Selling a contracting or trades business in Chicago: who buys, what they pay, and what has to transfer.
If you want to sell your contracting business in Chicago, here is the short version. Owner-run HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, landscaping and pest control companies sold between 2021 and 2025 changed hands at a median of about 2.3 to 2.6 times SDE. The buyers are home-services platforms, local competitors and SBA-financed individuals, and all three check the same three things first: which licenses are held by the company and which by you, how much revenue is under a service agreement, and whether the technicians will stay.
What would my company sell for?
Revenue, trade, and where to send it. Within two business days you'll have a CPA-prepared value range and the two or three items a buyer's accountant would raise first. Free, confidential, nothing to sign.
The multiples behind the range, with a worked Will County HVAC example, are in how much is my business worth; the industry tables are in what Chicagoland businesses actually sell for.
Who buys contracting and trades businesses in Chicago?
Three kinds of buyer, and they pay differently. Private-equity-backed home-services platforms are buying HVAC, plumbing and electrical companies across the six counties and bolting them onto a regional brand; they pay the most for recurring service-agreement revenue, a dispatcher and an office manager who run the day without you, and monthly financials that tie to the bank. Local competitors and larger contractors buy for the technicians, the customer list and a territory they already drive through; they pay less for the office and more for the crew. Individual buyers, often a tradesperson leaving a larger company, finance the purchase with an SBA-backed loan, so their offer is capped by what a lender's underwriter accepts from your tax returns.
Geography shapes the list. Residential HVAC and plumbing companies in DuPage and the North Shore draw the platforms, because the density of service agreements is what they are consolidating. Commercial electrical, mechanical and roofing contractors in the industrial corridors around O'Hare, Elk Grove Village and the South Side draw strategic buyers who want the licenses and the bonding capacity. Landscaping and pest control companies in Lake, McHenry and Will counties mostly go to competitors in the next town and to financed individuals. The buyer list you approve is built county by county from that, not from a listing site.
We work in person across Chicago and Cook County, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties, with Northwest Indiana by arrangement. The full list of what we sell and where is on who we serve.
What do Chicago trades businesses sell for?
A multiple of seller's discretionary earnings after the add-backs are documented and owner pay is set to what a hired general manager costs. The ranges below are industry benchmarks; the exact number depends on the items that follow.
- Owner-operated, under about $2 million in transaction value
- A median of about 2.3 to 2.6 times seller's discretionary earnings, depending on the trade (BizBuySell industry benchmarks, businesses sold 2021 to 2025), inside the 1.6 to 3.6 times range that covers owner-run businesses in general and a step below manufacturing. Individual buyers and local competitors live here, and the lender's read of your tax returns sets the ceiling.
- $1 million or more of EBITDA
- About 3.7 to 4.5 times EBITDA, and the multiple steps up with size. This is platform territory, and the premium goes to companies with a high share of revenue under maintenance agreements, a second layer of management, and books closed monthly.
- What moves you inside the range
- The share of revenue under service or maintenance agreements (recurring work is priced higher than one-off installs), whether the estimating and the big bids run through you, technician tenure and whether the licenses sit with the company, customer concentration (one general contractor or property manager over about 20 percent of revenue lowers offers), and the age and condition of the fleet against its book value.
What does a buyer's accountant check first in a contracting business?
Every buyer type sends one. The order rarely changes, and the licenses come before the books.
- Which licenses are the company's and which are yours. Illinois licenses plumbers and registers plumbing contractors through the Department of Public Health, licenses roofing contractors through IDFPR under the Roofing Industry Licensing Act, and licenses structural pest control businesses and technicians through IDPH. There is no statewide electrical or HVAC contractor license; the City of Chicago and most suburbs license electrical contractors and general contractors municipally, and EPA Section 608 certification belongs to the technician, not the company. If the license of record is in your name, the buyer needs a plan for who holds it the day after closing, and that plan is priced into the offer.
- Earnings rebuilt from the bank statements. Deposits tied to invoices, add-backs with receipts behind them, owner pay reset to what a hired general manager costs, and the family on the payroll either at market pay or added back with the evidence to support it.
- Service agreements and the customer list. How many maintenance agreements are active, their renewal rate, what they bill, and whether they are assignable without customer consent. Then the top ten customers over three years, which ones have a written contract, and which ones are personal relationships of yours.
- Technicians, tenure and pay. A roster with hire dates, licenses and certifications, pay and overtime, and who has left in the last two years. Buyers price the cost of replacing a crew that leaves with the owner. A stay bonus for the two or three people the business cannot run without is a normal part of the deal file.
- Job costing, work in process and warranty exposure. Open jobs with contract value, billed to date and cost to complete; retainage receivable on commercial work; the warranty and callback history. Over- and under-billings on open jobs are settled in the working capital target before closing, not discovered at it.
- The fleet, the yard and the insurance file. A vehicle and equipment schedule that matches the lot, titles and loans against them, and the general liability, workers' compensation and bonding history. An owned yard or shop is usually sold or leased back separately at a market rent, and the business is priced on earnings after that rent.
How does the sale of a contracting business run?
Six to nine months from first conversation to closing is typical. Trades deals sit at the longer end when the license transfer, the lender's review of the tax returns or the assignment of service agreements are started late.
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Value range, then the fix list
The range is free, within two business days. The two-week Exit-Readiness Review at $4,500 then scores the five things buyers examine and prices the gaps, so you decide whether to go to market now or first move the license of record, put the service agreements in writing and get a second estimator trained.
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Pricing memo, blind profile, buyer list
Normalized earnings, documented add-backs, a listing range with the evidence behind it, and a one-page profile that names the trade and the county but not the company. You approve every buyer before we approach them, which matters in a trade where the likely buyer is a competitor who knows your customers. The 10 percent success fee is in the agreement before this step, with no retainer and no monthly fee.
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NDA, site visit, LOI, diligence, closing
Buyers sign before they see your name, and the yard visit happens after the crews are out. Most deals at this size are asset sales, so the allocation of the price across vehicles, equipment, agreements and goodwill is negotiated at the LOI and reported by both sides on IRS Form 8594; it changes what each side pays in tax. Illinois requires the buyer to file the bulk-sales notice (Form CBS-1) with the Department of Revenue before closing, and Cook County has its own notice. The month-by-month version is in how to sell a business in Chicago.
A buyer will pay for the service agreement that renews without you and the technician who stays without you. The company where the license, the bids and the customers all sit with the owner is priced as a job, not a company.
Marc E. Marcus, Managing Advisor
Contractors ask these first.
How much is my HVAC, plumbing or electrical business worth?
Owner-operated trades companies under about $2 million in transaction value sold between 2021 and 2025 changed hands at a median of about 2.3 to 2.6 times SDE, depending on the trade. Companies with $1 million or more of EBITDA trade at about 3.7 to 4.5 times EBITDA. The share of revenue under service agreements, who holds the licenses and technician tenure move the number inside those ranges. A CPA-prepared range for your company is free and takes two business days.
Who buys contracting businesses in Chicago?
Private-equity-backed home-services platforms consolidating HVAC, plumbing and electrical across the six counties, local competitors and larger contractors who want the crew and the territory, and individual buyers financing with SBA-backed loans. Platforms pay for recurring service revenue and management, competitors pay for technicians and customers, and individuals pay what a lender will underwrite from your tax returns.
Can I sell my contracting business if the license is in my name?
Yes, but the buyer needs a plan for who holds the license the day after closing, and that plan is part of the price. The usual routes are a licensed employee becoming the license holder or qualifying party before the sale, the buyer bringing their own, or you staying on under a transition agreement while the buyer qualifies. Moving the license of record before going to market is the single pre-sale fix that most often changes the offer.
How long does it take to sell a contracting business in Chicago?
Six to nine months from first conversation to closing is typical: two weeks to 90 days of preparation, 90 to 120 days on the market, and 60 to 90 days from LOI to close. The license transfer, the lender's review of three years of tax returns and the assignment of service agreements are what add months when they are started late.
Do service agreements really change the price?
They are the main reason two companies with the same revenue sell for different multiples. A buyer pays more for maintenance revenue that renews every year than for installs that have to be sold again, and a platform buyer may not look at a company with none. Putting the agreements in writing, tracking the renewal rate and making sure they can be assigned to a buyer is work that pays for itself before the sale.
Will my technicians find out the business is for sale?
Not from the marketing. The blind profile names the trade and the county, not the company; buyers sign an NDA before they see your name or your financials; and the yard visit is scheduled when the crews are out. The technicians the buyer cannot run without are usually told late in diligence, with a stay bonus in hand, so the news arrives with a reason to stay.
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