Home / Find a Solution / Business value / By industry / Building & construction

What is a construction business worth?

Construction businesses that sold from 2021 to 2025 went for a median of 2.43x seller's discretionary earnings (SDE). The middle half sold for 1.81x to 3.13x. ^[1]

Last verified October 24, 2026

Calculate your value

What multiple do construction businesses sell for?

Lower quartile

1.81x

Median

2.43x

Upper quartile

3.13x

Times seller's discretionary earnings (SDE). Building & construction, BizBuySell, sales 2021–2025; 3,142 sales.

SDE is the profit one owner takes out of the business: pre-tax profit plus one owner's pay and perks, interest, depreciation and one-time costs. How we calculate it.

What raises the value of construction businesses?

• Upper-quartile pricing goes with consistent financials, above-average revenue and earnings, growth potential, low owner involvement, a competitive advantage and seller financing (common to all BizBuySell benchmark pages). ^[2]

What lowers the value of construction businesses?

• Lower-quartile pricing goes with low sales volume, thin margins, full-time owner involvement and many competitors (common to all BizBuySell benchmark pages). ^[2]

What is the market for construction businesses like?

• Construction and engineering appeared often at $500K–$5M in Q2 2026; manufacturing, construction, distribution and business services dominate the lower middle market. ^[3]
• Building products (sector overall, larger deals): 10.6x EV/EBITDA 2025–YTD 2026 vs 9.4x 2024. ^[4]

Which types of business does this cover?

Each type uses its own published quartiles where they exist; the rest use the broader category, and the table says which.

Low and high are the lower and upper quartiles: the middle half of sales. Figures are BizBuySell, businesses sold 2021–2025.

General contractors

Based on the broader category (Building & construction): no published quartiles for general contractors.

Value a general contractors business

Specialty subcontractors

Based on the broader category (Building & construction): no published quartiles for specialty subcontractors.

Value a specialty subcontractors business

Remodeling

Based on the broader category (Building & construction): no published quartiles for remodeling.

Value a remodeling business

Concrete

Based on the broader category (Building & construction): no published quartiles for concrete.

Value a concrete business

Heavy construction

Based on the broader category (Building & construction): no published quartiles for heavy construction.

Value a heavy construction business

Equipment rental & dealers

Based on the broader category (Building & construction): no published quartiles for equipment rental & dealers.

Value a equipment rental & dealers business

How should you use these numbers?

Multiply your SDE by a multiple in the range to get a rough price for the business, not counting real estate. Where you land in the range depends on how much the business depends on you, how much revenue repeats, growth, customer concentration and the other factors in the calculator. Half of all sales land outside the quartile range, so a real deal can go higher or lower.

Where do these numbers come from?