Home & Field Services · Seller readiness
Selling a Cleaning Services business
Published · Reviewed by The Diligence Standard Team · Updated
Owners should prepare contract, labor and site-level profitability data and reduce the risk that key customer relationships are tied personally to them.
How the business works
Recurring contracts, labor efficiency, customer concentration and supervisor depth determine how transferable the cash flow really is.
Issues to resolve
- No site-level margin data
- Contracts and renewal dates are disorganized
- Labor records do not reconcile to service requirements
- Customer relationships are owner-held
- Pricing escalation clauses are weak
Evidence to request and reconcile
- Contract roster and renewal terms
- Customer-level revenue and gross margin
- Employee roster, payroll and turnover
- Site schedules and labor hours
- Insurance/claims history
- Customer retention history
Decision questions
- Which contracts are actually profitable after labor and supervision?
- How many accounts can cancel on short notice?
- Who owns the major customer relationships?
- What happens to margin if wages rise 5%?
- Is growth dependent on the owner selling every account?