Full-Service Landscape Company, 35-Year Denver Contractor

$3.1M

Revenue

$547K

SDE

3.8x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a full-service landscape company operating in the Denver market since 1989, handling custom design, professional installation, and recurring maintenance. The business has built a reputation for quality over three-plus decades and serves a mix of residential and commercial clients with a personalized, high-touch service model. With $3.05M in revenue and $547k in cash flow, it runs at roughly an 18% owner-earnings margin, which is respectable for a design-build-plus-maintenance landscaping operation.

What separates this listing from a typical mow-and-blow shop is the operational modernization. Management reports the business runs on an integrated CRM and management platform covering scheduling, job costing, invoicing, and customer service, which is exactly the infrastructure most small landscapers lack. A 26-person team plus a functioning management layer means the owner works a standard 40-hour week and handles limited day-to-day operations, which is a real asset for a buyer who wants a business that already runs on systems rather than personality.

The deal includes $527k of FF&E (a meaningful equipment package relative to the $2.05M ask) and is offered with seller financing and SBA lender prequalification at 10% down. Denver's growth, the recurring nature of maintenance contracts, and stated upside in commercial and municipal work make this a durable, cash-generative acquisition rather than a turnaround.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is solid: $547k in cash flow on $3.05M revenue is an 18% margin, and a large portion sits in recurring maintenance routes that repeat every season. Recurring maintenance revenue is stickier and more predictable than one-off installation work, which reduces the reliance on constant new-project origination.
The moat here is age, reputation, and systems. Thirty-five years in a single market builds referral density and a client base that competitors cannot replicate overnight, and the modernized CRM and job-costing platform means the operational knowledge lives in software rather than in one owner's head.
Landscaping maintenance is genuinely recession-resistant. Commercial properties, HOAs, and municipalities keep contracts active because deferred landscape maintenance creates liability and property-value problems, so the recurring base holds up better than discretionary installation spend during a downturn.
The operator advantage is that this business already runs on a management team with the owner at 40 hours a week. A buyer with sales and estimating discipline can push into higher-margin high-end residential installs and municipal contracts, which the seller flags as untapped, without first having to build basic operational infrastructure.
Deal structure is buyer-friendly with seller financing available and SBA lender prequalification at 10% down. That means roughly $205k of equity can control a business throwing off over $545k in cash flow, an attractive cash-on-cash setup if the numbers hold in diligence.

How to improve it

Segment revenue between installation and maintenance immediately and build a plan to grow the recurring maintenance book. Signing more annual and multi-year maintenance contracts raises the predictable revenue floor and directly improves the multiple a future buyer will pay.
Pursue commercial and municipal contracts systematically, which the seller explicitly names as upside. These clients sign multi-year agreements, pay reliably, and smooth out the seasonal swings that plague residential-heavy landscapers in a snow market like Denver.
Add or expand snow and ice management to monetize the winter season. Denver winters give a landscaping crew a natural off-season revenue stream using existing labor and equipment, and snow contracts are typically higher-margin and recurring.
Use the existing CRM to build tight job-costing dashboards and route density metrics. Densifying maintenance routes so crews drive less and bill more is the fastest path to margin expansion in this business, and the platform is already in place to measure it.
Implement price increases on the maintenance base, especially on long-tenured accounts that may be underpriced after decades of loyalty. A modest annual escalator across the recurring book flows almost entirely to cash flow with minimal churn risk.
Formalize the management team with retention incentives before and after close. With the owner only at 40 hours weekly, key managers are the operating engine, and locking them in protects the value you are paying for.
Cross-sell design and installation into the existing maintenance base. Clients who already trust the company for weekly service are the cheapest source of high-margin install projects, and a structured upsell motion can lift revenue per account without new customer acquisition cost.

Diligence notes

Break down the $3.05M revenue by installation versus maintenance and by residential versus commercial. Installation is lumpier and lower quality than recurring maintenance, so the revenue mix determines how durable that $547k cash flow really is.
Verify the cash flow add-backs behind the $546,972 SDE figure and confirm what the owner actually does in a 40-hour week. If the owner still drives sales, estimating, or key client relationships, the transition risk and the true replacement cost of that role are higher than the listing implies.
Scrutinize the $527k of FF&E: get a fixed-asset list with age, condition, and remaining useful life. Much of the asking price is equipment value, so understand near-term capex needs for trucks, mowers, and machinery that may be near replacement.
Review the lease, which expires 02/28/2027 on a 1,500 SF facility. Confirm renewal terms and whether the site has adequate yard space for crews, equipment, and material storage, since a forced relocation would disrupt operations.
Analyze customer concentration and contract terms in the maintenance base. Confirm how many accounts are under written contract versus handshake, the churn history, and whether any single client or HOA represents an outsized share of recurring revenue.
Confirm labor stability across the 26 employees, including crew leaders and managers, plus any reliance on seasonal or immigration-status-dependent workers. Labor availability is the binding constraint in landscaping, so understand wage rates, turnover, and whether the workforce transfers cleanly.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →