How Much Does an ATC Healthcare Services Franchise Cost?

The January 20, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document discloses four separate U.S. investment ranges: $158,500 to $302,500 for a single start-up franchise, $304,500 to $592,500 for a two-unit start-up discount package, $9,550 to $41,000 for a single conversion franchise, and $19,100 to $82,000 for a two-unit conversion package. These ranges are tied to different contracts and operating circumstances and should not be blended into one “typical” cost.

The largest distinction is between a new start-up office and a conversion of an existing staffing operation. A conversion buyer is assumed to already have an office and much of the required equipment, which removes the entry payment, launch-marketing payment, rent, leasehold work, furniture, blueprints, and deposits from the disclosed conversion estimate. A two-unit package then scales the territory commitment and several operating categories.

What remains in the conversion estimate?

The 2026 one-office conversion total is not a zero-cost transfer. The conversion table retains the following categories because an existing business may still need rebranding, system conversion, training, insurance, recruitment tools, and working capital.

Source: 2026 disclosure, pp. 13-17. Both contract-signing charges are $0 for a conversion franchise.

The $158,500 to $302,500 one-office opening range includes the $50,000 entry payment, $10,000 launch-marketing payment, one year of rent and insurance, physical-office setup, training travel, required technology, recruitment tools, professional and licensing costs, and the covered operating allowance. The low and high line items add exactly to the official total.

Source: 2026 disclosure, pp. 13-17. The tables preserve the official range and do not add later charges unless an initial payment appears there.

The initial investment is not paid as one check. The largest payment to the franchisor occurs at contract signing for a start-up franchise, while premises, equipment, training, compliance, recruiting, and the operating allowance are paid to several parties over the pre-opening and initial operating periods.

1. Before signing or paying: the current disclosure must be delivered at least 14 calendar days before a binding agreement or payment. The federal timing rule is summarized in the FTC Franchise Rule materials.

2. At contract signing: a new one-office buyer pays the $50,000 entry fee and $10,000 launch-marketing payment. A two-territory opening package lists $87,500 in entry fees and $20,000 for launch marketing. Conversion formats list $0 for both charges.

3. Within the site-development period: the franchisee must submit site information within 30 days after signing, negotiate the lease, and pay rent, deposits, improvements, equipment, signage, computer, insurance, and professional costs as agreed or incurred.

4. Before opening: required people must complete initial training no later than 30 days before opening; the franchisee pays travel, lodging, meals, car rental, and applicable wages. The disclosure estimates opening at about 90 days after signing, subject to site, lease, licensing, improvements, training, and legal compliance. The franchisor's official training and support information gives additional operational context but does not change the listed amounts.

5. During the initial operating period: the allowance is used as needed for expenses not separately listed. After opening, the recurring charges and quarterly minimum schedule begin to govern cash flow.

The main continuing obligations are the percentage royalty, local promotion spending, recruitment spending, a monthly technology charge, per-employee and per-document software charges, and a possible brand-fund contribution. The franchisor processes customer billing and collections, deducts amounts due, and pays the remaining “net remittance” to the franchisee. The franchisor's official back-office support page describes the billing, collections, payroll, and human-resources model; the current fee bases come from the 2026 disclosure.

Source: 2026 disclosure, pp. 5-12, 24, and 28. Percentage fees use the disclosed denominator; no annual sales amount has been assumed. The fee schedule states that all fees are nonrefundable and generally may change or increase.

How are the fee bases and net remittance defined?

Gross Margin

The defined revenue amount minus Direct Costs. The placement-based royalty is applied to this result, not to ordinary gross sales.

Direct Costs

Costs directly tied to the office's operations, including specified payroll, taxes, insurance, screening, travel, client credits, payment-processing, Daily Pay, delinquent-invoice, and vendor-management costs.

Total Revenue

Amounts received or receivable from the Franchised Business, subject to the disclosure's limited exclusions for separately stated taxes, good-faith refunds and credits, and authorized discounts.

Distributed Balance

The balance the franchisor pays after processing customer receipts and deducting royalties and other amounts due, generally within 60 days after month-end.

Conversion timing: percentage royalties and any brand-fund charge begin when the contract is signed. The first net remittance is scheduled 45 days after the first month in which the converted office is open and operating.

The calculated royalty is subject to a separate quarterly minimum. The schedule rises from $12,000 in the first year to $268,016 in the tenth year. These are minimum royalty amounts, not sales targets or estimates of franchisee performance.

Several conditional charges are not part of ordinary monthly operations. They become payable when the franchisee transfers, renews, opens late, requests extra support, participates in certain programs, defaults, or triggers an audit or enforcement action.

Lifecycle, default, and compliance triggers

• Transfer Fee: $15,000 generally; $7,500 for an immediate-family transfer; $7,500 for additional territories transferred simultaneously to the same entity; or $1,000 for a transfer among existing owners.

• Renewal Fee: $5,000 when renewed. The relationship terms also permit required renovation or upgrades as a renewal condition, so the fee is not necessarily the full renewal cost.

• Late Opening Fee: $1,500 if the office fails to open by the date required in the contract.

• Repair, Maintenance, and Remodeling/Redecorating: variable, not to exceed $2,500; the disclosure says required remodeling or redecoration will not occur more frequently than every five years.

• Audit: cost of the audit if a discrepancy of 3% or more is found, plus any understated amount and interest.

• Interest on Overdue Amounts: 1.5% per month or the highest lawful rate, whichever is less.

• Delinquent Accounts: 55% of the delinquent invoice sale amount if the franchisee is compliant, or 100% if not compliant.

• Liquidated Damages: the greater of the average monthly royalties paid or the minimum due during the preceding 12 months, multiplied by 24, payable after termination for cause.

• Indemnification and Costs and Attorneys' Fees: variable reimbursement obligations when claims or enforcement expenses arise.

Support, account, and optional-program triggers

• Additional Training On-Site: $800-$1,200 per day plus expenses when requested or required.

• Management Fee: $1,200-$1,800 per day plus the franchisor representative's expenses if the franchisor steps in to manage under specified circumstances.

• National or Regional Account Fee: up to 2% of GM if an account manager is retained for the account.

• Fidelity Bond: $500-$1,000 annually if the franchisee participates in the Daily Pay Program.

• Franchisee Meetings: up to $2,000 per person plus travel, lodging, meals, and attendee wages; if attendance is designated mandatory, the fee may be due even without attendance.

• Product and Supplier Evaluation Fee: up to $1,000 for evaluation of a proposed product or supplier.

• Additional Seniors Fee: $1.85 for each additional person age 65 or older when the franchisor permits ZIP codes to be added to the Territory.

• Insurance and Bonds: reimbursement of the franchisor's costs if it obtains required coverage because the franchisee did not maintain it. For a claim, the document states the franchisor is responsible for up to 45% of the deductible and the franchisee for the remainder.

Source: 2026 disclosure, Item 6, pp. 6-10, and Item 17, pp. 40-42. Conditional charges are not added to the opening total unless the initial-investment table expressly includes a payment.

The current official franchise investment page states a $250,000 liquidity threshold and a $50,000 entry fee. The liquidity figure is a qualification, not an opening expenditure and not an amount that should automatically be added to the investment range. The 2026 disclosure does not state a separate minimum net-worth or non-borrowed-funds threshold in the reviewed cost and financing sections.

Experienced-professional financing

The financing section discloses an Experienced Staffing Professional program for candidates with at least five years of branch-manager or equivalent staffing-company experience who meet additional work-experience qualifications.

Source: 2026 disclosure, pp. 21-22. The franchisor does not guarantee outside notes, leases, or other obligations and may provide lender contacts without guaranteeing approval.

The disclosed opening range is an official estimate, not a ceiling. Several obligations depend on the site, state, supplier, technology requirements, development plan, and the franchisee's own operating decisions.

• Real-estate purchase or new construction: The table assumes leased space. If the buyer purchases land or builds an office, the document says it cannot estimate the increase.
• Taxes: the listed amounts are exclusive of taxes that may be imposed.
• State and local licensing: healthcare-staffing permits and employment-service approvals vary by jurisdiction, and the disclosed $500-$1,500 start-up allowance may not resolve every local requirement.
• Technology maintenance and upgrades: the support section estimates a third-party on-site support contract at approximately $1,000 per year, depending on the supplier, and states that there is no contractual limit on the frequency or cost of required computer maintenance, updates, or upgrades.
• Multi-unit premises: reconcile the “2 Brick and Mortar Offices” table heading with the footnote and the offer-structure language before signing leases.
• Operating allowance: verify whether the nine-month amount covers the buyer's planned support staff, owner draw, recruiting cadence, and local operating obligations. The disclosure does not guarantee that the allowance will be sufficient.
• Home-based operation: the franchise cannot be operated from the owner's home, so a buyer should not remove office costs on the assumption that the business is home-based.
• Refundability: the document states that listed expenses are nonrefundable except that deposits may be refundable.
• Latest agreement and state addenda: compare the fee table, minimum royalty schedule, guarantees, and state-specific changes in the final documents. The FTC franchise-buying guide explains how the opening-fee, ongoing-fee, investment, and relationship sections fit into this review.

A buyer should begin with the format-specific 2026 investment range, not the lowest number found across all formats. For a new single office, that is $158,500-$302,500, including $60,000 disclosed as payable to the franchisor or an affiliate and $71,300-$140,500 for the initial operating period. A conversion buyer should use the $9,550-$41,000 conversion table only if the existing operation satisfies the assumptions behind the omitted premises and equipment costs.

The $250,000 liquidity threshold published on the official franchise site is a separate qualification, while royalties, quarterly minimums, the monthly technology charge, recruitment spending, local promotion spending, employee-system charges, and conditional fees continue after opening. The most important unresolved cost questions are the exact two-territory office plan, jurisdiction-specific licensing, future technology upgrades, and whether the nine-month operating allowance matches the buyer's actual staffing and personal-cash needs.