Buy A Route
A Sealey Business Brokers Guide to Purchase a Pool Route
Step 1
Contact us! You can either call/email us directly, or you can fill out one of our forms on each individual listing. We usually respond faster by through email.
Step 2
We'll send you an email with a few additional information and/or general information about the route you are inquiring about, as well as our NDA through Docusign.
Step 3
Once you review the additional information or the report that we sent, you will then have the option to move forward with the process by clicking on the Calendly invitation and schedule a call with our broker! Make sure to sign the NDA at this point.
Step 4
Our broker will contact you on your scheduled appointment by either calling or emailing you(we usually call you at this point) and will discuss what the next steps are! Make sure you keep your lines open!
Buy A Route
Common FAQs when buying a pool route
Buyers have a lot of questions about buying a business. Sealey Business Brokers is here to assist you and answer your questions. Here are some of the typical questions we get from
prospective buyers that are interested in purchasing a route or business:
It’s a group of accounts or a list of customers being sold by a pool company. It’s essentially going to be your customer base for your potential business. For instance, if a pool route for sale has 100 accounts, and if you decide to purchase it, those 100 accounts will be your customers as your starting point.
In most cases owners require cash for their route. We have a partner affiliate that loans for pool routes or vending routes. If you’re looking to obtain financing to buy a route give us a call or click on the link at the top of the page where it says "Need Financing?" and it will route you to our affiliate's page.
Every seller is required to sign a “non-compete” clause prohibiting them from contacting the customers.
Each account is guaranteed by the seller for at least 60 days from the date of the sale. In addition, we hold back 10% of the purchase price in an escrow fund in the event of a lost account.
Our sellers provide a year round service, so even in the wintertime they are still cleaning in the pools. The chemicals need to be adjusted, too.
(It rarely snows in Florida & Texas)
(It rarely snows in Florida & Texas)
People lives change. They are selling because of those changes. It can be retirement, moving to a different location, another job, interest, and more.
Just like a car in general, you’re selling it not because it’s a bad car, but because you want a new car, or it no longer fits what you need. It’s like saying you sold your old sedan because your family grew from 2 people to 5, so you buy an SUV or a van. The same thing can be said towards houses
Just like a car in general, you’re selling it not because it’s a bad car, but because you want a new car, or it no longer fits what you need. It’s like saying you sold your old sedan because your family grew from 2 people to 5, so you buy an SUV or a van. The same thing can be said towards houses
Yes, the new owner is free to do what they want to do with the pool route. Although, there are suggestions we provide to help the new owner be successful but ultimately it’s the owner’s choice how they want to operate their business.
Yes, you will be trained on the accounts that you bought so that you’ll be familiar with the both the route, customer and equipment. Typically training is conducted over 30 days and include hands on repairs as well as weekly maintenance. Additional training can be included to ensure you’re comfortable with your new route.
Sellers are willing to assist you if you have questions after the sale. We highly recommend you join a local association like IPSSA (Independent Pool and Spa Service Association) to mingle with experienced professionals in your industry and build your network. It’s always great to be able to call on other professionals to bounce ideas and questions off of.
Sellers typically fall into one of three categories. Either they are retiring, have too many accounts, or looking to get into another industry.
It can be both. It can be an asset that an owner sells then the buyer turns it into business.
Example: You are selling tires (assets) and you would like to sell it to a company. Just like the pool accounts, they are transferred from one company to the next. The new company starts a new business with their own business name.
Example: You are selling tires (assets) and you would like to sell it to a company. Just like the pool accounts, they are transferred from one company to the next. The new company starts a new business with their own business name.
Yes and no. Some people may say that the customer may just cancel when they buy the route which is many buyers are afraid of. The only reason that the customers will cancel is not because the account has been transferred but because of bad service. Providing great service will keep your customers.
(Most of the customers just want their pool clean. They don’t care who cleans it)
Even if these sellers have a contract with their customers but they provide a bad service, their customers aren’t going to stay because of the contract.
(Most of the customers just want their pool clean. They don’t care who cleans it)
Even if these sellers have a contract with their customers but they provide a bad service, their customers aren’t going to stay because of the contract.
Unfortunately, we only send the customer list during or after your appointment with our broker as it is usually only given during the due diligence period.
While there are several factors to take into consideration before even thinking about running the business as an absentee owner, the short answer is “yes,” but there are a few things to consider. For starters, you’ll want to make sure you have a solid team of reliable technicians who can handle the day-to-day cleaning and maintenance tasks as well as you would also need to consider the fact that if the technicians are out of the picture, will you still be able to run the business? Check out our blog for more information about running the business as an absentee owner.
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