How do I know what my restoration company is worth?

By Pete Ambrosino, founder of Ambrosino Strategic Advisors
Fact-checked by Pete Ambrosino, 2026-10-12

Your restoration company is worth what a buyer will pay for the profit it reliably produces without you, usually figured as a multiple of adjusted earnings. To know your real number, you need clean books, a true adjusted-earnings figure, and an honest look at the risks a buyer will price in.

Most owners skip that last part. That’s where the gap between what they think it’s worth and what a buyer will pay comes from.

My story

I owned and ran a SERVPRO franchise for 27 years. The business carried $600,000 in business debt, and it took about ten years of hard decisions to get it to zero while growing revenue to a steady $1.2 to $1.3 million a year.

When I finally sold it, I trained the new owner through the handoff. What made the business sellable wasn’t the last year. It was the work done years before the sale.

That’s the lens I use with every owner I sit down with now.

Six steps to find out what your company is really worth

1. Get three years of clean financials. A buyer will ask for them first. If your P&L mixes personal and business spending, or your bookkeeper is a year behind, fix that before anything else. A stranger has to be able to trust your books.
2. Figure out your true adjusted earnings. Start with net profit. Add back what a new owner wouldn’t pay: your personal expenses run through the business, one-time costs, and anything above a fair market salary for the role you fill. That adjusted number, not revenue, is what gets multiplied.
3. Separate storm profit from steady profit. Catastrophe years make the top line look great. Buyers know it. Show your earnings with and without storm work so they can see the profit they can count on.
4. Check where your work comes from. If one carrier program, TPA or referral source drives most of your jobs, a buyer sees risk. Know your mix by source and by job type: water, mold, fire, rebuild, program versus direct.
5. Take the owner test. Could your business get through two weeks without you? If every estimate, key customer and hard call still runs through you, a buyer is buying a job, not a company, and will pay less for it.
6. Get an outside view. Talk to someone who has been on both sides of the table. A good advisor or valuation professional will show you the number and, more important, what’s pulling it down.

The bottom line

You don’t find out what your company is worth the month you list it. You find out years ahead, while there’s still time to raise the number.

If you want to walk through your numbers with someone who has owned, run and sold a restoration business, book a 30-minute walk with me.

Frequently asked questions

How are restoration companies usually valued? Most are valued as a multiple of adjusted earnings (often called EBITDA or seller’s discretionary earnings). The multiple goes up or down with risk: owner dependence, customer concentration, how steady the profit is, and how clean the books are.

Does storm work raise my company’s value? It raises revenue. Buyers usually look harder at steady, repeatable profit, so show your numbers with and without catastrophe work.

When should I start planning my exit? Years before you want to sell. The changes that raise value, like clean books, a team that runs without you and a healthy work mix, take time to show up in your numbers.

Can I find my company’s value on my own? You can get close with clean financials and honest adjusted earnings. An outside view helps you see the risks a buyer will price in that you might miss.