Valuable company or not?

Are you building a business that you can some day sell? Many may think they are but you really need to ask if what you are building will sell and if you are truly building a business. Maintaining equipment, accurate sales records, proper tax records, reputation,....is it worth more than you can ever get? or not worth what you think it is?

Nope, no value outside of equipment value.

I am a firm believer that any service business is based on the personality of its owner. Well, the guy that interacts with the customer actually. Once you remove that part of the formula, the business loses almost all of its value.

I will operate this business until I no longer can or no longer have any passion for it and then the doors close, equipment sells, and that's it.

Unfortunately, no. A small service business like CC has basically No sale able value( as most owners would hope). I see several in the pnw that have been sale for along time and the price keeps going down. Most of the value is in the owners personal relationship with the customers.  A new owner can expect 30% of the current customers will not use them within the first 2 years. After that, maybe half will continue to use the new owner. Many reasons why this happens.
 Now a CC biz that has a staff and a few vans in service, and doing several 100,000 a year is a different story. The owner is not having face to face contact and coversations with the customers, so with him being taken out of the picture with the sale.... Not as big of an impact on customer base. With advertising\marketing, bookkeeping,billing, and other task that the staff does.... That bringsvalue to the biz.

milspec6 wrote:Nope, no value outside of equipment value.

I am a firm believer that any service business is based on the personality of its owner.  Well, the guy that interacts with the customer actually. Once you remove that part of the formula, the business loses almost all of its value.

I will operate this business until I no longer can or no longer have any passion for it and then the doors close, equipment sells, and that's it.

I agree, and think my biz has no value without me, besides the equipment value itself.

Not that I'm anything special, but I am the mediator between the customers and my equipment that makes things happen.

Has to be at least 4-5 trucks with a huge reputation, lots of commercial residual income and proof of solid profits for at least 5 years.

Its no different than any other company being sold.. plumbing, hvac, concrete, electrical

but owner operated not worth anything, just equipment

If your company can run efficiently and profitable with out you being involved? Heck yeah it's valuable and not just for resale. It could be a big part of your retirement portfolio.


Rob can you talk to Warren Buffet and get some strategies on how we can get that accomplished

Well I sold mine years ago prior to getting out of it. With a smoothe transition and owner staying on for 6 months to a year....it can do well from my seat. Basically a guy can buy out the company and keep the flow going. It would take quit a bit for someone to build up what you spent years building. If the company is old enough the calls come from just knowing it...no advertising needed.

I do understand what you guys are saying though.

Would you pay a $1000 for a phone number that rings 2 /3 times a day for carpet cleaning? I paid $5000 for a number one time that did just that and would do it again in a heart beat. So, you see....the guy who let his go actually had value to sell....his equipment went cheaper than I would have given him for the whole lot. His records were a mess but I knew he was worth something but dumped it...always puzzled me.

Dont under estimate yourself. We all know the value of "us" but new life can be as good or even better at times.

just start by backing off of your 1 van.      Spend a long time with a good guy and teach him well, pay him well.  

I picked up the wand for the first time in a week yesterday to test the procyon,    my buddy has been out killing it while I get the express van ready  

Its really easy to over think this business and feel like you cant trust someone to do the work without you,   its not true this business is simple and should run fairly simple.        

You need systems in place to maintain quality and you cant pay someone cheap to do this type of work,   they need to make near 200/day to be happy.    

Trust me there is a lot of people that will kick ass for you at 150-200 a day,   which is fine if your bringing in 600-1000

Very good points Devon and AC