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The investment, line by line
We publish our numbers. Most franchisors in this category do not, or they publish an American figure and leave Canadian buyers to work out the exchange rate for themselves. Here is exactly what it takes to open a HandyForce territory in the Greater Toronto Area.
| Item | Amount | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Franchise fee | $40,000 | The licence to operate a HandyForce territory, your protected market, initial training and the brand |
| Portal setup | $5,000 | Building and populating your database on The Portal, plus your initial training on the system |
| Grand opening advertising | $5,000 | Suggested launch marketing budget for your first weeks in market |
| Capital expenditure | $40,000 | Truck, first and last month on your lease, technology, tools, uniforms and signage |
| Cash to open | $90,000 | The four items above |
| Operating capital | $50,000 | Access to working capital to carry payroll and materials while your receivables catch up |
| Total requirement | $140,000 |
Two numbers matter here, and they answer different questions. $90,000 is what you spend to open the doors: the franchise fee, the Portal licence, your launch marketing and your capital expenditure. $140,000 is what you need access to, because the last $50,000 is working capital rather than a cheque you write to us. It carries payroll and materials while your first invoices are still being paid.
Lenders will ask you for the second number. Most franchisors quote only the first.
$90,000 opens the doors. $140,000 is what a lender will ask you to have.
Ongoing fees, what the fee buys, and how to finance it
Ongoing fees
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 6% of gross sales |
| Marketing fund | 2% of gross sales |
| Portal maintenance and support | $250 per month |
That is the complete list. There is no technology percentage layered on top of the royalty, and no separate call centre charge.
How that compares
The national handyman franchise brands operating in or serving Canada publish franchise fees between $70,000 and $100,000, and total initial investments running from roughly $110,000 to $240,000. Our franchise fee is $40,000 and our total requirement is $140,000.
One thing worth knowing if you are shopping in Canada: two of the three largest brands in this category publish their figures only in US dollars, because they run franchise development out of the United States. If you are buying in Ontario, you are reading American numbers, guessing at the exchange rate, and being sold to by someone who does not work in your market.
We are not the cheapest way into this business. Buying a used truck and printing business cards is cheaper. We are the least expensive way in with a brand, a protected territory, a software platform and a support team behind you.
What the franchise fee actually buys
A protected territory. Not a postal code lookup, not a shared lead pool. A defined GTA market that is yours, drawn around dwelling counts, population density and housing type. See which territories are currently open.
The Portal. Our own business management software, built by people running this business rather than bought off a shelf. Quoting, scheduling, dispatch, job costing, payroll, customer records and reporting in one system. It is the reason a franchisee with no construction background can run a crew from day one.
Training that assumes you have not done this before. No construction experience is required to own a HandyForce franchise, and most of our owners do not have any. Training covers operations, quoting, hiring tradespeople and running the Portal.
One more place to recruit. We own The Reno Academy, a skilled trades college in Toronto under the same ownership as The HandyForce. Finding good tradespeople is the hardest part of running this business, and no other handyman franchise in Canada owns a training school. You are never obliged to hire from it, and you should always hire whoever you judge to be best. It is simply one more source to draw on, and one where we know what the training covered.
Four revenue streams, not one. Hourly handyman work, full renovations, our Homecare maintenance plans and commercial accounts. When one softens, the others carry.
A brand with third-party credentials. The HandyForce has operated out of East York since 2010. We are a member of the Canadian Franchise Association, we have been featured in Franchise Canada, and the business is endorsed by Kevin Harrington. More on the brand.
Financing
Most of our franchisees do not write a cheque for the full amount. Two routes are worth understanding before you talk to a bank.
The Canada Small Business Financing Program. A federal loan-loss sharing programme delivered through the chartered banks and credit unions. It covers equipment and leasehold improvements, which maps well onto the capital expenditure portion of this investment. It does not cover franchise fees or working capital.
BDC. The Business Development Bank of Canada lends to franchisees specifically and takes a longer view on repayment than a commercial bank typically will.
Between them, most buyers finance the truck and fit-out and fund the franchise fee and working capital from their own capital. We will walk you through what your lender will want to see, and we can introduce you to franchisees who have been through it.
What we do not publish, and why
We do not publish revenue, profit or break-even figures on this website. That is not evasion. Ontario’s Arthur Wishart Act sets out how and when a franchisor may make financial performance representations, and the answer is: in the Franchise Disclosure Document, delivered to you formally, not on a web page where the numbers cannot be qualified.
What we will do is give you the FDD, walk you through the financial planning model line by line, and put you in touch with existing franchisees so you can ask them directly. That conversation happens on the discovery call, and it happens before you spend anything.