Thinking of buying a home care franchise any one had any experience

bobsa1

Hi dh and I are looking at buying a franchise from a well known care provider and would really appreciate other peoples experience

This company haven't had a franchisee in the area I'm looking at but obviously there are other providers in the area

Dh and I have many years experience of service delivery but just not working for ourselves I've not put the name of the company selling the franchise on here as not sure of the rules about that sort of thing all experiences of franchises would be appreciated

SailorSam

If your local Council will be paying some of the fees i'd think twice about it. I know someone who had her own care business and employed about 50 carers, but as the Councils cut spending she struggled to get contracts, lost money and eventually went bust. We seem to hear on the news of more cuts in Council spending, it may not be the time to go into that type of business unless you're sure you'll get clients who can pay for themselves.

bobsa1

Thanks for the response your right the councils are moving away from big contracts to personalised budgets so initially the company suggest you provide none personal care which ID individually funded eg shopping, cleaning, companionship etc. We are looking at getting some fairly affluent areas included all advice appreciated

Beckyy

Whilst I see where they're coming from, I think it would be really difficult to start up and run on just domestics and companionship because P/C is essentially the bulk of home care, you might also find potential carers won't want to spend almost all of their hours doing domestics.

Maybe worth seeing if you can find any members of staff who already work for the franchise, or other franchise owners and see how they find it? No idea if that's do-able though.

Delphine100

You'll have to do your homework before signing up like you would before starting a business. This means research, check out your competition, how they operate, their charges, their customer base, how they market themselves. Then look at your target market closely. This will give you an idea on what you could earn. In terms of contracts with councils the personalisation agenda means that individuals can choose who provides their care so offering high quality care is key as is a good reputation. Does the care franchise you're looking at have this? Are they known for excellent care? Ask the company if they will help you get on council contracts, many will assist in this process for you. Many councils have windows of opportunity to bid for these contracts so find out when this happens you may have missed the opp for a couple of years or it could be coming up. Also talk to the council about areas they need more care companies. There are some types of care that need more carers so you could fit in there at least as a start. The co I worked for couldn't fulfil all the requests for care that was coming in, they were one of a number on contracts with the council. There is a lot of work out there in this industry, it is cheaper for councils to keep people in their own homes than in a care home. But reputation and quality care is paramount to your success. Good luck x

Delphine100

Sorry meant to add, in terms of this business it's about recruitment really, getting the right staff who will be employed on minimum wage, that's the hardest part I think.