What NJ landscaping business owners actually get paid, what moves the multiple, and how long a real sale takes. No fluff.
Part of our guide to selling a main street business in New Jersey.
New Jersey landscaping businesses with clean recurring contracts, snow-plow revenue, and a transferable crew sell between 2.0× and 3.6× SDE. The spread is wide because buyers discount hard for owner-operator dependency, gray-market labor, and customer concentration.
| Metric | Typical Range (NJ) |
|---|---|
| SDE multiple | 2.0× – 3.6× |
| Entry-size SDE | $180K |
| Upper-bracket SDE | $1.2M+ |
| Typical close timeline | 6-9 months from listing to close is typical. Winter listings go to market in January-February to close by mowing season. |
Ranges based on recent NJ/NY/CT market activity and SBA-eligible transactions. Your number depends on the specifics — request a free valuation for a real range.
Contracted maintenance beats one-off installs. Recurring >60% of revenue adds roughly 0.5× to the multiple.
Plow contracts smooth winter revenue. Buyers pay more for 12-month operations than for 8-month.
A working owner caps the multiple. A GM or lead crew chief who runs the day-to-day adds 0.4-0.8×.
No single customer >10% of revenue. Commercial concentration above 30% discounts the deal.
6-9 months from listing to close is typical. Winter listings go to market in January-February to close by mowing season. Most sellers underestimate the time to prep — getting books clean, normalizing add-backs, and documenting the things you do that aren't written down anywhere. We recommend 60-90 days of quiet prep before going to market.
Commercial landscape maintenance is one of the most active PE roll-up categories, and buyers are competing hard for NJ companies with recurring contracts. Four pools:
National consolidators active in the space — BrightView, SavATree, Monarch Landscape Companies, Yellowstone Landscape, Aspen Grove Landscape Group, and LandCare among them — pay premium multiples for year-round commercial maintenance contracts and a manager who stays.
Larger area operators buying to add commercial accounts, crews, and snow-and-ice routes in your market.
The deepest pool under ~$1M SDE — operators and first-time owners financing the purchase.
Buyers seeking a durable, recurring-revenue services business to own.
Landscaping sales hinge on revenue quality. Fix these before you go to market:
Design-build and one-time installs are lumpy and lower-multiple. A book weighted toward recurring commercial maintenance contracts — with snow-and-ice add-ons for year-round revenue — commands the top of the range.
If you sell, estimate, schedule, and run crews yourself, a buyer is buying a job. An operations manager and documented routes are worth real multiple.
Handshake renewals and undocumented seasonal cash get discounted. Signed, assignable annual contracts and clean books protect your price.
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Run the numbers on a deal: Business Valuation Calculator · SBA 7(a) Acquisition Calculator · Sellability Score Quiz · NJ Multiples Database