Sell My Contractor Business in Arizona: the full guide

A buyer is not paying for the wrap on the trucks. They are buying cash flow that still exists after you leave: a crew that shows up, jobs that are already under contract, and equipment that keeps those jobs moving.

That is HVAC, electrical, plumbing, roofing, painting, demolition, landscaping trades, and general contracting. HVAC files with a maintenance book and a tech bench have their own page: my HVAC guide. Recurring landscape-maintenance books sit on my landscaping guide. Plumbing files with written service agreements sit on my plumbing guide. Roofing files with a maintenance book sit on my roofing guide. Shops that build in-house and install in the field, like metal fabricators, sit on my manufacturing guide. The file has to transfer. Vehicles and tools are part of the package. They are not the package. If the revenue walks out with the owner, we are selling a job.

I start with the last three years of tax returns and monthly P&Ls. Then I ask what assigns: ROC or trade license, bond, insurance, crew, vehicles, and the contracted backlog. A confidential valuation is the clean place to start. The longer Arizona valuation write-up is there if you want the method before we talk numbers.

Contractor files price on Seller's Discretionary Earnings. SDE is the cash a new owner-operator would take home: net profit, plus your salary, plus the add-backs that go away when you leave.

Recurring service work is easier to underwrite than a book that is all bid-and-chase. I still sell project shops. The mix has to be honest. A buyer will pay for contracted WIP with job-cost records. They will haircut a backlog that is hoped-for estimates and handshake work.

Under $500,000, a business sells for about 2 times a year of owner earnings (SDE), by the IBBA's closed deals. Your file sets where you land in that range. What moves you within it: recurring versus bid, concentration, crew depth, owner-dependency, and whether the books match the returns. I run your SDE and tell you what this market will actually pay.

Arizona contractor sales turn on the Registrar of Contractors file. The buyer often has to qualify for the ROC or trade license, or already hold one. The qualifying party on your license may not be transferable the way a liquor license is.

We map that before marketing. License class. Qualifying individual. Bond. General liability and workers' comp. If the buyer cannot operate on day one, the deal is not a deal. I would rather know that in week one than in escrow.

This is broker work, not legal advice. Your attorney and the registrar have the last word. My job is to put the license and the bond on the table before we take the company public. Service shops without a ROC file live on a different page: sell a service business in Arizona.

If you estimate every job, hold the only license, drive a truck, and close every customer, the buyer is buying your calendar. That is an owner-operator file. We can still sell it. The price and the structure have to match the risk.

Crew depth is the transfer. Who stays. Who is W-2 versus 1099. Whether a superintendent or lead already runs the day. Whether the vehicles go with the company or stay in your name. I want a simple org picture and a fleet list before we talk asking price.

Customer concentration is the other haircut. One general contractor or one national account that is a third of revenue is a risk. Diversified bid lists plus a recurring service book are easier to underwrite.

Residential service trades are the first thing buyers ask me about. The reason is simple. A homeowner with a dead compressor in July or a slab leak on a Sunday calls the company they already know. That customer base and that reputation were built one service call at a time, and a buyer cannot stand them up from scratch. They would rather buy them.

The second reason is the service book. Maintenance agreements, seasonal tune-ups, and emergency call-outs put revenue on the calendar before the year starts. A trade company with a written contract book is easier to underwrite than a shop that bids every dollar. The license is the third reason. A buyer without a trade background cannot simply take over a licensed contractor and run it, so the pool of qualified buyers is smaller and the companies that do transfer cleanly get serious attention.

Who are those buyers? Licensed tradespeople moving from a one-truck operation into running crews. Operators who want a smaller book and a lighter schedule. Regional service companies buying capacity or a new part of the Valley. First-time buyers without a trade background are rarer, because the ROC rules and the day-to-day of running crews deter them.

Here is what every one of them verifies. Whether the ROC license and its qualifying party survive the sale, or whether the buyer has to qualify or hire someone who already has. The backlog, job by job, with the contract and the cost record behind it. Who is on the crews, who stays, and whether a lead already runs the day without you. The vehicles and equipment, which go with the company and which are in your name. And customer concentration: one property manager or one GC that is a big share of revenue gets priced as a risk, while a diversified base with written service agreements gets priced as an asset.

A plumber or HVAC owner who keeps contract files, service logs, and a clean ROC record makes that review short. One who runs it from memory makes it long, and long reviews cost price.

Word that a contractor is for sale travels. Techs talk. Subs talk. A GC that hears it early starts taking other bids.

I do not put your name, yard address, or crew list on a public listing. Marketing is a teaser. Buyers sign an NDA before they see identifying information. You decide when the crew hears it.

Usually that is after we have a serious buyer and a path to close. How I run the full sale is on the process page.