What NJ landscaping business owners actually get paid, what moves the multiple, and how long a real sale takes. No fluff.
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.
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