Selling your business starts with knowing your number.
Most Australian businesses that are put up for sale never sell. The ones that do belong to owners who knew what the business was worth, knew what buyers pay premiums for, and started preparing years before the listing. That preparation starts with an honest valuation — not a broker's appraisal designed to win your listing.
Ready for the formal step? See valuations for selling a business and vendor due diligence valuations.
The uncomfortable numbers first: industry data puts the share of listed small businesses that actually reach settlement somewhere between one in ten and one in three, and below roughly $500K of earnings the odds are worse. Buyers are not scarce — sellable businesses are. The gap between the two is owner dependency, revenue quality, concentration and financial hygiene, and every one of those is improvable if you start early enough.
What actually moves your price.
Owner dependency
The single largest discount in the SME market. If revenue, licences or key relationships leave with you, buyers price a job, not a business. Every function moved off the owner between now and sale converts discount into price.
Recurring revenue
Contracts, programs, retainers and maintenance agreements let a buyer underwrite the future instead of admiring the past. Across every industry we value, recurring mix is the difference between the bottom of the multiple band and the top.
Customer concentration
One customer over a third of revenue moves your price into earn-outs and holdbacks — you keep carrying the risk after settlement. Concentration takes years to fix, which is why it is a preparation item, not a negotiation item.
Clean, supportable financials
Normalised earnings a buyer can verify are the foundation under everything else. Lifestyle spending through the P&L, related-party rents off market rates, and add-backs that cannot be evidenced all get found — late, when it costs the most.
Valuation first. Everything else follows.
Know your number
Start with the free guided estimate: your figures, an instant indicative range, and a human read-through. No obligation, no listing agreement, nothing to sign.
Get exit-ready
A formal valuation shows what the business is worth today, what each preparation lever is worth to the price, and which two or three are worth pulling on your timeline. Most owners are 2 to 3 years out — that is the right time, not too early.
Go to market prepared
When you are ready to transact, you go in knowing your supportable number. Selling a business is a licensed activity in Australia — we are valuers, not brokers, and when the time comes we can point you to appropriately licensed advisers while your valuation does the arguing.
What your kind of business sells for.
Multiples, premiums and deal-killers are industry-specific. Start with yours.
Selling a Plumbing Business
Typically 2.0–3.5× EBITDA, to 5.0× at the premium end.
Read the guide →Selling an Electrical Business
Typically 2.0–3.5× EBITDA, to 5.0× at the premium end.
Read the guide →Selling an Air Conditioning or Refrigeration Business
Typically 2.5–4.0× EBITDA, to 5.5× at the premium end.
Read the guide →Selling a Landscaping or Grounds Maintenance Business
Typically 2.0–3.5× EBITDA, to 4.5× at the premium end.
Read the guide →Selling a Commercial Cleaning Business
Typically 2.0–3.5× EBITDA, to 4.5× at the premium end.
Read the guide →Selling a Pest Control Business
Typically 2.5–4.0× EBITDA, to 5.5× at the premium end.
Read the guide →Selling an Accounting Practice
Typically 2.5–4.5× EBITDA, to 5.5× at the premium end.
Read the guide →Selling an IT Services or MSP Business
Typically 3.0–5.0× EBITDA, to 6.0× at the premium end.
Read the guide →Selling a Transport or Logistics Business
Typically 2.5–4.0× EBITDA, to 4.5× at the premium end.
Read the guide →Selling a Manufacturing or Engineering Business
Typically 3.0–5.0× EBITDA, to 5.5× at the premium end.
Read the guide →Where we stand: Oliver Group prepares independent valuations and exit-readiness analysis. We are not business brokers, do not sell businesses, and do not take success fees on transactions — which is exactly why our number is one you can rely on. Business sale transactions in Australia are handled by state-licensed agents and, for share sales, AFS-licensed advisers; we can point you to appropriately licensed advisers when you are ready.
Get your indicative range now.
Five minutes, free, and private. An instant guide range from your figures, with a human read-through to follow — years before you need it is exactly the right time.
What is my business worth?Talk to a valuer
Tell us what you need valued.
A fifteen-minute call confirms the tier, the fixed fee and the delivery date — before you commit to anything.
0433 475 518Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm AEST
Fixed fees from $1,495 + GST · 10–35 business days