33 y/o with an outdoor services business. We have a crew that does landscape construction and planting, one that does tree pruning and removals, and one that does excavation. Past 4 years have been 1.8m, 2.2m, 2.5m, 3.5m in top line revenue and respires EBITDA 42-48%. I own the business wholly.
I recognize I’m in a great place financially, but struggle with the lack of transferable value. My day to day involvement in the business is THE driving factor behind the high margins.
Currently I have 2 foreman, and 5 veteran guys + 5 or so seasonal laborers + 1 girl in the office.
What’s the top couple positions/software I should consider hiring/implementing for $200-300k per year
In order for me to sell this biz even for a 5x multiple I need to remove myself from day to day. If I’m able to do that, I probably won’t sell and will just work less-
Good cash flow, no transferable value
byu/SomeStrategy3034 inEntrepreneur
Posted by SomeStrategy3034
5 Comments
Dude those margins are insane for outdoor services, you’re basically printing money
For 200-300k I’d go operations manager first (someone who can actually run crews without you babysitting) then either a solid estimator/project manager or upgrade your office person to handle more of the business side. Software is nice but you need people who can make decisions when you’re not there
Wow! Your business seems interesting!
Nice! I’m sitting at around an adjusted 25% EBITDA (2 modest owner salaries) w/ my electrical contracting company and that feels like an ton of excess cash.
Imo, I’d hire and put a lot of work into training an Operations manager before i’d think about implementing too much hands off software processes. That’s just me though.
hire an ops manager first, someone who runs crews scheduling pricing and quality day to day, that’s the biggest unlock, then put a solid field management system in place for jobs time tracking and estimates, once decisions and margins don’t live in your head anymore the business becomes sellable and way less stressful
At 42-48% EBITDA, buyers already assume you’re the secret sauce. To change that, margins will drop before value goes up. You have to be willing to look worse on paper for 12-24 months to actually be sellable