Buying a commercial cleaning company in South Florida

• Many customers, none too large, so losing one doesn't hurt badly. Watch for one property manager who controls several buildings.
• Customers who have stayed for years, including through price increases.
• Prices based on the hours each building actually takes, with profit tracked by account.
• Area managers or supervisors who check the work and handle complaints without the owner.
• Specialized work that's harder to replace, like medical offices, floor care or buildings that require security clearances.
• A steady way to hire and train, because turnover never stops here.
• Written agreements with every customer, not handshake deals.
• Customers who've added services over time, a sign they trust the company in their building.

• Revenue by customer, and the five largest customers' share.
• Contract terms: length, notice period, price increase clauses, and whether the contracts can be transferred to you.
• Customer turnover: accounts gained and lost each year for three years.
• Labor cost per account, overtime, and pay compared with local competitors.
• How cleaners are paid: as employees with taxes withheld, or as contractors with nothing withheld. If contractors, ask your accountant about the risk.
• Immigration paperwork (Form I-9) for every employee. Florida also requires employers with 25 or more employees to check new hires through E-Verify.
• Insurance claims: damage to customers' property, accusations of theft, injuries.
• Who customers deal with, and whether they'll stay.
• Supervision: how many buildings each supervisor checks in a night, and what happens when a cleaner doesn't show.

• How many accounts do you have, and how long has the average customer been with you?
• Which accounts did you lose last year, and why?
• Are your cleaners employees or independent contractors?
• How do you know a building was cleaned properly?
• When did you last raise prices, and how did customers react?
• Who brings in new accounts now?
• Which customers buy extras like floor care, and how do you price it?

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.