Commercial Landscape Maintenance Company, 2011 South Florida Contractor

$1.4M

SDE

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is an established commercial landscaping operation based in Palm Beach County, Florida, providing recurring landscape maintenance and irrigation services to multifamily and commercial properties across a dense South Florida footprint. The service mix is complemented by enhancement work and project-based jobs, but the core of the business is contract maintenance: roughly 63% of revenue comes from recurring maintenance and irrigation, which is the exact revenue profile a durability-focused buyer wants to see. Founded in 2011, the company has built the route density and operating infrastructure that make commercial landscaping a defensible, cash-generative business rather than a one-off project shop.

The organization runs on a genuine management layer, not just the owner. An experienced general manager intends to stay following closing, supported by eight landscape supervisors, an in-house mechanic, and a long-tenured workforce of 43 employees excluding the owner. Average employee tenure of about five years is unusually strong for a labor-intensive field business and signals real operating continuity through a transition, which materially de-risks a buyer stepping in.

The deal is being run as a confidential, unpriced M&A process with cash flow (SDE) reported at roughly $1.42M. The operating real estate is excluded but available under a separately negotiated lease with the seller, so a buyer is acquiring a going concern, not a property play. The owner is pursuing retirement, and qualified strategic and financial buyers must sign an NDA and demonstrate financial capacity before the CIM is released.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is strong: roughly 63% of revenue is recurring maintenance and irrigation under ongoing contracts, and reported cash flow is about $1.42M. Contract maintenance revenue is sticky and predictable, which supports both valuation and lender appetite versus a project-heavy landscaper.
Durability and moat come from route density and switching friction. Commercial and multifamily property managers rarely churn a reliable maintenance vendor, and the company's dense South Florida footprint means each additional stop drives margin without proportional cost, a real barrier to a subscale competitor.
Market tailwinds favor the location: South Florida keeps adding multifamily and commercial density, and year-round growing seasons mean maintenance is a 12-month need rather than a seasonal Northern route. That drives consistent billing and easier crew utilization across the calendar.
The operator advantage is that this business is already manager-run. An experienced GM intends to stay, backed by eight supervisors, an in-house mechanic, and 43 employees averaging five years of tenure, so a financial buyer inherits a functioning org rather than a job.

How to improve it

Push route density before geography. The listing flags increased route density as a growth lever, so within 90 days map existing accounts and target new multifamily and commercial contracts in the exact zip codes already served, adding revenue with minimal incremental drive time or crew cost.
Reprice and re-contract the maintenance base. Audit every maintenance agreement for term length, escalators, and margin, then institute annual CPI-linked price increases and multi-year renewals to lock in the 63% recurring base and defend against wage inflation on a labor-heavy P&L.
Grow the enhancement and project attach rate. The company already sells enhancement and project-based work to its maintenance customers; formalize a quarterly walkthrough and quoting cadence per property to convert more captive accounts into higher-margin upsells without new customer acquisition cost.
Systematize crew productivity and job costing. With 41 full-time field staff, small gains in labor hours per stop drop straight to SDE. Implement route optimization software and per-crew, per-property cost tracking to find the underperforming accounts and tighten scheduling.
Formalize the sales function. Retirement-driven owners often generated new business through personal relationships; before or right after close, hire or assign a dedicated commercial sales rep so pipeline does not stall when the owner exits, protecting growth beyond referral flow.
Lock the GM and key supervisors with retention packages. Since the entire thesis rests on continuity, sign the general manager to a retention and incentive agreement tied to revenue and margin, and offer the eight supervisors stay bonuses through the first year post-close.

Diligence notes

Verify the recurring revenue claim and contract quality. Confirm that roughly 63% of revenue is genuinely under recurring maintenance and irrigation agreements, and review contract terms, cancellation clauses, auto-renewal language, and average tenure of the top 20 accounts by revenue.
Assess customer concentration. Multifamily and commercial landscaping can hide a few large HOA or property-management relationships that drive a disproportionate share of revenue; request a customer-level revenue schedule to size churn risk and pricing exposure if a top account walks post-close.
Scrutinize labor and the GM relationship. The deal leans heavily on the GM staying and a 43-person workforce; confirm the GM's compensation, any employment or non-compete agreements, wage rates versus the local market, workers' comp claims history, and immigration/I-9 compliance across the crews.
Model the real estate lease carefully. The operating property is excluded but offered under a separately negotiated lease at what appears to be $10,000/month for a 76,000 SF facility; verify the proposed rent is at market and get lease terms in writing, since this is a related-party arrangement that directly hits go-forward EBITDA.
Normalize the $1.42M cash flow. Since the process is unpriced and confidential, obtain audited or reviewed financials, verify owner add-backs, confirm equipment condition and any deferred replacement capex on the fleet and mowers, and establish maintenance capex needs before setting a multiple.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →