Athletic Court Construction & Maintenance, 40-Year Northeast Contractor

$3.8M

Revenue

$780K

SDE

2.5x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 40-year-old athletic court construction and maintenance company serving high-net-worth residential customers and commercial clients across the Northeast United States. The firm builds and maintains tennis, pickleball, basketball, and similar sport surfaces, running out of a 6,500 square foot warehouse with office space and a team of 20 full-time employees. On $3.8M of revenue it throws off $780,000 in owner cash flow, a healthy 20.5% owner-benefit margin for a construction services business.

The listing emphasizes a repeat-revenue maintenance component layered on top of the lumpier construction work, which is the most interesting part of the story. Maintenance contracts on existing courts create a recurring base that smooths the project-driven revenue and builds switching friction with affluent homeowners who want their courts kept pristine. Reputation and craftsmanship over four decades give the company pricing power and referral flow in a niche with limited specialized competition.

The deal is priced at $1.99M, roughly 2.55x cash flow, and the seller has it pre-qualified for SBA financing with $0.4M seller note and $1.2M bank financing available. Net working capital of $196,000 and fixed assets of $586,500 are included. The seller is retiring and willing to stay on under a consulting agreement, with a trained team remaining in place.

Why we like it

Earnings quality looks solid: $780,000 of cash flow on $3.8M revenue is a 20.5% owner-benefit margin, and the listing states all figures are based on signed tax returns with a national valuation firm appraisal at 4.3x EBITDA. Buying at 2.55x cash flow against an independent 4.3x EBITDA appraisal means you are acquiring at a discount to a defensible intrinsic value.
Durability comes from a 40-year track record and a repeat-revenue maintenance model that layers recurring resurfacing and upkeep work on top of new construction. Serving high-net-worth residential clients means less price sensitivity and strong referral dynamics, and the craftsmanship reputation is a genuine moat in a specialized niche.
Pickleball and racquet sport demand has surged over the past several years, driving both new court construction and ongoing maintenance of aging surfaces. A single sales hire to expand the geographic service area is the stated growth lever, with management projecting 10%+ annual revenue growth at higher gross margins.
The operator advantage is a turnkey handoff: 20 trained full-time employees stay in place, the seller offers a transition plus consulting agreement, and the deal is SBA pre-qualified with seller financing of $0.4M. The listing projects roughly $410,000 of Year 1 post-debt cash flow, which is over 100% return on equity invested if the numbers hold.

How to improve it

Split the P&L to isolate recurring maintenance revenue from one-time construction projects. Quantify the maintenance base, its retention rate, and margin, then price and market annual maintenance plans aggressively to grow the predictable, higher-margin portion of the business.
Hire the proposed dedicated salesperson immediately and define a geographic expansion plan into adjacent Northeast markets. The current growth is constrained by owner-driven sales, so a commissioned rep with a defined pipeline can unlock the projected 10%+ growth without adding fixed overhead.
Build a formal multi-year maintenance contract program with auto-renewal and tiered service levels for both residential and commercial courts. Converting ad hoc resurfacing jobs into contracted recurring revenue raises enterprise value and smooths the seasonal, project-driven revenue swings.
Pursue the pickleball conversion and new-build wave directly with HOAs, country clubs, schools, and municipalities. These commercial segments offer larger ticket sizes and multi-court orders versus single residential installs, improving utilization of the 20-person crew.
Tighten job costing and crew scheduling with project management software to protect gross margins as volume scales. Construction margins erode fast on poorly estimated or idle labor, so real-time cost tracking per project is critical before pushing a growth agenda.
Review fleet and equipment utilization given the $586,500 in fixed assets included. Ensure crews and specialized surfacing equipment are fully deployed across the season, and consider whether a second crew can be stood up to capture overflow demand.
Lock in the key team members and craftspeople with retention agreements during the transition. The moat is reputation and craftsmanship, so losing senior installers post-close would directly damage the value you are paying for.

Diligence notes

Verify the $780,000 cash flow and $3.8M revenue against three years of signed tax returns and reconcile the add-backs. The listing leans heavily on a projected $410,000 post-debt Year 1 cash flow and 100%+ ROE, so stress-test those projections and confirm the seller financing and SBA terms are actually in place.
Break down the revenue mix between new construction and maintenance, and examine customer concentration. A business this size serving high-net-worth residential and commercial clients could have a handful of large accounts or developers driving disproportionate revenue, which is a real risk if the owner is the relationship.
Assess seasonality and backlog carefully, since Northeast court construction is weather-constrained and project-driven. Confirm current signed contracts and pipeline, and understand how revenue is recognized across the season to avoid buying into a soft year.
Quantify owner dependency on sales and estimating. The stated growth plan is to add a salesperson the owner currently is, which signals the owner personally drives revenue; confirm the team can win and bid work without him and structure the consulting agreement around that gap.
Inspect the included fixed assets and working capital. Confirm the $586,500 FF&E is operational and not deferred-maintenance liability, and verify the $196,000 net working capital figure reflects normal receivables and payables rather than a cherry-picked snapshot.
Check the lease on the 6,500 square foot warehouse since real estate is not included. Confirm term, rent, renewal options, and whether the facility is owned by the seller in a related-party arrangement that could change post-close.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →