Suffolk County Landscaping Maintenance Company, 450 Accounts, 3 Crews

$2.1M

Revenue

$725K

SDE

2.5x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a residential and commercial landscaping maintenance operation in Suffolk County, NY, running roughly 450 accounts with just three crews. The service mix is the boring, repeatable kind that keeps money coming in without a lot of drama: lawn cutting, trimming, edging, spring and fall cleanups, hedge and shrub maintenance, planting, mulching, and fertilization. The pitch is route density and disciplined overhead, which is exactly what turns a $2M top line into a claimed $725K in cash flow.

The economics are the story here. At $2.069M revenue and $725K cash flow, the business is running a stated margin north of 35 percent, which is high for landscaping maintenance and points to tight routing and lean labor. The listing is upfront that tax returns do not fully reflect performance and that a buyer needs to normalize owner-operated financials, which is code for add-backs and off-the-books adjustments that must be verified before you believe the number.

At a $1.8M asking price against $725K cash flow, this comps at roughly 2.5x, which is a reasonable multiple for a route-based maintenance book with recurring revenue. The seller is negotiable, offers seller financing to qualified buyers, and will allow a ride-along. This is a clean bolt-on for an existing landscaper in the region or a first acquisition for an operator who genuinely knows the trade and can defend the margins.

Why we like it

The earnings profile is unusually strong for the category, with a stated 35 percent cash flow margin driven by route density and low overhead. If the $725K holds up under scrutiny, you are buying real owner earnings on recurring maintenance work, not project revenue you have to re-win every year. The caveat is that management flags the tax returns as understating performance, so the quality of those earnings lives and dies on diligence.
Maintenance landscaping is genuinely sticky and recurring. Roughly 450 residential and commercial accounts on scheduled routes means default renewal behavior and predictable weekly cash flow, not one-off jobs. Loyal customer relationships and route density create a modest moat because a competitor cannot easily peel off your customers without matching your scheduling efficiency.
Lawn and property maintenance is a need, not a want, especially for commercial accounts and HOA-adjacent residential properties that must keep grounds presentable. This is service people keep paying for through a downturn, which makes the cash flow durable. Suffolk County is a dense, affluent market with steady demand for exactly this work.
For the right operator this is a clean bolt-on. An existing landscaper in the region can absorb these routes, layer accounts onto trucks already in the area, and expand margins further. The seller offers financing and a ride-along, which lowers the friction and the capital wall for a qualified buyer who knows the trade.

How to improve it

Immediately reconcile the claimed $725K cash flow against tax returns, bank statements, and a normalized add-back schedule during diligence. Build a defensible number before you close, because the entire 2.5x multiple hinges on whether that figure survives verification. Do not fund the deal on the seller's summary alone.
Push price rate increases across the account base in the first season. Route-based maintenance customers rarely shop around, and a 5 to 8 percent annual increase on 450 accounts flows almost entirely to the bottom line given the fixed-cost structure. Test resistance on a segment first before rolling it out fully.
Add accounts to existing routes to increase density, which the listing itself flags as the primary growth lever. Each incremental account on an already-scheduled truck adds revenue at very high marginal margin. Target new customers geographically clustered around current stops rather than chasing scattered jobs.
Upsell existing accounts into higher-margin add-on services like mulching, fertilization programs, seasonal plantings, and enhancement work. These are one-call sells to customers who already trust you and require no new customer acquisition. Package them as annual contracts to smooth revenue across the shoulder seasons.
Formalize customer contracts and auto-renewal terms if they are currently handshake or seasonal. Locking accounts into annual agreements with automatic renewal makes the revenue more defensible and materially increases the value of the book at your eventual exit. It also protects against churn during the ownership transition.
Systematize scheduling, routing, and billing on modern software if the operation still runs on paper or the owner's head. The margin is built on efficiency, and key-person route knowledge is a risk you want to remove. Digitizing routes also makes the business far easier to scale and eventually sell.
Build out the crew leadership so the business is not dependent on the owner riding routes daily. Promote or hire a working foreman who can manage crews and customer relationships. This converts an owner-operator job into a more transferable, semi-managed asset over time.

Diligence notes

The listing openly states that tax returns do not fully reflect operating performance and that additional documentation substantiates the numbers. This is the single most important item: obtain the full add-back schedule, verify each adjustment against bank and merchant records, and treat any unverifiable cash as zero. A large gap between reported and claimed earnings changes the real multiple you are paying.
Verify the account base account by account. Confirm the actual count of active paying accounts, the residential versus commercial split, average revenue per account, contract terms, and churn history over the past two to three seasons. Ask for a customer concentration breakdown to ensure no single commercial account carries an outsized share of revenue.
Scrutinize labor. Three crews servicing 450 accounts at these margins raises questions about crew composition, wage levels, worker classification (employee versus 1099), and whether any labor is undocumented or paid in cash. Misclassified or cash labor is both a margin illusion and a liability you would inherit.
Inspect the equipment, trucks, and their condition and ownership status, since none are described as included or valued. Confirm what physical assets transfer, whether they are owned free and clear or leased, and the age and replacement timeline of mowers and vehicles. Deferred equipment capex can quietly erode the cash flow you are underwriting.
Understand the seasonality and the winter revenue picture. Suffolk County landscaping is seasonal, so confirm whether the business does snow removal or other off-season work and how cash flow distributes across the year. You need to know the working capital swing before you set financing terms.
Clarify the reason for sale and the owner's day-to-day role, since neither is disclosed. The business is labeled relocatable and owner-operated, so quantify how many hours the owner works, what customer and route knowledge lives only with them, and how much transition support beyond a ride-along is actually on offer.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →