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A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
Electricians, plumbers, refrigeration technicians and fire protection firms working from Beresfield, Mayfield and Charlestown to Maitland: a business that services the same buildings every year is worth more than one that wins its profit job by job.
We value a Newcastle or Hunter trade contractor on the profit it can keep earning once the owner is paid a fair wage for tool time and a second one for running the firm. A lower capitalisation rate applies as more revenue comes from contracted servicing and compliance maintenance. Vehicles, plant and tools at resale value, net of finance, set the minimum.
Often the approach comes from outside. A bigger competitor or a facilities management group wants to buy the service book, a leading hand who has been with you for years wants to buy in, or a son or daughter is ready to step up. A partner leaving under the Partnership Act 1892 (NSW), a family law settlement, a lender wanting a figure before funding more vans, and a change from sole trader to company where the ATO expects market value are other common triggers.
The result often surprises the owner. A plumbing business in Lake Macquarie can pay its owner handsomely and still be worth little more than its vans and stock once that person stops working, because the income was in truth a wage. A valuation shows how much depends on maintenance agreements and licensed staff who would remain 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. Maintenance agreements and compliance servicing come back every year without being tendered again, and a recurring stream of that kind is precisely what the income approach is built to measure.
The method is to capitalise the earnings the business can maintain. Profit is first restated by charging the owner a market wage for time 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 the firm's size, its industry and its own particular risks.
The mix of work drives most of that last premium. A firm that tests fire systems, services air conditioning plant or maintains switchboards in Newcastle CBD and Honeysuckle buildings, or holds a contract at John Hunter Hospital or on the Callaghan campus, can predict next year's revenue with some confidence, so its loading is low. A firm that lives on fit-outs and new-home tenders starts each year with nothing booked and carries a high loading even if its profit is the same.
Prices paid for trades businesses of similar size, trade and servicing-to-project mix give a range to measure against. These sales are less visible than in retail or hospitality, so the evidence supports the conclusion rather than setting it.
Vans, plant, tools and stock at their sale value, less finance owing, set the minimum. If the owner is the business and little work is under contract, the floor may be nearly the whole value.
Challenges to a valuation usually target the adjustments, which is why the report sets out each with its reasoning. For Hunter electrical, plumbing, air conditioning and fire protection firms they typically include:
Trades in the Hunter follow the building cycle without being fully tied to it. New housing in Maitland, Cessnock and the Lake Macquarie estates keeps many electricians, plumbers and air conditioning installers busy for volume builders. Industrial contractors base themselves around Beresfield, Tomago and Mayfield, close to the heavy industry that needs them. The steadier income comes from service work: CBD and Honeysuckle offices, John Hunter Hospital and the Hunter Medical Research Institute, the University of Newcastle, the defence sites around Williamtown and the large plants at Tomago, where compliance maintenance goes ahead whatever the economy is doing.
Licensing determines who is able to buy the business. Electrical, plumbing, gas fitting and building work are all licensed by the state, and the licence belongs to the person or company named on it, usually resting on a qualified individual. Fire protection and refrigeration work carry their own accreditation requirements. If the departing owner is the only qualified person, a buyer has to supply their own, which narrows the pool and lifts the rate. A firm whose employees hold their own licences, and whose company licence rests on a qualified person who is staying, is far easier to sell.
Workers compensation is a further cost that buyers examine. Trades premiums under the scheme run by icare and regulated by SIRA are material, so the claims history is reviewed as part of the risk assessment.
The Hunter's base of potential customers is large: at 30 June 2025 the City of Newcastle had 16,296 actively trading businesses, Lake Macquarie 15,181 and Maitland 6,142 (Source: ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 to June 2025). Construction, the ABS industry division that takes in 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 why a contracted service book is valued so differently from tendered work.
We open by stating the purpose, the standard of value, the valuation date and the information relied on, and we list anything requested that did not arrive. The report then covers each approach we considered, the method chosen, every adjustment and its reason, and how the results were weighted into a range, in language an owner or a lawyer can follow.
An opponent tests that reasoning. If the report cannot explain why the earnings result was preferred, or why the conclusion sits at a particular point in the range, it will not last under cross-examination in the District Court of New South Wales at Newcastle, 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 carry the signature of a certified valuer who will stand behind the opinion and explain it under questioning.
Which assumption would a reviewing expert go after first, and what would you say back? If the valuer has nothing ready to say, the work is incomplete.
Choose an Indicative valuation if you want to learn 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 buyout or a finance application. A Detailed report fits a family law matter, a partner or shareholder dispute, or any case a second expert will review.
Consider who will read it. A court, a lender, the ATO or another expert will expect to see the working, so the report has to show more where any of them are 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.