If you own an electrical business and have started thinking about selling, the first question on your mind is almost certainly: what is it actually worth?
The honest answer is that it depends on several factors specific to your business. But electrical business owners in 2026 are selling into a market shaped by infrastructure investment and active buyer demand from groups owned by private equity firms (investment firms that buy companies to grow and sell on) that are buying up firms across the trade.
How Electrical Businesses Are Valued
Most electrical businesses are valued using a multiple of adjusted net profit: that yearly profit figure times an agreed number. The profit used is EBITDA, profit before interest, tax, and the write-down of equipment, vehicles and other assets, or Seller's Discretionary Earnings. This takes your reported profit, adds back owner benefits, one-off expenses, and non-recurring costs, then applies a sector-appropriate multiple.
Where your multiple falls depends on the quality and predictability of your revenue, the strength of your registrations, and the operational maturity of the business. Specialist firms with strong testing and inspection revenue and public sector frameworks typically sit at the higher end.
What Pushes Your Valuation Higher
NICEIC and NAPIT Registration
NICEIC Approved Contractor status and NAPIT registration are competent person scheme registrations that represent years of investment in quality systems, trained personnel, and regular third-party assessment. Buyers expect to see one in place, and they know that achieving and maintaining it takes time and cannot be replicated quickly.
Testing and Inspection Revenue
This is one of the most important factors in electrical business valuations. Businesses that derive much of their revenue from recurring testing, inspection and maintenance contracts command significantly higher multiples than project-only firms. EICR testing programmes, fixed wiring inspection schedules, PAT testing contracts, and emergency lighting maintenance all create predictable, compliance-driven revenue that buyers value highly.
An electrical business with strong recurring testing revenue will typically command a higher EBITDA multiple than a comparable business reliant on installation projects alone.
Public Sector Framework Agreements
Framework agreements with local authorities, NHS trusts, housing associations, and government departments are valuable. Electrical contractors with established positions on these frameworks can bid for public sector work over multi-year periods, although a place on a framework does not guarantee work. Buyers actively seek businesses on frameworks because they are difficult and time-consuming to win from scratch.
Engineer Qualifications and Retention
Qualified electricians are in short supply across the UK. If your team is stable, well-qualified (holding current 18th Edition BS 7671 certificates, JIB grading, and ECS cards), and likely to stay post-acquisition, that significantly de-risks the deal for a buyer. High staff turnover or heavy reliance on subcontractors will reduce your valuation because the buyer inherits delivery risk.
Client Diversification
If no single client accounts for a large share of your revenue, buyers see the business as well-diversified. Buyers evaluate concentration risk: what happens if your largest client leaves after the sale? A business with a broad spread of testing contracts across multiple sectors is more resilient than one dependent on a few large installation projects.
What Can Reduce Your Valuation
- Reliance on you. If the business relies on you personally for client relationships, technical sign-offs, or day-to-day management, buyers see transition risk. The more the business operates without you, the higher it values
- Low testing/inspection proportion. Businesses that rely primarily on one-off installation projects carry more revenue risk and will sit at the lower end of the valuation range
- Pending compliance issues. Outstanding enforcement actions, overdue registration renewals, or gaps in Part P compliance records will concern buyers and may stall a deal
- Ageing assets. A vehicle fleet or testing equipment approaching end of life represents near-term capital expenditure that reduces your effective valuation
- No formal registrations. Businesses operating without NICEIC, NAPIT, or equivalent competent person scheme registration face a significantly smaller buyer pool
The Buyer Landscape in 2026
Private equity has been active in the electrical and building services sector. Investors that have backed platforms include:
- Duke Street (backing Suir Engineering)
- Magnesium Capital (ABEC)
Trade buyers, meaning larger electrical firms looking to expand geographically or add testing and inspection capabilities, are also competing for acquisitions. When multiple qualified buyers are interested in your business, the price naturally moves upward.
How to Find Out What Your Business Is Worth
The only way to get an accurate valuation is to have your business assessed by someone who understands the electrical sector specifically. Generic business brokers will apply generic multiples and miss the value embedded in your NICEIC registration, your framework agreements, and the compliance-driven recurring revenue that underpins your business.
A sector specialist will understand what NICEIC Approved Contractor status means to a buyer, why a high contract renewal rate on EICR programmes is worth more than a low one, and how public sector frameworks change the fundamental demand profile for your services.
Find Out What Your Business Is Worth
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Try the free calculatorIf you want to build what a buyer will pay for before you sell, Nick Hunt leads the work on profit, structure and owner dependence.