Industries we serve
Specialized exit advisory for the trade and professional-services businesses that power Southwest Florida. Below the industry pages you will find what these businesses have actually sold for in Florida, at the size we represent.
HVAC
Recurring service plans and year-round Florida demand make HVAC a top acquisition target.
Sell your HVAC businessRoofing
One of the hottest trades for buyers—durable revenue beats storm-driven spikes.
Sell your Roofing businessLandscaping
Recurring maintenance contracts turn route density into real, sellable value.
Sell your Landscaping businessPlumbing
Recurring service revenue makes plumbing shops durable, in-demand targets for PE and strategics.
Sell your plumbing businessElectrical
Service- and commercial-heavy electrical contractors draw strong buyer interest.
Sell your electrical businessAutomotive
Dealerships, collision, repair, tire, and parts—a fast-consolidating sector with active buyers.
Sell your automotive businessTransportation
Trucking, freight, and logistics companies are prime targets for PE and strategic acquirers.
Sell your transportation businessManufacturing
Strategic and private-equity buyers pay for capabilities, capacity, and backlog.
Sell your manufacturing businessDistribution
Distribution and wholesale businesses sell on earnings plus inventory to strategic and financial buyers.
Sell your distribution businessProperty Management
Recurring management fees and doors under contract make these durable, in-demand businesses.
Sell your property management businessMarine
Dealerships, marinas, and service yards—anchored by Florida’s year-round boating market.
Sell your marine businessInsurance
Recurring commissions and high retention earn insurance agencies premium multiples.
Sell your insurance agencyPest Control
Recurring routes and year-round demand make pest control a hot roll-up category.
Sell your pest control businessMedical & Dental
DSO and MSO consolidators are active buyers of Florida practices.
Sell your Medical & Dental businessAdvertising Agencies
Advisors who’ve lived the agency world, helping founders exit for maximum value.
Sell your Advertising Agencies businessCPA Firms
Recurring client work and new PE consolidation make CPA firms highly sellable.
Sell your CPA Firms businessDon’t see your industry? We work across the lower middle market. Talk to an advisor →
Recorded results by industry
What buyers actually pay, by industry
These are recorded Florida sales of businesses earning at least $300,000 a year—the size range we represent. Smaller businesses sell at materially lower multiples, and including them would describe a market we do not work in.
| Industry | Sales analysed | Median multiple |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance* | under 25 | 3.41× |
| Distribution | over 50 | 3.06× |
| HVAC | over 40 | 2.88× |
| Manufacturing | over 70 | 2.79× |
| Landscaping | over 80 | 2.73× |
| Plumbing | over 20 | 2.49× |
| Electrical | over 20 | 2.32× |
| CPA Firms* | under 25 | 2.23× |
| Transportation* | under 25 | 2.19× |
| Roofing | over 20 | 2.09× |
| Automotive | over 70 | 2.06× |
| Medical & Dental | over 20 | 1.81× |
| All industries | over 1,400 | 2.46× |
*Insurance, Transportation and CPA Firms rest on fewer than twenty recorded sales at this size and are indicative. Pest control, property management, marine and advertising agencies have too few recorded sales above $300,000 of owner earnings to publish a figure—see below.
The distance between the strongest and weakest industry is 1.60 turns of earnings. On a business earning $500,000 that is a difference of about $800,000 at closing—for two companies of identical size, in the same state, in the same year.
What separates them is how the revenue arrives. Insurance agencies lead at 3.41× on contracted commissions that renew without the owner. Within the trades the same rule applies: HVAC reaches 2.88× and landscaping 2.73× on service agreements and route density, while roofing sits at 2.09× despite recording the highest median revenue of any trade at roughly $3.3 million. Roofing revenue is real, but it is won job by job and has to be won again next year.
That pattern is the single most useful thing in this table. Revenue does not set the multiple. Repeatable revenue does.
These are medians of recorded sales, not a valuation. What your business is worth depends on its own margins, contract mix, customer concentration and management depth. Our valuation calculator works from your figures rather than an industry average.
Grouped by what buyers are buying
Four patterns in the data
Recurring-revenue services
Insurance, property management, CPA firms and agencies. The strongest group at 2.84×. Contracted revenue that survives the owner’s departure is the most valuable characteristic in this dataset—though at this size the group rests on around forty recorded sales, most of them insurance.
The trades
HVAC, roofing, plumbing, electrical, landscaping and pest control. 2.64× as a group, but with the widest internal range of any: from 2.88× for HVAC down to 2.09× for roofing. Whether the work is contracted or bid decides where a trade lands.
Asset-heavy and industrial
Manufacturing, distribution, transportation, automotive and marine. 2.61×, close behind the trades. Buyers pay for equipment, inventory and capability rather than one person’s relationships—distribution leads the group at 3.06×.
Healthcare practices
The lowest in our analysis at 1.81×. Practices tied to a single licensed provider are hard to transfer, which is exactly why DSO and MSO consolidators pay differently for practices with associate depth and a management layer already in place.
Where the data runs out
Four industries we cannot measure at this size
Setting the floor at $300,000 of owner earnings is the honest way to describe the businesses we represent, but it thins some categories to nothing. Pest control has five recorded Florida sales above that line, property management and marine have nine each, and advertising agencies have three. None is enough to publish.
That is not a comment on those industries—pest control in particular is one of the most actively consolidated categories in the state, and the buyers are national. It means Florida transaction records are the wrong evidence base for them. For these four the valuation conversation starts from your figures and comparable transactions outside the state.
FAQ
Questions about industry multiples
Which industry sells for the highest multiple?
Among Florida businesses earning at least $300,000 a year, insurance agencies lead at 3.41×, followed by distribution at 3.06× and HVAC at 2.88×. Healthcare practices are lowest at 1.81×. The insurance figure rests on fewer than twenty recorded sales, so treat it as indicative rather than precise.
Why do these figures look higher than industry averages I see elsewhere?
Because most published averages include very small businesses. Roughly three quarters of recorded Florida business sales involve companies earning under $250,000 a year, and those sell at materially lower multiples. This table excludes everything below $300,000 of owner earnings, which is the size range we represent—so the figures describe the businesses our clients actually own.
Does industry matter more than size?
Both matter, and this page holds size roughly constant so that industry differences are visible. Across these industries the gap between strongest and weakest is 1.60 turns of earnings. For what size does on its own, our locations analysis tracks the same businesses across three earnings bands. Industry is fixed by the time you sell. Earnings and owner-dependence are not.
How were these figures calculated?
They are medians of recorded Florida business sales from Business Brokers of Florida transaction records. Real estate value is removed from the sale price, duplicate records and distressed sales are excluded, and only businesses with at least $300,000 of owner earnings are counted. Each industry is defined by the specific business types it actually contains rather than by broad groupings—medical practices are separated from home care and pharmacy, for example, because they sell at very different multiples.
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