BreakThru Realty

Sell an Electrical Contracting Business in Florida

Electrical contractors range from a two-van residential service company to a commercial contractor with bonded jobs and a backlog. They are valued on very different things, and the licence and bonding questions have to be answered before a buyer can take over. Knowing which kind of company you are selling is the first step to pricing it.

Find Out What My Business Is Worth · (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, 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 recast of your earnings into seller's discretionary earnings, 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
  • An estimate of what you would take home after the fee and any payoff

What happens next

  1. Answer a few questions about the business. Revenue and what you take home are enough to start.
  2. A business broker prepares the review from comparable sales.
  3. We call within one business day to walk through it, privately.
  4. 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.

Find Out What My Business Is Worth · How a business sale works

Residential Service or Commercial Contracting

A residential service electrician with repeat customers, panel upgrades, generators and EV chargers is valued on recurring, high-margin service revenue and sells to a wide pool of buyers. A commercial or industrial contractor is valued on its backlog, its bonding capacity, its project managers and its relationships with general contractors, and sells to a narrower pool of larger buyers. The financials are presented so the buyer sees which revenue is which and what margin each earns.

The Licence, the Qualifier and Bonding

The business operates under a certified or registered electrical contractor's licence, and a buyer without one needs a qualifier through the transition. Bonded commercial work adds a second question: whether the surety will bond the new owner at the same capacity. Both are resolved before marketing, not in due diligence. Confirm the licence and qualifier rules for your business with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the bonding position with your surety.

Backlog and Work in Progress

For a contractor, signed contracts not yet performed are the asset a buyer underwrites, together with the margin history on completed jobs. A work-in-progress schedule showing contract value, billed to date, cost to date and estimated cost to complete is prepared before listing; it is what the buyer and the lender will ask for first, and it decides how the price adjusts at closing.

Customer Concentration

A residential company with thousands of customers has no concentration problem. A contractor whose revenue comes from three general contractors does, and buyers discount for it unless the relationships are documented and the contractors will meet the buyer. Diversifying the customer list in the year before a sale often adds more to the price than any other step.

Electricians, Vehicles and Equipment

Journeymen and apprentices, and especially the project managers and estimators, are the people a buyer needs to keep. Vehicles, lifts, benders and test equipment are listed with ownership and condition. A retention plan for key staff is agreed with the buyer before the staff learn of the sale.

Questions you may be asking

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 non-disclosure 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 Out What My Business Is Worth

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

How is an electrical contractor valued?
A residential service company on a multiple of seller's discretionary earnings, like other home-service trades; a commercial contractor on earnings plus the value of its backlog, its bonding capacity and its team, and usually at a lower multiple because the revenue is project-based. A confidential valuation tells you which applies.
Can the buyer use my licence?
Only by qualifying the business through you for a transition, within the rules Florida sets for qualifiers. Confirm them with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation before you agree to the terms.
Does my backlog add to the price?
Yes, where it is profitable and documented. A buyer pays for signed work with margin in it, and the work-in-progress schedule sets how the price adjusts for what has been billed by closing.
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.

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