[NWH]

please hold your horses, let me tell you a story

around 8 people that I know where they hold a similar business to mine have been shafted when selling their round.  One story was this guys business was earning him £2,000 per month, he had a mortgage and kids, he decided to go on holiday and let his friend look after his work for him, when the guy got back from holiday he told his friend that he was taking over and thanks, his friend just said no and threatened him, the guy has now lost his house.

Another story was that a guy was selling his business exactly the same way as i was the interested party told him 50% up front and then another 50% at the end once it was worked, the guy agreed and he got paid his first installment, then the other guy simply said that most of the round had cancelled and that he was not getting hi last installment, when he went round to his customers houses to find out if they had really cancelled, it turned out to be a load of rubbish and all the customers were saying was 'tough luck mate i would come back but all i want is my windows to be cleaned'.  So the guy sold his £6,000 per month business for £9,000.

The moral of this story is you cannot trust anyone to hand over the next 50% installment, why should they after all they have all your customers details.  I wouldn't even like to show them my work as they could go over my round and under cut me.

At the end of the day I can show the round working, I can give them a database with all the house addresses and contact details.  I have even taken them to my home to meet me.  I HAVEN'T SPENT YEARS OF MY LIFE BUILDING UP A SOLID BUSINESS TO GET SHAFTED AT THE END OF IT, I BOUGHT ROUNDS UP FRONT AND IT WORKED OUT FINE   

Did he not have any clue what kind of a bloke he was,it`s hard to clean any window with broken fingers.

[mark dew]

if it's said it's probably true but it sounds like an urban legend to me. Wife, kids, house and all the security and responsibility that comes with it?? Round lost to a friend that tells him it is now his after only a month??
Anyway, i'm not disputing qcs as he has had to defend himself enough on here.

[qcs cleaning]

Seriously I cant get a break on here, first of all my business acumen is called into doubt when selling my business and asking for the money up front, then I get told that I am a story teller whos story sounds like an 'urban legend' quoted by mark dew.

If anybody knows the guy who use to clean aiport house on the purley way in croydon, he was the guy who lost his house due to his business being taken away, if anybody else on here is from the same area as me and can varify this story please do as this is not urban legend.

I beleive that I am asking for a very reasonable price for my round and why should i not ask for the money up front, what else should i do leave it upto some guy i have never met to give me the last installment when he says so after he has worked my round I dont think so, I have even agreed to see a solicitor.

At the end of the day i'm selling my business and i'm in control If someone realises that they could pay £15,000 for a yearly salary of £60,000 give or take a few thousand then they are the people I want to do business with.

[Paul Coleman]

Seriously I cant get a break on here, first of all my business acumen is called into doubt when selling my business and asking for the money up front, then I get told that I am a story teller whos story sounds like an 'urban legend' quoted by mark dew.

If anybody knows the guy who use to clean aiport house on the purley way in croydon, he was the guy who lost his house due to his business being taken away, if anybody else on here is from the same area as me and can varify this story please do as this is not urban legend.

I beleive that I am asking for a very reasonable price for my round and why should i not ask for the money up front, what else should i do leave it upto some guy i have never met to give me the last installment when he says so after he has worked my round I dont think so, I have even agreed to see a solicitor.

At the end of the day i'm selling my business and i'm in control If someone realises that they could pay £15,000 for a yearly salary of £60,000 give or take a few thousand then they are the people I want to do business with.

Well said.  If I lived closer and was short of work, I'd happily borrow the money for it (subject to not needing to phone too many customers to arrange access).  Assuming the work is of reasonable quality, I reckon you're selling too cheaply.  Easy for me to say though, as I won't be the one buying it.  I've got a round roughly half that size in value.  It would take a lot more money than you're asking for yours to prise it out of me (not that I'm after selling mine).
Best of luck with it.  I hope you get what you're asking.

[mark dew]

Seriously I cant get a break on here, first of all my business acumen is called into doubt when selling my business and asking for the money up front, then I get told that I am a story teller whos story sounds like an 'urban legend' quoted by mark dew.

alright mate it wasn't an urban legend. I never called you a storyteller either. Or questioned what you had to say. The story does sound like a window cleaners urban legend though. It isn't! Fair play.

[Fredboy]

Hi mate, could you tell me why you have got several different adverts selling this round - all saying different things?  You have two on ebay - one selling at £15k, the other at £20k, you then have it on window cleaning resources at £16k.  Then there is the discrepancies regarding how long you have had the round - 3 years, 2 years.  Then the monthly income keeps changing £5k, £5.5k........

Is it any wonder that your potential buyer wants to put a deposit down and work the round first with all of these differences.  I am not doubting that you have the work but you are certainly not helping yourself.  If you want all of the money up front you are going to have to show some real evidence that the work does exist as you say it does - have you offered to introduce your potential buyers to each and every customer rather than offering to send a letter.  Trust does work both ways.

[Pole2pole]

Pole2pole

I am not going to be drawn into an argument but the angle I came from was more to do with the way Jonah blasted the guy before the thread had had the opportunity to get going.

The guy had been honest, open, left points of contact and offered to answer further questions - now there are those on here that may be under the impression that the next stage was to get the money deposited into his account but anyone with a modicum of common sense would have started to negotiate, view the round, work it and get an agreement drawn up.

There was no need to call the guys integrity into question. He has since come on and explained further - which would have been expected but despite all this Jonah has not got the backbone to apologise and the further he leaves it the less credibility he has.

He may be classed as a Cleanitup god but only because there has been a high volume of drivelling posts that really have very little substance. Some Newbie on here, may be swayed by being offered advice from a 'Cleanitup God' and may think that because of his status he knows what he is talking about - he clearly does not and has very low window cleaning capabilities - by his own admission!!!!.

I really despise the Cleanitup status of God and would prefer the site not to put the title on the postings as it infers experience and often this is not the case.

I will reiterate again that you cannot, on an open forum call into question someones integrity before you know something of them and the guy has been genuine, honest and open.

Rob

Rob............I aint gettin drawn into an argument either mate. Now that QCS has opened up a bit more i think he's sound. Im just always weary,that's all. Maybe that's why i've never been stung by anyone. Might just be coincidence,i dunno lol. As for always giving people the benefit of the doubt, I hope you aint as christian the next time someone knocks at your door telling you that you have a loose tile on your roof or that someone is offering you a free structural survey. Cos when they do.............................God help you if ya let them carry out work for ya.

[Rob_Mac]

Pole2pole

I haven't got to where I am by being green behind the ears. You can sleep safe knowing I'm no push over and I am a happier person knowing you are looking out for me.

Rob

[qcs cleaning]

fredboy

fair comment i have been told by too many people that I am selling the round too cheaply therefore i am going to change each advert to £20,000 as I obviously want the most money possible for my round.  With regards to introducing potential buyers to each individual customer you must be mad, there are 400 customers on my round and to take the time off work to do this would not be beneficial to me.

what do you propose? that I take 50% deposit up front, spend a month introducing all the customers to a new owner (where i loose a months pay) and then take the next 50% installment.  What if the guy nicks my work, doesn't pay me the last installment or just says no to buying my round, then I have wasted my entire time and money.  Stop looking at it from a buyers perspective and look at it from a sellers perspective. 

At the end of the day everybody wants to do different things but I have offered to go to a solicitor and write up a contract negotiation to protect me and the buyer can't be fairer than that. 

[mark dew]

It feels like that I am not selling a round at all, more like I'm a criminal and some people on here are the jury!

sorry if i made you feel that way with my comment. I wasn't trying to call your integrity into question.

[Pole2pole]

Pole2pole

I haven't got to where I am by being green behind the ears. You can sleep safe knowing I'm no push over and I am a happier person knowing you are looking out for me.

Rob

Isn't it WET behind the ears?   If you was green behind the ears,you would need looking out for  

[jonah]

Maybe that is a medical condition !!! We really shouldnt comment as we should know our place !

[Pole2pole]

we sure do jonah.back o the class for you n me 

[jonah]

Just a thought , if he is really green behind the lugs we have to help him do we not ? 

[Pole2pole]

yeh..............................nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh pmsl

[Paul Coleman]

fredboy

fair comment i have been told by too many people that I am selling the round too cheaply therefore i am going to change each advert to £20,000 as I obviously want the most money possible for my round.  With regards to introducing potential buyers to each individual customer you must be mad, there are 400 customers on my round and to take the time off work to do this would not be beneficial to me.

what do you propose? that I take 50% deposit up front, spend a month introducing all the customers to a new owner (where i loose a months pay) and then take the next 50% installment.  What if the guy nicks my work, doesn't pay me the last installment or just says no to buying my round, then I have wasted my entire time and money.  Stop looking at it from a buyers perspective and look at it from a sellers perspective. 

At the end of the day everybody wants to do different things but I have offered to go to a solicitor and write up a contract negotiation to protect me and the buyer can't be fairer than that. 

There is a system I heard of known as "escrow" 

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/tp/payment-escrow.html

Basically, a trusted third party holds onto the money until conditions are met.  It could assure you of a pootential buyer's bona fides and vice versa.
It doesn't have to be via ebay either.  When I rented out my flat a few years ago, the tenants' deposits were held this way.  It protects the tenant from the letting agent misbehaving or going bust.  It protects the landlord similarly.  Maybe a solicitor could elaborate on this and sort out a version of it for the transaction.  Disadvantages are the the money is not interest bearing and the escrow company charges a fee.  Advantage is that oit could save a load of hassle and affords some protection to both parties.  It assures you that the buyer has the necessary funds.  It assures the buyer that you are bona fides because of the fact that you've taken the trouble to set it up (though there is no guarantee of the quality of the work).  Maybe it would be necessary first to sit down and break down how much worth of work is in each individual area. To stipulate the prices range.  To stipulate how much (if any) of the work requires prior notice for access (a major sticking point for many window cleaners).  To stipulate any parking issues at any of the jobs.  Basically to discuss (and write down) the details of the business without revealing the actual addresses.  That way it would be possible to discuss an exact price and the money could be logged via the escrow method.  It would need to be agreed by you both that the price could only be varied if your description was inaccurate.  It would also need to be agreed that any drop outs in the first clean or two would be re-imbursed.  That way, you could safely get the bulk of your money from the escrow service early on - the rest to be released after the round had been worked once or twice.  This would protect you both.  You may work it so that you receive all your funds at the beginning if the buyer approves but then there is no money to reimburse for drop outs.  If you don't want to reimburse for drop outs, then maybe set the price about 10% lower than if you would.
Of course there are a number of variations on the above which would need to be discussed with a buyer.

[Davo]

Jonah and Pole To Pole your talking nonsense again, you should learn when  to hold your hand up. Both of you, from what ive read, talk a load of drivel and now your trying to be a smart arse with a man who has built up a substantial cleaning business in a relatively short period of time.

Your not doing yourselves or this forum  any favours.



Mark

[Pole2pole]

Davo.
All the time i have a view on something, i understand that i have the right to air it. And your opinion has been duly noted. And ignored. But you're still welcome to one. It'd be a dull forum if we had our fingers chopped off every time we disagreed.Thanks anyways. 

[Davo]

Dissagreement is one thing, being a smart arse is another, your main mistake regarding this thread was missreading the figure the seller wanted you thought he wanted £150,000 which was why you thought your round was worth £72,000 ( which you quickly deleted when you realised your mistake)

Throwing in snide comments isnt dissagreement, and  doesnt stimulate active debate all it will do is possibly stop a very experienced and successful cleaner offering his advice.

Is that what you want???


Mark

[Pole2pole]

Dissagreement is one thing, being a smart arse is another, your main mistake regarding this thread was missreading the figure the seller wanted you thought he wanted £150,000 which was why you thought your round was worth £72,000 ( which you quickly deleted when you realised your mistake)

Throwing in snide comments isnt dissagreement, and  doesnt stimulate active debate all it will do is possibly stop a very experienced and successful cleaner offering his advice.

Is that what you want???


Mark

Absolutely right Mark, i made a mistake and corrected it and had a giggle about it. Mark, what makes you think i haven't got an established business? I have, of over 15 years and have a lovely house on the back of it and alot of other nice things but i wont bore you with that. What i'm saying is, I've been in the game long enough to know roughly what i'm talking about. Anyways, i dont come on here to have slanging matches. I come on here to learn and to advise if i can. I'll try and remember that in future. My problem is i get sucked into posts that  don't "really" interest me. I think i'll put an end to that too.