Most small, owner-run plumbing companies sell for about two and a half to four times what the business earns for its owner. That's your profit plus your own pay and the personal costs you run through the company. Three things move you toward the top: a licensed plumber on staff who isn't you, work that repeats, and books a lender can read.
The first question a buyer asks about a plumbing company
Whose license is it running on?
That question comes before price, before the trucks, before the customer list. In most states a plumbing contractor needs a licensed master plumber standing behind the business. Rules vary by state, so check yours. On a lot of owner-run shops, that licensed plumber is the owner.
If that's you, the license walks out the door the day you do. The buyer knows it. So does the buyer's bank.
And the buyer who pays the most usually isn't a plumber. More and more of the people buying trades businesses are operators and investors who plan to run the company through a manager, not from the truck. On a Colorado HVAC business we bought in 2026, the buyer was a marketing professional in Arizona with no trade background. The deal closed because we helped him recruit a general manager to step into the seller's role before closing day. (Full deal.)
A plumbing buyer like that can't hold the license. Someone on your team has to.
You have four ways to solve it, and the earlier you pick one, the more it's worth:
- License someone who's staying. A long-time plumber on your crew who sits the master exam before you go to market. This is the cleanest answer and it takes the longest, so start now.
- Hire one. Bring a licensed master plumber on a year or more before you sell, long enough that the buyer sees them running jobs, not just holding paper.
- Stay on as the license holder for a set time, where your state allows it. It works. It also means you're not fully out, and the buyer will want that period in writing.
- Sell to a licensed buyer. Another plumbing company, or a plumber buying their first shop. That's a real market. It's also a smaller one, and smaller means less competition for your business.
We've used the first three on our own trades deals. All of them work.
What is my plumbing business worth?
Two numbers decide your price. What the business earns for its owner, and the multiple a buyer pays for it.
The first one isn't the profit on your tax return. Your accountant has spent years making that number small, and that's the right call until the year you sell. A buyer starts from that profit and adds back your salary, your truck, your phone, and the other personal costs running through the company. Buyers call the result seller's discretionary earnings, or SDE. On an owner-run trades company, add-backs routinely move that number by six figures.
The second number is where the range lives. A small plumbing shop will go for about two and a half to four times earnings, depending on growth, how reliable the income is, and other factors. Plumbing advisors' published 2026 guides run a little higher, about three to five times SDE (Sofer Advisors, 2026). Bigger companies with a management team get priced on a different measure, EBITDA, which is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Put simply, profit before financing and accounting choices get in the way.
Here's a real one from the trades, so the range means something. That Colorado HVAC business sold for $1.99 million against $650,000 in SDE. That's 3.06 times. Good business, established route base, service contracts in place. It still priced in the lower half of that range, for one reason. The seller was the operator. (More on that deal in our guide to selling an HVAC business.)
If you want a number with the math shown, our business valuation calculator gives you a starting range in a couple of minutes. It's a starting point, not an offer.
What buyers pay more for
Five things move your multiple. A license that stays is the first, and it's covered above. The other four:
Work that repeats. Drain maintenance plans, annual water heater service, commercial service contracts with property managers and restaurants. A customer already on the calendar is worth more than a customer who might call. Lenders see it the same way, so repeat work raises what a buyer will pay and what the bank will lend.
Service over new construction, or at least a balance. New construction work tied to a few builders rises and falls with housing starts. A buyer will ask how much of your revenue comes from your top three builders. If one of them is 40 percent of the business, that isn't automatically a problem. It's a problem if you can't show why the relationship lasts.
A business that runs without you. If dispatch, pricing, and every customer relationship route through your phone, the buyer isn't buying a company. They're buying your job. They'll price it that way.
Books and records a lender can read. Three to five years of clean profit-and-loss statements and tax returns. Your add-backs written down, not remembered. A list of every truck, machine, and camera rig, and whether it's owned or leased. If your field software says one thing and your financials say another, that gap costs you in diligence, when you have the least room to argue.
How the deal usually gets paid for
Most buyers at this size don't pay all cash. They borrow most of the price, usually through an SBA loan, and ask the seller to carry a piece.
On the Colorado deal, the money came in like this: 70 percent SBA loan, 10 percent from a financial partner, 10 percent raised through our investor network, and a 10 percent seller note on a ten-year term with a five-year balloon.
Read that from your side. The seller carried 10 percent. That's normal at this size. It isn't a red flag. It's how these deals get done. Someone who tells you a clean plumbing exit means all cash at close is describing a smaller group of buyers, and usually a smaller number.
How long does it take to sell a plumbing business?
The sale itself isn't the slow part. On the sales we've run for sellers, we had a buyer within about a month and closed 70 to 90 days after a signed letter of intent. (How we sell fast without selling cheap.)
What stretches it is preparation done late. Books cleaned up during diligence. An add-back list built in a hurry. A license plan that starts after a buyer asks. A key plumber who hears about the sale from a rumor instead of from you.
Getting a second master plumber licensed can take longer than the whole sale. That's the reason to start the license question first.
Keep it quiet
Your plumbers, your customers, and the shop down the road should find out when you're ready to tell them. Not before.
A run process does that. Buyers sign a non-disclosure agreement and get qualified before they see anything that names you. Nothing goes on a listing site. You meet the serious buyers and decide who you'd hand the business to. Confidentiality is the thing sellers most often tell us a broker got wrong, so ask anyone you're thinking of hiring exactly how they handle it.
Do this in the next 90 days
You don't need to decide you're selling to do any of this. All of it makes the business better if you keep it.
- Settle the license question. Who could sit for the master exam, or who would you hire? Put a date on it.
- Pull three years of profit-and-loss statements and tax returns and write down every personal expense running through the company, by line and by year. That's your add-back list.
- Add up your repeat work as a share of revenue: service plans, contracts, recurring commercial accounts. Set a target for next year.
- List every truck and piece of equipment, owned or leased, and what's owed on it.
- Take two weeks off. Whatever breaks is what a buyer will discount you for. Fix that first.
Who should sell it for you?
It depends on your size, and the honest answer isn't always us.
If the business earns under a few hundred thousand dollars a year for you, a good local broker with a local list may serve you fine. The cost at close is usually high. Above that, the work stops being about a listing and starts being about structure: who finds the buyer who isn't on a listing site, who solves the license question, who manages the lender when underwriting stalls.
We have pre-vetted buyers ready to buy businesses like yours. We take the majority of our fee from the buy side, which lowers what it costs you to sell. We don't charge any retainer or up-front fee to sell your business. We keep the process quiet, and you meet and vet the buyers yourself. (How we run a sale.)
We don't promise deals. We promise a process and honest answers.
If you want to sell your business for maximum value, you need to be prepared to sell your business.
Frequently asked questions
How much is my plumbing business worth?
Take what the business earns for its owner, which is your profit plus your own pay and personal costs added back, and multiply it. A small plumbing shop usually goes for about two and a half to four times, depending on growth and how reliable the income is. A licensed plumber on staff who isn't you, repeat service work, and clean books move you toward the top.
Can I sell my plumbing business if I'm the only licensed plumber?
Yes, but plan for it. Most buyers can't hold the license themselves, so the business needs a licensed master plumber who stays. License someone on your crew, hire one a year or more ahead, stay on as the license holder for a set time where your state allows it, or sell to a licensed buyer.
How long does it take to sell a plumbing business?
On the sales we've run for sellers, we had a buyer within about a month and closed 70 to 90 days after a signed letter of intent. Preparation is the slow part. Getting a second master plumber licensed can take longer than the sale itself.
Do I have to stay on after I sell?
Usually for a transition period, and often longer if you're the license holder. If a licensed plumber or general manager is in place before you sell, you control when you step out instead of negotiating it at the table.
Will my employees find out I'm selling?
Not if the sale is run properly. Buyers sign a non-disclosure agreement and get qualified before they see anything that names you, and nothing goes on a listing site. Tell your key people when you're ready, and tell them yourself.
Want to know what your plumbing business is worth before a buyer tells you? Get a starting range in a couple of minutes.
