Is this a good time to buy a home care franchise?
There’s been an increase in the number of ‘in-home care’ franchises over the last few years. These provide care for the sick, elderly or disabled, with the carer going to the client and providing care in their home.
The business model is essentially a matching service. To match those who require care with those who can provide the care. Profit is made by charging fees greater than the cost of providing the service. In many cases, government funding is available to contribute toward some, or all, of the fees, including NDIS.
There are a number of factors to consider:
Recruitment. Finding the right carers. This is important as they will represent your business and carry your name to the marketplace. They will have a very close relationship with your clients so you must be able to trust them.
Training. To your standards of care, empathy and compassion. The training you give them will stand you in good stead. Check this with the franchisor as to the level of training they provide.
Roster Management. Flexible enough to fit around needs of clients. While there will be many shifts that are fixed, there are many appointments which move around and require you to be flexible. There can be challenges here having staff on hand who can work with this ad hoc approach.
Prospecting and Networking. Finding those who need the service, gaining leads and referrals. This is one of the biggest challenges for many new business owners, particularly those who have no sales or business development experience. Your referral network will be one of the main sources of leads, so be sure to learn the skills to build this.
Wages. Wages is the biggest cost in this business. You will need to carefully manage PAYG, Super, Workers Comp, Payroll Tax, leave and employee provisions. This is one cost which can quickly get away from you, so tight controls need to be established so you know what your upcoming wages liability and exposure is.
Franchise fees and costs. Set up and ongoing fees. These will be clearly set out in the Franchise Agreement and Disclosure Document. We recommend you have a Franchise Accountant review the financial side of the business to be sure it stacks up for you.
Your ability to manage people and multiple issues at the same time. People are at the heart of this business format. While technology can assist behind the scenes, this business model is all about having someone present with the client. On top of this, there will be issues which arise that you need to manage. Your ability to do so will be critical to your suceess.
In my opinion, one of the key benefits of this business format is the low overheads. Many new business owners work from home while they build the business and use casual staff. This keeps overheads down yet provides the flex you need to grow and respond to demand as it grows.
As you can see, there are quite a few elements to consider with a home care franchise. We look after some home care franchises and are familiar with how the model works, so feel free to get in contact if you would like to discuss further.
Peter