Welcome to the UK Window Cleaning Forums

Starting or own a window cleaning business? We're a network of window cleaners sharing advice, tips & experience. Rounds for sale & more. Join us today!

Buying a round advice.

Dirty dan

Active member
Messages
139
Location
Barry
So I’ve been offered a round to buy, never done it before as I am interested but I’m just curious what questions I should be asking and how I should take it over. I’m a bit wary about handing over money and getting stitched up

 
We get offered a lot of work form other smaller companies etc.

We never buy because most of the time, the sellers work in a manner which is different to us. Therefore, there is a high likelihood of clients leaving following the sale.

That considered it is often cheaper and more effective to acquire clients via your own marketing.
Then they join up with eh way we work from the off. No client training required.

Your situation may be different but food for thought.
I would try to visit all 85 if I were you. It's a week of cleaning for one person on average I'd say. Perhaps factor that assisted week into the price?

Key questions I would look at is
How they pay. you may want gocardless and he may have lots of cash clients. upon meeting them you may find most are not IT savvy and find it a pain to pay online or GC.
History of consistent payments as part timer said. he may have a lot of messers. He should be able to show accounts of consistent cashflow into his business or account to verify the numbers. They should be willing to show this rather than you pester them for it.
How they like to be advised be cleaned. do they expect times or set days of the week. are they flexible.

I would be asking more about the nitty gritty details on the types of clients as they will ultimately choose to stay with you or jump depending on if they relate to your style of service delivery.

Theres this unspoken law of attraction where like minded people tend to flock together. Miserable businesses tend to attract miserable clients. Tight wads. generous free spenders. relaxed clients. picky clients etc.

It's not always about buying the work and the numbers. It's just as much about the type of customer s/he serves. They may very well expect a 20min tea and chat and if you take over and turn up dead professional with minimal chat and have people working for you, they may not click if you see what I mean. Certain businesses attract certain clients and this is the most important thing I consider when people offer to sell us work.

Not a precise answer I know but I hope that helps a little for consideration.
It's at least our view on the matter.

 
Thanks a lot for that, definitely some Important things to think about. The guy reckons it’s about 5-7 days of work. I’m going to make a note of your advice when I meet up with him this week. Thanks again, you’ve been a real help

 
Thanks a lot for that, definitely some Important things to think about. The guy reckons it’s about 5-7 days of work. I’m going to make a note of your advice when I meet up with him this week. Thanks again, you’ve been a real help
How did you get on? Did you end up buying the round?

 
I have bought two rounds over the years, and wouldn't again. For some of the reasons mentioned. I still have one round, but dropped the other as the prices were ridiculously low.

Definately work the whole round with the guy, get him to have a letter drawn up to intoduce you to any clients you can't get in.

I just spit the money 50/50 with the guy I bought work from, and worked along side him for one clean.

Ask for number of jobs, average price or total value. Have a look at the area, get a rough idea of  the number of windows per house, work out the price per window, per job etc, he is charging and see if its worth it.

I wouldn't take in anything below £1.10 per window personally, but that's up to you what your rock bottom is.

If you do go ahead, give him a deadline to collect any outstanding payments, then offer to pay him for any payments still outstanding for the clean you did together. That keeps the change over smooth. 

I would also post an introduction letter, with your details, within that two weeks deadline to give any potential boggus of lost accounts to contact you if they are not happy for you to go ahead. That way your not paying for accounts you won't keep. But if it was one or two, I would unlikely haggle with the guy.

 
I’ve just bought some work , it’s worth about £1.2k a month. 
The previous window cleaner texted or rang every customer 1st and told them I was taking over. 
All the customers are usually texted the night before, but the first time I did it I rang them all to introduce myself, and it worked a treat I didn’t lose one of them. 
They seemed genuinely pleased I’d made the effort. 
 

The work is well priced stuff, and I’m really pleased with it. 
He had lost his employee, and was going back to working on his own. So he was just selling off the work furthest from where he lived. 
 

 
I’ve just bought some work , it’s worth about £1.2k a month. 
The previous window cleaner texted or rang every customer 1st and told them I was taking over. 
All the customers are usually texted the night before, but the first time I did it I rang them all to introduce myself, and it worked a treat I didn’t lose one of them. 
They seemed genuinely pleased I’d made the effort. 
 

The work is well priced stuff, and I’m really pleased with it. 
He had lost his employee, and was going back to working on his own. So he was just selling off the work furthest from where he lived. 
 
That's the way it should be done.

 
So I’ve been offered a round to buy, never done it before as I am interested but I’m just curious what questions I should be asking and how I should take it over. I’m a bit wary about handing over money and getting stitched up
Hello there.

When you say round is that a guarantee of physical customers that have regular Pre-arranged visits and with the existing window cleaner or is a lead generation of houses that have been canvassed without being previously cleaned.

I'd personally do the leg work yourself and meet the potential customers and sell yourself as an entity and not be lazy and complacent and rely on something that will most likely cost you silly Money with no guarantee of a return 

 
If your thinking of buying a round do your due diligence research the company selling the round, check public reviews of the company, ask to review all financial documents inregard to customer and bank history.

There alot involved in buying a round.

If the round is solid and priced fair, then purchase it. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
As I mentioned above, I bought some work at the beginning of the year.

The only reason I went for it, was it was exactly what I wanted. 
It was just under 4 days work. One day in particular was in a village about a mile from where I live. I already had 2 days work there, and had canvased the whole village , so I wasn’t going to get much more work there, so when I came up I jumped at it. 
By far the most important things for me were Location and half decent prices.

 
The cost of the round was of secondary importance to me. 4 x monthly income, or 5 x monthly income in the long term matters very little to me. 
Just make sure it’s legit, and it’s not a load of Tat. 
Don’t settle for a piece of paper with a few numbers on it, and NEVER EVER pay for uncollected money, that’s not your problem. 

 
What I enjoy about our line of work, is that we choose who we accept as our own customers.  I don't accept all jobs, and quite frequently drop customers if there's any inkling of them messing me around.  

I did look at buying a round (none were available though) where I live but I decided that I didn't want to spend thousands on buying goodwill - which is not guaranteed income.  I would have dropped many customers and some may have not liked me.

I appreciate buying a round can work - but I would want to meet as many customers as possible and see what their access is like, along with other considerations we look at when quoting.  Just make sure you're not spending money on problems!

Good luck.

 
Back
Top