All Pros.......Please Read

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Gull Maint>

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HI guys/girls

I have been pressure cleaning in Florida for 3 years now,after relocating from NY.I have recently decided to possibly expand in to hood cleaning.One of the local guys,who has a good percentage of the work in my area,is selling. I signed an agreement to not compete and observed his work as a step in buying/seeing what I would be getting into. Well......seems like easy money yup EASY.

Here's how it went:

Got to the job, covered the equipment in the kitchen.Went up to the roof and shot degreaser in the fan assembly(removed nothing) ...rinsed it out..DONE on the roof.

Went into the kitchen,took out the filters,cleaned everything from the duct down(not including the duct).Cleaned and replaced the filters,vacuumed the floor DONE!

$250 - 1 1/2 hours <and he said he gave the guy a break

My questions to him:

Don't ya have to take the fan cover off the roof?

Answer: NOooo!

Don't you have to clean the duct going up to the roof?

Answer: No "they" don't even make anything for doing that(I know this not to be true).Besides the degreaser going up through the fan will take care of that.

Now my position: the guy has alot of the work in the area I am now restricted from doing that type of work in mine and the neighboring counties. I'd still like to buy his accounts but not his equipment (as it is crap).

I really could use some help here on what some of you guys would do in my position. Keep in mind I would plan on being fully trained(where ever I would have to go and what ever I would have to do). I'd have the accounts and would probably have to talk them into doing things the "right way" I am fairly confident I could do this, sure I'd lose a few but I would anyway.

ALL OPINIONS WELCOME AND THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR COMMENTS

JOHN
 
I can't figure out why you signed an agreement not to compete with the competition?@?@ If this guy is a wash contractor doesn't he do other work or does he only do kitchen exhaust and you don't?

If he is selling the business surely he would produce finacial records. You can see if the business is worth buying even if you have to take the equipment with it and then put it on ebay or something. Just talk him down to the lowest possible price or ask him to consider selling the equipment seperately.

Since you have already seen what you may be getting into and you seem pretty serious about it I would just ask him to produce financial statements first and determine the net worth of the business. Then ask him to give you his customer list (he shouldn't have a problem with this since you signed a no compete agreement so its not threatening to him) go talk with them to make sure they haven't thought about bumping him and going with someone else since you say he does poor work. Tell them you may be buying this business and can give much more satisfactory results. Then go from there. My 2cents
 
On the VENT-A-HOOD , you spent 1.5 hrs , it paid $250.

If you did it right it would take 2.5 hrs that is still $100 per hr.

I thank when you buy a service business , 90% of it nothing but "BLUE SKY" .

As for his crappy equipment , set down with pen and paper and do some math! What dose a new wash rig cost? what will it take to take all his business away from him , without charging less
 
mellow

he cant steal buiss. now he signed the paperwork.
Then again how much is the owner willing to spend to enforce the agreement? That is all it's worth.
Do nothing untill you have a secured loan,at that point he knows your serious. Then take a look at his books.
You might be better off just doing your own thing and after he sell's just compete with the new owner.
Having a customer base to get you started has a big worth also.
What is the equipment? What are you buying? How much are we talking about?
If i was trying to sell someone on my buissness, i would take them to the best jobs also.
Why dont you ask him if you can work a full week with him?
Get a better feel.
What dose he pay per year for liability insurance?
Can you get the same co. at the same rate being new?
Just make sure he is doing everything on the up and up.
Just because he gives you a customer list dose not mean that the customer has to use you.
 
I am not aware of your laws regarding "I signed an agreement to not compete", however in California this agreement only applies to the county's listed on the document. I would have one of those gifted ones of the law review the document for you. I would bet that he did it wrong.

David:cool:
 
Thanks Everybody

I think I'll just wait this thing out until time causes the price to come down.He wants $40,000.00 which wouldn't really be that high if the equipment was newer,larger,better etc.Basically I guess what the real deal is: Phone #, and a name(which I would have to add to my corp.). I can't count on the training because from what I've read on this bbs they're just not doing the right thing.

Thanks again
John
PS: if I do decide to go with this I have no problem flying out to Cali for some on the job training +dinner providing that offer still stands.:)
 
Get the air ticket. Give me two week lead time.

David:cool:
 
Hi John,

Consider this: get your ticket for California, first before you do anything.

Is the hood cleaner company a one man shop? If so, he's selling out because he can't figure out why he ain't surviving. $40,000 is not a lot of money for a "thriving" business, I'd buy it in a heartbeat! He's starving and wants to get a job! He's selling you his reputation - what there is of it.

Do a market survey, call some of his customers and ask who cleans them, are they satisfied, and what are they doing right? Wrong? You are bound to find some locales he's not doing. He's afraid you'll call his customers and take the last scrap off his table, that's why the no-compete clause.

Work the out lying area as well to get experience in the process and procedures. You might find enough business to just wait him out, but he's on his last legs - so he'll probably buckle.

Plan on buying David dinner at a nice restaurant, one that serves bread in baskets and meat on plates.
 
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John,
Any contract requires four things in order to be valid - i.e., competency; legality; offer & acceptance; and 'consideration'. What did he offer you in exchange for the non-compete? What 'consideration' (money) did he give you? About 25 thou would be about right. Were you knowledgable re: the business, therefore competent to enter into this agreement for which he surely paid you? If any of these things lack then an enforceable, contractural non-compete agreement does not exist. If you are not joking and he really omitted cleaning the system and took the monies as you related, I would avoid taking his accounts even if he paid me to take them. His extreme 'completed operations' liability might rest with you. I would not want his accounts unless a properly executed 'exculpatory' agreement (see your lawyer) is in place with each client. Develop you own clientele - you will soon see how easy it is to have more business than you can handle.
Richard
 
John
I dont understand why you signed a non compete if you dont work for this guy? the way i see a non compete is to protect you from employyes trying to steal your business after they leave your employment

and why buy him out he dosent really own those accounts anyway you can bid on any of his accounts, (thats what competition is) if hes not doing the job right (which hes not) just be honest with the customers and inform them on the way the job should be done and what could happen, win the accounts from him

i would buy my own equipment new, or offer him bottom dollar for his, it cant be worth that much, cause it dont sound like hes a pro to me

40,000.00 that dosent sound like a large majority of work in the
naples area to me
heck were running nearly that in the tampa clearwater area monthly and theres still tons of work out there

just learn whats going on and how to do the job right, ask questions read books and look at pictures do the research and study,
I started out in 95' with 4 stores and 1 elec machine and now we have several vans on the road and service 100's and 100's of restaurants from all of south Ga., Tallahassee, jacksonville, Orlando, Melbourne, Tampa

remember if you play long enough you'll win, because quiters dont win and winners dont quit

Just learn to do it right and do the best you can on every job.
 
Thanks To All

Maybe I was a bit unclear.The company I was looking into buying has been in busniness here since 1979 (when this was a much smaller town.The father started it, moved,son is now running it until sold.Once sold he's following his parents to a new town.

I have been in house washing/painting for more than 15 years.When I moved from NY to Florida I opened my 1man house wash show,was sick of employees,comp,payroll taxes,paint, etc... needed a break from that stuff for awhile.I wanted to stay small for awhile..but opportunities they just keep popping up. I never really even thought about exahust hood cleaning.Hours seemed bad,work really dirty,liability really high etc etc..

His operation sounded too good to be true 200 bucks an hour,training,equipment,financing etc and roughly $50,000.00 in steady regular account work.So I checked it out,then I went to the experts...YOU GUYS ! I've been with this board for awhile in other forums.

I would never take my close competition (possibly several of them )out on my route with me and show them all of my secrets,let alone let them even look at my rig closely without having them sign some type of agreement.He may not be doing these jobs right, but either he thinks he is...or he wants me to think that's all there is to it LOL! I thought better, now thanks to you guys I'm sure of it.

Anyway sold or not he's leaving town soon and his agreement with him,which wasn't really my biggest concern .I was just looking to expand a little,bring my dad into the business,pick up a second rig and or possibly sell my house washing route (not to do the day night thing) + our other businesses.I have tons of pressure washing equipment(much,much more than him) including 2- 8 gpm pumps + all the stuff you replace and will fix later.GRRR you guys know what I mean I call it my archives(I really need to have a garage sale). That's why I didn't need his junk sitting around here too LOL!

Really guys thanks again maybe I'll call him when he's really, really ready to leave. Probably not though if I decide to jump into that. I'll just follow the lead of the GOOD GUYS... I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL THE ADVICE HERE JUST WISH I HAD SOMETHING TO GIVE IN RETURN.

THANKS AGAIN!!!
JOHN

P.S. Or maybe I'll just take rusty's course DOH!!!!
:p
 
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Bull Maint wrote, "P.S. Or maybe I'll just take rusty's course DOH!!!!"

Your last line sounded like a joke (which I'm sure it was) but if you are serious let me know.

Rusty
 
John:

As far as your non-compete agreement, unless he gave you something in return, it is worthless. We do these routinely in our property management business, and that is one part of it, paying them an agreed upon amount for their right to compete. If you are serious about wanting to get into hood cleaning, take the agreement to a lawyer and get their opinion of it...likely it was done wrong, and even when they're done right they're more bark than bite...hard to enforce. Especially since you weren't shown how to do it right.

I was just telling my wife this evening as we sat in a Hardee's drive-through that hood cleaning is the last part of pressure washing I want to get into...but you never know.
 
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