How to Sell a Plumbing Business in Texas (2026)

Owner-run plumbing shops in Texas sell for 2 to 4 times what the business pays the owner each year. Bigger companies sell for 5 to 11 times profit.

• Anyone can own your shop. Texas requires no licensed ownership at all, where New York City requires 51%.
• But it must have a Responsible Master Plumber. Without one, the company can’t advertise or take plumbing work.
• Texas takes nothing from your gain. The state constitution bans a tax on an individual’s capital gains.

Is Now a Good Time to Sell?

Yes. Buyers from out of state and from Texas are both buying Texas plumbing shops.

• Houston shops are selling. Two Houston plumbing companies found buyers in October 2025 alone.
• Dallas-Fort Worth too. The SEER Group bought Swan, a Sunnyvale shop, in April 2025.
• The work doesn’t wait for the economy. Pipes fail and drains back up in every market. Buyers pay for that.

What Plumbing Businesses Sell For in Texas

Under about $500K a year to you, buyers multiply what the business pays you. Above that, they multiply profit with a manager’s pay taken out.

No named source publishes plumbing prices for Texas alone, so these are national figures. Ask anyone quoting a Texas-only number where it came from.

Run your own shop’s numbers and value a plumbing business.

What Moves Your Number

• Repeat revenue. Get 30% of your work under service agreements and you clear 6 times. All-transactional shops sit lower.
• Commercial mix. Worth roughly one to one and a half turns over residential-only work. The contracts are bigger.
• Whether the shop needs you. If you hold the relationships and the only master license, buyers price in that risk.

For the full tier detail, see our guides to plumbing business sale multiples and plumbing valuation by size.

Who Is Allowed to Own Your Shop

Anyone. The Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners licenses people, not companies, and no rule reserves any share of a plumbing company for a licensed plumber.

What Texas requires instead is a person. Under Occupations Code 1301.351, anyone offering plumbing must secure the services of a Responsible Master Plumber.

• Owner or employee. The board’s rules count the Responsible Master Plumber as secured if they own the company or work for it.
• One company each. A master plumber can be the Responsible Master Plumber for only one company at a time.
• Compare New York City. Licensed master plumbers must own 51% there. New Jersey asks for 10%. Texas asks for none.

That makes Texas the easiest place on this site to sell a plumbing shop to someone who isn’t a plumber.

The Day Your Master Plumber Leaves

A company can’t advertise, contract for or offer plumbing to the public without a Responsible Master Plumber holding a current license. That’s in the plumbing board’s rules.

The departing plumber has to tell the board within 10 business days. We found no grace period to replace them, so plan for none.

• If that’s you, your buyer’s master plumber goes on file before you come off. Not the week after closing.
• Every contract changes on day one. Proposals, invoices and contracts must carry the Responsible Master Plumber’s name and license number.
• The new plumber needs insurance on file. The law requires liability cover of at least $300,000 a year.

How Long a Master License Takes

A master plumber must have worked at least two years as a journeyman, or one year plus an approved apprenticeship, under Occupations Code 1301.002. A buyer without one hires one.

License numbers don’t transfer to a buyer. The one exception is a license held 35 straight years, whose number can pass to a relative on retirement or death.

One State License, Every City

A Texas plumbing license is valid throughout the state, under Occupations Code 1301.359. Cities still issue permits and may require registration.

• No city registration fee. A Responsible Master Plumber pulling a permit doesn’t pay one, under section 1301.551.
• Expect to re-register. When the Responsible Master Plumber changes, update every city where the shop pulls permits.
• Compare New York. Licensing there is municipal, so a license in one place can mean nothing in the next.

The Back-Tax Certificate

Texas has no advance form like New York’s. Instead, Tax Code 111.020 makes the buyer hold back enough of the price to cover tax you owe.

The hold-back ends when you produce a receipt or a certificate saying nothing is due. Here’s how the Comptroller’s certificate works.

1. You and the buyer request it together, on Form 86-114. Both of you sign.
2. Request it before closing. After that it no longer protects the buyer.
3. It’s free. A clean account usually clears in about 10 business days.
4. An audit of your records can stretch that to 90 days.

Only the buyer is protected. You still owe anything that surfaces later, so clear it before you sign rather than after.

The Tax on Your Trucks

Selling all your operating equipment in one deal is exempt from sales tax. Vehicles aren’t covered, and the Comptroller says so plainly.

The buyer owes motor vehicle tax of 6.25% on each van and truck, under Tax Code 152.021. Expect a fleet buyer to price that in.

Unemployment Tax Travels With the Business

A buyer who takes over your business also takes on any unemployment tax you still owe the state, under Labor Code 204.086. No certificate covers it, so settle it first.

What You Will Owe in Taxes

Nothing to the state. Texas bans an income tax on individuals, and since November 2025 its constitution also bans a tax on an individual’s capital gains.

• Compare Pennsylvania’s flat 3.07%. On a $1 million gain, that’s $30,700 you keep in Texas.
• Compare New York City. A seller there pays about $107,260 in state and city tax on the same gain.
• Federal tax still applies. Expect 15% to 20% on the gain, plus a 3.8% investment income tax.
• Your trucks are different. Anything you already wrote off is taxed again at your regular federal rate.
• The company can still owe franchise tax. If it closes after an asset sale, a final report is due within 60 days.

For the structure detail, see asset sale versus stock sale tax for plumbing businesses.

Who Buys Texas Plumbing Businesses

• Southern Home Services bought Nick’s Plumbing & Air Conditioning of Houston in October 2025, its fourth Texas location.
• Carroll Capital bought Charlie’s Plumbing, a Houston commercial shop founded in 1979. The family stays on to lead it and keeps shares.
• The SEER Group bought Swan Electric, Plumbing, Heating & Air of Sunnyvale in April 2025, its 42nd acquisition.
• Individual buyers borrow. The SBA caps its main program at $5 million.

For the tradeoffs, see investor-backed versus strategic buyers for plumbing sellers.

An investor group’s offer arrives in parts. What gets held back, and the stake you keep.

How Long It Takes

For the detail on each stage, see how long it takes to sell a plumbing business.

How to Get Your Shop Ready

• Name the next Responsible Master Plumber. If it’s you, agree who replaces you and when.
• Get three years of clean books with your personal spending separated out and documented.
• Push service agreements past 30% of revenue. That’s what moves you up a tier.
• Add commercial work to capture the premium over a residential-only book.
• Get out of the middle. Build a layer between you and the daily work, and write down how things are done.
• Clear your state tax and unemployment tax accounts before the certificate request goes in.

Are You Ready to Sell? Score Your Business

Should You Use a Broker, a Marketplace, or Sell Direct?

A buyer who knows you have no alternative has no reason to open with their best number.

Those numbers hold in Texas too. See every fee a broker charges, and what selling without a broker takes instead.

Plumbing Broker Fee Calculator

Selling a Plumbing Business in Houston

Houston produced two of the verified deals above, and they point at two different exits.

• A clean exit. Nick's Plumbing became one more location for a buyer already in Texas.
• Staying on as an owner. Charlie's family kept shares and kept running the company.
• Commercial books draw investors. Carroll Capital bought Charlie's to build a commercial plumbing platform.

Selling a Plumbing Business in Dallas-Fort Worth and Elsewhere

Buyers are entering Texas through Dallas-Fort Worth, and the rules don't change as you travel.

• Swan was SEER's move into Texas. It was the group's 42nd acquisition overall.
• Your license works in every city. A Texas plumbing license is valid throughout the state.
• The 0% applies statewide. The ban on taxing your gain is in the Texas constitution.

Frequently Asked Questions

Next Steps

1. Name the Responsible Master Plumber who takes over, and when their license goes on file.
2. Clean up three years of books, and request your Certificate of No Tax Due with your buyer before closing.
3. Grow your service agreements and your commercial mix.
4. List every city where you pull permits, so the registrations can move on day one.
5. Pick your route before you talk to anyone. There are six routes that skip the commission, and four are free.
6. Send us your details for a free valuation. We match Texas plumbing businesses with vetted buyers before you commit.

Selling in another state? See our guides on how to sell a plumbing business in California, in New York, in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania.