Sell a business · Construction & contracting
Sell your construction business, on your terms.
General contractors and specialty construction firms sell at a discount to the service trades for one structural reason: project revenue must be re-won every year. The valuation conversation is therefore about repeatability - relationships that generate negotiated work, a bid pipeline with a known hit rate, and project management that doesn't run through the owner's phone.
Backlog is the double-edged sword. Signed, profitable backlog gives the buyer a running start and supports the price; thin or underbid backlog does the opposite. Sellers who bring job-cost history showing consistent margins across dozens of projects neutralize the biggest fear in construction deals - that the profits were one good year.
What buyers pay for
What moves your construction business toward the top of the band.
Negotiated work versus hard-bid
Repeat clients who negotiate directly (rather than open bidding) are the construction equivalent of recurring revenue. The split between negotiated and hard-bid work is a first-meeting question.
Margin consistency across jobs
Job-cost reports across years of projects, showing estimated versus actual margins. Consistency is worth more than occasional home runs.
Project managers who hold relationships
PMs and superintendents who own client relationships and can run jobs end-to-end are what make the company transferable - and buyers will want to meet them (under NDA) before closing.
Prepare before you list
Diligence starts long before the buyer shows up.
Prepare a clean WIP schedule
Work-in-progress reporting that ties to your financials is the heart of construction diligence. Percent-complete, billings to date, and cost-to-complete on every open job.
Compile the bonding file
Bonding capacity, surety relationship, and claims history. For buyers pursuing public or larger commercial work, your bonding file is part of what they are buying.
Show estimated-versus-actual on closed jobs
A three-year lookback of bid margins versus realized margins demonstrates estimating discipline - the skill buyers fear losing most when an owner exits.
Free valuation calculator
What is your construction business actually worth?
Two minutes, no signup. We start from the typical construction & contracting band of 1.8x to 2.6x owner profit, then adjust for your growth and track record. The math runs entirely in your browser - we never store what you type.
Estimate my business valueThe Slyced Exchange
Sell without telling the world.
When you are ready to ask the market, the Exchange is a private way to do it. Your listing is anonymous by default: built from ranges and categories, screened word by word for anything that could identify you, and reviewed by a person before it goes live.
Buyers verify their identity before they can request access, you approve every request, and a real NDA is signed before your name is revealed. Listing is a flat subscription - never a percentage of your sale.
The Exchange opens soon. Join the owners preparing to list.
Talk to us about sellingAnonymous by default
The public profile is built from ranges and categories. Your name and exact numbers have no field to live in.
Verified buyers only
Anyone can browse, but requesting access requires identity verification first. No anonymous tire-kickers.
NDA before any reveal
You see who a buyer is before they learn who you are, and a real NDA is signed before the reveal.
0% commission, ever
A flat software subscription. We never take a percentage of your sale - not at listing, not at closing.
Plain answers
Questions construction & contracting owners ask.
- What is a construction business worth?
- Typical small-business transactions put construction and contracting firms at roughly 1.8x to 2.6x SDE, below the service trades because project revenue must be re-won continuously. Negotiated repeat work, consistent job margins, and strong PMs support the top of the band. It is a starting range - backlog quality moves individual deals substantially.
- How does backlog affect my sale price?
- Profitable signed backlog effectively underwrites the buyer's first year and supports the price; underbid backlog is a liability they will price against you. Expect job-level scrutiny of every significant open project - prepare the WIP schedule before listing.
- What happens to my bonding and licenses in a sale?
- Surety relationships and contractor licenses both have transfer rules that vary by state and structure (asset versus stock sale). Qualifier requirements are the most common timing constraint, so map the license path with your advisor before going to market.