporting screen.9 of 33 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.
The minimum beats the rate
Every territory costs $14,400 a year of minimum royalty.
| Net revenue | 5% of sales * | minimum, one territory | minimum, three territories | What is paid, three territories * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $105,613, the lowest | $5,281 | $14,400 | $43,200 | $43,200 |
| $330,000, the median | $16,500 | $14,400 | $43,200 | $43,200 |
| $852,618, the average | $42,631 | $14,400 | $43,200 | $43,200 |
| $2,913,355, the highest | $145,668 | $14,400 | $43,200 | $145,668 |
The brand reported the 5% rate and the $600 and $1,200 monthly minimums. We applied them to each sales level.
The minimum rises twice in the first year. Nothing for six months, then $600 a month for each territory, then $1,200 from month thirteen. The second year costs $7,200 more a territory than the first *.
Three of the four sales levels reported pay the minimum. At three territories *, which makes territory count the thing that sets the royalty for most owners.
A second territory adds $14,400 a year before it earns anything. *, so expansion here is a commitment to reach $288,000 in that territory.
The three-territory bundle waives one franchise fee. $99,400 for three instead of $149,100 *, with a single marketing kit, technology fee and software charge, and three minimum royalties from month thirteen.
Every reporting owner runs one location and one staff regardless of territory count. Extra territories add population, and each one adds its own minimum charge.
What is owed whatever you sell
Sixty-one thousand dollars before a single hour is billed.
| Charge | Rate | At $330,000 | At $852,618 | At $2,913,355 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 5% or $1,200 a month a territory | $43,200 | $43,200 | $145,668 |
| Brand development fund | 1% of gross sales | $3,300 | $8,526 | $29,134 |
| Local marketing | $1,500 a month minimum | $18,000 | $18,000 | $18,000 |
| Technology | $350 a month | $4,200 | $4,200 | $4,200 |
| Scheduling software | $12 an active client, $120 a month minimum | $1,440 | $1,440 | $1,440 |
| Accounting software | $3,000 a year minimum | $3,000 | $3,000 | $3,000 |
| Conference | $85 a month an attendee | $1,020 | $1,020 | $1,020 |
| Total | n/a | $74,160 | $79,386 | $202,462 |
| Share of revenue | n/a | 22.47% | 9.31% | 6.95% |
The rates, minimums and fixed charges are as the brand reported it and the dollar figures apply them at each revenue level with three territories held, marked *.
$70,860 of the bill is fixed at three territories. The minimum royalty, local marketing, software and conference fees * come to 21.5% of the middle owner's sales before any percentage is charged *.
Local marketing alone is $18,000 a year and must be spent inside the territory. 5.5% of the median owner’s revenue *, recorded monthly and reportable on request.
The scheduling fee is $12 a month for each active client. With a minimum of ten clients *. The one charge here that scales with the work.
The load falls 15.5 points from the median owner to the largest. 22.47% to 6.95% *, which is the clearest argument in this model for building one large agency.
Sales to national accounts cost a further 1%. On work the brand originates and the owner delivers, so that revenue arrives at 6% against 5%.
Territory and customers lost
Fifteen opened, ten terminated, in a single year.
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminated | Ceased, other | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 26 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 36 |
| 2024 | 36 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 28 |
| 2025 | 28 | 15 | 10 | 0 | 33 |
| Three years | n/a | 29 | 18 | 4 | n/a |
Every figure is as the brand reported it, with zero company-owned outlets in any year and 15 agreements signed and waiting to open.
Twenty-two territories left the system in three years against 29 arriving. *, a net gain of seven on a base of 26, achieved through heavy traffic in both directions.
Nine territories opened in Arizona in 2025 alone. Against three terminated in Connecticut and the state emptied, so the map is being redrawn.
Fifteen agreements are signed and waiting, with 15 more projected. Against 33 operating, so the system could nearly double if all of them open.
A territory covers up to 300,000 people by zip code, priced at about 16.6 cents a head. With extra population at 20 cents *, so expansion population is a fifth dearer than the base.
Boundaries hold for the term whatever the population does. Protection lasts while the owner is active and current, and the brand keeps the right to sell similar services under other marks inside the territory.
Questions we get asked
Questions an owner asks.
What do these agencies bill?
In the year to 31 May 2025, nine owners holding 27 territories averaged $852,618 of net revenue with a median of $330,000. The highest billed $2,913,355 and the lowest $105,613. Three of the nine reached the average.
How does the royalty work?
5% of sales, or a monthly minimum for each territory, whichever is higher. The minimum is nothing for six months, $600 a month from month seven and $1,200 a month from month thirteen. With three territories that is $43,200 a year, which on our reading exceeds 5% of the system's own average revenue.
When does the percentage take over?
At $288,000 of annual sales for each territory held, on our reading. A three-territory owner needs $864,000 before the rate matters, and the filed average is $852,618.
What else is fixed?
$18,000 a year of required local marketing, $4,200 of technology, $3,000 of accounting software, $1,440 of scheduling software at the minimum and $1,020 of conference fees. On our reading that is $27,660 a year, plus $43,200 of minimum royalty at three territories, which is $70,860 in all.
What is the brand’s total charges?
On our reading, 22.47% of revenue for the median owner at three territories, 9.31% at the average and 6.95% at the largest. The difference is almost entirely the fixed portion.
What does it cost to open?
$98,150 to $174,150 for a single territory, of which $54,750 goes to the brand. The three-territory Community Builder package runs $177,850 to $263,850, with the third franchise fee waived and one set of marketing, technology and software charges.
How is the territory defined?
By zip codes, up to 300,000 people. Above that, the franchise fee rises $200 for each extra 1,000 people. On our reading the base works out at about 16.6 cents a head and the extra population at 20 cents. Boundaries hold for the term regardless of population change.
Which two numbers should run monthly?
Revenue per territory against $288,000, because that is where the royalty stops being a fixed bill. Active clients. Because the scheduling fee, the caregiver roster and the revenue all move with that one count.
- 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.
- No ramp. The filing does not show how a new location builds up, so the first-year curve has to be assumed.
Questions worth putting to Qualicare
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 separates the highest-selling locations from the lowest: trade area, years open, size, or the owner?
- 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 Qualicare locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Finance Diagnostic runs the same checks on your own numbers. It scores where you stand and compares you with Item 19 of your brand’s FDD. It works out what one location earns and spends, and builds a 13-week cash forecast. Checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →Are you paying the rate or the minimum?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around $288,000 a territory, $70,860 of fixed brand cost at three territories. A median owner carrying more than twice the load of the average one.
Request the reviewthe franchise library, all 243 brands · how franchise unit economics work · running the books across several locations · what Averan does for franchise owners
Qualicare reads against the rest of the non-medical home care group: Assisting Hands Home Care · CareBuilders At Home · Caring Senior Service · ComForCare · Comfort Keepers · Executive Home Care. The non-medical home care guide compares all of them on the same figures.
Questions owners ask next
The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.
- Money arrives before the service does. How should that be booked?Deferred revenue, and why the bank balance and the profit line disagree.
- At what level of sales does a minimum fee stop costing me more than the percentage?How royalty, ad fund and minimums actually work on a monthly statement.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?A 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- Revenue was the highest it has been. Why did profit not move?Where the extra revenue went, line by line.
- At what point do spreadsheets stop coping?What changes at around ten units, and why lenders care.