What should I pay for a round

[Garyj]

HI

I have the chance of buying a round that's been established for a number of years, approx £3000  a month revenue with approx 250 customers, traditional, all quite closely grouped what's the going rate for a round like this.

 

[Cookie]

It's not easy to provide an answer to your question without more detail:

• How long does it take to get to clean the round?
  
• How is money collected?
  
• Is any equipment included?
  
• Is the seller willing to take you on the round and introduce you to every customer?
  
• Is there any guarantee/refund if customers drop off once you start?
  

Ultimately you're the only one who can decide the value.

Personally, I use water fed pole so would be reluctant to pick up a traditional round unless it was going cheap!

 

[P4dstar]

@Cookie has it spot on. If you're looking for the short answer then 3-6 times the monthly amount depending on factors listed above. My only add comment to what Cookie says is forget the offer of a refund, no one is offering a refund if the customers drop off. I would demand they clean the round with me, every customer at least once.

 

[Dale Transparent]

Agree with @Cookie and @P4dstar I also think you should, if you haven't already, find out why the round is being sold and ask if you could see the previous 2 or 3 years accounts or bank transactions if possible. That can help determine the strength of the business which in turn could influence your purchase price and put your mind at ease. What's your gut telling you? Good luck

 

[P4dstar]

Agree with @Cookie and @P4dstar I also think you should, if you haven't already, find out why the round is being sold and ask if you could see the previous 2 or 3 years accounts or bank transactions if possible. That can help determine the strength of the business which in turn could influence your purchase price and put your mind at ease. What's your gut telling you? Good luck

One round here was being sold on FB last year. Some woman selling it on behalf of her chap. They were a couple of chivvy looking young kids. Turns out he was knocking a customer off and she was making him sell it ?

 

[Garyj]

Gut feeling is yes do it but then the risks of taking it over during winter months, not being able to work.

Round is very compact and mainly on 2 estates, takes him 2 ish weeks in summer and about 3 ish in winter.

Just the thought of being my own boss and growing the round and offering other services such as gutter cleans, facias nd gardening during summer months. 

He wants 20k for the round but I think maybe that's a bit to much ??

 

[Wind o kleen]

Gut feeling is yes do it but then the risks of taking it over during winter months, not being able to work.

Round is very compact and mainly on 2 estates, takes him 2 ish weeks in summer and about 3 ish in winter.

Just the thought of being my own boss and growing the round and offering other services such as gutter cleans, facias nd gardening during summer months. 

He wants 20k for the round but I think maybe that's a bit to much ??

20k? Does it come with a new van aswell ?

 

[dazmond]

HI

I have the chance of buying a round that's been established for a number of years, approx £3000  a month revenue with approx 250 customers, traditional, all quite closely grouped what's the going rate for a round like this.

£3k is approx £33k a year(taking off a month for holidays).....not many window cleaners sell decent work and a chunk like this so id be very wary if i were you.....theres no way someone will pay £20k for it.....he might get £12k at a push if he can prove its good solid established work and not full of up and over garage roof jobs and NO fortnightly work,etc.....

also if its trad you will lose a few when changing them over to wfp....

 

[Part Timer]

Gut feeling is yes do it but then the risks of taking it over during winter months, not being able to work.

Round is very compact and mainly on 2 estates, takes him 2 ish weeks in summer and about 3 ish in winter.

Just the thought of being my own boss and growing the round and offering other services such as gutter cleans, facias nd gardening during summer months. 

He wants 20k for the round but I think maybe that's a bit to much ??

On the other thread I said he'd be wanting anything from £15 - £24k so he's in the middle of the range. Good compact work doesn't come up very often and if he's genuine it's a fair price. Your only decision, in my eyes, is do you try and negotiate him down, or do you go for it. 

 

[P4dstar]

He wants 20k for the round but I think maybe that's a bit to much ??

My honest advice would be, keep your 20k. Spend 5-7k on a water fed pole system, van, uniform, website etc and start on your own. Your customers are likely to be much more loyal to you than his will. It's much safer as there are no ladders involved (or a minimal amount of ladder work depending). Yes its not the best time of year to start out but every customer you get (excluding the xmas rush) will be loyal and stick with you much more. You could buy 3k worth of work and only end up cleaning £2k because of drop offs or lost customers.

The other factor is are you a skilled window cleaner? With the greatest of respect you may not be able to touch what that guy has been doing. If he's been going long enough he could probably do it with his eyes closed. If his customers aren't happy with you they will drop you. If you start up on your own you have time to learn on the job and grow at your rate. I don't personally think its good business sense to take on 3k worth of work, with shorter days and little to no skill (if that is the case).

I've only been a window cleaner since 2017. I will be careful what I say here because I hate willy wavers and I wouldn't want to be seen as one but I have more regular work booked in than that chap is selling. I didn't buy any, just worked hard to find it.

 

[brianbadonde]

If you have 20K to spend then maybe use that as your income whilst you build up your own round. Maybe look in to the option of buying a smaller round off of him or someone else to kickstart your own round? I personally think 20K is a bit steep for 3K’s worth of work.

 

[harunh]

If someone offered me a round of monthly work of £3,000 for £3,000 i would not even buy it still!!!!

WHY ? 

Taking over a round is headache and you will lose 50%, build your own round, it is a lot more stress free and more satisfying, the only way to buy a round and not lose customers is to buy the company out, in other words buy the brand the phone number the van etc that way it is still the same company but different owner(customers doesnt know this) and u will not lose out

BUT....

When you buy a round from Jimmy from the local pub who has all his work written in a book by pen etc and then when you go around introducing yourself as the new window cleaner this is when people start dropping out, customers dont like being sold to another person, a few will not mind but a few will also mind so it is hit and miss.

Good luck

 

[Mabozzer]

Have any of the above bought a round before? If not then don't listen to the exaggerated negatives. If buying a trad round then be prepared to loose 20% if you're converting to wfp and try get it for 3 cleans . If it's already on wfp then paying 5 times the clean for decent work is acceptable in my opinion. If you're pushing them straight away for bank transfer payments and DD then you'll lose another here and there. It's not as bad as people make out but if you're dealing with a dip stick walk away as there's always something else.

 

[Cleanco]

Have any of the above bought a round before? If not then don't listen to the exaggerated negatives. If buying a trad round then be prepared to loose 20% if you're converting to wfp and try get it for 3 cleans . If it's already on wfp then paying 5 times the clean for decent work is acceptable in my opinion. If you're pushing them straight away for bank transfer payments and DD then you'll lose another here and there. It's not as bad as people make out but if you're dealing with a dip stick walk away as there's always something else.

Same here, I’ve had many dealings with taking over, buying and selling rounds both for myself and for other people and all of them have been positive. As long as you know what you are doing there shouldn’t be a problem. If you don’t then get some good advice or offer to work the work first. Yes you might upset a few customers if your face doesn’t fit but as long a your polite and explain the situation properly then you should be fine. People don’t like change but they’ll soon get used to you. I never had the option of starting from scratch when I first started as I had bills to pay and mouths to feed so needed an instant income. Yes I had to repay a hefty loan but if you compare that towards all the unpaid man hours you could spend canvassing and leafleting etc then all the cash spent on advertising it’s a no brainier really. It’s far easier to let someone else’s money do the legwork for you. I went from a minimum wage job to earning almost double that overnight and have grown and grown since and have never looked back. Good luck to op on your new endeavour. Hope it all goes well?

 

[DJT]

If your seriously thinking of spending 20grand on work then why not split this down and spend money on marketing? Get a company to do you some Google ad words and also maybe some lead gen like green Pro Clean. I'm more than certain over a year you will get £3000 worth of work and also it will be under your own name and your terms and conditions. 

 

[dmw]

Have any of the above bought a round before? If not then don't listen to the exaggerated negatives. If buying a trad round then be prepared to loose 20% if you're converting to wfp and try get it for 3 cleans . If it's already on wfp then paying 5 times the clean for decent work is acceptable in my opinion. If you're pushing them straight away for bank transfer payments and DD then you'll lose another here and there. It's not as bad as people make out but if you're dealing with a dip stick walk away as there's always something else.

I started up getting on for 30 years ago, it was a friend of a freind who I bought it off.

I paid a £1000 for a round  that was making me about £150 a week, not bad money for the time.

In hindsight it wasn't his best work and although fairly compact and in walking distance were quite scattered.

Anyway I went out with him and his mates for 3 days in February and bought it, basically a list of prices and addresses, but being 22 and happy to lucky I cracked on with it.

The net result is I'm still doing many of the customers I started off with and this week's round I've done 6 streets all next to each other and hardly move the van.

Now the thing is, the guy I bought it off had three lads working for him a bit scruffy, and paid cash in hand, and never saw the same face so when they saw me and got used to me being a one man band and trustworthy, they bought into me and all those houses that I didn't do they approached me and I've built a nice tight round.

I've also bought a bit and sold loads and I've never had my fingers burnt.

The trouble with Facebook and some canvassed stuff is you can spend too long driving and not earning.

The bottom line is if your serious and in it for the long haul, although you're buying work you can tweak it over the years and adding WFP and online payments etc. and turn it into your own.

Your business your rules.

 

[Cleanco]

If your seriously thinking of spending 20grand on work then why not split this down and spend money on marketing? Get a company to do you some Google ad words and also maybe some lead gen like green Pro Clean. I'm more than certain over a year you will get £3000 worth of work and also it will be under your own name and your terms and conditions. 

That’s a hell of a lot of money to spend on marketing and basically “maybes”. I appreciate that when you first start anything is better than nothing but you could end up with a round that most taxi firms wouldn’t even cover if you go down the lead gen route. Why wait 12 months when you can have it now!!

 

[Iron Giant]

I personally wouldn't part with 20k if I had never cleaned a window before, cleaning a window up a ladder is a different thing all together and unless you are a very driven person like some lads on here who have built businesses from nothing and in some cases gone onto have multiple vans it can be rough going as it's all the background stuff to running a business also and to get yourself out of the door every morning when the weather is against you, also you won't get all that 3k in every month you will have a constant rolling debt off £100's every week. 

I wouldn't put anyone off wanting to run their own business, but I would always encourage someone to go into it with your eyes wide open and be aware of everything that comes with running a business day to day, it's 7 days a week and near enough 365 days a year. 

 

[Cleanco]

I personally wouldn't part with 20k if I had never cleaned a window before, cleaning a window up a ladder is a different thing all together and unless you are a very driven person like some lads on here who have built businesses from nothing and in some cases gone onto have multiple vans it can be rough going as it's all the background stuff to running a business also and to get yourself out of the door every morning when the weather is against you, also you won't get all that 3k in every month you will have a constant rolling debt off £100's every week. 

I wouldn't put anyone off wanting to run their own business, but I would always encourage someone to go into it with your eyes wide open and be aware of everything that comes with running a business day to day, it's 7 days a week and near enough 365 days a year. 

Good advice that. I’d at least go and get a job working as a window cleaner first just to get an idea of what your letting yourself in for. 

 

[dmw]

Good advice that. I’d at least go and get a job working as a window cleaner first just to get an idea of what your letting yourself in for. 

That's what I did, I went out with the guy I bought the round off and did 3 days in the middle of February and thought if I can work in this weather then i can work anytime. I worked for nothing and learned how to use ladders and a squeegee. 

Invaluable experience. 

 

[Cleanco]

That's what I did, I went out with the guy I bought the round off and did 3 days in the middle of February and thought if I can work in this weather then i can work anytime. I worked for nothing and learned how to use ladders and a squeegee. 

Invaluable experience. 

For sure. I worked as an employee for many years before going alone.