In many parts of the country households, apartment buildings , condos and hotels do not have swimming pools and if they do they are not used year round. In Orlando and the Central Florida area we use our pools and even when we are not we have to keep them looking full, bright and clear year round. In other words, the pool service industry is a big business. If you want to buy a pool service route for sale, check out some of these tips for buying a pool route service business for sale in the Orlando and Central Florida area.
1.Starting From Scratch.
If you’re a beginner starting from scratch try buying a route where an actual business transfers with the accounts along with a name, website, equipment and hopefully a familiarization period.
2.Condition of Equipment
When buying equipment with a route check out the condition of the equipment. If it’s not great, see if the seller will upgrade it or discount the price slightly to reflect that you will need to replace the equipment soon.
3.Truck Included?
When seller of the pool route business is willing to include their truck with the business purchase, evaluate the truck first to see what it would be valued at by itself. Most vehicles should be able to be evaluated by using resources such as Kelly Blue Book. Sometimes pool route owners have fancier and more lavish trucks than what is required and the additional purchase of the seller’s vehicle is unnecessary. On the flip side, if the seller has a truck that has a low value but happens to look good and be in good working condition it could be a valued asset for a new owner.
4.Confidential Route Sales.
Often times pool route business owners in Orlando and Central Florida will try to keep their accounts for sale confidential until a buyer finally makes a purchase or at least offers a contract with a deposit. While it might be unnerving when buyers encounter these objections try not to take it personally. Instead try your best to work with the confidentiality and work around it. Find out what areas or zones the accounts are in, find out what their average monthly service rates are, and see if you can get street and city names without house numbers. Often times finding out this information is telling enough as to whether or not it’s a workable route for you.
5. Pool Account Lists Sell For Less By Themselves And Sell For More When Sold With An Ongoing Business.
When being offered just a route with a list of accounts, these deals can be a lot less expensive, but they can also be a bit more deceptive and hard to verify accounts. One has to evaluate carefully who they are dealing with to see if their representations on earnings and profits are accurate.
6. Pool Service Businesses Sell For More Because Of More Accountability And Historical Data.
When you purchase an actual pool business you should be able to get items to help verify sales, profits and the operation as a whole. This includes tax records, account lists, and historical data on customer history. Essentially one should have a better idea of what they are buying when they purchase a business instead of just a list of accounts.
7. Obtain A Monthly Service Rate For Each Account.
Finding this information out can help a buyer establish what level of pools they would be working with. Also when subtracted from the overall sales it offers insight into how much the seller makes on repairs.
8. CPO or CPC license?
As with many trades in Florida, competition and industry inexperience is widespread. To counter this, the pool service industry has different pool license qualifications including a CPO, Certified Pool Operator (which allows for basic pools service and chemical testing. The CPC license is a Certified Pool Contractor’s license. This license allows a pool service provider to make repairs and even go as far as providing resurfacing services. If many of the pool service’s profits are attributed to repairs instead of service a non-CPC individual needs to recalculate the financials to reflect what earnings would look like for them. One should at minimum get a CPO.
9. Individual or Property Management Pool Service Accounts.
In the Orlando and Central Florida area we have a great deal of individual homes with pools but also a lot of vacation and rental homes where the accounts are controlled by property managers. Property management accounts can enable a pool service buyer to expand quicker but the profit margin per pool is much less. Individual accounts are more coveted however these pool services often take longer to expand especially if one is trying to build a close and tight route.
10. Commercial Verses Residential Accounts.
Both have their merits. Commercial accounts typically require a CPC license, they require more insurance from the operator and require multiple service times a week. They can help an operator expand immensely but these accounts can also disappear overnight too due to new management or competition. Individual accounts often turnover much less than commercial accounts. At the same time, individual accounts can be acquired much quicker than commercial.
For more information on pool service route businesses for sale or if you’re looking to buy or sell a business in the Orlando or Central Florida area call the number one Orlando Business Brokers at Crowne Atlantic at 407-478-4101.
