Franchisor Intelligence / FirstLight Home Care / The agreement
What does an owner commit to at FirstLight Home Care?
FirstLight Home Care gives an owner a territory of about 25,000 residents aged 65 and over.
Across 17 home care systems
How big are other systems' territories, next to FirstLight Home Care's? →
How long you are in, and what leaving looks like
How long the agreement runs
How long you may not compete after
Post-term non-compete: 2 years covering the territory and areas within 25 miles / 10 miles (see quote for the full scope)
The typical system: 2 years
What it costs to hand the business on
$10,000 payable at the time of transfer.
$10K
p. 15 ↗What renewing means
$7,500 payable at the time of renewal.
Signing the agreement as it stands then
p. 48 ↗A standard FirstLight Home Care territory holds about 25,000 residents aged 65 and over.
Standard territory size, across the systems measuring it the same way
Every system here sizes on residents aged 65 and over.
3 systems between the highest and lowest are not drawn here. The full field is in the data table below.
Source: Item 12, 2026 filingsHomecareHQ Intelligence · 2026 FDDs
›View data & method
| System | Residents aged 65+ |
|---|---|
| A Place At Home | about 40,000 |
| Amada Senior Care | 32,000–42,000 |
| Assisting Hands Home Care | at least 25,000 |
| BrightStar Care | at least 15,000 |
| CareBuilders at Home | 30,000–40,000 |
| ComForCare | 25,000–35,000 |
| FirstLight Home Care | about 25,000 |
| Griswold | 25,000 |
| Home Instead | 10,000 |
| HomeCare Advocacy Network | 30,000–50,000 |
| Homewatch CareGivers | 38,000–40,000 |
| HomeWell Care Services | 30,000–40,000 |
| Nurse Next Door | about 9,000 |
| One You Love Homecare | about 50,000 |
| Right at Home | at least 15,000 |
| Senior Helpers | 25,000–35,000 |
| SYNERGY HomeCare | about 20,000 |
Only systems that state a 65-and-over population are drawn: a system sizing on the whole population has measured something different, and the two are never ranked against each other. Where a filing says “at least” a number, the qualifier travels with the value.
What an owner has to hit, and what happens if they miss
Brand fund you must pay
Minimum brand fund contribution: 1% of the minimum revenue standard
A floor: an owner pays this or the percentage, whichever is larger.
Stated in the filing
p. 17 ↗Royalty you owe regardless
Minimum royalty: 5% of the minimum revenue standard
Stated in the filing
p. 104 ↗Sales you must reach
$77K a month, once established
p. 138 ↗What an owner may not do
What you may sell
- Franchisee may request approval to sell additional services/products not designated for general use, considered based on individual qualifications, local differences, and test marketing; approval for one franchisee doesn't grant rights to others.p. 47 ↗
- Franchisee must discontinue selling any services or products that the franchisor disapproves in writing in its sole discretion.p. 48 ↗
- Franchisee must provide all services and products listed in the operations manual or otherwise required in writing by the franchisor.p. 47 ↗
- Franchisee may only provide services and products approved by the franchisor as part of the FirstLight Home Care System.p. 47 ↗
Where you may sell
- Franchisee may not provide the services and products, or sell to or from any location outside the premises of its business, without prior written consent.p. 48 ↗
Other restrictions
- Franchisor has the unlimited right to add to, discontinue, or modify required services or products at its discretion.p. 48 ↗
FirstLight Home Care’s filing states that it has no litigation to disclose.
That is 0.0 per 100 locations, against 1.3 per 100 locations across the whole field. A count of proceedings mostly measures how large and how old a system is, which is why it is shown as a rate and never as a score.
ITEM 3 LITIGATION No litigation is required to be disclosed in this Item.
How to read these terms
- Contract language does not summarize. Where a filing states a term in words, those words are what we publish, with the page they are on. Only the handful of terms that are genuinely numbers get compared with other systems.
- A territory is only comparable to one measured the same way. Some systems size on residents aged 65 and over, some on the whole population. We keep those apart and never rank one against the other.
- Disclosed cases are not a score. A count of proceedings mostly measures how big and how old a system is. We publish what each filing discloses, in its own words, with a rate per hundred locations so the count is not mistaken for a verdict.
›The numbers behind this page
What the agreement says about the minimums
- Brand fund you must pay: “You must contribute to the National Advertising Fund an amount equal to the greater of 1% of your monthly Gross Revenues or 1% of the Minimum Performance Standard.”
- Royalty you owe regardless: “Provided, however, if Franchisee fails within any calendar month beginning in the fourth (4th) month following the Royalty Commencement Date to meet or exceed the minimum performance standards set forth in Section 4 of Schedule A ("Minimum Performance Standard"), then Franchisee must instead pay to FirstLight Home Care a Royalty Fee in an amount equal to five percent (5%) of the Minimum Performance Standard.”
- Sales you must reach: “Section 4. Minimum Performance Standard: Franchisee's monthly Minimum Performance Standard is described in the following chart and is based on the number of months the Franchised Business has been in operation:”
What this filing does not disclose
- Nothing material to this question is missing from this filing.
Every term on this page is read from FirstLight Home Care’s own 2026 disclosure document, and the wording is the filing’s rather than ours. Territory sizes are compared only with systems measuring on the same basis. Disclosed proceedings are shown as the filing describes them, with their status where the filing states one. Source ↗
The Operator Signal
The terms change every filing season. We read them all.
Once a month: what moved in the filings, which systems changed their agreements, and what it means for owners.
Keep going
Everything else FirstLight Home Care discloses →
Growth, fees, franchisor economics, training and territory, in one briefing.
Who's winning the home care franchise race →
Every system's openings and exits, by stage, across the whole field.
The citable numbers →
Every statistic these filings support, with its sample.