A TruBlue owner-operator may generate roughly $30,000 to $139,000 in annual pre-tax owner-operator benefit, with a base scenario near $55,000. This range uses 2025 Gross Revenue anchors from the 2026 TruBlue Franchise Disclosure Document and an official U.S. sole-proprietor margin benchmark. It is not an earnings figure reported by T.B. Franchising Systems, Inc.
This is an independent analytical scenario, not an Item 19 financial performance representation by the franchisor. It combines identified facts from the 2026 TruBlue FDD with a 2023 Internal Revenue Service industry benchmark, a Bureau of Labor Statistics manager-wage benchmark, and clearly labeled sensitivity assumptions. Actual results can differ materially by location, service mix, sales, collections, technician productivity, labor cost, occupancy, financing, owner involvement, and execution.
Legal franchisor: T.B. Franchising Systems, Inc. FDD: issued April 13, 2026. Item 19 status: Gross Revenue only; no outlet profit, EBITDA, Net Income, cash flow, or Owner Compensation disclosure. Population: 42 franchised territories open at least one year under continuous ownership, operated full time with a handyman on staff, and reporting for all of 2025. Benchmark: IRS Statistics of Income for 2023 Specialty Trade Contractors. Owner-role reference: BLS May 2023 wage data. Checked July 20, 2026.
The 2026 TruBlue FDD provides a current, same-brand sales distribution and recurring-fee terms, but it does not disclose operating expenses or owner earnings. The result therefore depends materially on an external official margin proxy for a mixed home-service model, and the IRS proprietors may perform more billable field work than the management-focused TruBlue owner role.
2025 billed revenue for the 42-unit Item 19 cohort; not owner earnings.
Only 36% of included territories attained or surpassed this average.
Out of 135 franchised territories operating at December 31, 2025.
IRS 2023 net income less deficit divided by receipts for Specialty Trade Contractors.
Approximation at the three Item 19 anchors; Item 6 defines the fee base on a cash basis.
What does TruBlue's Item 19 actually measure?
Officially, Item 19 measures 2025 Gross Revenue, not annual owner earnings. The applicable population is 42 franchised TruBlue territories that had been open at least one year, remained under continuous ownership, operated full time with a handyman on staff, and reported for the entire calendar year. Gross Revenue is accrual-basis billings, so it can include customer invoices not yet collected.
The 2026 TruBlue FDD states that Gross Revenue excludes refunds, discounts, and separately stated sales or excise taxes. It does not deduct technician labor, materials, vehicles, insurance, advertising, office costs, royalties, the National Branding Fee, technology, depreciation, interest, or any other expense needed to reach Net Income or business profit. See 2026 TruBlue FDD, Item 19, pp. 32-35.
| Item 19 cohort | Median Gross Revenue | Average Gross Revenue | Territories |
|---|---|---|---|
| First quartile | $744,420 | $845,486 | 10 |
| Second quartile | $432,115 | $422,903 | 10 |
| Third quartile | $309,187 | $305,902 | 11 |
| Fourth quartile | $232,997 | $213,744 | 11 |
| All included territories | $347,879 | $438,095 | 42 |
| First full calendar year | $337,843 | $382,174 | 8 |
The $438,095 average is pulled upward by higher-volume territories: only 36% of the 42 included territories attained or surpassed it. The $347,879 median is the stronger central sales anchor, but neither statistic reveals the owner's salary, draw, distributions, retained earnings, or after-tax take-home pay.
Item 20 reports 135 franchised outlets and no company-owned outlets at year-end 2025, up from 104 franchised outlets at the start of the year. Item 19 excluded 41 territories that opened during 2025 and also excluded units that did not meet its full-year, continuous-ownership, full-time-operation, handyman-staffing, and reporting tests. The Item 19 cohort therefore covers about 31% of year-end franchised territories. See 2026 TruBlue FDD, Item 20, pp. 36-41.
How is the annual owner-earnings range calculated?
The estimate applies an all-in official industry margin to three official TruBlue revenue anchors. Conservative uses the fourth-quartile median, Base uses the cumulative median, and Upside uses the first-quartile median from the 2025 Item 19 distribution. These labels are analytical scenarios, not probabilities or franchisor forecasts.
The central IRS margin is 15.705%: $40.481 billion of Net Income Less Deficit divided by $257.750 billion of Business Receipts for tax year 2023. Conservative and Upside use minus or plus 3 percentage points because the IRS table provides one central margin rather than a TruBlue-specific distribution.
- Conservative: $232,997 fourth-quartile median Gross Revenue × 12.705% margin.
- Base: $347,879 cumulative median Gross Revenue × 15.705% margin.
- Upside: $744,420 first-quartile median Gross Revenue × 18.705% margin.
- Accounting treatment: the IRS margin is an all-in Schedule C tax-return measure, so TruBlue fees are not subtracted again. Interest and depreciation are generally included as deductions; financing principal and personal income taxes are not.
| Scenario | FDD revenue anchor | All-in margin | Owner-operator benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | $232,997 | 12.705% | $29,600 |
| Base | $347,879 | 15.705% | $54,600 |
| Upside | $744,420 | 18.705% | $139,200 |
Estimated annual pre-tax owner-operator benefit, rounded to the nearest $100.
Interpretation: sales volume and realized margin compound each other. The Upside scenario is not a forecast; it combines the first-quartile median Gross Revenue with a margin three percentage points above the IRS benchmark.
Sources: 2026 TruBlue FDD, Item 19, pp. 32-35; IRS Nonfarm Sole Proprietorship Statistics, tax year 2023. Calculations are independent scenarios.
The 2026 TruBlue FDD requires a royalty equal to the greater of 6% of Gross Revenues or the applicable minimum, a National Branding Fee equal to the greater of 2% of Gross Revenues or $500 per month, and a $195 monthly Technology Fee. Item 6 defines fee-bearing Gross Revenues on a cash basis, while Item 19 reports accrual-basis billings. Applying the Item 6 schedule to the three Item 19 anchors therefore produces only an approximate 8.3% to 9.6% pressure test before local cooperative advertising. The fees are not deducted again from the IRS all-in margin because that source does not isolate franchise fees. If comparable sole proprietors carried lower brand-specific fees than a TruBlue territory, this model may overstate owner benefit.
How does owner involvement change the result?
Owner involvement can change the modeled result by the value of a full-time manager. The 2026 TruBlue FDD requires the franchisee to designate an approved, trained individual to manage the business full time; that manager need not own the business. The owner is not required to participate directly, although the FDD recommends personal participation. See 2026 TruBlue FDD, Item 15, p. 29.
- Estimated owner-operator benefit
- The all-in business result when the owner fills the required full-time management role. It includes both residual business economics and compensation for the owner's labor; it is not passive profit.
- Estimated manager-run residual
- Owner-operator benefit less a $75,820 wage-only manager proxy. It excludes employer payroll taxes and benefits, so a fully loaded manager cost would be higher; it is a sensitivity test rather than a fully reconciled TruBlue payroll statement.
- Debt service
- Financing principal is separate from operating earnings. Item 10 states that the franchisor does not offer or guarantee financing, so no universal debt assumption is defensible.
- Personal taxes
- No after-tax estimate is shown. Tax outcomes depend on entity structure, jurisdiction, deductions, and the owner's circumstances.
The manager-run scenario subtracts the BLS May 2023 national median wage for First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers.
Interpretation: in this model, the Base territory does not support both the benchmark all-in margin and a separate median manager wage. The manager-run result becomes positive only in the Upside scenario, and even that figure is before employer payroll taxes and benefits.
Sources: 2026 TruBlue FDD, Item 15, p. 29; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for occupation 49-1011, May 2023. The $75,820 figure is a national median wage, not a TruBlue payroll disclosure.
The owner-operated figures should not be read as passive investment income. Item 1 describes the franchisee role as leading and managing daily operations while employees or contractors perform services; some IRS sole proprietors may instead perform billable trade work themselves. Item 15 also requires a part-time salesperson of at least 20 hours per week after six months. Those role and staffing differences are not visible as separate line items in the benchmark, which adds uncertainty.
Which variables can move annual earnings most?
The largest driver is the combination of Gross Revenue and labor efficiency. This is an estimated conclusion for one U.S. territory, not an official TruBlue profit finding. The 2025 Item 19 range was $75,157 to $1,848,303, showing substantial sales dispersion before any expense differences are considered.
- Billings versus collections: Item 19 Gross Revenue is accrual-based. Slow payment, bad debt, and invoice timing can make cash available to the owner lower than billed revenue.
- Technician utilization and service mix: handyman labor, home modifications, cleaning, yard services, and recurring maintenance can carry different direct-cost and scheduling profiles. The official TruBlue business-model description confirms that the offer spans several service streams.
- Owner management: replacing a paid full-time manager can add labor value to the owner's economic benefit, but it also requires the owner's time and operating responsibility.
- Franchise fees: Item 6 requires the royalty, National Branding Fee, and technology fee even when margins are weak. A local advertising cooperative was not operating as of the FDD issuance date, but a future contribution may be up to 3% of Gross Revenues unless members approve more.
- Industry classification: the TruBlue model combines repair, maintenance, modifications, cleaning, and yard work. Census NAICS definitions for Specialty Trade Contractors cover maintenance and repairs, but no single NAICS category perfectly represents the full service mix.
- Financing and capital needs: debt principal is excluded from the range. Vehicle purchases, replacement tools, working capital, and owner-specific financing can reduce distributable cash even when accounting income is positive.
The 42-territory Item 19 population omits new 2025 openings and other outlets that failed one or more eligibility tests. Its quartiles describe the included cohort; they do not establish the probability that a new buyer will land in a particular band. The eight first-full-calendar-year territories had a $337,843 median Gross Revenue, but the sample is too small to convert into a reliable startup-year earnings estimate.
What should a buyer verify before relying on this range?
A buyer should treat the $30,000-$139,000 owner-operator range as a diligence framework, not a forecast. The most important missing evidence is actual same-brand expense data for comparable 2025 territories, separated by owner-operated and manager-run structures.
- Request the written substantiation for the 2026 FDD Item 19 financial performance representation and reconcile the quartile membership, reporting period, and exclusions.
- Ask several current franchisees for revenue, technician payroll, materials, insurance, vehicle, local advertising, bad-debt, technology, royalty, National Branding Fee, and manager-compensation figures for the same accounting period.
- Separate owner wages or labor value from residual operating profit, distributions, retained cash, depreciation, interest, and debt-principal payments.
- Confirm whether the territory will be home-based or use commercial space, whether a local advertising cooperative is planned, and which minimum fees will apply during ramp-up.
- Compare the proposed territory with the 42-unit Item 19 cohort on age, continuous ownership, staffing, full-time operation, service mix, market wages, and collection practices.
- Interview former and transferred franchisees listed in Item 20 materials to understand whether sales volume, labor availability, collections, owner workload, or financing drove their outcomes.
The Federal Trade Commission's guidance on franchise financial performance representations explains why sales or earnings claims should be scrutinized against Item 19 and its substantiation. The official U.S. TruBlue franchise website is useful for confirming the current service model, but marketing statements should not replace the FDD's defined Gross Revenue evidence.
What is the defensible annual earnings view?
The strongest defensible estimate is about $30,000 to $139,000 in annual pre-tax owner-operator benefit for one established U.S. TruBlue territory, with a base scenario near $55,000. It is scenario-based, not an official owner-earnings disclosure. The most important driver is the interaction between billed revenue and labor productivity; the largest unresolved uncertainty is the absence of same-brand operating-expense and manager-cost data. A manager-run structure is materially harder: after a wage-only $75,820 manager proxy, the modeled range is approximately negative $46,000 to positive $63,000 before payroll burden, financing principal, and personal taxes. A buyer should verify Item 19 substantiation, comparable franchisee profit-and-loss statements, and owner-versus-manager economics directly with current and former franchisees before using the range in a purchase decision.