I agree with Trevor & his working out time from purchase to profit.
I have seen rounds go for upto 10 times, i had a guy once offer me one for £30,000.00, & told me it was excellent. YEH.
Apparently he had sold one previously to somebody who had been made redundant, & had money in the bank to burn.
Some say upto 6 times is fair for commercial, but the method of working out doubles, if you use employees up nearly 12 months, so thats something to think off.
If you had a loan for the work & split it over 3 years & only use the repayment similar to leasing or buying a vehicle then its a lot better. This i did for a round in 1990 & sold the work in parts 6 + years later & got 11/2 times my money back. The final part was 2k of work per month for 2k because i needed to sell quick & knew the lad.
The work must have good options for the future i.e. price increase, expansion or improved future sale value.
I recently purchased 6 houses for £300.00, valued at £200.00 per six week clean. Since that i have gained one house cleaned weekly at £150 approx. per cal month,
& 3 houses 1 £20 fortnightly, 1 upvc clean £70.00 now £35.00 six weekly & one £30.00 monthly.
These prices are high but the houses are big, very big.
It pays to buy if the price is right.
Gary