Austin, Texas, USA HVAC Established 2004 18 employees
Revenue splits between service, maintenance plans and system replacements. A general manager runs day-to-day operations, so the owner works part time. The maintenance plan base creates predictable spring and fall workload and a reliable pipeline of replacement quotes.
Overall 69/100 — Good. Each dimension is scored independently and weighted.
Seller's discretionary earnings are 15.0% of revenue.
Asking price is 3.02× SDE compared with a common small-business range of roughly 2×–4×.
22 years of operating history with a 12.8% earnings margin.
Reported revenue trend of +12% year over year.
Category-level demand outlook based on WhatBiz industry model (sample data).
Business is described as semi absentee with 18 employees.
Largest customer represents about 4% of revenue.
Seller indicates financing is available (about 15% seller-carried).
41% of revenue is recurring or contracted.
Estimated exposure to automation and AI substitution in this category.
Comparable SDE multiples of 3.16x – 4.40x for HVAC produce an estimated range of $1,509,000 – $2,143,000.
Specific questions to raise with the seller for this listing, based on its reported figures.
Ask for three years of tax returns and the add-back schedule line by line. Owner salary and genuine one-off costs are fair add-backs; ongoing vehicle, phone, insurance or family payroll usually are not.
WhatBiz estimates $1,509,000 – $2,143,000 for a hvac business with these figures. Ask the seller which comparable sales support their asking price.
The largest customer is reported at 4.0% of revenue. Ask for a revenue-by-customer report for the last 24 months to confirm it.
Ask for the contract or subscription list with start dates, renewal terms, churn over the last two years, and whether agreements are assignable.
The owner is reported as semi-absentee. Price a replacement salary for the hours they work, and check whether any licence, certification or key relationship is held personally.
Request tenure, wages against local market rates, and any certification or licence held by individual staff. Agree stay bonuses for key people before closing, not after.
Seller financing keeps the previous owner invested in a clean handover. Negotiate the term, interest rate and any performance offset in the same conversation as the price.
Check remaining term, renewal options, rent escalations, and whether the landlord will assign the lease to you. A short lease on a location-dependent business is a real risk.
This is demo data provided for product demonstration. Figures are illustrative, are not verified, and are not an offer to sell a business. WhatBiz analysis is educational and is not financial, legal, tax or investment advice.
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