Painting Business Valuation Checklist (Australia)
A painting business valuation in Australia typically sits between 1.5x and 3x the seller's discretionary earnings (SDE) — but that range is almost meaningless without understanding what drives a deal to the top or bottom of it. This checklist gives you the framework to work out where a specific business sits, and why.
Most buyers treat painting businesses as interchangeable. They're not. A commercial painting business with four ongoing body corporate contracts and three qualified painters on the payroll is a fundamentally different asset from a residential one-man operation — even if they both show the same revenue line. Understanding how much a painting business is worth starts with the revenue quality, not the top line.
I saw an owner who had built up a solid reputation painting new home builds for two volume builders. He was doing $1.2M in revenue and showing $350K SDE. Looked great on paper. Closer inspection revealed both builders had changed procurement managers in the last 12 months and neither had a formal supply agreement — just a handshake arrangement with the previous owner. The business was worth significantly less than he thought.
This checklist is what I use when assessing any painting business acquisition. It covers all four phases: revenue and financial quality, operational assessment, licensing and compliance, and the final multiple calculation.
Before you run this checklist, read Module 4 of the Playbook — it covers the full valuation methodology, including how to normalise EBITDA for a trades business and how to apply multiples appropriately for the Australian market.
If you're also using the Painting Business Buyer Checklist, run this valuation checklist first — it determines your offer range before you go through the broader acquisition process.
What moves a painting business multiple up
The factors that push the multiple toward 3x:
- More than 40% of revenue from ongoing commercial contracts (body corporates, property managers, builders)
- Three or more qualified tradespeople working independently of the owner
- Revenue growth of 10% or more per year over three years
- Low customer concentration (no single client exceeding 20% of revenue)
- Owner not doing fieldwork — purely managing, quoting, and client relationships
What drags the multiple down
The factors that pull it toward 1.5x (or below):
- Owner does most of the work personally
- Residential one-off jobs dominate the revenue mix
- Seasonal revenue — dead in winter, swamped in summer
- Equipment is old and maintenance records are sparse
- The business has one key commercial relationship that could walk
The EBITDA Normalisation Checklist is the companion resource for working through the financial side of this assessment.
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