Independent franchise information service · United States
We are an independent information and referral service for people researching home-services franchises — not a franchisor, not a franchise broker, and not a financial adviser.
Tell us which trade you are weighing up and we will send a plain-English brief and a guide to reading the disclosure document properly.
Get Franchise InfoFree · No obligation · We never sell your email
Most franchise portals put a net-worth question in front of you before they tell you a single useful thing. We do it the other way round: the information is free and unconditional, and the only field on this page is an email address.
Illustrative figures for a demonstration listing — disclosure and service facts only, never earnings, performance or results.
The 14-day and 23-item figures describe the FTC Franchise Rule and the standard structure of a Franchise Disclosure Document; they are not claims about any brand. The remaining figures describe this information service. Nothing here is a representation about the performance, earnings or results of any franchise.
This is the whole sequence. There is no discovery day we send you to, no application we submit on your behalf, and no point at which we take a position on whether you should buy.
We hand you information and a method. The franchisor hands you the disclosure document. Your attorney and your accountant tell you what it means for you. Nobody in that chain is us, and we would rather say that on the way in than have you discover it later.
One email address is the whole ask. No net-worth screen, no liquidity questionnaire, no discovery call booked before you have read anything. Reply to the first email with the trade — HVAC, plumbing, handyman, restoration — or with nothing at all, and we will send the general brief.
A plain-English rundown of how home-service franchise systems are usually structured: single-unit versus multi-unit rights, territory definitions, call-centre and dispatch fees, required software, van wraps and equipment packages, and the questions those raise. We name brands that publish in the category. We do not rank them and we do not recommend one.
The Franchise Disclosure Document comes from the franchisor, never from us. Under the FTC Franchise Rule you must receive it at least 14 calendar days before you sign a binding agreement or hand over any money. Several states add their own registration and disclosure requirements on top of that.
Item 20 lists current outlets and, crucially, franchisees who left the system in the last fiscal year with their contact details. We send you a validation-call script so those conversations are useful. Talk to people who stayed and people who walked away.
Take the FDD and the franchise agreement to a franchise attorney and a CPA who work with franchise buyers. They are the people qualified to tell you what the numbers and the covenants mean for you. We are not, and we will always say so.
There is no next step we push you into. No deadline, no territory countdown, no follow-up sequence you cannot leave. Every email we send carries a one-click unsubscribe, and using this service costs you nothing either way.
Hearthworks is an independent information and referral service. We do not sell, offer or broker franchises, and we receive no commission on a franchise sale. A franchise can only be offered or sold to you by a franchisor, through its own Franchise Disclosure Document, in compliance with the FTC Franchise Rule and any applicable state law.
Home services is not one business. Licensing, call patterns, equipment load and territory logic differ sharply between a route-based lawn programme and a 24-hour restoration operation. Here is the honest shape of each.
Service, repair, replacementHeating and cooling systems built around maintenance agreements, seasonal tune-ups and replacement work. Systems in this category typically require licensed technicians, EPA refrigerant certification and a stocked service vehicle from day one.
Ask how the franchisor handles technician licensing in your state and who holds the licence of record.
Repair, repipe, water heatersDrain clearing, leak repair, water heater and repipe work, often paired with a 24-hour emergency line. Licensing is state-by-state and frequently requires a master plumber on the licence.
Check Item 6 for after-hours call-centre charges and any required answering-service vendor.
Panels, wiring, generatorsPanel upgrades, rewiring, EV charger and standby generator installation. Electrical systems tend to carry heavier tooling and permit overhead than lighter home-service categories.
Confirm whether the franchisor requires a specific supplier for generators or charging hardware.
Multi-trade, scheduled workBundled small jobs — drywall, carpentry, fixture swaps, honey-do lists — usually sold in scheduled blocks rather than emergency call-outs. Frequently the lightest entry point in the category on published start-up ranges.
Ask how the brand defines a protected territory: households, population count or postal codes.
Install, seal, serviceGarage door springs and openers, entry doors, window replacement and weather sealing. Often a mix of scheduled installs and same-day break-fix visits.
Look for required inventory minimums in Item 7 and any manufacturer purchase commitments.
Water, fire, mould, stormInsurance-driven work responding to water, fire, smoke and storm damage. Equipment-heavy, on call around the clock, and dependent on relationships with adjusters and carrier programmes.
Understand how the franchisor's insurance-programme participation works and what it costs you.
Route-based, seasonalMowing, fertilisation, aeration, irrigation and exterior cleaning, generally sold as recurring seasonal programmes and run on density-driven routes.
Ask how seasonality is handled in markets with a short growing season, and what the off-season plan is.
Quarterly and bi-monthly service plans, termite and wildlife work. State pesticide applicator licensing is mandatory and the certified applicator requirement shapes how early you can hire.
Verify the state licensing path before anything else — timelines vary widely by state.
Category descriptions are general information written to help you frame questions. They do not describe any particular brand, system or opportunity, and they are not an offer of a franchise. Licensing requirements, territory definitions and required purchases vary by franchisor and by state; the brand’s current disclosure document governs.
Everything below is free, unconditional and yours to keep whether you ever contact a franchisor or not.
How home-service franchise systems are built, what the moving parts are, and which brands publish in the trade you asked about. Written to inform, not to sell.
A walk-through of all 23 items with the ones that most often surprise buyers flagged: Item 6 fees, Item 7 investment, Item 8 required suppliers, Item 12 territory, Item 17 renewal and non-compete terms.
Written questions to put to any franchise development representative, plus a note on which answers should be in writing and which belong in the disclosure document rather than an email.
How to reach current franchisees and the ones who exited the system last year, what to ask each group, and how to spot a curated reference list.
What a franchise attorney does that a general commercial lawyer may not, what to bring to a CPA, and where to find your state's franchise regulator.
We do not sell franchises, we do not take a commission on a franchise sale, and we never sign, submit or forward anything on your behalf. You contact franchisors yourself.
The figures below are compiled from publicly published franchisor materials across the category to show roughly how wide the spread is. They are illustrative. They are not quotes, offers or estimates for any specific brand, and they are not a prediction of what you would spend.
Illustrative only. Published start-up ranges across home-service categories commonly fall somewhere between roughly $65,000 and $750,000 depending on the trade, the brand and your market. The Item 7 table in a franchisor’s current Franchise Disclosure Document is the source of truth for that brand, and nothing on this page substitutes for it.
Different starting points raise different questions. None of these is a recommendation to buy a franchise, and none of them describes an outcome.
You already know the work. What a system sells you is the back office — branding, call handling, dispatch software, pricing structure and recruiting playbooks. Whether that is worth a royalty is the whole question, and the FDD is where you start answering it.
You have run P&Ls and teams but never held a trade licence. Many home-service systems are built for owner-operators who hire licensed technicians — but licensing rules differ by state, and some states require the licence holder to have an ownership stake.
Existing franchisees looking at a second system should read Item 17 of their current agreement before anything else. Non-compete and consent clauses regularly limit what you can add and where.
A number of franchisors publish reduced initial fees for veterans. Treat every published incentive as unconfirmed until you see it written into Item 5 of the current disclosure document and into your franchise agreement.
Some systems permit a general manager to run day-to-day operations; others require the owner on site. The franchise agreement, not the recruiting deck, is what binds you. Read Item 15.
Several home-service brands run conversion programmes for established independents. Ask what happens to your existing name, your customer list, your vehicles and your pricing — and what the exit looks like if the fit is wrong three years in.
These apply to every franchise offering in the United States. Knowing them changes the tone of every conversation you will have.
The disclosure document must be in your hands at least 14 calendar days before you sign a binding agreement or pay any money. Nobody is entitled to compress that window, and pressure to do so tells you something.
Financial performance representations may only be made in Item 19. If a brand's Item 19 is blank and someone quotes you a figure anyway, that is a problem — and worth reporting.
Item 20 lists franchisees who left the system during the last fiscal year, with contact details where available. Those conversations are the most valuable calls you will make.
A number of states register franchise offerings and impose their own disclosure and relationship rules. Look the brand up with your state's franchise regulator before you commit.
Free, official reading: the FTC’s franchise guidance, the Franchise Rule itself and the SBA guide to buying a franchise. None of them costs anything and all of them outrank this page.
The three accounts below are composite, illustrative scenarios written to show how people use the material. They are not statements from identified franchisees and they describe no outcome.
I had two brands in front of me and no idea which questions were the serious ones. The reading guide told me to compare Item 6 line by line rather than the headline royalty, and the two systems looked very different once I did.
What I actually needed was permission to slow down. Being told plainly that the disclosure document has to sit with me for fourteen days before I sign anything changed how the whole conversation felt.
The Item 20 script was the useful part. I called four current franchisees and three who had left, and the people who left told me things nobody else was going to tell me.
Composite, illustrative scenarios only. They are not testimonials from identified franchisees, they were not written by franchisees, and they do not describe or predict earnings, profitability or any other result. Individual circumstances differ in every respect.
Read the brief. Request the disclosure document. Take the full fourteen days, and take longer if you want them. We will still be here, and it will still be free.
One email brings the independent category brief, the FDD reading guide, the due-diligence question list and the Item 20 validation script. No obligation attaches to any of it.
Prefer to talk it through first? Call (888) 555-0950. We will answer questions about the process and the documents. We will not tell you what a franchise might make, because nobody outside Item 19 is permitted to.