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Business Valuation Calculator

Estimate what a small business might be worth using seller's discretionary earnings and an industry multiple.

Your numbers

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Non-recurring costs a new owner would not carry.
Small trade businesses commonly trade around 2–4× SDE.
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Result

Estimated enterprise value $700,000
Value to you after debt $640,000
Seller's discretionary earnings $250,000
As a multiple of revenue 0.6×
Seller's discretionary earnings of $250,000 at 2.8× suggests an enterprise value around $700,000, or $640,000 to you after debt.

This is a rough market-rules-of-thumb estimate, not a valuation. Real multiples depend heavily on recurring revenue, customer concentration, whether the business runs without the owner, and the state of your books. Get a professional valuation before any transaction.

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Questions

About this calculator

What is SDE and why not just use profit?

Seller's discretionary earnings adds back the owner's salary, benefits and one-off costs, because a buyer is acquiring the whole earning capacity of the business, not what was left after the owner paid themselves.

What raises the multiple?

Recurring revenue such as maintenance plans, a management team that runs the business without the owner, diversified customers, clean financials and documented systems. Owner-dependence is the single biggest discount.

Is my contracting business worth a multiple of revenue?

Revenue multiples are a sanity check, not a valuation method for small trades. Two companies with identical revenue and very different margins are not worth the same.

The formula

value = seller's discretionary earnings × multiple

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