Premier Commercial Landscape & Snow Management — 55-Year Illinois Contractor

$5.5M

Revenue

$600K

SDE

9.7x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 55-year-old commercial landscape maintenance and snow & ice management company operating in the Chicago metro area (Burbank, IL). Founded in 1971 and repositioned by current ownership as a purely commercial operation, it generates 100% of revenue from contracted B2B, municipal, and industrial accounts. The counter-seasonal model pairs summer landscape maintenance with winter snow and ice management, producing year-round revenue and high utilization of a dual-purpose fleet of trucks, loaders, skid steers, and plow attachments.

The revenue base is built on recurring maintenance agreements ranging from one to five years, with a diversified customer portfolio and no meaningful account concentration. Roughly 90% of collections come via ACH or direct transfer, giving the business a fast receivables conversion cycle and clean cash mechanics. Two operating facilities support broad market coverage, and an experienced union workforce with strong retention runs day-to-day operations.

The standout angle here is that the company scaled to $5.5M in revenue with zero dedicated sales force, relying entirely on reputation and client retention. For a strategic acquirer or PE-backed consolidator, that is the clearest lever: a proven platform with durable contracts, entrenched municipal relationships, and an obvious unbuilt growth engine sitting on top of it.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is genuinely strong for a landscaping business: 100% contracted B2B, municipal, and industrial revenue under one-to-five-year agreements, with roughly 90% ACH collections and no residential bad-debt drag. That recurring, diversified base with no account concentration is the kind of cash flow that survives a downturn and supports leverage.
The moat is 55 years of operating history and entrenched municipal relationships. Government and commercial snow/landscape contracts are sticky, relationship-driven, and switching costs are real once a vendor is embedded with public agencies and industrial sites.
The counter-seasonal model is the unsung asset here. Summer landscape maintenance and winter snow/ice management let the same dual-purpose fleet and union crews stay productive year-round, smoothing revenue and maximizing return on equipment that would otherwise sit idle half the year.
Operator advantage is obvious and rare: this company hit $5.5M with no sales team. A buyer who installs even a basic outbound and renewal-management function inherits an untapped growth channel on top of an already-profitable, infrastructure-complete platform.

How to improve it

Build a sales function from zero. The business admits it has no dedicated sales team, so hiring one or two commercial estimators and a simple CRM with a renewal calendar could capture incremental contracts the company has been leaving on the table for years.
Push price on contract renewals. With 90% ACH collections and multi-year agreements, audit each contract for whether pricing has kept pace with labor and fuel inflation, then implement CPI-linked escalators at renewal to protect and expand margin.
Use the platform for tuck-in acquisitions. With two facilities and a dual-use fleet, this is built to absorb smaller regional landscape and snow operators. Rolling up neighboring competitors adds route density, contracts, and crews without proportional overhead.
Improve equipment utilization tracking. Quantify idle time and maintenance cost per asset across both seasons, then right-size the fleet and consider selling underused units to free capital while maintaining service coverage.
Expand the service mix to existing accounts. Municipal and industrial clients already buying landscape and snow services are natural buyers for adjacent offerings like irrigation, hardscape, lighting, or de-icing supply, increasing revenue per account with no new customer acquisition.
Tighten labor planning around the union workforce. Strong retention is an asset, but model seasonal staffing carefully so winter and summer divisions share crews efficiently and overtime is controlled, since labor is the single largest cost in this business.

Diligence notes

Scrutinize the $600K cash flow against the $5.8M asking price. That is a 9.67x multiple, which is extremely rich for a landscaping/snow services business where 3x-5x is typical. Confirm whether the asking price reflects the significant owned fleet and two facilities, and rebuild a clean SDE/EBITDA bridge before anchoring on that number.
Verify contract terms and renewal history. Pull the actual one-to-five-year agreements, check cancellation clauses, escalator language, and the true renewal rate over the last five years to confirm the recurring revenue is as durable as claimed.
Examine the union labor situation closely. Review the collective bargaining agreement, wage escalators, pension or multiemployer plan obligations, and any withdrawal liability that could transfer with the business and materially change the economics.
Audit the fleet and equipment value. A significant portion of the asking price appears tied to trucks, loaders, skid steers, and plows. Get an independent appraisal, confirm assets are owned free and clear, and review maintenance logs and remaining useful life since snow operations are hard on equipment.
Confirm customer concentration and weather dependence. The listing claims no meaningful concentration, so validate with a revenue-by-account schedule. Also stress-test winter revenue against low-snowfall years, since snow management can swing dramatically with weather.
Clarify why the owners are selling and the management depth. The stated reason is 'pursuing other opportunities,' which is vague. Understand how much of the relationships and operations run through the owners versus the team, and confirm the 90-180 day transition is enough given there is no sales infrastructure to inherit.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →