Home Service Franchise Statistics: Franchise Share, Unit Size, SBA Loans and FDD Terms

Home service franchise statistics: the 22-industry index

The index below covers 22 home service industries that the Census Bureau asked about franchise status in the 2017 Economic Census: five services-to-buildings codes (pest control, janitorial, landscaping, carpet and upholstery cleaning, other building services), remediation services as the closest code to restoration, 12 specialty trades that serve homes, and four repair and security codes. Each row joins three sources that measure different things in different years.

• Establishments, franchised share and receipts: 2017 Economic Census, employer establishments, the latest national franchise tabulation.
• SBA columns: 7(a) loans approved from FY2020 to June 30, 2026, by the borrower’s NAICS code (SBA FOIA file).
• FDD column: how many of the 34 home service FDDs in our Minnesota sample fall closest to each code; 9 FDDs (remodeling, handyman, home inspection, junk removal, holiday lighting, foundation piles) have no matching code in the Census franchise file.

Click a column header to sort. Industries are ranked; brands are not.

Which home service industries are most franchised

Cleaning is the franchised core of home services. Carpet and upholstery cleaning (19.1%) and janitorial services (12.4%) were the two most franchised of the 22 industries in 2017, followed by remediation (9.5%) and pest control (7.7%). Landscaping, the largest code by establishments (104,298), was only 1.4% franchised, and the 12 home trades together were 1.5%.

Across the full set of 22 industries, 3.2% of establishments were franchised, against 11.5% across all 267 industries with published counts. That pooled figure is weighted toward large, heavily franchised industries; the median industry was 3.2% franchised, which puts the home service set at about the typical industry level and the five building-services codes (6.0%) above it. Home service industries held 3.8% of all franchise establishments in the 2017 file.

The firm-level Annual Business Survey tells the same story for building services. In data year 2023 (2024 ABS), 5.8% of responding services-to-buildings firms operated all or partly as a franchise, 1.23 times the 4.7% rate for all employer firms. Building equipment contractors (plumbing, HVAC, electrical) were at 1.5%. The ABS counts firms, not locations, and includes franchisors with franchisees, so its shares are not directly comparable with the 2017 establishment shares. The 2019 data year file has no 4-digit rows for these industries (only 3-digit), so the series starts in 2020.

Are home service franchise units larger than independents?

Not as a rule. Across the 22 industries, a franchise establishment averaged $1,127K in 2017 receipts and a non-franchise establishment $1,447K, a ratio of 0.78. In the economy-wide franchise file the ratio is 1.78, so home services break the usual pattern of bigger franchise units (see franchise vs independent business for all industries).

The result splits by industry:

• Larger: pest control (2.98 times), carpet and upholstery cleaning (2.49) and other building services (2.11). In pest control, 41.3% of franchise establishments were franchisor-owned branches; counting franchisee-owned locations only, the ratio falls to 1.39.
• About the same: janitorial (0.99) and landscaping (1.00).
• Smaller: remediation (0.26) and most trades (home trades together 0.83), where the non-franchise group includes large commercial contractors.

Janitorial franchise establishments employed fewer people (13.9 per location) than non-franchise ones (18.6), consistent with small owner-operated cleaning units. Payroll per employee was similar ($21,025 vs $20,520). The non-franchise group also contains establishments that skipped the franchise question, and Census research found many franchise locations answered it incorrectly, so these are comparisons of reported status, not audited brand lists.

Low-investment profile: Item 7 by home service sub-sector

Home service FDDs sit in the low-cost half of franchising. Across 34 home service FDDs issued in 2025 and 2026, the median Item 7 low estimate was $140,475 and the median high estimate $248,500; for 225 FDDs in other sectors the medians were $316,800 and $702,495. 29.4% of home service FDDs start under $100,000 (other sectors 19.6%). In the site’s 14-sector taxonomy, only business services and senior care have a lower median low estimate than the ‘Home services’ group.

The spread inside home services is wide. Cleaning concepts have the lowest median low estimate ($96,250), restoration the highest ($204,442), and remodeling and installation sits at $162,000. Vehicles replace storefronts: 91.2% of home service FDDs have a vehicle line in Item 7 (other sectors 16.0%), and 52.9% show no real-estate cost at the low estimate (31.6%). For brand-level Item 7 data across all sectors, see franchise initial investment; for what buyers can afford, see franchise affordability.

SBA lending to home service franchises, FY2020 to June 2026

Home service franchises borrow from the SBA far more often than their share of establishments suggests. Of 42,858 SBA 7(a) loans to the 22 industries from FY2020 to June 30, 2026, 4,914 were franchise-coded (11.5%), close to the 12.0% rate for all 7(a) loans. Home service industries took 10.5% of all franchise-coded 7(a) loans while holding 3.8% of franchise establishments in 2017 (a ratio of 2.8, different years and units).

The loans are small and fund new units. The median franchise-coded home service 7(a) loan was $150,000, against $360,000 for all franchise-coded 7(a) loans, and 70.3% of franchise-coded home service loans financed a startup (non-franchise home service loans: 5.2%). Remediation stands out: 53.7% of its 1,113 7(a) loans were franchise-coded, which suggests restoration franchises often borrow under that code. SBA 504 loans matter little here: 2.8% of 3,746 home service 504 loans were franchise-coded, against 9.1% of all 504 loans.

The yearly series has a reporting break. SBA stopped publishing its Franchise Directory when a rule took effect on 2023-05-11, and announced on 2025-04-22 that it would reinstate it; SOP 50 10 version 8 took effect on 2025-06-01. Franchise coding fell to 7.9% of home service loans approved October 2023 to February 2025, from 13.5% before the change, and recovered to 13.1% from June 2025. Read the FY2024 and FY2025 dip as a coding artifact, not a lending drop.

Owner-operator rules, territories and turnover in home service FDDs

Item 15. Home service franchisors ask more of the owner. 38.2% of the 34 FDDs require the franchisee to work in the business full time, against 20.9% of other-sector FDDs. Still, 70.6% allow a manager to run day-to-day operations (other sectors 79.1%), usually with conditions. Cleaning (55.6%) and outdoor services (60.0%) are the most owner-operated sub-sectors; handyman and trades (14.3%) the least. See semi-absentee franchises for the full Item 15 study.

Item 12. Every home service FDD in the sample grants a service territory rather than a store site (other sectors 19.1%), and 94.1% offer some protection (79.1%). The protection comes with strings: 68.8% of protected home service territories carry a sales or growth condition, against 23.6% elsewhere. More in franchise territory rights.

Item 20 and fees. Across 29 home service systems, exits equalled 7.3% of start-of-year franchised outlets in the latest year (other sectors 6.1%), and terminations alone 4.1% (2.0%). 73.5% of home service FDDs set a minimum royalty in dollars (other sectors 35.1%), consistent with territory-based systems that expect a minimum from each area. The median royalty was 6.25% of sales. Exit rates by brand are in franchise closure rates.

What downturn data can and cannot show

No public dataset tracks home service franchise units through a recession, so the claim that the sector is recession resistant cannot be tested directly. Industry employment is the closest measure, and it shows a sector that shrinks in downturns, sometimes less than the private economy.

• From the December 2007 peak to the June 2009 trough, services-to-buildings employment fell 6.1% (1862.6 to 1749.0 thousand), close to the 6.5% fall in total private employment.
• From February to April 2020, it fell 12.0%, less than the 16.2% drop in total private employment.

Since the 2017 Census snapshot the industry has grown: BLS counted 252,426 private establishments in 2025, up 18.0% from 213,877 in 2017, with employment up 9.6%. These are franchise and independent businesses combined.

Does the low-investment, owner-operator picture hold?

The planned angle held in part. Each of its three claims was tested against the data:

• Lightly franchised overall: supported, with exceptions. 3.2% of home service establishments were franchised in 2017 against 11.5% across covered industries. Cleaning is the exception: carpet cleaning (19.1%) and janitorial (12.4%) are more franchised than most industries, and building services firms report franchising more often than the average firm (5.8% vs 4.7%, 2023).
• Franchise units larger than independents: not supported overall. The pooled receipts ratio is 0.78. It holds in pest control and carpet cleaning, is flat in janitorial and landscaping, and reverses in remediation and most trades.
• Low-investment, owner-operator corner: supported, with limits. Median Item 7 low estimates are 44.3% of other sectors, the full-time owner rule is 1.8 times as common, and the median franchise-coded SBA loan is $150,000. But 70.6% of these FDDs still permit a manager, so owner involvement is more common than in other sectors, not universal.