Authority Brands, the Apax Partners-backed home services franchise company headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, disclosed in its January 2026 year-end communication that it added 246 new franchise owners and 340 new territories across 31 states in 2025. The pace is accelerating dramatically: from 190 new franchise owners in 2023 to 456 across 2024 and 2025 combined — a 140 percent increase in the two-year period.
Authority Brands' most recognisable HVAC brand is One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning — the franchise system that provides HVAC service across the US under a nationally marketed brand with local franchise owner operations. The franchise-platform model functions as a roll-up at the system level: instead of corporate acquisitions of existing businesses, growth happens through franchise territory awards to new owner-operators, with the franchisor (Authority Brands) capturing value through franchise fees, royalties, and the overall platform scale.
The Franchise Model vs PE Roll-Up: A Strategic Comparison
The Authority Brands franchise model and the Champions Group / Apex Service Partners PE roll-up model are both consolidating the fragmented residential home services market — but they do it through fundamentally different mechanisms with different risk and return profiles:
• PE roll-up (Champions, Apex): Acquires existing businesses at 4 to 18x EBITDA, integrates operations, retains existing customer relationships and staff. High upfront capital requirement per location. Fast geographic coverage through acquisition of businesses that already exist. Risk: acquisition integration failure, cultural conflict, multiple compression on exit.
• Franchise model (One Hour, Aire Serv): Awards new territories to owner-operators who build new businesses under the franchise system. Low corporate capital requirement per location — the franchise owner provides the capital. Slower geographic coverage than acquisition (building from zero vs acquiring existing businesses). Risk: franchise owner quality, brand consistency, slower ramp to profitability in new territories.
• The hybrid: Some franchise systems also acquire existing businesses and convert them to franchise operations — combining the speed of acquisition with the capital efficiency of the franchise model.
Authority Brands, Apax Partners' home services franchise platform, added 246 new franchise owners and 340 new territories across 31 states in 2025 — accelerating from 190 new owners in 2023 to 456 across 2024 and 2025 combined — building One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning and other home services brands through franchise territory awards rather than corporate acquisitions.
Why 246 New Franchise Owners Is a Significant Number
Adding 246 new franchise owners in a single year means Authority Brands is onboarding approximately five new HVAC and home services business owners per week. Each of those owners has made a financial commitment to the franchise system — paying a franchise fee, investing in initial inventory and equipment, and committing to ongoing royalty payments. The accelerating pace of franchise owner additions reflects genuine demand from entrepreneurs who see the residential home services market as an attractive business ownership opportunity.
The 31-state presence from new 2025 territories alone signals that the geographic expansion is truly national — not concentrated in existing strong markets. One Hour Heating & Air is entering new geographies, including secondary and tertiary markets that PE acquisition platforms have not yet targeted.
Aire Serv and the Competitive Franchise Landscape
Authority Brands' One Hour Heating & Air competes in the HVAC franchise space against Neighborly's Aire Serv, which ranked number one in HVAC franchising in Entrepreneur's 2025 Franchise 500. Neighborly was acquired by KKR from Harvest Partners in Q1 2025, making it another institutional-capital-backed home services franchise platform.
The convergence of Apax Partners (Authority Brands) and KKR (Neighborly) in the HVAC franchise space alongside the PE roll-up investments (Blackstone in Champions, Goldman in Sila) confirms that institutional capital has comprehensively entered residential HVAC through every available mechanism: direct acquisition, franchise ownership, and distribution consolidation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Authority Brands?
Authority Brands is an Apax Partners-backed home services franchise company operating 15 brands including One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, and Mister Sparky electrical services. In 2025, the company added 246 new franchise owners and 340 new territories across 31 states — a 140% increase over the 2023 pace.
What is One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning?
One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning is a national HVAC services franchise brand operated by Authority Brands. The franchise system provides HVAC installation, repair, and maintenance services through locally owned franchise operations under the One Hour brand identity, combining national marketing and brand recognition with local owner-operated service delivery.
How does the HVAC franchise model differ from PE roll-ups?
HVAC franchise models (like One Hour, Aire Serv) grow by awarding new territories to owner-operators who build businesses under the franchise system, requiring low corporate capital per location but building more slowly than acquisition. PE roll-ups (like Champions, Apex) grow by acquiring existing businesses at premium multiples, achieving fast geographic coverage with high capital deployment but facing acquisition integration risk.
