Midwest Lawn & Landscape Co, 20-Year Year-Round Exterior Services Contractor

$682K

SDE

8.0x

Multiple

Subscribe Free

Read the full deal writeup

Get Free Access

Already a member? Sign in

Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 20-year-old Midwest landscaping and exterior services operation generating roughly $682k of EBITDA on a reported 29.1% NOI margin. The company runs a diversified, year-round book of work across commercial and residential landscaping, hardscaping, lawn care, tree and arborist services, and winter snow and ice management. That seasonal diversification is the whole game in this space: the snow and ice contracts fill the cash gap that kills single-season lawn operators in Q1 and Q4.

The business employs 30 full-time staff and comes with a modern, debt-light equipment fleet valued at over $2M, standardized around John Deere machinery and Chevrolet heavy-duty vehicles. Management describes a compartmentalized crew structure, centralized CRM, and route-density strategies, which is meaningful because it means the business is run by a team rather than the departing owners. The listing explicitly positions this as absentee and turnkey.

It is being marketed as a platform for a regional roll-up, anchored in a metro corridor that has seen 13.4% population growth over the past decade. The pitch leans heavily on institutional language, but the underlying asset is a real, cash-generative, team-run contractor with recurring commercial maintenance and snow relationships. The asking price of $5.45M at 8x EBITDA is rich for this category, and most of that premium is being justified by the $2M equipment fleet included in the sale.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is anchored by a 29.1% NOI margin on roughly $682k of EBITDA, with the listing claiming audited financials, which is rare and valuable at this size. The year-round service mix smooths out the seasonal volatility that wrecks single-season lawn operators, giving cash flow a steadier cadence across all four quarters.
The moat here is real and physical: a modern, debt-light fleet valued north of $2M standardized on John Deere and Chevrolet. That capital base is a genuine barrier to entry for undercapitalized competitors and shields a buyer from near-term deferred capex, meaning more EBITDA converts to free cash flow.
Market tailwinds are concrete rather than hand-waved. The company sits in a metro corridor that grew population 13.4% over the past decade, in a $188B industry compounding at 6.5% CAGR, with suburban buildout driving steady demand for both residential enhancement and large commercial exterior contracts.
This is already team-run with a compartmentalized crew structure, centralized CRM, and 30 full-time employees, so the operator advantage is that it does not depend on the departing owners day to day. Snow and ice management plus commercial maintenance contracts create genuinely recurring revenue and high customer lifetime value through cross-selling.

How to improve it

Hire the dedicated Business Development Manager the listing flags as missing, on a performance-based commission tied to signing multi-year commercial maintenance and snow contracts. Founder-led sales is the single biggest gap, and professionalizing B2B development directly compounds the recurring revenue base that supports the valuation.
Build out the SEO and systematic lead-generation engine the listing admits is underdeveloped relative to competitors. Owning high-intent local search for commercial and residential exterior services lowers customer acquisition cost and reduces dependence on referrals and word of mouth.
Push snow and ice management onto locked seasonal contracts with guaranteed minimums rather than per-event billing. Converting weather-dependent revenue into contracted, prepaid commitments de-risks the Q1 and Q4 cash flow and makes the whole business more financeable and saleable.
Audit route density and crew utilization to squeeze non-billable travel time further. With a standardized fleet and CRM already in place, tighter scheduling and job costing per crew can lift margins without adding headcount in a labor-constrained market.
Layer in higher-margin add-on services across the existing customer base, such as irrigation, lighting, and fertilization programs. Cross-selling into an entrenched book raises customer lifetime value and spreads fixed fleet and overhead costs across more revenue per account.
Implement disciplined equipment lifecycle and preventive maintenance tracking to protect the $2M fleet value and avoid a capex spike. Standardization on John Deere and Chevrolet already simplifies this, so the win is formalizing replacement schedules and extending asset life.

Diligence notes

Revenue is not disclosed anywhere in the listing, which is a major gap given the asking price of $5.45M. Pull actual top-line figures and verify the claimed 29.1% NOI margin against the $682k EBITDA, because an 8x multiple on undisclosed revenue demands full financial transparency before any offer.
Validate the absentee claim rigorously. The listing says turnkey and absentee but also references transitioning away from a founder-led model, which suggests the current owners may still drive sales. Confirm who actually originates commercial contracts and whether that relationship capital walks out the door at close.
Scrutinize the recurring revenue mix. Separate contracted commercial maintenance and snow commitments from one-time hardscaping and project work, because the valuation narrative leans on recurring revenue that may be a smaller share of the total than implied.
Verify the $2M+ fleet valuation with an independent equipment appraisal and confirm it is truly debt-light and owned free and clear. Much of the purchase premium rests on this asset base, so confirm titles, lien status, actual age, hours, and condition of the John Deere and Chevrolet units.
Assess customer concentration and contract renewal terms on the commercial side. Losing one or two large commercial accounts could materially impair cash flow, so review the top accounts by revenue, contract length, and historical retention.
Probe labor dependency given the sector-wide hiring headwinds the listing itself acknowledges. Review crew tenure, wage rates, turnover, and whether key crew leaders are under any retention arrangement, because 30 full-time staff in a tight labor market is both the asset and the risk.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →