Sell a Construction Company in Florida
Construction companies are sold on three things most businesses do not have: a licence someone must qualify, a backlog of signed contracts, and work in progress that has to be valued on the day of closing. Buyers pay for recurring, repeatable work and for a crew that stays; they discount a company that is one owner with a licence and a truck.
Last reviewed November 7, 2026
Find Buyers for My Construction Company · (786) 914-1017
Your first step: Confidential Business Exit Review
Start With a Confidential Business Exit Review
Your business represents years of decisions, relationships and work. Before anyone hears it might be for sale, know what it would sell for, whether a buyer already working with BreakThru Realty is looking for a business like yours, what a buyer's lender will accept, and what you would take home. A licensed business broker prepares it and walks you through it privately.
What you receive
- A private check of your business against the criteria registered buyers have given us, with no buyer named and nothing about you shared
- A recast of your earnings into seller's discretionary earnings, or EBITDA for a larger company, with the add backs documented
- A price range from closed sales of comparable Florida businesses, with the reasoning
- The lease, staffing and financing issues that would move the price, and what to fix first
- What a buyer's SBA lender is likely to accept; consult a lender for terms
- How buyers are screened for funds and experience, and the confidentiality agreement each signs before learning your name
- An estimate of what you would take home after the fee and any payoff, and how the transition to a new owner would run
What happens next
- Answer a few questions about the business. Revenue and what you take home are enough to start.
- A business broker checks the buyer criteria on file and prepares the review from comparable sales.
- We call within one business day to walk through it, privately.
- Nothing is listed, and nobody is contacted, unless you decide to sell.
Free and confidential. The details you give us are seen only by the broker preparing the review. We do not contact your landlord, staff or customers, and no buyer learns who you are without your consent and a signed confidentiality agreement.
The Licence and the Qualifier
A Florida contractor's licence belongs to a person, and the company works under a qualifying agent. A buyer who is not licensed needs your licence to stay on the company until theirs is in place, or needs to bring or hire a qualifier, and the Construction Industry Licensing Board has its own rules on how long and under what supervision. This decides who can buy the company and how the transition is written, so it is confirmed with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation before the business is marketed.
Backlog, Work in Progress and Bonding
Signed contracts not yet started are the backlog, and a buyer pays for it when the margins are proven. Jobs under way are valued on a work in progress schedule: contract value, costs to date, billings to date and estimated cost to complete, which decides who is owed what at closing. Bonding capacity, the surety relationship and the bonds on open jobs transfer or are replaced, and a buyer's surety will underwrite the new owner. These schedules are prepared with your accountant before a buyer sees them.
Repeatable Work Versus One Time Projects
A company with service agreements, repeat commercial clients, property management work or insurance restoration contracts is worth more than one that wins each job from scratch, because the revenue is more likely to be there next year. Customer concentration is the counterweight: a company where one developer or one general contractor is most of the revenue is priced for the risk of losing them. Both are shown from the job list.
Crews, Subcontractors and Equipment
Who does the work and how they are paid is a valuation question and a compliance one: employees on payroll with workers' compensation in place versus subcontractors, and whether the subcontractors are properly covered. Project managers and superintendents who stay carry the relationships. Owned equipment is listed with titles and loans; leased equipment transfers or is paid off; vehicles, tools and yard inventory are counted at closing.
Who Buys Construction Companies
Licensed contractors expanding into a new trade or county, project managers and estimators buying the company they work for, specialty groups consolidating trades such as roofing, mechanical and electrical, and investors who buy a company with a qualifier and a management team in place. The last group pays the most and asks the most questions.
Questions you may be asking
- Do you already have a buyer for my business?
- We say so only after a specific buyer has reviewed a blind profile, signed a confidentiality agreement and confirmed interest. The review first checks your business against the criteria registered buyers have given us and tells you privately whether anything fits. If nothing does, it explains how a confidential campaign reaches more buyers.
- Will my employees, customers or landlord find out?
- Not from us. The review itself involves nobody but you and the broker. If you later sell, the business is marketed without its name or address, buyers sign a nondisclosure agreement and prove their funds before they learn who you are, and the landlord is approached only once there is an accepted offer.
- What does a business broker charge?
- A success fee paid from the proceeds at closing, set out in writing in the listing agreement before you sign anything. The review costs nothing.
- My books are not perfect.
- Few are. The review shows which add backs a lender will accept and which records to tidy before a buyer looks, so the price holds through due diligence.
- I only know my revenue.
- Tell us the revenue and what you take home, even roughly. We work out the rest with you and ask for tax returns later, only if you want a firm range.
Find Buyers for My Construction Company
Tell us the type of business, the city, how long it has operated, annual revenue, owner benefit or seller's discretionary earnings, EBITDA if you track it, monthly rent and lease expiry, number of employees, how involved you are, why you are selling, your timeline and whether you would consider seller financing. A licensed BreakThru business broker prepares a confidential valuation from comparable sales and replies within one business day. Everything you tell us is confidential, the valuation is free, and nothing is listed or announced unless you decide to sell. Prefer to talk now? Call (786) 914-1017.
Questions Owners Ask
- Can I sell my construction company if the buyer is not licensed?
- Often, with a transition in which you remain the qualifying agent for an agreed period while the buyer obtains a licence or brings in a qualifier, under the rules of the Construction Industry Licensing Board. The arrangement is written into the sale and confirmed with the board and counsel.
- How is work in progress handled at closing?
- On a schedule prepared with your accountant: each open job's contract value, costs and billings to date and the cost to complete. Over billings and under billings are settled between the parties at closing, and the buyer takes the jobs forward.
- What does a business broker charge?
- Brokers selling small businesses usually charge a success fee paid from the proceeds at closing, commonly quoted in the market at around ten percent of the price, often with a minimum fee; larger sales are usually priced on a sliding scale. BreakThru's fee is set out in writing in the listing agreement before you sign anything, and the valuation costs nothing.
Sources
- Florida DBPR: Construction Industry Licensing Board
- International Business Brokers Association: Market Pulse reports
- U.S. Small Business Administration: 7(a) loans
- Florida Statutes, Chapter 475: real estate brokers (business brokerage in Florida)
- Florida Department of Revenue: sales and use tax
- Internal Revenue Service: Form 8594, asset acquisition statement
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