Plumbing Business Sale Multiples 2026: What Buyers Pay
An owner-run plumbing shop sells for about 2 to 4 times what the business pays you each year. A company with a manager running it sells for 5 to 7 times profit.
- Which number gets multiplied changes as you get bigger, and that alone can double your price.
- Repair and service work is worth far more to a buyer than new construction.
- The master plumber license is yours, not the company’s, and that is the one thing that kills plumbing deals.
What Each Size of Shop Sells For
Plumbing companies fall into four groups. Each group has its own set of buyers, and they do not bid against each other.
| Type of Shop | Yearly Earnings | Sells For | Who Buys It |
|---|---|---|---|
| You run the trucks | Under $500K to the owner | 2x to 4x | One buyer with a bank loan |
| A manager runs the day | $500K to $1M profit | 4x to 6.5x | Bigger local firms |
| Real management team | $1M+ profit | 5.5x to 7x | Investor-backed groups |
| Big enough to build on | $3M+ profit | 6x to 11x | Investors who want a base to buy from |
See where your shop lands with the plumbing valuation calculator. How plumbing prices against the other four trades: multiples by industry.
Two shops the same size can land at opposite ends of a range. What separates them is how much of the work repeats.
Those numbers sit above the market as a whole, and it is worth knowing by how much.
- Across every industry, the IBBA’s Q1 2026 survey of about 300 advisers puts the median at 2.0 times under $500,000 of price. From $5M to $50M it is 4.5 times.
- Plumbing beats that on repeat work. PKF O’Connor Davies puts contractors with steady maintenance income at 10 times profit or better, against 5 to 6 times for one-off projects.
The Two Different Numbers Buyers Multiply
A small shop is valued on everything the business pays you. Your salary, your truck, your phone, your health insurance, all of it added back.
A bigger company is valued on what is left after paying someone a real wage to do your job.
- The line sits around $500,000 a year. Above roughly $2M in deal size, no serious buyer will use the first number.
- The same business can be a 3.5x deal or a 5.5x deal, depending which buyer is looking at it.
The second number is bigger, but you only get it if the place truly runs without you.
Plumbing Valuation Calculator
This is the biggest difference between selling plumbing and selling anything else in the trades.
The master plumber license belongs to a person, not to the company. It does not come with the sale.
- In Philadelphia the license goes to the individual plumber, who carries their own insurance.
- In New Jersey the licensed person must hold at least 10% of the business.
If you are the only licensed person, your buyer cannot legally run the company the morning after closing. Every experienced buyer either prices that in or walks away.
- The fix is simple but slow. Get a second master plumber on staff and licensed a year or more before you go to market.
- A bench of licensed plumbers is worth real money. A buyer cannot go out and hire that in six months, and they know it.
What Pushes Your Number Up
- Maintenance agreements. Money that comes in whether the phone rings or not is the most valuable revenue you have.
- Repair and service work over new construction. Construction stops when the economy does.
- More than one licensed plumber on the payroll.
- Commercial accounts with signed contracts, because a buyer can see the money coming.
- Techs who have been there five years, and apprentices coming up behind them.
What Drags It Down
- You are the only license holder. This is the one that kills deals outright.
- One customer is more than a quarter of the work. If they leave, the buyer bought a much smaller company.
- Mostly construction jobs rather than service calls.
- The customers know you, not the company. That relationship walks out with you.
- Techs keep leaving, in a trade where nobody can find techs.
Who Is Buying in 2026
The busiest buyers already own heating and cooling companies. They add plumbing to sell more to the same homeowner.
The logic is obvious once you hear it. The customer who needed an AC repair in July needs a water heater in November.
- Investor-backed home service groups. Apex Service Partners, Wrench Group, Sila Services, and Champions Group are the names you will hear.
- Franchise systems. Mr. Rooter and Benjamin Franklin Plumbing both buy independents.
- Bigger plumbing and mechanical firms nearby, usually buying for your licensed techs and your commercial contracts.
- Individual buyers, who almost always borrow through the SBA's main loan program.
The investor-backed groups start paying attention at roughly $3M in revenue and $500K in profit. Below that you are talking to a local buyer or one person with a loan.
One honest note. Plumbing and heating get lumped together in most industry data, and inside most of these companies too. The same buyers chase both.
How to Work Out Your Own Number
- Add up what the business really pays you, or your profit after a manager's wage if you are bigger.
- Take the range for your size from the table above.
- Move up for repeat revenue, licensed plumbers on staff, and commercial work.
- Move down if it all runs through you, or if you are the only license holder.
- Then check it against real buyers, because a big group and a single buyer will price you differently.
How you sell also changes what you keep. Selling the assets and selling the company are taxed differently, and the IRS rules on selling business property decide which parts get the lower rate.
Related Guides
- The headline multiple is not what lands in your account. What gets held back, and what you keep as a stake.
- Selling in New York? See how to sell a plumbing business in New York, where licensed plumbers must own 51% of a city shop.
- Valuation by revenue size, worked through tier by tier.
- Investor groups versus local buyers, and how each deal type is taxed.
- How long a plumbing sale takes.
- Selling in Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
- Run a heating business too? See HVAC sale multiples.
- Across every trade: what a business is worth, and who decides.
Frequently Asked Questions
An owner-run shop sells for 2 to 4 times what the business pays the owner each year. A company with a manager in place sells for 5 to 7 times profit. The biggest ones reach 11 times. Where you land depends on repeat work, licensed staff, and how much runs through you.
Small shops trade on everything the business pays you, salary and perks included. Bigger companies trade on what is left after paying a manager to do your job. The switch happens around $500,000 a year, and above roughly $2M in deal size nobody uses the first number.
No. It belongs to you personally, not to the company. In New Jersey the licensed person has to hold at least 10% of the business, so your buyer needs one on the ownership papers. If you are the only one licensed, your buyer cannot legally operate.
Get a second master plumber licensed and on staff a year or more before you go to market. Then push maintenance agreements and move customer relationships off yourself and onto your team. Make sure no single customer is more than a quarter of your work.
Mostly investor-backed home service groups that already own heating and cooling companies, like Apex Service Partners, Wrench Group, Sila Services, and Champions Group. Franchise systems, bigger local firms, and individual buyers with bank loans make up the rest.
Investor-backed groups start paying attention around $3M in revenue and $500K in profit. Under that, your buyer is a bigger local company or one person with an SBA loan. That is not a bad outcome, it just prices differently.
Yes, and buyers are direct about why. Service and repair keeps running in a downturn, while construction stops. A book that is mostly new construction gets a lower number than the same revenue in service calls and maintenance.