Guides for founders thinking about a sale.No fluff. Real numbers.
Quick Answer
Lower middle market businesses in home services and trades typically sell for 3x to 9x EBITDA depending on sector, recurring revenue, and buyer type, with electrical contractors and pest control commanding premiums at the high end and roofing at the lower end. Successful exits require 12-24 months of preparation focusing on financial clarity, customer diversification, and management depth. In a buyer-paid model, you keep more of the proceeds by working with an advisor who structures the deal to attract off-market buyers rather than listing publicly. Real valuation depends on your specific EBITDA, customer concentration, and whether your revenue renews annually.
Practical research on lower middle market M&A: what businesses actually sell for, who’s buying right now, how to prepare, and what happens after the deal closes. Updated for 2026.
Valuation Guides
Sub-sector valuations with sourced 2026 multiples.
HVAC Business Valuation: Complete 2026 Guide
Typical 4-7x EBITDA, what drives the premium, real examples by company size, and the free valuation calculator.
Plumbing Business Valuation: Complete 2026 Guide
Typical 4-6x EBITDA, recurring revenue premium, real examples by size, and the free valuation calculator.
Roofing Business Valuation: Complete 2026 Guide
Typical 3-5x EBITDA, insurance-restoration premium, real examples, and the free valuation calculator.
Electrical Contractor Valuation: Complete 2026 Guide
Typical 5-8x EBITDA driven by commercial buyer demand, real examples, and the free valuation calculator.
Commercial Landscaping Valuation: Complete 2026 Guide
Typical 4-6x EBITDA, real examples by size, and the free valuation calculator.
Garage Door Business Valuation: Complete 2026 Guide
Typical 4-6x EBITDA, recurring revenue premium, real examples, and the free valuation calculator.
Pest Control Business Valuation: Complete 2026 Guide
Typical 6-9x EBITDA, top-tier multiples driven by recurring contracts and PE consolidation.
What Is My Business Worth? Home Services Valuation Guide
EBITDA multiples by sub-sector, what drives the premium, and how to estimate your range.
Selling Process
How to prepare, position, and run a sale process.
How to Sell a Service Business: 2026 Playbook
Owner’s playbook for $1M-$25M EBITDA service businesses: 12-24 month prep, valuation, buyer types, LOI negotiation.
How to Increase Business Value: 12 Levers Owners Control
Customer concentration, recurring revenue, management depth, financial reporting, and growth, the levers that move multiples.
Owner’s Exit Checklist: 24-Item Pre-Sale Guide
Financial reporting, customer contracts, management depth, IP, and the items that take 12-24 months to get right.
How to Sell Your Home Services Business to PE (2026)
Real EBITDA multiples by sub-sector and what 76 PE buyers in our network actually accept.
What Happens After You Sell: 10 Things Owners Don’t Expect
Non-compete restrictions, consulting agreements, escrow holdback, tax liabilities, and the post-close reality.
Data Room Checklist for Business Sale
Document-by-document checklist for the sell-side data room, what 76 PE buyers actually open first.
Buyer Landscape
Who buys lower middle market companies and how they think.
How PE Roll-Ups Work in Home Services
Platform + add-ons strategy, multiple-arbitrage math, and the 5 most-rolled sectors.
Who Buys Home Services Companies?
The 5 buyer archetypes (PE platform, PE add-on, strategic, search fund, family office) and which fits which seller.
Deal Origination for Home Services: 2026 Buyer Playbook
How PE firms, family offices, and search funders source $1M-$25M EBITDA home services businesses.
PE Add-On Sourcing for Home Services Roll-Ups
How PE platforms execute add-on roll-ups: target identification, valuation arbitrage (4-5x add-on vs 7x platform).
Deal Sourcing for Independent Sponsors: 2026 Playbook
How independent sponsors source LMM deals without committed fund capital: family-office co-investors, deal-by-deal financing.
How PE Firms Evaluate Acquisition Targets
Inside the PE diligence framework: financial screens, operational quality, owner-dependency, and the integration tests.
PE Firms Specializing in Roll-Ups: Top US Consolidators by Sector
Which PE firms specialize in roll-ups by sector, sponsor profile, EBITDA targeting, and current platform activity.
Roll-Up Strategy Case Studies 2026
What the top US PE platforms actually did, five anonymized case studies of platform-to-exit roll-up plays.
Roll-Up Acquisition Financing Guide 2026
How PE platforms fund add-ons: senior debt, unitranche, mezzanine, rollover, and the typical capital stack by deal size.
PE Roll-Up Trackers
Citation-anchored snapshots of who is actively buying in each vertical, with verified 2024-2026 deal activity.
2026 HVAC PE Roll-Up Tracker
27+ active platforms, $50B+ committed capital, multiples by EBITDA tier, and the 8 sub-sectors getting consolidated.
2026 Plumbing PE Roll-Up Tracker
13 verified active U.S. plumbing platforms with 2024-2026 acquisitions, every entry anchored to a press release.
2026 Roofing PE Roll-Up Tracker
15 active roofing platforms profiled, acquisition velocity by tier, multiples for insurance-restoration vs commercial.
2026 Pest Control PE Roll-Up Tracker
21 platforms profiled (Rollins, Rentokil-Terminix, Anticimex, Aptive, Cook’s, Arrow, Massey, ABC Home, and more).
2026 Dental DSO PE Roll-Up Tracker
21 DSO platforms (Heartland, Aspen, Pacific Dental, MB2, Smile Brands, USOSM, Mortenson) with sponsor and EBITDA detail.
2026 Manufacturing PE Roll-Up Tracker
21 manufacturing PE operators across precision machining, metal fab, specialty chemicals, packaging, and EMS.
Leading PE Firms Acquiring HVAC Businesses 2026
The shortlist of PE firms most actively acquiring HVAC businesses in 2026, sponsor profiles, deal cadence, target criteria.
PE Firms Buying Manufacturing 2026
Companion to the Manufacturing tracker: sponsor profiles, recent named deals, EBITDA thresholds, and sub-vertical focus.
Who Buys Manufacturing Businesses
Strategic acquirers vs PE platforms vs family offices, which buyer type fits which type of manufacturing business.
Industry Reports & Data
Long-form research with explicit methodology, named sources, and a Limitations section.
Why M&A Deals Fall Apart: 2026 Deal-Killer Data Report
Roughly a third of signed LOIs never close. The verified data on why, from the Axial Dead Deal Report and SRS Acquiom.
2026 LMM Buyer Demand Report (Flagship)
Our most-cited report. 5,400+ words on what 76+ active U.S. lower-middle-market buyers want, with full methodology and limitations.
2026 Home Services M&A Multiples Report
Real 2026 multiples by sub-sector, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, pest control, landscaping, from 76 active buyers.
2026 LMM Buyer Landscape: 100+ U.S. Acquirers
100+ active U.S. acquirers profiled by EBITDA target, sector preference, and deal structure.
2026 PE Platform Map: 100+ U.S. Platforms × 25 Sectors
Where active PE platforms operate across 25 sectors, with sponsor, HQ, and most-recent disclosed deal.
Most Active PE Platforms 2026
The 25 PE platforms with the highest disclosed deal volume in 2025-2026, ranked by add-on count and sector.
Fragmented Industries Ripe for Consolidation 2026
Where the next wave of platform roll-ups is forming, fragmentation scores, multiple arbitrage, and PE sponsor interest by vertical.
2026 Earnout Benchmark Report
Prevalence, sizing, duration, and metric design, what earnouts actually look like by deal type and EBITDA tier.
2026 Founder Rollover Equity Benchmarks
Rollover prevalence and sizing by deal type, with structure (common vs preferred) and typical liquidity windows.
Earnout Metric Negotiation: Revenue vs EBITDA Benchmarks
When buyers push revenue-based earnouts vs EBITDA-based, what the prevalence data shows, and how sellers should respond.
Private Equity in Plumbing 2026: Active Buyers & Multiples
Companion report to the Plumbing PE Roll-Up Tracker, buyer profiles, recent deals, and what platforms accept.
Vendor & Service Provider Rankings
Who to hire for the deal, comparison reports ranked by price, speed, and sector focus.
2026 Quality of Earnings Provider Comparison
18 QoE firms ranked by price, speed, and sector focus. The single most expensive line item in a sell-side process, pick wisely.
2026 R&W Insurance Carrier Report
14 R&W carriers compared by premium, coverage scope, retention floors, and deal-size sweet spot.
2026 SBA 7(a) Acquisition Lender Rankings
Top 30 SBA 7(a) acquisition lenders ranked by loan volume, approval speed, and acquisition specialty.
Tax & Deal Structure
Tax-driven structuring decisions that change net proceeds at close.
2026 State Tax Map for Business Sales
All 50 states ranked by capital gains burden on a $10M and $50M business sale, with planning notes per state.
2026 QSBS Section 1202 Comprehensive Report
Eligibility, stacking strategies, state conformity, common failure modes, the section that turns $10M of gain into $0 tax.
QSBS Section 1202 Exclusion: $10M+ Capital Gains
Plain-English walkthrough of QSBS eligibility for founders selling at or under the $10M+ gain exclusion ceiling.
Who Buys CPA Firms in 2026 (LMM-Focused)
Six buyer tiers profiled: mega-platforms, 12 LMM platforms (Sorren, Springline, Ascend, Smith+Howard, Prosperity, Doeren, SAX, Madison Dearborn), strategic CPA-on-CPA, specialty tax, family-office, search funds.
Family Offices Acquiring Businesses 2026
The 2026 reference map of US family offices directly acquiring lower-middle-market businesses: named direct-buyers, check sizes, sectors, hold horizons.
Private Equity Firms in Switzerland & DACH 2026
Named Swiss and DACH lower-middle-market PE firms acquiring SMEs. Fund sizes, deal-size bands, sectors, and the succession wave driving 2026 deal flow.
Private Equity in Veterinary 2026
Verified 2026 inventory of PE-backed and corporate veterinary platforms in the US. Sponsors, scale, FTC scrutiny, multiples, and what vet practice owners should expect.
Private Equity in Dermatology 2026
Verified 2026 inventory of PE-backed dermatology MSO platforms. Sponsors, scale, multiples, and what dermatology practice owners should expect from each buyer.
Private Equity in Managed IT Services 2026
Verified 2026 inventory of PE-backed MSP platforms in the US. Sponsors, scale, multiples, and what MSP owners should expect from each buyer archetype.
Private Equity in Fire & Life Safety 2026
Verified 2026 inventory of PE-backed fire & life safety and security platforms. Sponsors, scale, recurring-inspection economics, multiples.
Private Equity in Solar 2026
Verified 2026 map of PE-backed solar EPC and installer platforms across utility, C&I, and residential, plus the post-ITC distressed-consolidation wave.
Private Equity in Industrial Automation & SCADA 2026
Verified 2026 inventory of PE-backed industrial automation and SCADA system-integrator platforms. Sponsors, scale, reshoring and data-center tailwinds, multiples.
Private Equity in Auto Repair 2026
Active PE buyers and consolidators in auto repair, collision, tire, and quick-lube. 2026 EBITDA multiples (2-4.5x SDE / 7x+ EBITDA) and full platform list.
Private Equity in Auto Body & Collision Repair 2026
Verified 2026 inventory of PE-backed and strategic auto body / collision repair platforms in the US. Sponsors, scale, DRP economics, multiples.
European SME Succession Wave 2026-2030
Primary-source memo on the European SME succession wave. KfW, Bpifrance, UBS/HSG, Confindustria, Invest Europe, Argos Index, plus 5 contrarian findings.
UK SME Succession 2026: Every Exit-Tax Door Just Got Narrower
UK research memo on the SME succession wave and the 2024-2026 exit-tax squeeze. BADR, EOT relief, BPR cap, carried interest, BVCA dry powder, and what it means for owners.
Selling to PE vs Strategic vs ESOP vs Search Fund (2026)
Primary-source 12-dimension matrix comparing the four LMM exit paths, with per-cell confidence ratings, IRC 1042 mechanics, Brundle/Wilmington Trust analysis, and the 2024-26 strategic-premium inversion.
Who Buys Insurance Agencies in 2026 (LMM-Focused)
Four buyer tiers profiled with OPTIS Top 10 ranking, Reagan multiples by seller size band, and post-Gallagher/Brown & Brown corrections. AssuredPartners exited, Risk Strategies exited, Trucordia rebrand, plus the LMM PE platforms still hunting tuck-ins.
Who Buys RIAs and Wealth Management Firms in 2026 (LMM-Focused)
Four buyer tiers profiled with Echelon/DeVoe/Fidelity rankings, AGS 11.6x median multiple, and the major sponsor corrections (Cerity+Warburg, Allworth+Integrum, Wealthspire+Madison Dearborn). Plus Cerulli great wealth transfer demographics and SEC Marketing Rule enforcement context.
Pan-European LMM PE Buyer Landscape 2026 (Atlas of 100+ Sponsors)
Primary-source atlas across UK, France, DACH, Nordics, Benelux, Iberia, Italy, and CEE. 18-section memo with Invest Europe/Argos macro spine, EU regulatory backdrop (FSR, AI Act, SFDR2, CSRD), 6 contrarian findings, and 100+ named sponsors with per-cell confidence ratings.
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