Business Value Report
Maple Crest Heating & Cooling
HVAC service & tune-ups · Mississauga, ON
Sep 15, 2026
Prepared for your business, from your own numbers, as of today's date.
This is a dated snapshot, not a permanent verdict. Every number inside it moves when the business changes, so the date on the cover is part of the evidence. When a buyer or a lender asks for your valuation, they want a recent one prepared on a stated basis ~ this is that document.
Since your last report
What has changed since your last report
The work that landed, and what it did to the number.
Value is a reading you take repeatedly, not once. A buyer pays more for a business that is visibly improving, because a rising line tells them they are inheriting momentum instead of a repair job. This section is also your own scorecard: if the work is not moving the number, the plan is wrong and it is cheaper to find that out now.
The valuation held flat since the last benchmark.
What it's worth
What your business is worth today
A most-likely price, and the honest range a sale could land inside.
This is what a willing buyer could reasonably pay right now, based on what the business earns and what similar businesses have actually sold for. It sets the frame for every conversation that follows: a lender sizes a loan against it, a buyer opens near the bottom of the range, and an owner who does not know it cannot tell a fair offer from a cheap one. Everything else in this report either explains this number or shows you how to raise it.
+3% over today's value
That gap is the Lift ~ $200,939 in resale value within reach. The exact moves that get you there are below.
A sale could reasonably land anywhere inside this range.
3.52×
0.92×
published sale data
Three straight years of statements are on file, which is what holds this range at about 30% either side instead of 30%.
An early estimate ~ the sale data behind the multiple is thin, or more than one confidence gap is still open. The range tightens as those close.
Track record
The years of numbers, side by side
Sales, profit and cash for each year on file, so a buyer sees direction, not a snapshot.
A buyer pays for a pattern, not for one good year. Three years that climb together prove the business can repeat itself, and that is what turns a story into a price. A lender will not quote on less. Each year you can put on the table takes a discount off the table, because every year of history you cannot show is a year the buyer assumes was worse than the one you did show.
sales growth a year, averaged
profit margin, FY2023 to FY2025
sales went up on the year before
Sales by year
$6.12M ~ $7.41M
Across 3 straight years, the profit margin moved 2.0 points and sales growth moved 12.3 points.
| FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | $6,120,000 | $6,870,000 | $7,410,000 | +21% |
| Gross profit | $2,690,000 | $3,060,000 | $3,330,000 | +24% |
| Profit before interest and tax | $1,210,000 | $1,440,000 | $1,615,685 | +34% |
| Profit margin | 19.8% | 21.0% | 21.8% | +2.0 pts |
| Cash at year end | $410,000 | $520,000 | $640,000 | +56% |
Where the trend points
If nothing changes, this business is worth more every year.
Keep going the way things are and the business is worth about $6.88M this time next year, and about $9.05M in five.
A buyer is buying the next five years, not the last three. Showing where the trend points, with an honest band around it, is what turns history into an asking price. The growth rate here slows as the business gets bigger, because that is what actually happens, and the margin and the multiple are held exactly where they are today ~ so this is the trend alone, with none of the plan's upside counted twice.
worth this time next year · FY2026 · $6.06M ~ $7.71M
$6.32M
FY2025 · the printed valuation
$9.05M
FY2030 · $6.52M ~ $11.59M
Worth ~ on file, then where it points
Solid is filed. Dashed is drawn. The shade is how far either side it could land.
10.0% a year
21.8%
3.91×
3 years on file · FY2023 to FY2025
The three horizons
One year, three years, five years out.
$6.88M
$6.06M ~ $7.71M
- Sales
- $8,063,665
- Profit
- $1,758,211
- Growth that year
- 8.8%
$8.01M
$6.41M ~ $9.61M
- Sales
- $9,383,533
- Profit
- $2,045,996
- Growth that year
- 7.7%
$9.05M
$6.52M ~ $11.59M
- Sales
- $10,604,949
- Profit
- $2,312,315
- Growth that year
- 5.2%
Right and wrong
What could go right, and what could go wrong.
The forecast is only as good as the things underneath it. These are the ones that matter.
Working in your favour
- Every year was up on the one beforeSales rose in each of the 3 years on file ~ a buyer reads that as a trend, not a good year.
- Margin is wideningProfit margin went from 19.8% to 21.8%. More of every sale is sticking.
- Debt is covered every yearProfit cleared the lender's coverage bar in all 3 years on file, so growth is not borrowing-limited.
- Three filed years tighten the rangeThree statement-backed years in a row is what lets the valuation range narrow instead of hedge.
Things to watch
- Sales swing year to yearWATCHGrowth moved 12% between the best and worst year. A buyer discounts a line that jumps around.
- Growth slows as the business gets biggerWATCH10.0% today, held to 5.2% by year five. Each year adds more dollars at a lower rate ~ a bigger business cannot grow at a small one's pace.
- Everything here assumes today's margin and multiple holdWATCHOne point of margin is worth $316K of next year's worth. That is the lever to protect.
The levers
What moves next year's number.
Three things decide the worth line. Here is what one notch on each is worth, up or down.
± $316K
on next year's worth
Today 21.8%. Price, labour and cost of goods all land here.
± $63K
on next year's worth
Today 10.0% a year. Every new customer kept is a point of this.
± $440K
on next year's worth
Today 3.91×. Risk, records and how little the owner is needed.
How it is drawn
A trend, not a promise.
Drawn from 3 years on file, growing 10.0% a year, starting from FY2025. Growth is slowed each year as the business gets bigger, and the profit margin and the multiple are held where they are today. The pace is also held near what this industry itself is growing at.
Not a budget. It moves the moment a new year lands, and nothing from the plan is counted in it ~ every move on the plan lands on top of this line.
The earnings
The earnings a buyer will actually pay for
Your profit as the books report it, plus the owner costs a new owner would not carry.
Nobody prices your tax-return profit. Buyers and banks price what the business truly earns once one-time costs and the owner's personal expenses are added back, because that is the figure the multiple gets applied to. A single dollar added back and documented here is worth several dollars of sale price once multiplied. A dollar you claim but cannot prove gets stripped out during diligence, usually after you have already agreed a price. Clean, receipted add-backs are the cheapest price increase available to you.
The value is built on this business's operating earnings.
The multiple is applied to this number.
The multiple
The multiple applied to your earnings, and why
Comparable sales set the range. Your own strengths and gaps decide where inside it you land.
Sale price is earnings times a multiple, so a small move in the multiple is a large move in the price. Buyers do not hand out the top of the range; they pay it for businesses that run without the owner, keep their customers, and produce records a lender can verify. Every gap listed in this section is a discount you are currently accepting. Close it and the multiple moves up permanently, on the same earnings.
Multiples drawn from published sale data. The data behind this band is thin ~ treat the band as a rough guide.
Financing
Could a buyer actually get a loan at this price?
The financing test a bank runs before it funds a sale of this business.
Almost every buyer of a business this size puts some cash down and borrows the rest. Before the bank lends, it checks one thing: does the business earn enough to cover the loan payment and still pay its operating costs and pay the new owner a living. That margin is what coverage means here. When the numbers clear comfortably, more buyers can afford you, the price holds, and you walk away with cash at closing. When they are tight, the deal only closes if you drop the price, if the buyer puts more of their own money in, or if you carry a note and stay exposed to the business for years after you leave. Strong earnings and clean unit economics are what turn a number on a page into a deal that can actually close, and they attract the serious buyers rather than the bargain hunters.
At the most-likely value, the earnings comfortably cover the loan a typical buyer would need ~ this is a price a deal can close at.
This check sizes a new buyer's purchase loan at the value above. How the business carries its own current debt is a separate read ~ that grade lives in the lender readiness section.
$921,656
$757,029
1.82×
Business Score
One score for the whole business
Every scan that has run, rolled into a single reading out of 100.
Buyers and lenders triage opportunities quickly, and a single composite is how they decide whether to look closer or move on. A high score does not sell the business by itself, but a low one puts you in the pile that gets a discounted offer or no offer at all. Read it as a tracker rather than a grade: the components underneath show which part is holding the number down, and that is the part worth fixing first.
Business Score · out of 100 · weighted across every scan that has run
Unit Economics
Report card on how the money works
Grades on your profit, your cash, and your labour. A is strong; D needs work.
A business can be busy and still be a poor buy. These grades answer the three questions a buyer has about the engine: does revenue turn into profit, does profit turn into cash in the bank, and is the wage bill under control. Those decide whether they can run it without a cash crisis in the first year. Weak grades get priced in twice ~ once as a lower multiple, and again as a buyer who wants more of the price held back until the business proves itself.
strong
healthy
strong
payroll is 9% of sales (typical is about 40%)
$3,330,000
$1,615,685
$1,406,201
FY2025
Risk Profile
What could knock the business over
Where a shock would hit hardest, and how exposed you are to it today.
A price is a bet on the future, so buyers pay less for anything that could break. One customer who is a large share of sales, one key employee who holds the relationships, one supplier, one lease coming up for renewal ~ each is a reason to cut the offer or to insist you stay on after the sale. Every exposure you close before going to market takes a negotiating lever out of the buyer's hand and a real discount off the table.
Resilience score · out of 100 · higher holds up better when costs or sales move
Baseline shock exposure 45%.
Baseline shock exposure 35%.
Baseline shock exposure 35%.
Baseline shock exposure 35%.
Baseline shock exposure 30%.
Steady across 3 straight years
Across 3 straight years, profit margin moved 2.0 points and sales growth moved 12.3 points ~ that is a steady book, and a buyer or lender pays for steady
No safeguards have been started yet ~ the moves below are where to begin.
Lender readiness
How a bank reads your books
Your credit grade, the six numbers behind it, and the odds an SBA loan gets approved.
Your buyer's financing is your problem, because a deal that cannot be funded does not close. Banks check the same handful of ratios every time, and this is your scorecard against their targets. Good numbers here widen the pool of buyers who can afford you, shorten the time to close, and keep more of the price in cash at closing instead of in a note you carry for years. Poor numbers mean cash buyers only, and cash buyers expect a discount for the privilege.
Exceptional. Banks will compete for this ~ expect their best rates and terms.
A
- DSCR (debt coverage)Value13.46×
- FCCR (fixed charges)Value10.87×
- Debt-to-equityValue0.68×
- Liquidity (burn-adj)Value2.40×
- Operating marginValue24.2%
- LTV coverageValue80%
| FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Times over its debt payments | 1.60x | 1.80x | 2.10x |
3 years on file, every measured year clears 1.25
Value not yet captured
The value you have not captured yet
A dollar figure, defended line by line. Not a score out of 100.
This is the gap between what the business is worth today and what it would be worth with the gaps in this report closed. It is the most useful number in the document, because it is the part you control. Buyers will not pay you for potential they have to create themselves; they pay for results already sitting in the numbers. Capturing this before you go to market is how the same business sells for a materially higher price to the same buyer.
Identified across 9 value drivers · about a 3% lift on today's value
Where it comes from ~ measured lift per driver. Open one for what a buyer reads into it and what actually moves it.
Recurring Revenue+$49KHow much of the revenue is repeat or contracted, not one-off sales. Open for what moves it.
Revenue that arrives whether or not you sell again is worth far more than revenue you have to win from scratch every month. Buyers and lenders pay a premium for income they can count on.
- Put a maintenance or service plan in front of every customer
- Move one-off customers onto an annual agreement with scheduled visits
- Bill monthly instead of per-job wherever the work is ongoing
- Track what share of revenue is contracted, and grow that share on purpose
Closing this gap is measured at $49,353 of value.
Transferability+$49KHow easily a new owner could step in and run the business. Open for what moves it.
A new owner has to be able to step in and run this. The more the business lives in systems, contracts and trained people rather than in one person's habits, the easier it transfers ~ and the more it is worth.
- Keep contracts, leases, licences and warranties organised in one place
- Make sure key accounts and contracts are in the business's name and can be assigned
- Put the processes in writing so a newcomer could follow them
- Run on software a buyer already knows ~ standard accounting, scheduling and CRM
Closing this gap is measured at $49,353 of value.
Owner Dependence+$26KHow much of the day-to-day still runs through the owner personally. Open for what moves it.
A buyer is purchasing a business that keeps running after you walk away. When the quoting, the key relationships and the problem-solving all run through you personally, what they are really buying is your job ~ and they pay far less for that.
- Write down how the work gets done ~ standard operating procedures for quoting, scheduling and the jobs themselves
- Cross-train the team so no task has only one person who can do it
- Keep customers, suppliers and contacts in a CRM or shared database, not in your head or your phone
- Hand one responsibility a month to someone else and let them own it
- Take two weeks off and see what breaks, then fix that
Closing this gap is measured at $26,439 of value.
Financial Performance+$19KHow healthy the numbers are today ~ margins, profit, and steady earnings. Open for what moves it.
Buyers pay a multiple of your earnings, so the cleaner and steadier the profit, the higher the price. Books a buyer cannot follow get treated as a risk, and risk gets discounted.
- Reconcile the books every month instead of once a year at tax time
- Keep personal spending out of the business so the real profit shows
- Have three years of statements and filed returns ready to hand over
- Track margin by service so you can see which work actually pays
Closing this gap is measured at $19,389 of value.
Single Points of Failure+$19KHow exposed the business is to losing any one customer, employee, or supplier. Open for what moves it.
If one customer, one employee or one supplier could walk out with a big piece of the business, the buyer prices that risk in. Spread the exposure and the discount goes away.
- Keep any single customer under roughly 10~15% of revenue
- Approve a second supplier for anything you cannot operate without
- Document and cross-train any role only one person can do
- Get your biggest customers onto written agreements instead of handshakes
Closing this gap is measured at $19,389 of value.
Competitive Moat+$14KHow much the business stands out from competitors nearby. Open for what moves it.
If a customer can get the same thing down the road for less, you compete on price forever. Something competitors cannot easily copy lets you hold your pricing, and that lands straight in the multiple.
- Name the one thing you do that nobody nearby does, and put it in front of customers
- Lock in what is yours ~ brand, territory, exclusive supplier or dealer agreements
- Build proof a competitor cannot borrow: reviews, certifications, guarantees, response times
- Serve a niche deeply rather than everyone shallowly
Closing this gap is measured at $14,101 of value.
Growth Potential+$14KHow much room there is to grow revenue from here. Open for what moves it.
Buyers pay for the next five years, not the last five. A credible runway ~ services you have not launched, areas you have not covered, demand you are turning away ~ raises what they will pay today.
- Write down the next two services or territories and what each would add
- Log the work you turn away ~ it is the cheapest growth evidence you have
- Show that marketing brings customers in predictably, with the cost per customer
- Make sure people, equipment and capacity can carry the growth you are claiming
Closing this gap is measured at $14,101 of value.
Customer Satisfaction+$5KHow happy customers are and how likely they are to stick around. Open for what moves it.
Happy customers come back, refer, and cost nothing to win twice. A buyer reads your reviews and your repeat rate as the clearest evidence the revenue will still be there next year.
- Ask for a review at the end of every finished job, and make it one tap
- Answer every review, especially the bad ones, and fix what caused them
- Follow up a week after the work ~ it catches problems before they become reviews
- Measure your repeat and referral rate and watch the trend
Closing this gap is measured at $5,288 of value.
Cash-flow Strength+$4KHow steady and predictable the cash coming in and going out is. Open for what moves it.
Profit on paper is not cash in the bank. A business that collects fast, pays on sensible terms and never needs the owner's own money is far less risky to own, and lenders fund it on better terms.
- Invoice the day the job finishes, not at the end of the month
- Take deposits or progress payments on larger jobs
- Chase receivables on a schedule, before they age past 60 days
- Negotiate supplier terms so you are not funding the work out of pocket
- Hold enough cash to cover a slow month without borrowing
Closing this gap is measured at $3,525 of value.
Raising prices toward the local going rate could put about $179,626 more per year in your client's pocket, based on the monthly job counts in the uploaded price book.
Unmet customer demand nearbymore…
Customers nearby are asking for things competitors handle poorly ~ the Whitespace Opportunity results show where this business could step in.
How you compare
How you compare to similar businesses
The drivers buyers actually price. The marker on each bar is the typical business like yours.
A buyer is always comparing you to the next business on their list, and they pay above the typical price only where you are visibly above the typical business. Anywhere you sit below the peer marker, expect it raised in negotiation as a reason to pay less. Each of these is measured and fixable, which makes the peer line a target list rather than a verdict.
Market Structure
The market you operate in
How big it is, how fast it is growing, how crowded it is, and whether demand holds steady.
A buyer is purchasing the next ten years, not last year. A growing market with room left in it supports a higher multiple, because the buyer can see a path to growth that does not depend on them being exceptional. A shrinking or crowded one does the reverse. You cannot change your market, but you can choose when to sell into it, and you can put the tailwinds in front of a buyer instead of letting them find only the headwinds.
The hvac market reads as solid ~ 53 of 100 on the four things that make a market worth building in. The industry is growing about 6% a year nationally. Nearby, that adds up to roughly $15M a year of regional spending. 3 of the 4 market reads work in the business's favor.
6% a year, nationally
$15M a year
- The industry is growing ~ about 6% a year nationally.
- The field is open ~ no small group of big players has the market locked up.
- Demand holds steady through good times and bad.
- The local spending pool is modest ~ roughly $15M a year of regional spending.
Location Quality
How much your location helps or hurts
Who lives nearby, how much activity passes the door, and how easy you are to reach.
For a business that depends on where it sits, the address is part of what is being sold. A buyer checks whether the people around you match who you serve, because that tells them how much of your revenue repeats on its own versus how much comes from your personal hustle. A strong read supports the price and makes the lease a selling point. A weak one becomes the argument that revenue fades once you leave.
Whether the people around the address match who this business serves.
How much day-to-day activity passes the door.
Nearby draws (parks, grocers, clinics) that bring the right visitors close.
Crossings and signals that make the address simple to get to.
62 within 2 mi
883 within a mile
Where the data came from
Where these numbers came from
How much data is behind the report, what it was drawn from, and what is still missing.
Buyers discount numbers they cannot verify. Figures backed by statements across a longer period get taken at face value; hand-entered figures get a haircut, or get re-priced in diligence after the handshake. Everything listed as missing is a live discount on your value right now, and most of those items are a short piece of paperwork away from being closed.
12
Uploaded financial statements
published sale data
No mismatch was flagged on this run.
Value trend, last 6 reports
$6.28M ~ $6.32M
- The books aren't professionally kept yetThe operator fixes this in their plan ~ "Engage a bookkeeper" under boost my value.
- Bank statements aren't on hand to check the numbersThis clears when the operator uploads monthly bank statements ~ the "Upload your statements" move under boost my value.
- Sale data for businesses like this is thinNo operator action ~ this reflects the published sale data for businesses like this, not something the operator did.
- The earnings-based value and the sales-based value disagree, so the range is widerNo operator action ~ this reflects the published sale data for businesses like this, not something the operator did.
Filling these in makes the numbers stronger ~ and easier to defend to a buyer.
Your pricing
How your prices compare to local rates
What you charge for each service, against what the market nearby charges for the same work.
Price is the fastest lever on value. A raise flows almost entirely into profit, and profit gets multiplied at sale, so a modest increase held for a year shows up as a much larger number on the cover of this report. Any service priced under the local rate is money being left with customers already willing to pay more. A buyer spots that immediately, raises the price after closing, and keeps the gain. Better to take it now and get paid a multiple on it.
Overall, this business's prices sit below the local going rate.
Each marked rate is the local going rate for that specific service, taken from nearby competitors' published prices. Services without enough published local prices carry no marker ~ a missing rate is honest, never estimated.
Ready to sell?
How ready you are to sell
One readiness score, and the questions a buyer will ask before they make an offer.
Readiness is a separate thing from value. A valuable business that cannot produce clean records, a management structure, or straight answers stalls in diligence, and stalled deals either die or get re-traded at a lower price. Every question listed here will be asked. Having a calm, documented answer ready for each one is the difference between a smooth closing and a discount.
- How are the books kept, and who keeps them?A strong answer sounds like ~ “A bookkeeper keeps the books in accounting software and closes them every month ~ here are the recent monthly closes.”
- Can you show that the money arriving in the bank matches the sales you report?A strong answer sounds like ~ “Here are the bank statements next to the books ~ every month's deposits match the sales we reported, and they're reconciled monthly.”
- How does this asking price compare with sales of similar businesses?A strong answer sounds like ~ “The asking price sits inside the range businesses like this actually sell for ~ here's the published sale data behind it.”
- The earnings say one value and comparable sales say another ~ which one should a buyer trust?A strong answer sounds like ~ “The asking price is anchored to what businesses like this actually sell for ~ the earnings support it, and here's the published sale data behind the number.”
Have a calm answer ready for each one before the business goes to market.
The opportunity
The moves that grow the number
Ranked by payoff against effort, worked out from your own numbers.
Value follows earnings, so the quickest route to a higher price is to raise what the business earns and then show it held. These moves are ranked so the effort goes where the return is rather than where the noise is. A buyer pays for a track record of improvement, not a list of intentions ~ do these, and the numbers make the argument for you.
Your top 5 money moves could put about CA$856,549 more in your pocket this year, and add roughly CA$3,015,052 to what your business is worth. Start with "Optimize your Google Business Profile".
Could put about CA$116,550 more in your pocket each year, and add roughly CA$410,256 to what your business is worth if you sold it. Prioritized now because winning new customers is expensive right now, so free visibility on Google is your best bet.
start today · quick win · critical priority
Could put about CA$183,150 more in your pocket each year, and add roughly CA$644,688 to what your business is worth if you sold it. Prioritized now because referrals are the cheapest way to get new customers.
this week · critical priority
A foundational enabler that unlocks higher-value moves.
this month · critical priority
A foundational enabler that unlocks higher-value moves.
this month · critical priority
Could put about CA$203,500 more in your pocket each year, and add roughly CA$716,320 to what your business is worth if you sold it.
this month · critical priority
12
12
Each figure is that move's own mid-case estimate from this business's numbers. Moves overlap, so they don't simply add up ~ the deduped total is the one in the lift section.
Your next move
Your next 90 days
The highest-impact work first, in the order to do it.
Everything above only becomes money when something gets done. Ninety days is long enough to move a real number and short enough to stay honest about whether you did. Work the list in order and the next version of this report shows the gain, which is the only evidence a buyer or a bank actually responds to.
Document SDE add-backs for CIM defensibility
Financial Performance · about 2 weeks
Run a goal-setting workshop; write quarterly goals per person
Owner Dependence · about 2 weeks
Formalize informal coverage into written SOPs
Owner Dependence · about 3 weeks
Write job scorecards for every role
Owner Dependence · about 4 weeks
Monitor concentration quarterly
Single Points of Failure · about 1 week
The fine print
About this report
What was used to build it, who prepared it, and what it is not.
A buyer's advisor, a lender, or an accountant looks for this frame before taking any of the numbers seriously. It states the basis of value, the purpose and scope, where the data came from, and the limits that apply. That frame is what separates a professional document from a screenshot of a free online estimate, and it is why this report can be handed to a bank.
Fair market value ~ what a willing buyer and willing seller would agree on, neither under pressure, both knowing the facts.
Planning, benchmarking, and lifting the business value. This is a broker-style opinion of value, not a certified appraisal ~ lenders and courts may require one of those.
Michael Mallette · SharePop Studio
Sep 15, 2026
Operating earnings (EBITDA) with a manager's pay left in the costs.
published sale data
- The figures rest on the financial data provided ~ if the inputs change, the value changes.
- The range matters more than any single number; real sales land across it, and businesses typically close below their asking price.
- Comparable-sale data describes markets, not this exact business ~ the adjustments above say how this one differs.
- A value on paper only becomes money when the business can be handed over ~ the readiness and action sections are part of the valuation story, not an appendix to it.
Maple Crest Heating & Cooling is an example. The business and every figure above are invented for this sample.
Run one on a real client today.
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