How to prepare your trade business for sale
You built a business people count on. These steps help owners of HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing and specialist trade businesses get ready for a possible sale, with a practical plan for crew, customers and future.
1. Get your records in order
Start with the basics a future buyer will ask about first.
- Organize financial statements and current-year results.
- Gather job costing, backlog and customer concentration records.
- Organize project margins, estimates and current backlog.
2. Show how the business earns its work
Make it easy to see where revenue comes from and how repeat customers are kept.
- Separate service agreements from one-off installation revenue.
- Separate replacement, repair and new-construction work.
- Describe customer industries and recurring service obligations.
3. Reduce how much depends on you
A business that can run beyond the owner is easier to hand over.
- Write down the jobs only you can do today.
- List technician roles, qualifications and the work you still handle.
- Document crew leadership and license dependencies.
- Document specialist knowledge, software and operating processes.
4. Plan the handover
Think about your crew, your customers and your own next chapter.
- List customer agreements, backlog and key dependencies.
- Identify owner responsibilities that need a handover plan.
- Decide what you want your next chapter to look like.
Preparation guidance only. This is not a valuation or an offer to buy or sell. Business-specific questions are best answered by a human advisor. Find your trade on the home page.