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What is your pest control business worth? Run the multiple before a buyer does
The consolidators run this math on you from the outside. Five inputs and you can run it first: a value range, the multiple behind it, and exactly which lever moves it.
Example numbers loaded. Type yours over them.
Estimated value range
$2.8M to $3.5M
5.3x to 6.8x EBITDA. An estimate from published deal ranges, not an appraisal; diligence reprices everything, starting with the book.
The multiple, step by step
Base EBITDA multiple: 4.5 to 6 ($500k+ EBITDA)
Recurring share 80%+: +0.5
Monthly service mix: +0.25
= $520,000 x 5.3 to 6.8 = $2,756,000 to $3,536,000
Cross-check against the recurring book
1.4x to 1.8x your $2M recurring book. Real pest control deals trade between roughly 1x and 3x recurring revenue; inside that band, the two lenses agree.
EBITDA margin: 21.7%.
The number diligence actually tests is your honest ARR. PestMetrics computes it live from FieldRoutes, exclusions applied, gross and real side by side.
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How pest control companies actually get priced
Earnings times a multiple. That is the whole machine. The arguments are about which earnings and which multiple.
For an owner-run shop, buyers use SDE, seller's discretionary earnings: profit plus your salary plus the personal expenses running through the business, because the buyer is buying your job too. Brokered-deal data published by BizBuySell puts pest control SDE multiples at roughly 2.3 to 2.9. For a company with management that runs without the owner, the basis is EBITDA, and the published broker ranges run from about 4 at the small end to 8 and past it for platform-sized companies, because at that size the buyer is buying a machine, not a job.
Pest control carries some of the strongest multiples in home services, and the reason is one word: recurring. The subscriptions are the company. The one-time work bought the trucks.
What moves the multiple
- Recurring share, more than anything. Dan Gordon, CPA, writing in PCT Magazine, names the recurring versus nonrecurring revenue ratio one of the top KPIs buyers use to value a company. Above roughly 80 percent recurring, a book reads as a platform. Under 60, buyers price it like a job shop, one dollar at a time.
- Service mix. Monthly service means more touchpoints, stickier customers, and steadier cash than quarterly, and buyers pay for that.
- Size. A larger EBITDA base carries a larger multiple, which is the entire consolidation trade: buy at 5, be valued at 8.
- Book quality. Retention, aging balances, and how much of the "active" book is actually alive. This one does not move the calculator, it moves the diligence, which is where padded books go to die.
A worked example
A managed operation doing $2.4 million in revenue with $520,000 of EBITDA, 82 percent recurring, on monthly service.
| Step | Math |
|---|---|
| Base multiple, $500k+ EBITDA | 4.5 to 6.0 |
| Recurring share 80%+ | +0.5 |
| Monthly service mix | +0.25 |
| Multiple | 5.3 to 6.8 |
| Value range | $2.76M to $3.54M |
The cross-check: that range works out to about 1.4 to 1.8 times the recurring book, which sits inside the 1 to 3 times recurring revenue band where real pest control deals trade. When the two lenses agree, the estimate is at least honest.
What this is not
It is not an appraisal and it is not a broker opinion. A real process reprices everything in diligence, and the first thing it reprices is the book. A gross ARR number stuffed with pending cancels, dormant accounts, and customers 60 days past due gets marked down in week one, along with the buyer's trust.
Which means the highest-leverage prep for a sale, even one three years out, is boring: grow the recurring share, fix the leak, and keep an honest ARR number where gross and real are both known. The ARR guide covers the exclusions that separate the two.
Common questions
How much is a pest control business worth?
Earnings times a multiple. Small owner-run shops trade at roughly 2.3 to 2.9 times SDE per BizBuySell brokered-deal data. Managed companies trade on EBITDA at roughly 4 to 8 depending on size and recurring share. A $520k EBITDA company with a strong recurring book lands somewhere around $2.8M to $3.5M.
What multiple do pest control businesses sell for?
Published broker ranges: about 2.3 to 2.9 times SDE for small shops, and about 4 to 8 times EBITDA as size grows, with the platform tier above that. Recurring share is the biggest single adjuster in both cases.
Should I value my company on SDE or EBITDA?
If the company needs you daily, SDE, because the buyer is also buying your job. If a manager runs it and the P&L pays market salaries, EBITDA. Same company, two honest numbers, and the EBITDA path usually prices higher, which is an argument for building the management layer.
Does recurring revenue really change the price?
It is the price. Dan Gordon, CPA, names the recurring ratio a top valuation KPI in PCT Magazine, and deal behavior matches: a dollar that returns on its own carries a multiple, a dollar you must resell is worth about a dollar.
How do I increase my pest control company's value before selling?
Push recurring share toward 80 percent and past it, cut the cancel leak since churn is the first thing diligence models, and clean the book so your ARR survives scrutiny with pending cancels, dormant accounts, and aged balances already excluded. Multiples reward companies that did this years before the sale.
Know your real book before a buyer does
Buyers reprice a padded book in the first week of diligence. PestMetrics computes honest ARR from your FieldRoutes data live, with pending cancels, dormant accounts, and aged balances excluded, gross and real side by side.
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