[julianbiggs]

We are thinking of renting out some of our work. It is all good work with the average house price over £15.00. It is all very compact work.

We are looking at around 140 houses.  So a monthly turnover of at least £2100.

What could we get to rent this out per month and what should be expect if we sold it?

[mr merson]

I am waiting with keen anticipation for the answers to this 

[DaveG]

work normally sells for 2 or 3 times the monthly value

[ALAN HAYNES]

please let me know if you are going to rent or sell

have just taken some one on so short of work have been wfp for 2 years based in leicester

4 miles from j 21 of m1

alan   07842228568

[sherco]

If you rent it out how can you stop the person who is renting it off you going direct to the customer after a few months and you could lose it all!!!!  Sell it.

[Paul Coleman]

We are thinking of renting out some of our work. It is all good work with the average house price over £15.00. It is all very compact work.

We are looking at around 140 houses.  So a monthly turnover of at least £2100.

What could we get to rent this out per month and what should be expect if we sold it?

Well selling is normally 2 - 4 times monthly value depending on quality of work.  I think it should be a lot more than that for top work but that doesn't seem to be the way it works.  IMO, renting it out is only worth doing if you know someone who you can totally trust regarding both honesty AND competence.

[julianbiggs]

Well ive just done my maths and this is what we could do right now:

89 customers ready to sell or rent @ £1268 per month income, very compact work. Been doing the work for up to 3.5 years.

That works out at £14.25  average price per customer.

Very afluent area with easy chance of expansion.

That's why we are selling. Too much work!!

Would happily show anyone the round and introduce them to every customer.

Ideal work for someone just starting or expanding.

We have worked very hard to establish our round so we will not be haggling on price!!

Available to rent at £378 per month. Minimum 12 month contract.

Available for sale at £5000.00. NON NEGOTIABLE.

This work is all based in and around the Southwell area of Nottinghamshire. Maximum distance from Southwell would be 5 miles away.

We have sold other work on Clean It Up so please see previous positive comments from buyers.

If interested please email me at julian.biggsy@btinternet.com

Julian

[gsw]

i'll say this and get shot down in flames!!!!

this industry has gone through some major changes in the last 5 years

we as " business owners" need to move out of the dark ages, our rounds commercial or domestic are worth so much more than 2-4 monthly cleans.

this is a high profit low overhead business. most individual small businesses would kill to have our earning capability.

we have the potential to earn far more on an hourly basis than many "qualified" people who work in other industries.

yes you can go out and create your own business by knocking on doors and advertising. i have and so have many others on the forum, there is no way I would sell long established work that I have put together over years for a paltry 2-4 monthly cleans.

we need as an industry to change the mentality of the buyers in the same way that we need to change the mentatlity of the customer. (working in the rain, minimum clean rates etc.)

there are people (pds for example) that go out and put together a fresh round, never cleaned for more than 3 cleans let alone three years and they manage to sell this work 6X the monthly clean!!!

in this expensive and troubled financial climate our business is a winner, yes we may all lose SOME customers but we wont lose them all but we have a lot of eggs in loads of baskets and that makes good business sense.

we have to up our selling prices, dont listen to words like good will etc there are companies selling window cleaning franchises for £25,000 plus royalties and guess what they have people buying!!!!

the standard should be more like 12 months income at least

shoot away!!

[mark saville]

£5000.00 is correct in my opinion.

In the North West area rounds normally sell:

x 5 = Monthly
x 10 = Fortnightly

[dmlservices]

hi
sell it mate , i rented out a round a while back , agreed price , 4 payment hols per year , went fine for a bit, untill we had bad weather , then he moaned about paying , saying he had not done that much, even though my own were bang up to date . gave him the benifit of the doubt for a while , but in the end i had it out with him , i said i was taking back the round , only to find he had been bad mouthing me , i hit the roof -all most coming to blows , in the end i sold it to him at a knocked down price .
daz

[Paul Coleman]

Well ive just done my maths and this is what we could do right now:

89 customers ready to sell or rent @ £1268 per month income, very compact work. Been doing the work for up to 3.5 years.

That works out at £14.25  average price per customer.

Very afluent area with easy chance of expansion.

That's why we are selling. Too much work!!

Would happily show anyone the round and introduce them to every customer.

Ideal work for someone just starting or expanding.

We have worked very hard to establish our round so we will not be haggling on price!!

Available to rent at £378 per month. Minimum 12 month contract.

Available for sale at £5000.00. NON NEGOTIABLE.

This work is all based in and around the Southwell area of Nottinghamshire. Maximum distance from Southwell would be 5 miles away.

We have sold other work on Clean It Up so please see previous positive comments from buyers.

If interested please email me at julian.biggsy@btinternet.com

Julian

Obviously it wouldn't be practical for me as I'm 200 miles away.  I think a key issue that seldom gets a mention is access.  Good pricing is all very well but I've found that poor access (i.e. having to phone people up to pre-arrange) seriously diminshes the quality of a round.  It's not just about having to make the calls.  It's about the responses you get.  The most difficult bit is when you leave a message for access on a voicemail and never know if it's been heard or some quite simply forget to leave access even after it's been arranged.  Sometimes there is simply no access because they're away on holiday but you don't know that until you've taken the trouble to turn up.  On my own round I only have about 6 who I phone up in advance.  The other ones with access problems either supply me with a combination number or a spare key to a gate padlock - either that or the key is left in a very discrete place.  I currently sub part of a bought round from a company to supplement my main work.  75% of it needs to be pre-arranged.  It's impossible to plan it.  Some of them require this type of service and they don't even have voicemail  !!  I'm just glad it only occupies about 3 days per month.

[mr merson]

Agre with you  there shiner !  Last month I forgot to ring to to open locked gate , anyway just climbed over and did em , then she sent nasty note questioning if I had cleaned the back  :  I told her in no uncertain terms that if she did not trust me I would disscontinue the service !  Suffice to say she quickly changed her tune 

[birdymiller]

gsw, i like your thinking and im not shooting you down. I agree that if i have spent a number of years on a particular and built up a good reputation and trust with all the custys then selling the round for 2 to 4 times is very cheap. But the guy who buys the round starts from scratch without the good rep and trust. Every time i have bought new work i have lost the odd few just because they dont like the look of me or change. I would love to sell my work for a years income but it isnt going to happen. All our customers are just contacts that we call upon every 2 or 4 weeks to clean their windows and they have the right to cancel, not today mate, move house etc. We havent got them tied up in a 18 month contract. Actually thats not a bad idea, from now on every new custy gets told after first clean if they are happy they will get cleaned on same day each fortnight or month for the following year come rain or shine. If they cancel or move they have to pay the contract up, like if they were dealing BT. Nice one

[Neil271052]

gsw, i like your thinking and im not shooting you down. I agree that if i have spent a number of years on a particular and built up a good reputation and trust with all the custys then selling the round for 2 to 4 times is very cheap. But the guy who buys the round starts from scratch without the good rep and trust. Every time i have bought new work i have lost the odd few just because they dont like the look of me or change. I would love to sell my work for a years income but it isnt going to happen. All our customers are just contacts that we call upon every 2 or 4 weeks to clean their windows and they have the right to cancel, not today mate, move house etc. We havent got them tied up in a 18 month contract. Actually thats not a bad idea, from now on every new custy gets told after first clean if they are happy they will get cleaned on same day each fortnight or month for the following year come rain or shine. If they cancel or move they have to pay the contract up, like if they were dealing BT. Nice one

I agree. 

We don't own the customers, we are not selling a binding contract and asking more than 4X is a bit pie in the sky IMO. 

[Moderator David@stives]

Its all in the sellers and buyers minds, I have just took on a round £1800 a month and just gave the guy £1000 without even looking at it.

I have been round to 10 % of the customers yesterday and put everyone of them up by at least 50% and some double, I just had the couldnt care less if i lost them attitude, so it is paying off nicely.

Would i sell my round for that figure , not on your nelly.

This round had been left for about 2 months and the guy was just thankful for my offer, I knew and he knew the round would have just gone to rot if i didnt take it.  I didnt have to pay him at all,  but because i am fair I gave him a grand

[WCE]

Its all in the sellers and buyers minds, I have just took on a round £1800 a month and just gave the guy £1000 without even looking at it.

I have been round to 10 % of the customers yesterday and put everyone of them up by at least 50% and some double, I just had the couldnt care less if i lost them attitude, so it is paying off nicely.

Would i sell my round for that figure , not on your nelly.

This round had been left for about 2 months and the guy was just thankful for my offer, I knew and he knew the round would have just gone to rot if i didnt take it.  I didnt have to pay him at all,  but because i am fair I gave him a grand

Was that £1800 that it was worth now or the value after you increased the prices? The 10% that you have increased did you get much resistance about such an increase or were they fine straight away? To manage to get such a % increase on EACH price is very good work indeed. 50% min, some double then you must be doing something right!  How did you present yourself to the customers. I know that I would be unhappy if the price of something I was buying increased by such an amount "overnight" (look at the increase in fuel costs and the outcry there). Also with the rapid rise of inflation, did anybody mention this? The cost of living is going up but in general wages are staying the same and people are being forced to tighten their belts, so did this have any effect?

With regards to selling /renting rounds, because generally, window cleaning is regarded recession proof (people still need their windows cleaned) i wonder if the value of a round will go up because of this. It's a classic case of supply and demand. If there will be more unemployed people who decide to go into window cleaning that will mean more demand for rounds so people will be able to get higher amounts for their rounds but looking at it from the customers point of view there will be more window cleaners servicing the market so the price will be driven down per job. So could it end up that rounds are worth more to sell than compared to now but because the work in them is less per job than now the total value ends up the same? Talk about swings and roundabouts!       

[Moderator David@stives]

The £1800 is as was, I have just been back out and not done too good this time, a couple of tight wad estates just got a £14 turned to £20 and a few others at 40 ish % in price. I didnt pressurise them, had a few hums and ahs.



As for my approach, big smiley face and just said the old window cleaner was giving up because he couldnt make a living, also gave them added value by saying we will keep there frames clean which we do as standard anyway.

I also tell them they can brag that they have got an m&s window cleaner to there neighbors   

The odd one looked at me as though they had stood in something, but i just smiled and said thanks for your time.

[Paul Coleman]

gsw, i like your thinking and im not shooting you down. I agree that if i have spent a number of years on a particular and built up a good reputation and trust with all the custys then selling the round for 2 to 4 times is very cheap. But the guy who buys the round starts from scratch without the good rep and trust. Every time i have bought new work i have lost the odd few just because they dont like the look of me or change. I would love to sell my work for a years income but it isnt going to happen. All our customers are just contacts that we call upon every 2 or 4 weeks to clean their windows and they have the right to cancel, not today mate, move house etc. We havent got them tied up in a 18 month contract. Actually thats not a bad idea, from now on every new custy gets told after first clean if they are happy they will get cleaned on same day each fortnight or month for the following year come rain or shine. If they cancel or move they have to pay the contract up, like if they were dealing BT. Nice one

Judging by the smiley I reckon that'#s a tongue - in - cheek remark   
No problem tying a customer in to a year or 18 month contract in a trade where there are certain set-up costs such as broadband or mobile phones.  Not with W/Cing though.  Apart from a couple of minutes recording details on a database there is no set-up involved.  Even the possible longer cleaning time of a first clean can be covered by an higher charge for it.  However, to get a bit of work in, nothing wrong with offering the fourth clean F.O.C. if they abide by your terms and conditions.  Not exactly a tie-in but a fair guarantee of keeping the custie for four cleans at least.

[Paul Coleman]

The £1800 is as was, I have just been back out and not done too good this time, a couple of tight wad estates just got a £14 turned to £20 and a few others at 40 ish % in price. I didnt pressurise them, had a few hums and ahs.



As for my approach, big smiley face and just said the old window cleaner was giving up because he couldnt make a living, also gave them added value by saying we will keep there frames clean which we do as standard anyway.

I also tell them they can brag that they have got an m&s window cleaner to there neighbors   

The odd one looked at me as though they had stood in something, but i just smiled and said thanks for your time.

If you end up keeping half of them at a decent rate Dave, I reckon you got a decent deal.

[WCE]

The £1800 is as was, I have just been back out and not done too good this time, a couple of tight wad estates just got a £14 turned to £20 and a few others at 40 ish % in price. I didnt pressurise them, had a few hums and ahs.



As for my approach, big smiley face and just said the old window cleaner was giving up because he couldnt make a living, also gave them added value by saying we will keep there frames clean which we do as standard anyway.

I also tell them they can brag that they have got an m&s window cleaner to there neighbors   

The odd one looked at me as though they had stood in something, but i just smiled and said thanks for your time.

If you end up keeping half of them at a decent rate Dave, I reckon you got a decent deal.

Agree with you there shiner deffo keep half and you got yourself a good deal. That was a good bit of business but the bit that impresses me is the price increases your getting as well - hence the interest!