What is my electrical business worth?
Most owner-operated electrical businesses sell for roughly 2–4x SDE; larger, management-run companies are valued on EBITDA, with rules of thumb around 3–5x for small operators and closed lower-middle-market deals reaching 6.2–7.8x. Your actual figure depends on recurring commercial revenue, owner-dependence, and financials.
What is my electrical business worth?
Most owner-operated electrical businesses sell for roughly 2x to 4x SDE (Seller's Discretionary Earnings — your net profit with owner pay, perks, and one-time costs added back). Larger, management-run companies are valued on EBITDA instead, where rules of thumb run around 3x to 5x for small operators, and closed lower-middle-market deals reach higher — GF Data benchmarks put electrical contractors around 6.2x to 7.8x EBITDA. Service-heavy businesses command premiums over new-construction-focused firms, and where your business lands depends mostly on recurring commercial revenue, owner-dependence, and the quality of your financials.
Those are published, industry-typical ranges — not a valuation of your specific business. The only way to know your actual number is to run your real earnings against current comparable data.
How the number is built
Valuation is earnings times a multiple. The earnings figure (SDE for smaller companies, EBITDA for larger ones) is mostly arithmetic. The multiple is the judgment, and it's where most of the value swing lives — it reflects how much risk a buyer sees in keeping those earnings after you leave.
The factors that move your multiple — recurring commercial service revenue, owner-dependence, financial quality, and revenue mix — are covered in how to increase the value of your electrical business before you sell. There's also a driver specific to electrical: whether specialized data-center, EV, or solar work raises your multiple, covered in does specialized work make your electrical business worth more.
Getting your actual number
A confidential valuation runs your real figures against current comparable data and shows you where you stand — privately, with nothing listed and no obligation.
Illustrative example. Figures and signals shown are for format only and are not a valuation of any business.
Common questions
- How are electrical businesses valued?
- Smaller owner-operated companies are valued on Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) — net profit plus the owner's pay, perks, and one-time costs — times an industry multiple. Larger companies with a management layer are valued on EBITDA instead, typically once earnings pass about $1M or revenue passes about $3M.
- What multiple do electrical businesses sell for?
- Published market data puts smaller owner-operated electrical businesses at roughly 2x–4x SDE, with EBITDA rules of thumb around 3x–5x for small operators. Closed lower-middle-market deals run higher, with GF Data benchmarks around 6.2x–7.8x EBITDA. These are industry-typical ranges, not a valuation of any specific business.
- What makes one electrical business worth more than another?
- Mainly recurring commercial service revenue, low owner-dependence (including who holds the license), clean financials with real job costing, and a diversified customer base. Specialized capability in areas like data centers, EV, or solar can also lift the multiple. These factors determine where in the range a business lands.