What Is My Restoration Business Worth in 2026?

A disaster restoration business is worth roughly 5.0x to 11.0x EBITDA in 2026, and the spread inside that range is almost entirely about the quality of your insurance pipeline. I have taken property-services companies to market for years, and restoration is one of the hottest consolidation stories on my desk right now — private equity has figured out that storm, fire, and water work produces durable, insurance-funded demand that does not slow down in a recession.

Who this is for: owners of water, fire, mold, and storm-damage restoration and reconstruction companies who want a realistic read on value before they talk to a strategic acquirer or a private-equity platform.

How is a restoration business valued?

Buyers value a restoration business on a multiple of normalized EBITDA. The normalization work matters: a buyer adjusts owner compensation to a market salary, strips out personal expenses, and smooths the lumpiness that comes with large catastrophe jobs so they can see true run-rate earnings. They will also separate mitigation revenue, which is steady and high-margin, from reconstruction revenue, which is larger but more variable. The cleanest path to a strong restoration business valuation is twelve months of tidy financials plus a clear breakdown of revenue by service line and referral source. For owners weighing how property-services buyers think, my guide to roofing business value covers a closely related trade.

What are current restoration multiples in 2026?

Small multi-territory operators are clearing 5.0x-7.0x EBITDA. Regional platforms with active TPA programs and carrier relationships are getting 6.0x-8.0x. Premium multi-state platforms with strong infrastructure and a balanced mitigation-and-reconstruction book reach 7.0x-11.0x or more. The single biggest lever is your TPA and insurance-carrier referral status — that pipeline is what a buyer is really acquiring, and it is what separates a mid-range multiple from a top-of-market one.

Who is buying restoration companies?

This is a crowded, well-capitalized buyer pool. BELFOR Property Restoration, backed by American Securities and Goldman Sachs Asset Management with over $2B in revenue, is the largest dedicated operator. Servpro Industries, owned by Blackstone, is the largest franchise platform with more than 2,200 locations. BluSky Restoration Contractors (Partners Group and Kohlberg & Company), ATI Restoration, and First Onsite Property Restoration (FirstService Corporation) round out the top tier, alongside PuroClean, Rainbow Restoration, and ServiceMaster Restore. If you are a clean regional operator with carrier relationships, multiple of these buyers will want to talk to you.

What makes a restoration business worth more?

Four levers move the multiple up: active TPA and insurance-carrier referral programs that feed a predictable job pipeline, a healthy share of higher-margin reconstruction work alongside mitigation, multi-territory or multi-state coverage, and an operations team that runs jobs without the owner. Buyers also pay up for strong project-management systems, IICRC certifications, 24/7 emergency-response capability, and clean documentation that holds up to carrier audits. The more your restoration business looks like an institutional platform rather than an owner-run shop, the higher the multiple a buyer will underwrite.

What hurts restoration valuations?

The value killers are predictable. The worst is owner-held relationships: when the founder personally owns every carrier and TPA contact, buyers discount heavily because the referral pipeline may leave with the seller. Heavy reliance on a single large catastrophe event for a banner year makes earnings look unrepeatable. Thin reconstruction margins, slow carrier collections that bloat receivables, and missing or sloppy job documentation all chip away at the number. I have watched restoration owners lose multiple turns of EBITDA simply because their TPA relationships were never institutionalized into the business.

How long does it take to sell?

A well-prepared restoration business typically takes 6 to 12 months from engagement to close. The first couple of months go to normalizing financials and segmenting revenue by service line and referral source, then six to ten weeks of marketing and buyer meetings, and finally 60 to 120 days of due diligence and legal work. Carrier-concentration and receivables analysis can extend diligence, so clean books shorten the timeline.

John's Take: The restoration deals that hit the top of the range are the ones where the owner turned carrier and TPA relationships into company assets rather than personal ones. I worked with an operator who spent a year moving every carrier relationship onto signed program agreements held by the business and assigning named account managers to each one. When the platforms came calling, nobody worried the pipeline would evaporate — and that confidence was worth several turns of EBITDA.

For a deeper look at how restoration buyers underwrite earnings and referral pipelines, my restoration valuation hub walks through each driver in detail.