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Buying a round is it worth it?

I think you need to be more specific.

  • How much is the round going to cost?
  • How long has it been worked? WFP or Trad?
  • Are the clean prices per house decent or 'cheap as chips'?
  • What's the monthly turnover? Have you seen the books?
  • Will the selling window cleaner take you round cleaning and introduce you to all the customers or will you just get given a list?
  • Is there going to be some written contract to say what you are & what you aren't getting?

I believe most rounds go for roughly 3 times their monthly value but ultimately it's you who will have to decide whether it's worth it or not.

 
Cookie thanks for your reply.

At the moment i have see many adds for people selling rounds around manchester.

But at the moment im just thinking to buy one, i havent decided yet.

Thats why im asking.

Do i need to ask all these questions before i buy the round?

What you mean about the contract?

 
Do i need to ask all these questions before i buy the round?

What you mean about the contract?


If I was spending several hundered (or thousand) pounds I'd certainly ask the above questions.

As far as the contract is concerned I would like assurances that:

  • 90%+ of the customers will contnue to want their windows cleaning (some people might see a change of window cleaner as an excuse to drop the service)
  • The previous window cleaner (or any of his employees) will not be working the same streets he has sold to you for at least 12 months (you don't want him poaching the jobs he has just sold to you)

I'd get this written up by a solicitor and signed off by both parties. Deduct the costs of this from the sale price or at least split it 50/50.

 
Buying a round you can expect to be asked for anywhere between 3 x monthly revenue and 10 x monthly revenue with many many variables affecting the asking price.  

You asked is buying a round worthwhile and the answer is yes, as long as the round in question is EXACTLY what you are looking for.  On the other side of the coin the answer is no if your buying a pile of underpriced work kept on tatty note pads with limited information.  

I would never consider the purchase of any round that was not recorded on something like Aworka, Cleaner Planner or Squeegee or in the very least a decent Excel file. And then I would want to see matching bank statements to prove the value of the round.   This is an issue if rounds have a heavy cash turnover as not all of it may make it to the bank.  

I have sold a few rounds over the years and have also purchased a couple when the deal has been right.  

Other avenues for you are building a new round from scratch, nowhere near as daunting or as difficult as you might think.  You can go the route of leaflet drops & door canvassing or hire professional companies to do it for you.  

My wife also happens to own a company that specializes in lead generation for window cleaners and we have also just started a digital canvassing service as well that is a lot more effective than traditional door canvassing so if you want to take a look at those options the lead service can be found here - 

My number is in the post below so if you want to discuss it further feel free to give me a call.  




 
I think it's a ridiculous idea to purchase a round if you have no previous experience cleaning windows. I honestly think it's the fastest way to fail. You're either buying under priced work where the customer is likely to be patient while you learn or overpriced work where you lose most of it from doing a bad job. I have assumed here that you are not currently working for someone else of course.

IMO buying a round is for someone looking to expand their empire and not someone starting out. The lead generation service @Green Pro Clean Ltd offers is a good way to build a steady round, as is knocking doors and speaking to people or leaflet drops. If someone turned up to my house and did a half ar5ed job when I employed someone I deemed to be a professional I would turn them away and tell them I ain't paying!

 
You can get all the experience you want by cleaning your own windows. I was spending a few hours a day on mine with the squeegee to master the technique. Never had one complaint when I started out because I was deliberate. Now I notice its the insides that don't seem to get done because its hard for old people to do.

 
You can get all the experience you want by cleaning your own windows. I was spending a few hours a day on mine with the squeegee to master the technique. Never had one complaint when I started out because I was deliberate. Now I notice its the insides that don't seem to get done because its hard for old people to do.
How? There's only so much one house can teach you. Clean a few friends houses and you'll learn some more but you still won't learn everything. When you buy a round you expect all the windows to be clean and you are going to maintain them so the first time you get a new customer with green frames you won't know where to start. You will undoubtably make mistakes because you won't be able to give the clean the amount of time you need to in order to get the best results.

You don't walk into a normal job on day one and run the company, you need to work your way up to it. Training, practice and in some cases patience is required. You may feel like you could jump from a round your size to a round my size or Iron Giant's size or even bigger tomorrow but I honestly think you would be in for a rude awakening. A few years back in the building trade we sold franchises, we usually passed one job at a time after 12 weeks training. One guy turned up very sure of himself and did a weeks training before demanding 2 jobs at a time with no days off. Long story short he was trying to demand a refund of his franchise fee after a couple of months and blaming the failure on the price of the jobs while other lads were earning 5-6 times what he was.

 
Doesn’t take long to learn how to trad or wfp. Speed takes time. You will learn each house as it comes. ( where to position the ladder best or what way to pull the hose ) any hiccups along the way then this is the place to say 

 

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