How sellable is your tree service & arboriculture business? Score it in 60 seconds.

People also ask

• What makes a business “sellable” vs “not sellable”?

  A sellable business is one a competent buyer can operate without you. Five factors capture 80% of that: financial quality (reviewed or audited statements, not cash-basis), management depth (a GM or service manager running day-to-day), customer concentration (no single customer over 15% of revenue), legal cleanliness (documented processes, no pending litigation), and owner dependence (your work hours below 30/week is the transferability signal buyers underwrite). Businesses scoring 80+ typically go to market and sell within 12 months. Below 50 usually sit on the market or sell at meaningful discounts.
• Is the sellability score the same as a valuation?

  No — different questions. Valuation asks 'what is my business worth?' Sellability asks 'how transferable is it?' A high-EBITDA business with heavy owner dependence and one dominant customer might be highly profitable but low sellability — buyers will discount the valuation or require an earnout. A slightly-lower-EBITDA business with a documented team, diversified customers, and clean books usually gets a higher effective multiple. Run both tools: they answer different halves of the exit question.
• How accurate is the score?

  It's an initial diagnostic, not a formal appraisal. The engine uses the same rubric vetted brokers apply during pre-listing prep. The score itself is deterministic — the same inputs always produce the same result. What it can't see is qualitative signal (management-team quality, customer-relationship durability, regulatory risk in your niche). Use it to see where your gaps are, then let a broker validate against your actual books.
• The score says I'm not ready to sell. What should I do first?

  Look at the 'highest-return moves' panel — it's ranked by estimated dollar upside if closed. The top move for most sub-70 scores is either converting to CPA-reviewed financials (fixes financials AND legal-structure scoring simultaneously) or hiring/promoting a general manager (fixes management-depth AND owner-dependence). Both are 6-18 month plays with measurable multiple lift when you eventually go to market.
• Can I improve the score enough to sell in 12 months?

  For most owners in the 55-75 range, yes. The score moves 15-25 points in a year of focused prep — hire a GM, convert books to accrual and get a CPA review, diversify customer concentration, document your top 10 SOPs. Below 55, plan on 18-24 months. Above 75, you're likely already ready and the marginal returns to more prep are small compared to going to market with a specialist broker.