The thing with window cleaning is that all you are really buying is goodwill from an existing window cleaner selling his round.
It is worth whatever you are prepared to pay for it.
Unless you are buying a van and thousands of pounds worth of equipment, you have to be very sure of the value of the work you are purchasing.
What length of time has the round been established for? for one thing.
If you are buying a well established round, and it is a solid months worth of repeat work, what is the weekly turnover of business? And even more importantly, take a look at his past few years worth of accounts, the real bottom line is how much he is submitting to the tax man at the end of the year.
That is the piece of information that tells you the true worth of the business.
If they waffle on about the bits they don't submit then walk out the door, hot air is worthless, you are down to the 'how long is a piece of string' scenario.
If the business is strong then you will also see year on year growth too, plus regular increases in the price of the work done per account.
If you are starting from fresh then someone such as doorknockers may well be a good option, I don't know how they work, but I presume there is some kind of liason with regards price.
Don't kid yourself that window cleaning is the easy life...money for old rope, get some experience first, if you are going to be working off a ladder then spend a day or two cleaning windows off one. Don't kid yourself that working off a ladder easy, I've had a scaffolder used to working 80ft up who couldn't hack working 12ft up ladder.
Don't just
assume you'll be ok!!
Either go on a course or spend a day or two learning how to use a squeegee and all the rest of the equipment.
Lads that have worked for me in the past have taken several months to get up to a good speed and be able to do the work to a good standard, a lot just couldn't do it.
If whoever you may be buying a round off tells you it is worth....say, £120 a day, there ain't no way in hell you're going to turn over that kind of money straight away, it'll take you a few months to get up to speed.
If you are told you will earn that money within a week or two then don't believe them, it won't happen.
Apparently, the average across the board for window cleaners, taken over an entire year, is approximately 17k per year.
Very few will get close to...say, 50k (though I do know a couple who are up in that rarified stratosphere) and a great many will be on considerably less than 17k too, so go into it with your eyes open.
The benefits are good, you are your own boss, generally you'll be home by 4pm most days and won't start until gone 9am and if you want an afternoon off, then well, you take one. (you don't get paid for it of course
)
Anyway, what the hell am I doing on here on Boxing day?
I need another beer
Ian
