SELLING YOUR CONSTRUCTION COMPANY. HERE'S WHAT BUYERS ACTUALLY REQUIRE.
Construction companies typically sell for 2-4x EBITDA, but only if the financials support the number. Most owners start thinking about exit 6-12 months before they want to sell. That's not enough time. Buyers want 2-3 years of WIP history, clean job costing, adjusted EBITDA they can verify, and evidence that the business runs without you. Start 3 years before you need the money.
Buyers pay for certainty. Every system that takes a question off their diligence list adds to the multiple, and every question you can't answer with a document takes something off it. Three years is the honest timeline because two of those years have to be clean history that already exists when the buyer asks for it. You can't build a WIP record backwards. An owner who starts six months out is selling a promise, and promises trade at the bottom of the range.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Adjusted EBITDA is the starting point for every construction company valuation: net income with the non-cash charges and the owner specific items that won't continue under new ownership added back.
WHAT HAS TO BE TRUE, AND WHEN.
Year 1, build the financial infrastructure
Get ControlQore in place. Set up job costing aligned to your estimate structure. Build the WIP report and produce it monthly. Separate owner salary from owner distributions, and take personal expenses off the P&L. Start tracking adjusted EBITDA. This is the foundation everything else sits on, and none of it can be done retroactively.
Year 2, build the track record
Year 2 is the first full year of clean financials with job costing and WIP behind them. Keep margins consistent. Grow revenue without growing overhead in proportion. Diversify the GC base so no single GC sits above 30% of revenue. Add a project management layer so the owner isn't the only person running jobs, and document your estimating process so it can be taught to somebody else.
Year 3, position for the transaction
Year 3 is when the picture becomes sellable: two full years of clean financials, two WIP schedules, and adjusted EBITDA a buyer can verify from the documents. A management team that can run 90 days without the owner. Engage a CPA familiar with construction M&A to review your statements before you go to market, and talk to a broker or a banker 12 months before you want to close.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
A construction company with $300K reported net income might have $520K in adjusted EBITDA after add-backs. At 3.5x, that's $1.82M against $1.05M, a $770K difference out of the same business. The difference is documentation a buyer can verify.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Three tiers, priced by your trailing twelve month revenue. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No hourly billing. No payroll. The one-time onboarding fee is right here in the table.
| Last 12 months revenue | Monthly fee | One-time onboarding |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $1M | $1,900 to $2,900 | $1,000 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $3,900 | $1,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $5,700 | $3,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $7,100 | $4,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $8,500 | $6,000 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $11,000 | $7,500 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $13,500 | $9,000 |
| $18.5M+ | Quoted individually | Quoted individually |
The onboarding fee covers migrating your books back to the start of your last taxable year and getting you fully operational in 60 days. It's billed once, with your first invoice. It's the same for all three tiers. Your first month is prorated, and your monthly engagement starts on the first of the first full month.
Range reflects the three tiers below. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No payroll. No hidden line items. The onboarding fee is right here in the table.
You stop guessing.
You get the CFO work. Job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a meeting every month that ends in decisions and never in a report.
Your bookkeeper still does the books.
You stop touching the books.
Everything in Core, and we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Your office stops answering coding questions and stops chasing a reconciliation on the last day of the month.
We do the books. No payroll.
Every job shows its margin while it's still running.
Everything in Executive, plus the job costing and WIP platform set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed for you every month. You never have to learn it.
We do the books, the job costing, and the software. No payroll.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
