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A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
Electricians, plumbers, air conditioning technicians and fire protection firms from Wollongong CBD to Dapto: a business that services the same buildings each year is worth more than one winning an identical profit job by job.
A Wollongong trade contractor is valued on maintainable profit once the owner has been paid a fair wage for the tools and a second for managing the firm. That profit is capitalised at a rate that falls as the share of contracted servicing and statutory maintenance rises, and vehicles, plant and tools at resale value, less finance, set the floor.
The prompt often comes from outside. A larger competitor or facilities group offers for the service book, an apprentice who became the leading hand wants to buy in, or a son or daughter is ready to take over from a parent who has run the firm for decades. Other triggers include a partner leaving under the Partnership Act 1892 (NSW), a family law property settlement, a lender wanting a value before funding more vans, or a move from sole trader to company where the ATO expects market value.
The answer often surprises the owner. A plumbing business in Fairy Meadow or Albion Park Rail can pay its owner very well and still be worth little more than its vans and stock once that person stops working, because the income was really a wage. A valuation shows how much rests on maintenance contracts and licensed staff who would stay with a buyer, and how much walks out with the owner's hands and licence.
A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
The Income Approach leads. Servicing agreements and compliance maintenance return every year without being tendered again, and an income approach is the natural way to value a stream that recurs like that.
The method capitalises future maintainable earnings. Profit is first restated by charging the owner a market wage for hours on the tools and a separate allowance for office work, quoting and supervision. The remainder is divided by a capitalisation rate built from a risk-free base plus premiums for size, industry and the firm's own risks.
The mix of work sets most of the last premium. A firm servicing fire systems, air conditioning plant or switchboards across Wollongong CBD and North Wollongong buildings, or holding a facilities contract with a health or education site, can predict next year's revenue with some confidence, so its loading is low. A firm that lives on fit-out and new home tenders begins each year with nothing booked, and its loading is high even if profit is the same.
Sale prices for trades businesses of similar size, trade and mix of servicing and projects give a range to compare against. Fewer of these sales are visible than in retail or hospitality, so they support the conclusion instead of setting it.
Vans, plant, tools and stock at their sale value, less any finance owing, form the floor. Where the owner is the business and little work is contracted, the floor can be close to the entire value.
Challenges to a valuation mostly go after adjustments, so the report sets out each one with its reasoning. For Illawarra electrical, plumbing, air conditioning and fire protection firms they are usually:
Illawarra trades follow the building cycle without being tied to it. Housing growth in the western Illawarra keeps many electricians, plumbers and air conditioning installers busy for builders around Dapto, Albion Park Rail and Shellharbour, while commercial and industrial contractors base themselves in the Port Kembla, Unanderra and Dapto industrial areas. Steadier service income comes from Wollongong CBD offices, the hospitals, the university and the port and steelworks precinct, where compliance maintenance goes ahead whatever the economy does.
Who can buy the business depends on licensing. In New South Wales, building and trade work is licensed through NSW Fair Trading under the Home Building Act 1989 (NSW), with licences held by named individuals or companies, and electrical, plumbing and fire protection work carries its own licensing and certification requirements. Where the departing owner is the only qualified person, a buyer must bring their own, which narrows the field and lifts the rate. A firm whose staff hold their own licences, and whose company licence rests on a qualified person who is staying, is much easier to sell, and the comparable set reflects it.
New firms keep arriving. Construction, the ABS industry division that includes trade contractors, grew 3.4 per cent in business numbers nationally in 2025 to 2026 (Source: ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses, July 2022 to June 2026, released 18 August 2026). Easy entry keeps project margins thin, which explains much of why a contracted service book is valued so differently from tendered work.
We begin with the purpose, the standard of value, the valuation date and the information relied on, and we list anything requested that never arrived. The report then covers each approach considered, the method chosen, every adjustment with its reason, and how the results were weighted into a range, in language an owner or lawyer can follow.
An opponent tests that reasoning. A report that cannot explain why the earnings result was preferred, or why the conclusion sits at one point in the range, will not last long under cross-examination in the District Court of New South Wales sitting at Wollongong or the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Sydney, or against a second expert in a partnership dispute. Our reports follow APESB, APES 225 Valuation Services and are signed by a credentialed certified valuer who can explain and defend the opinion under questioning.
Which assumption would a reviewing expert attack first, and how would you reply? Without a ready answer, there is still work to do.
Choose an Indicative valuation to find out whether you own a saleable business or a well-paid job before planning your exit. It is for internal decision-making and is not written for third party reliance. Choose a Summary report for a sale, a partner buy-out or a finance application. Choose a Detailed report for a family law matter, a dispute between partners or shareholders, or anything a second expert will review.
Think about who will read it. A court, a lender, the ATO or another expert will expect to see the working, so the report must show more of it when any of them is involved.
For internal decision-making. Useful for testing an offer, setting an expectation before a negotiation, or deciding whether to go to market. It is not written for third party reliance.
Sets out the approaches applied, the normalisation adjustments made and the reasoning behind the conclusion. The usual choice for a sale, an ownership change or a finance application.
Applies and reconciles all relevant approaches in full. The level required where a court, the ATO, a lender or another expert will review the opinion.
Talk your situation through with a certified valuer before you commit to anything, at no cost.