Business valuation › Roofing
What a roofing business is worth
A roofing business sells for a multiple of its earnings, and one thing moves that multiple more than any other: how much the business still runs on you. On $300,000 of earnings that lever is worth about $555,000.
86% of owners have no professional valuation or only a rough estimate.
The one lever on a roofing sale
The same roofing business, two prices
Two roofing businesses with identical earnings sell for different numbers, and the difference is mostly one thing: owner-run estimating and the insurance-adjuster close. Move the slider and watch a $300,000-SDE business travel between the two.
Seller’s discretionary earnings: net profit plus your pay, benefits, and one-time costs.
Example rough number
$663,000
$300,000 SDE × about 2.21x
That distance, about $555,000, is the biggest single swing in what the business sells for, and the one most in your control. Keystone maps where you sit in it.
See what is discounting your numberYour real estimate ranks the three things discounting your price and what to fix first, free in four minutes.
This is a rough public ballpark from the same closed-transaction data Keystone is calibrated on, not the Keystone valuation and not a formal appraisal. For a transaction, work with a certified business valuator, CPA, or M&A advisor. Your real estimated sale price reads your business on all 18 factors and prices in what a buyer sees, free in four minutes.
What a roofing business sells for
| Under $100K SDE | 1.3x to 2.3x |
|---|---|
| $100K to $250K SDE | 1.9x to 2.5x |
| $250K to $500K SDE | 2.4x to 3.2x |
| $500K to $1M SDE | 2.9x to 3.9x |
| $1M and up SDE | 3.5x to 4.5x |
There is no public per-roofing sale benchmark, so these are the Service-business SDE ranges from a decade of closed transactions, the bucket a roofing business sells in. Within a size band, the owner-dependence lever above is the biggest swing. SDE multiples (Main Street), not EBITDA multiples.
The one thing that discounts a roofing business most
Owner-run estimating and the insurance-adjuster close.
The estimate and the insurance-adjuster close. You inspect, price the job through the carrier negotiation, and juggle crews against the weather, and those relationships and that pricing judgment are the hardest to replace.
One caveat buyers raise: Storm-cyclical, insurance-driven revenue raises a buyer’s margin-of-safety read, which documentation and a steadier repair line can offset.
What moves a roofing business’s value
The diagnostic reads your business on the three things a buyer actually prices, then puts an estimated sale price on it. Free in four minutes.
Business Independence Score
Can the business run without you?
The single value driver inside your control. It reads how much the business still depends on you personally, which is what a buyer discounts hardest.
Systems Maturity Score
How documented and repeatable are your operations?
Whether the work lives in written systems or in your head. Documented operations transfer; undocumented ones leave with you.
Acquisition Attractiveness Score
What would a buyer see when they look at your business?
The buyer’s-eye view: recurring revenue, customer concentration, clean books, and the risks that move the multiple.
Selling in the next few years?
Document the estimating and carrier-relationship process and build a steadier repair line before you list.
Start two to three years out: that is how long the value work takes to show up in the books a buyer reads. It is the same work that buys back your week now, so close the gap on purpose instead of discovering it at the closing table.
Roofing valuation: common questions
- What is a roofing business worth?
- A roofing business is worth a multiple of its SDE (Main Street), not the higher EBITDA multiple quoted for private-equity roll-ups. On a decade of closed service-business transactions the range runs from about 1.3x seller’s discretionary earnings at the low end to 4.5x at the high end, and where a business lands is driven mostly by how much it depends on the owner. The free 4-minute diagnostic reads your real number.
- What lowers a roofing business’s value most?
- Owner-run estimating and insurance-adjuster relationships lower it most when they cannot transfer. The work rides on your inspection judgment, your pricing through the carrier, and your crew scheduling. An owner-dependent service business trades near 1.65x SDE and an owner-light one near 3.5x, a $555,000 gap on a $300,000-SDE business.
Free in four minutes
See what is discounting your roofing business's value, and what to fix first
Three scores, an estimated sale price, and the ranked list of what is discounting your value, read against ten years of real closed transactions.
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