Empower Brands Posts 15% Transaction Growth in H1

Empower Brands added 13% more franchisees across its ten-brand portfolio in the first half of 2026 and grew total transactions 15% year over year, a category that includes new agreements, transfers and existing-owner expansions. The Richmond, Virginia-based franchisor also took Superior Fence & Rail into Canada, its first brand to cross the border.

Existing Owners Are Doing the Buying

Transaction growth outpaced new-franchisee growth, meaning a meaningful share of the gain came from current operators adding territories and buying additional locations rather than first-time buyers entering the system. That pattern signals confidence from the people who already know the unit economics, which tends to be a more reliable growth signal than fresh sign-ups alone.

Riding a Housing Repair Wave

The growth lands as the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies projects residential improvement and repair spending will top $522 billion this year, driven by aging homes and slower new construction. Empower Brands' portfolio, which spans pest control, fencing, irrigation, insulation and lawn care under brands like JAN-PRO and Koala Insulation, sits squarely inside that demand curve.

Building the Sales Machine Behind the Numbers

The company also restructured its Franchise Development Center of Excellence, adding three development leaders and layering AI tools into advertising, candidate nurturing and pipeline management. For a ten-brand platform backed by private equity firm MidOcean Partners, that kind of centralized development infrastructure is what lets individual brands scale without each one building its own sales operation from scratch.