Where your number comes from
Your valuation range is built from public M&A multiples published by four well-known industry sources, then size-adjusted and pushed up or down by qualitative factors. Here's exactly how.
The four-step build-up
- 1Calculate adjusted EBITDA
We start with your reported EBITDA and add back owner compensation (the buyer is replacing the owner) plus documented one-time and personal expenses. If your add-backs aren't documented, we apply a 25–50% haircut to reflect what a buyer will actually credit.
- 2Pull a base multiple range for your industry
We blend ranges from four publicly available sources — BizBuySell, NYU Stern (Damodaran), IBBA Market Pulse, and DealStats — filtered to the ones that apply at your earnings size. Public-company multiples (Damodaran) are discounted 30–40% for SMB private-market illiquidity before they enter the blend.
- 3Apply qualitative adjustments
Recurring revenue, customer concentration, growth trajectory, owner dependency, financial quality, and operations maturity each move the multiple up or down. The combined swing is capped at ±25% so no single factor dominates.
- 4Output a range, not a point estimate
Anyone who quotes a single number is overconfident. Real offers in this size range routinely land 20% above or below the midpoint depending on who shows up. We report the band; you decide what to do with it.
The four data sources
All four are public or partially public. Click through to read the originals.
BizBuySell Insight Report
VisitClosed-listing data from the largest US SMB marketplace. Strongest signal for businesses under $1M cash flow. Reports SDE multiples.
NYU Stern (Damodaran)
VisitAnnual EV/EBITDA by sector from public-company comps. We discount these by 30-40% to reflect SMB private illiquidity, since public multiples are typically higher than private SMB multiples.
IBBA Market Pulse
VisitQuarterly broker-reported transaction multiples from the International Business Brokers Association. Best source for $1-50M EBITDA SMB transactions.
DealStats (BVR)
VisitCurated private-transaction database. We reference their published industry medians; the full database is subscription-only.
What the sources say for Home Services
The raw ranges below feed the blended multiple shown on your dashboard. Each card's "applies" line tells you which range is used for your earnings size.
HVAC, plumbing, and electrical have been the most active PE roll-up category since 2020. Recurring service-contract businesses trade 1-2× above project-only.
Damodaran public-comp EV/EBITDA for this sector: 9.0x before our 35% private-SMB illiquidity discount.
What this isn't
Not a formal valuation. For a binding number, engage a qualified business broker, M&A advisor, or business appraiser. Our range is an indicative buyer view; theirs is a defensible figure backed by full-document diligence.
Not yet geography-adjusted. A trades business in suburban Texas and one in the New York metro will trade differently. We're building MSA-level adjustments next — for now the range reflects national medians.
Not fresh-scraped (yet). The current values are curated from each source's most recent published data through Q4 2025 / January 2026. We're wiring up a quarterly refresh pipeline that scrapes each source directly so the numbers stay current.
Not the only thing buyers look at. Working capital adjustments, debt-free / cash-free assumptions, earnout structures, and rollover equity routinely shift the actual cash-at-close by 10–30% from the headline EV. Your Risks page flags the line items most likely to move that number.