What Is My Commercial Cleaning Company Worth? Commercial Cleaning Valuation Multiples in 2026

Buyers value a commercial cleaning company as a multiple of its earnings. Which earnings figure they use depends on how big the company is and who is buying it. While the owner still runs the business, buyers price it on seller discretionary earnings (SDE). Once a hired manager runs it, they price it on EBITDA.

• SDE = net profit + one owner's full compensation + documented add-backs. It measures what one owner-operator takes home. See what counts in SDE.
• EBITDA = SDE minus a market-rate salary for the general manager who replaces you. It measures what an investor earns without working in the business.

Each number has its own multiple, and you cannot swap them. If you apply an SDE multiple to EBITDA, you undervalue the company. If you apply an EBITDA multiple to SDE, you overstate it by the cost of the manager.

The platforms are actively buying. Rainier Partners acquired Kleen-Tech Services in September 2025 and is looking for janitorial add-ons. O2 Investment Partners has made 16 acquisitions through 4M Building Solutions since January 2023. If your company earns less than $1M of EBITDA, these groups are not your buyers. Your buyers are individual owner-operators and search funds, and their lenders put a ceiling on the price. For the full breakdown, see who buys commercial cleaning companies.

That lender ceiling works as a second way of pricing your company. Under SBA SOP 50 10 8.1, when the business purchase price is above $350,000, the buyer's lender must order an independent valuation from a Qualified Source, meaning an appraiser with an ASA, CBA, ABV, CVA, or BCA credential. Total acquisition debt cannot exceed that valuation. Under the SBA rules, any price above the appraised value has to be covered by buyer equity or by seller debt on full standby.

BizBuySell data on 797 cleaning and janitorial businesses sold from 2021 to 2025 shows those priced on SDE selling for 1.57x to 2.66x SDE, with a 2.07x median. The larger tiers are priced on EBITDA, and those figures are estimates rather than closed-deal data.

Each row comes from a different kind of source. The SDE row counts closed deals. The EBITDA rows are one sell-side advisor's published estimates, and the 12.8x top of market rests on one acquisition that the advisor calls a strategic ceiling.

Here is what else the sold-business data shows. The middle half of companies had $81,740 to $232,721 of SDE. Median revenue was $433,327 and median SDE was $136,326. The median sale price was $260,000 across the period and $325,000 in 2025 alone. The category also includes residential cleaning. A commercial company with 70%+ of revenue under written contracts has the profile that moves it toward the top of the SDE range.

Moving from 2.66x SDE to 3.5x EBITDA does not mean your company gets more money for free. EBITDA is smaller than SDE by the cost of a general manager, so the higher multiple applies to a smaller number. Your company qualifies for EBITDA pricing when a manager and site leads already run it and its earnings reach the $1M of EBITDA where PE-backed platforms start buying add-ons.

Buyers pay a higher multiple for revenue that is under contract, keeps renewing, is spread across many customers, and does not depend on you. They pay less when one customer is too large, staff turnover is high, or you personally hold the key accounts.

What buyers pay up for

• 70%+ of revenue under written commercial contracts with 12+ months remaining
• 90%+ annual retention on contracted accounts
• Contract terms of 12 to 36 months, with 30 to 60 day cancellation and annual CPI or 3% escalators
• Concentration in healthcare or Class A office accounts
• No customer above 12 to 15% of revenue
• 80%+ of staff retained for 12 months, with a site lead on each major account
• An owner who is not the main contact for renewals

What buyers discount

One sell-side advisor estimates these discounts, in turns of multiple:

Owner-held renewals carry the largest estimated discount on the list, and you can fix them. Move each major account's relationship to a site lead or account manager. Have that person run the next renewal cycle while you stay out of the room.

Assignment language matters if you sell assets rather than stock, because every customer contract then has to move from your entity to the buyer's. A month-to-month account with no assignment clause can simply put the work out to bid again once ownership changes.

What diligence checks

No state trade license is required for janitorial services, so there is no trade license to transfer at closing. Instead, diligence looks at business licenses, insurance certificates, workers' compensation records, I-9 documentation, and bonding. Healthcare clients add background-check policies and SDS records. Any buyer who pays a premium for your healthcare accounts will ask to see both. The same advisor estimates name W-2 vs 1099 misclassification and cash-basis books as triggers for re-cut earnings and escrow holdbacks. Both problems also make it harder for an SBA lender to verify cash flow.

Fix owner-held renewals, month-to-month accounts, and 1099 crews before any buyer sees the company, because each one surfaces in diligence after the LOI and gets repriced there.

Using the 1.57x to 2.66x SDE range from the sold-business data, a commercial cleaning company with $400,000 of SDE is worth $628,000 to $1,064,000. At the 2.07x median it is worth $828,000. This example is priced on SDE.

This company earns more than the $232,721 upper-quartile SDE in the sold-business data, and it falls inside the $200K to $1M SDE range where individual owner-operators buy. Written contracts with 12+ months remaining and no customer above 12 to 15% of revenue support pricing at the upper quartile. If you personally hold every renewal, buyers will price toward the lower quartile. Each of the $50,000 in add-backs needs documentation, because the buyer's lender and appraiser will test them line by line.

Every price in this table is above $350,000. That means the buyer's SBA lender must order an independent Qualified Source valuation, and the SBA loan plus any seller debt not on full standby cannot exceed it. SOP 50 10 8.1 also requires at least 1.25x debt service coverage for an Initial Acquisition. Coverage is EBITDA divided by debt service after closing, measured on historical results: the last fiscal year or a two-year average. Projections cannot be used to meet it. The lower 1.15x applies only to a Business Expansion, where an existing business buys another in the same industry group. Enter your asking price in the SBA 7(a) loan calculator to see whether a buyer's payment clears that floor.

The EBITDA market: a company with $1,600,000 of EBITDA

The second company has $6,000,000 of revenue and $1,600,000 of EBITDA after paying a $150,000 general manager. It is priced on EBITDA, using one advisor's estimates. Its SDE multiple does not apply.

At $1,600,000 of EBITDA, this company matches both the $1M to $3M profile behind the 5.5x estimate and the $1M to $8M add-on range that PE-backed platforms buy. Every price in the table is above the $5,000,000 maximum for an SBA 7(a) loan. An SBA-financed Initial Acquisition at a business purchase price of $3,000,000 or more also requires a quality of earnings report. Suppose that review finds deferred equipment replacement or worn vehicles. The cost comes off the purchase price after the multiple is applied, not off EBITDA, because only recurring operating costs change EBITDA itself.

A commercial cleaning sale pays you cash at closing, often combined with a seller note, an earnout, or an escrow holdback. PE buyers may also ask you to roll over part of your equity. Which of these appear depends on the size of your company and how the buyer finances the deal.

Cash at closing

In an SBA-financed sale, cash at closing comes from the buyer's 7(a) loan plus the buyer's equity. The loan can be up to $5,000,000, and the acquisition portion is amortized over no more than 10 years. When ownership changes completely, the SBA requires equity of 10% of total project cost. Up to half of that can be a seller note on full standby, so a common structure is 5% buyer cash plus a 5% standby seller note.

Seller notes

A note on full standby pays you nothing, neither principal nor interest, for the entire term of the 7(a) loan. It is documented on SBA Form 155. Interest can accrue and be added to the balance, which is paid after the SBA loan is repaid. The note stays on standby for the life of that loan. In return, it is left out of debt service in the 1.25x coverage test and does not count against the valuation cap. A seller note that pays you during the loan works differently. It adds to debt service, and an interest-only note is treated as amortizing over no more than 10 years for the test. It also counts toward total acquisition debt, which cannot exceed the appraised value.

Earnouts and holdbacks

An earnout ties part of your price to results after closing. In cleaning, the natural measure is whether contracted accounts are retained. An earnout makes sense when your largest account is due for renewal soon or when renewals still run through you. Escrow holdbacks cover specific problems found in diligence, and advisor estimates list W-2 vs 1099 misclassification as one trigger.

Rollover equity

A PE-backed platform buying an add-on with $1M to $8M of EBITDA may ask you to roll part of your proceeds into equity in the platform. You take less cash at closing and own a stake in a larger company that its sponsor, such as Littlejohn & Co. or Cerberus Capital Management, will eventually sell. Treat the rolled stake as an illiquid investment. Decide whether the cash at closing alone is a price you would accept.

Munera runs sell-side processes without a public listing. Your company is shared only with vetted buyers who have signed an NDA, through a blind profile until each buyer qualifies. Munera's stated timeline is 3 to 6 months from decision to signed LOI and 60 to 90 days from LOI to close, depending on financing and diligence.