Guide · Franchise
Home Instead's 2026 franchise disclosure document, Item 7: franchise fee $54,000; total initial investment $92,640–$350,550. Item 7 is the franchisor's own estimate of your pre-opening and early costs — the range is wide because it spans territory sizes, office choices and local costs.
The low end assumes lean choices everywhere; the high end assumes the expensive version of everything, including working capital for a slower ramp. Your state's license costs sit inside this range, not on top of it — but your state's verdict still comes first: the FDD does not exempt you from a moratorium, a need test, or a scope rule.
Ongoing royalty and advertising percentages live in Item 8 and the agreement, not in the initial-investment headline. Any 10-year comparison that starts and ends at Item 7 is missing the largest recurring line. Our franchise truth page prints the table side by side and does the decade math on a stated example.
Guides are general; verdicts are specific. The license checker applies your state's rules to your service mix, and the cost calculator prices your opening from the same dataset this guide cites.
The free checkers give you the verdict and the number. The Kit gives you the working papers: your state's application packet walked through in filing order, the policies-and-procedures binder spec (what your binder must contain — never a boilerplate binder), the administrator self-audit, the insurance & bond spec sheet, the Medicaid gate map, the franchise-vs-independent 10-year worksheets, and the payroll-runway planner.
$49 one-time payment
Included in the $49 HomeCareLicenseCheck Kit
