This page is part of our home services guide, which covers HVAC, plumbing, pest control, roofing, electrical and landscaping side by side.
Electrical contracting business value at a glance
Estimate your electrical contracting business's value
Applies the cited SDE multiple band for your trade, then positions you inside it using recurring revenue, customer concentration, owner dependence, years operating and trend. Educational estimate, not an appraisal.
Educational estimate, not an appraisal or an offer. Ranges come from published closed-sale data and broker/adviser reports cited on each trade page; the adjustment weights are our own documented heuristic (see Editorial policy). Real estate, inventory and working capital are excluded.
Get the full valuation brief (printable)
Your inputs and range, the cited multiples behind it, the buyer type active at your size, three changes that move the multiple, and next steps - on this page, ready to print or save as a PDF.
Published electrical contracting business multiples by deal size
| Deal size / buyer | Multiple | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Main Street sales, 2021-2025 (sold) | 1.96x-3.15x SDE (median 2.56x); revenue 0.39x-0.72x | BizBuySell Valuation Benchmarks - Electrical & Mechanical Contractor |
| Latest published figures | BizBuySell FY2025 closed electrical & mechanical contracting sales: 2.94x average SDE, 0.59x average revenue (57 sales, median price $845,000). | |
| Electrical contractors, 2017-2024 transactions | 4.1x median / 5.0x mean EBITDA | BMI Mergers & Acquisitions - Construction industry valuations and EBITDA multiples (2024-12) |
| $3-8M EBITDA (GF Data) | 6.2-6.4x EBITDA average | BMI Mergers & Acquisitions - Electrical contractors 2024 recap (citing GF Data) |
| $8M+ EBITDA (GF Data) | 7.8x EBITDA average | BMI Mergers & Acquisitions - Electrical contractors 2024 recap (citing GF Data) |
| All industries, Q2 2026 (context) | Under $500K deals: 2.0x SDE; $2M-$5M: 4.0x EBITDA; $5M-$50M: 5.8x EBITDA | IBBA / M&A Source / Pepperdine Market Pulse, Q2 2026 highlights |
What moves the multiple for a electrical contracting business
Key metric buyers ask for: Service and maintenance share vs bid work; residential vs commercial/industrial; backlog; master electricians on staff.
Pushes you toward the top of the range
- Recurring service and preventive maintenance revenue
- Upgrade and retrofit work rather than low-margin new-construction bids
- A management bench and diversified repeat customers
- Exposure to data-center and power-infrastructure demand
Pushes you toward the bottom
- Customer concentration and uneven margins
- Bonding requirements or union obligations that narrow the buyer pool
- The owner is the only master electrician
How buyers value a electrical contracting business
Smaller shops sell on SDE. Residential service electricians are often bought by the same home-services platforms that buy HVAC and plumbing; commercial electricians are bought by specialty-contractor platforms on EBITDA, with backlog quality and bonding capacity reviewed closely.
Rule of thumb on revenue: 0.4-0.7x revenue on Main Street deals (BizBuySell sold middle half 0.39-0.72x). Use it only as a sanity check; buyers pay for cash flow they can finance.
Worked example: Brightline Electric (fictional)
Fictional business for illustration. Revenue $2,800,000, SDE $460,000. 55% residential service, 45% light commercial, two master electricians besides the owner.
| Position in the cited range | Implied value | Multiple of revenue |
|---|---|---|
| At the low end (2x) | $920,000 | 0.33x |
| Midpoint (2.56x) | $1,178,000 | 0.42x |
| At the high end (3.2x) | $1,472,000 | 0.53x |
Who buys a electrical contracting business at each size
Individual buyers; competitors; home-services platforms (residential service); specialty-contractor platforms and strategics (commercial).
| SDE / EBITDA size | Most likely buyer | How they usually pay |
|---|---|---|
| Under ~$300K SDE | Individual buyer (SBA-financed) | SBA or bank loan plus buyer cash; sometimes a seller note |
| ~$300K-$1M SDE | Competitor or regional platform | SBA loan, seller note, or cash from a larger buyer |
| $1M+ EBITDA | PE-backed platform or strategic | Mostly cash at close; rollover equity and earn-outs are common |
Thinking about selling your electrical contracting business?
See the step-by-step sale process, license transfer rules and documents buyers will ask for.
Frequently asked questions
How much is an electrical contracting business worth?
Electrical and mechanical contractors sold on BizBuySell from 2021-2025 went for a median 2.56x SDE (middle half 1.96-3.15x). EBITDA multiples run from about 4-5x for smaller contractors (BMI) to 6-8x for larger ones (GF Data via BMI).
Is residential service or commercial work worth more?
Recurring service and maintenance revenue gets the higher multiple in both. Pure new-construction bid work is the hardest to sell.
What happens to the master electrician license?
It is personal. The buyer needs a licensed master (or qualifier) in place, which is why buyers value having more than one on staff.
Is this an appraisal?
No. It is an educational estimate built from published data. Lenders, courts and the IRS may require a credentialed appraisal; see appraisal vs estimate.
Sources
- BizBuySell Valuation Benchmarks - Electrical & Mechanical Contractor (accessed 2026-09-23)
- BizBuySell - Business valuation multiples by industry (sold Q3 2021-Q2 2026) (accessed 2026-09-23)
- BizBuySell Insight Report data tables (FY2025 closed transactions by industry) (accessed 2026-09-23)
- BMI Mergers & Acquisitions - Construction industry valuations and EBITDA multiples (2024-12) (accessed 2026-09-23)
- BMI Mergers & Acquisitions - Electrical contractors 2024 recap (citing GF Data) (accessed 2026-09-23)