The short answer
A trades business is usually priced as a multiple of what it earns. The multiple depends on the trade and on what keeps working when the owner leaves: crews, service agreements, licences and equipment. BDC says multiples vary by industry. Many figures quoted online come from American sales.
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What is my plumbing, HVAC or electrical business worth?
It is priced on what it earns for an owner, the same way as any other small business. BDC says the multiples vary by industry and could range between three and six times EBITDA for a small to medium sized business, depending on market conditions.
For a trade where the owner works in the business, buyers often start from owner earnings: the profit, plus your pay, plus the perks that run through the business. Our guide on how many times profit a small business is worth shows how to work yours out.
Many of the pages online lean on American sales. So this guide gives you the method and the Canadian rules, not a borrowed number. To see a range for your own trade, ask for your free sale plan. It gives you an estimated range and an honest read on whether the business will sell.
What do buyers pay for in a trades business?
For the work that keeps coming in when you are not the one doing it. Two businesses with the same earnings can sell for very different prices, and the difference is how much of the business a buyer can keep when you leave.
Pushes the multiple up
- Recurring revenue, such as maintenance contracts and repeat customers
- Crews and systems that run jobs without you
- Clean books: statements and filed taxes that match reality
- Owned trucks and equipment in good repair, documented
- A diverse customer base, with no single client dominating
- A lease a buyer can take over, or owned premises
Drags the multiple down
- Everything depends on the owner personally
- One customer making up most of the revenue
- Messy or informal books, or cash that never hit a statement
- Aging trucks and equipment with deferred maintenance
- A lease renewing month by month on an essential location
- Declining revenue with no explanation ready
This guide names plumbing, HVAC and electrical as examples. We sell all types of businesses, and the same two lists apply to any of them.
Crews, contracts, licences and trucks all count. See how a buyer would read yours.
Get my free sale planMy licence is in my name. Can a buyer keep working?
Only if the right licence holder is in place. The rules differ by province and by trade, and the electrical rules are the ones we read.
Electrical in BC
In BC, regulated electrical work needs a person who is licensed by Technical Safety BC, employed by a licensed electrical contractor, or authorized to perform the work. Technical Safety BC asks you to declare a designated Field Safety Representative, or FSR, on your licence. The FSR must hold an active certificate, and the scope of the licence is limited to the class of that certificate.
Technical Safety BC says you must have only one FSR designated on your licence at a time. When a new FSR is added there can be no gaps or overlaps between their start and end dates, or the licence will be suspended. If you are the business's FSR, a buyer needs another certified FSR named on the licence.
Ask Technical Safety BC how the licence moves to the new owner. Gas work in BC is regulated by Technical Safety BC too, so a gas contractor should ask it the same question.
Electrical in Alberta
The Safety Codes Council says master electricians are the only contractors who can obtain electrical permits in Alberta. A master electrician has a legal responsibility to ensure that any work done under electrical permits in their name complies with the Safety Codes Act, the master electrician Code of Ethics and all relevant regulations. An experienced journeyperson electrician may be eligible to write the master electrician exam.
Permits go through a master electrician, so settle who will hold that certificate after you before you agree a closing date.
Plumbing, HVAC and other trades
We read the rules for electrical and gas work only. For plumbing, HVAC and other trades, ask your province's regulator how a licence or certificate moves to a new owner before you agree a closing date.
What happens to my trucks and tools?
They can sell with the business, and in BC they carry PST in an asset sale. Alberta has no sales tax.
BC lists business equipment such as vehicles, shop equipment and appliances, and tools used to perform your services, among the taxable assets. PST does not apply to goodwill, and it does not apply to inventory bought for resale when the buyer gives you their PST number or a completed general exemption certificate (form FIN 490). It does not apply to shares of a business either. If you collect PST, you collect and remit it on the taxable assets. If you do not, the buyer works out the PST and pays it on their next PST return.
A buyer will also look at the condition of what they are buying. Owned equipment in good repair, documented, pushes a multiple up. Aging equipment with deferred maintenance drags it down.
How do I make my trades business worth more before I sell?
Build what pushes the multiple up and fix what drags it down. Most of it can be done before you go to market.
- Put repeat work on paper. Maintenance contracts and repeat customers show a buyer income that does not depend on you.
- Let your crew run the jobs. Write down how jobs are quoted, scheduled and finished, and hand them to people who can run them.
- Clean up the books. Keep statements and filed taxes that match reality, with every dollar going through them.
- List the trucks and tools. Record each one with its condition, and keep up the maintenance.
- Spread the work. If one customer gives you most of the revenue, know that a buyer will notice, and work on the mix.
- Look at the lease. A shop on a month to month lease is a drag. A lease a buyer can take over is a plus.
- Plan the licence. For electrical work in BC or Alberta, decide who holds the FSR role or the master electrician certificate after you.
Your lawyer papers the deal and your accountant advises on tax. Both are yours to choose.
Questions owners ask
Is there a standard multiple for trades businesses?
What happens to my BC electrical contractor licence if I sell?
Does a buyer need a master electrician in Alberta?
Does PST apply to my trucks and tools in BC?
Do you only help trades owners?
Own a trades business or something else? We sell all types of businesses.
Get my free sale planSources
- How to value a business you'd like to acquire, BDC, updated 28 July 2025, read 21 October 2026.
- Business valuation: What's your company worth?, BDC, updated 4 October 2022, read 21 October 2026.
- Electrical Licences, Technical Safety BC, read 21 October 2026.
- Gas Licences, Technical Safety BC, read 21 October 2026.
- About Master Electricians, Safety Codes Council, Alberta, read 21 October 2026.
- Buying and selling a business, Government of British Columbia, PST, last updated 31 July 2026, read 21 October 2026.
- About Tax and Revenue Administration, Government of Alberta, read 21 October 2026.
- How the free estimate works, Succession Market, valuation page, read 21 October 2026.
- How a sale works, Succession Market, process page, read 21 October 2026.
- How the free sale plan works, Succession Market, sell page, read 21 October 2026.
Who publishes this
Succession Market publishes this guide from Kelowna, British Columbia. We help owners navigate the sale of their business.
This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice for a particular sale. Your lawyer papers the deal and your accountant advises on tax. Both are yours to choose.