[Stoots]

Growth.

This is just a thought that came to me whilst drinking my morning coffee....

So being someone that has considered growing my business on numerous occasions, ive employed, looked at franchising, ive been there and done it in terms of trying to grow but ultimately have always gone to back to being on my own for various reasons. Mainly because ive always been frustrated by employees having been let down a lot.

But another factor in always going back to being solo is the cost of growth, VAT, marketting and staff cost etc, often when the maths is done i realise i would need at least 5 vans out full time  to take home what i do now solo and when you factor in the extra stress and responsibility its hard for me to justify, i mean why would you do that to yourself to essentially take home the same money. Theres the freedom argument, if i had 5 vans out i would be free rather than having to do the work, but having had one van out full time i realised although i may be physically free i wasnt mentally, my stress was higher having to fix issues with the van and complaints etc, the mental stress was worse than the physical work to me.

Anyway, im waffling to get to the point.

One thing i havent ever really considered is selling the business, ive never looked at it as building an asset to sell and always looked at it as a way to generate income. But if you did have 10 van outs turning over say 50k a month that could be sold for 300k plus the other assets such as vans , equipment etc. Enough to pay off a mortgage and sock a bit away, you could even sell the lot and go back solo.

So i guess all im asking is do those with multiple vans have an end game ? have you thought about where this will all end up and if you are solo have you not had any thoughts of growth with maybe an end game of selling the lot as a retirement fund.

I think a lot 

[Ggh]

I’ve been thinking about this too. Looking at splitting the windows from the rest of the work and having two guys out cleaning to stay under the vat. Then build the other side of the business up to sell. They are very different businesses.
Plans tend to change though.
It’s probably good to have some sort of target, be it retirement etc.

Cleaning windows certainly gives you time to think!😄

[Lee Pryor]

I love threads like this. Im almost tempted to sell.

[Ascjim]

I've had 4 guys 2 vans for a while and this week I decided to F it all off and gone down to 2 guys 1 van and keep things simple and do other things with my life.

I will still earn £60k. I normally charge £350 - £400 + VAT per day per person. But we only do one offs and hardly any windows tbh.

It can be done.

[Smudger]

Has crossed my mind from time to time - even know of chap who runs a o her company interested

But….

How do you value it ?

[Lee Pryor]

In reality I would never sell. I work less than part time and earn in the top 0.5% of the UK. Cant imagine why I would ever give that up.

[Stoots]

In reality I would never sell. I work less than part time and earn in the top 0.5% of the UK. Cant imagine why I would ever give that up.

When you put it like that i dont know.

Maybe sell for a few million and retire abroad somewhere whilst never having to think about work again.

But then theres the conudrum of being bored, you cant win really.

[NWH]

Why would someone pay a few million do you know how long it would take to get back that few million that’s a ridiculous figure to put on it in fact I would stick my neck on the line and say  you’d never get it back,if I was going to invest a few million quid I wouldn’t be considering a  domestic window cleaning business lol.

[Jay Le Huray]

In reality I would never sell. I work less than part time and earn in the top 0.5% of the UK. Cant imagine why I would ever give that up.

Lee I have missed your topics on here, it's about time you had some input into CIU

[Smudger]

In reality I would never sell. I work less than part time and earn in the top 0.5% of the UK. Cant imagine why I would ever give that up.

And you wonder why you get abuse on here - 🤔

[Lee Pryor]

I never left. I just dont post anymore.

I found this thread interesting as I get asked often if I would sell. I wouldnt for the reasons I stated.

[Lee Pryor]

I dont wonder why at all.

Thats the truth and I worked very hard for nearly 20 years to achieve that. If people here want to abuse me for that I think that says more about them than it does me.

[Smudger]

I don't doubt you work hard - and with the right application you should be inspiring people....


Darran

[Lee Pryor]

Exactly my point.

Fact is if you can earn like that and work less than part time why sell? I encourage people to push through the hard bits in order to come out the other side. It can be done as I have proven.

Right Im off before the haters arrive after work. Maybe I will post again down the line.

Good luck everyone.

[Stoots]

Why would someone pay a few million do you know how long it would take to get back that few million that’s a ridiculous figure to put on it in fact I would stick my neck on the line and say  you’d never get it back,if I was going to invest a few million quid I wouldn’t be considering a  domestic window cleaning business lol.

A ridiculous figure to put on what ?

I wasn't saying for anything in particular, I mean if you built a window cleaning business that's worth a few million.

What's worth the money would hopefully be decided by someone who has more  business acumen than you or I.

[jo5hm4n]

Growth.

This is just a thought that came to me whilst drinking my morning coffee....

So being someone that has considered growing my business on numerous occasions, ive employed, looked at franchising, ive been there and done it in terms of trying to grow but ultimately have always gone to back to being on my own for various reasons. Mainly because ive always been frustrated by employees having been let down a lot.

But another factor in always going back to being solo is the cost of growth, VAT, marketting and staff cost etc, often when the maths is done i realise i would need at least 5 vans out full time  to take home what i do now solo and when you factor in the extra stress and responsibility its hard for me to justify, i mean why would you do that to yourself to essentially take home the same money. Theres the freedom argument, if i had 5 vans out i would be free rather than having to do the work, but having had one van out full time i realised although i may be physically free i wasnt mentally, my stress was higher having to fix issues with the van and complaints etc, the mental stress was worse than the physical work to me.

Anyway, im waffling to get to the point.

One thing i havent ever really considered is selling the business, ive never looked at it as building an asset to sell and always looked at it as a way to generate income. But if you did have 10 van outs turning over say 50k a month that could be sold for 300k plus the other assets such as vans , equipment etc. Enough to pay off a mortgage and sock a bit away, you could even sell the lot and go back solo.

So i guess all im asking is do those with multiple vans have an end game ? have you thought about where this will all end up and if you are solo have you not had any thoughts of growth with maybe an end game of selling the lot as a retirement fund.

I think a lot 

Strange really i had this exact same thought a few months ago.

We have 2 vans on the road, but the thought of upping to say 5+ vans just fills me with dread knowing that until we hit 5 vans or more, our profit wont actually go up, as all our overheads will increase drastically on those next set of vans.  This alone put me off doing it, i just dont need the stress.  Ive come to realise that work/life/stress balance is no joke and needs to be taken serious.

Anyway i had also missed out the thought that not only are you building the business which comes with the added turnover and added expenses and stresses, but you are infact building an asset.  Just think of it like this.  For every van that you add onto the road and fill that van up, effectively if further down the line you sold the business or parts of the business that 1 van alone and its turnover could easily add 40k if it was sold.  So maybe it's not such a bad idea after all to say build to 5 vans on the road.  You may not earn any more income, but as you say, if at any point you need to sell the business, you could get 200k+ and then just retire or wait a year then go back to 1 van, and rinse and repeat potentially.  Or go into another industry if you fancy a change.

Just another added element to consider when growing the business......

Im still staying at 2 vans though!! 

[james peters]

In reality I would never sell. I work less than part time and earn in the top 0.5% of the UK. Cant imagine why I would ever give that up.

When you put it like that i dont know.

Maybe sell for a few million and retire abroad somewhere whilst never having to think about work again.

But then theres the conudrum of being bored, you cant win really.

my brother sold his business a few years ago.... I wont say the amount but it was just over 15 million.
he then moved to ireland . hes only 60 years old
he has now started another business .  in reality he never has to work again,  however he likes to keep active , and enjoys working.

he does spend a lot of time enjoying his hobbies though.

[NWH]

Why would someone pay a few million do you know how long it would take to get back that few million that’s a ridiculous figure to put on it in fact I would stick my neck on the line and say  you’d never get it back,if I was going to invest a few million quid I wouldn’t be considering a  domestic window cleaning business lol.

A ridiculous figure to out on what ?

I wasn't saying for anything in particular, I mean if you built a window cleaning business that's worth a few million.

What's worth the money would hopefully be decided by someone who has more  business acumen than you or I.

I stay as a small fish in a small pond and that’s the way I like it but I have people very close that employ 1000s and turnover a sickening amount lol,I won’t be learning anything about business from anyone on here anytime soon it’s literally an every other Sunday roast for that 😂 but I ain’t interested.
I myself am no Duncan Bannatyne but let me just say I won’t be seeing a domestic window cleaning business being purchased for a few million quid lol.

[cgh window cleaning]

You very rarely if ever hear or know any one selling or has sold a high turnover multi van domestic business.

I would imagine it would be quite hard to sell and quite hard to finance your target buyer would probably be hard to find.

You hear  more of people selling commercial businesses.

[Bungle]

In reality I would never sell. I work less than part time and earn in the top 0.5% of the UK. Cant imagine why I would ever give that up.

When you put it like that i dont know.

Maybe sell for a few million and retire abroad somewhere whilst never having to think about work again.

But then theres the conudrum of being bored, you cant win really.

my brother sold his business a few years ago.... I wont say the amount but it was just over 15 million.
he then moved to ireland . hes only 60 years old
he has now started another business .  in reality he never has to work again,  however he likes to keep active , and enjoys working.

he does spend a lot of time enjoying his hobbies though.

I won't say the amount but it was just over 15 million. Could you give us a clue how much he sold it for?