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A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
Electricians, plumbers, air conditioning technicians and fire protection firms from Wingfield to Lonsdale: the business that services the same buildings every year is worth more than one that wins the same profit job by job.
An Adelaide trade contractor is valued on its maintainable profit after the owner is paid a fair wage for working on the tools and another for managing the business. That profit is capitalised at a rate that falls as the share of contracted servicing and statutory maintenance rises, and the vehicles, plant and tools at resale value, less finance, set the floor.
The approach usually comes from outside. A larger competitor or a national facilities management group offers to buy the service book, an apprentice who became the leading hand wants to buy in, or a family member is ready to take over from a parent who has run the business for decades. Other triggers are a partner leaving under the Partnership Act 1891 (SA), a family law property settlement, a lender asking for a value before funding more vans, or a move from a sole trader to a company where the ATO expects market value.
The answer often surprises the owner. A plumbing business in the northern suburbs can pay its owner very well and still be worth little more than its vans and stock once that person stops working, because the income was really a wage. A valuation shows how much rests on maintenance contracts and licensed staff who would stay with a buyer, and how much leaves 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 return each year without being tendered again, and a recurring stream like that is exactly what the income approach is designed to measure.
We capitalise future maintainable earnings. Profit is first restated by charging the owner a market wage for trade hours and a separate allowance for running the office, quoting and supervising. What remains is divided by a capitalisation rate made up of a risk-free base and premiums for the size of the business, its industry and its own particular risks.
The mix of work sets most of that last premium. A firm maintaining fire systems, air conditioning plant or switchboards across East End and Square Mile office buildings, or holding a facilities contract in the BioMed City precinct or at Flinders Medical Centre, can predict next year's revenue with some confidence, so its loading is low. A firm living on fit-out and new home tenders starts each year with nothing booked, and its loading is high even if the profit is identical.
Sale prices for trades businesses of a similar size, trade and split between servicing and projects give a range to compare against. Fewer of these sales are visible than in retail or hospitality, so the evidence supports the conclusion rather than setting it.
Vans, plant, tools and stock at what they would sell for, less any finance owing, form the floor. Where the owner is the business and little work is contracted, that floor can be close to the whole value.
Most challenges to a valuation go after the adjustments, so the report sets out each one with its reasoning. For Adelaide electrical, plumbing, air conditioning and fire protection firms they are usually:
Adelaide's trades move with the building cycle but are not tied to it. New housing in the northern growth suburbs, the south and Mount Barker keeps many electricians, plumbers and air conditioning installers working for volume builders. Commercial and industrial contractors base themselves around Wingfield, Regency Park, Kent Town and Lonsdale. The steadier service income comes from the CBD office stock, the hospitals and health precincts, the university campuses, and the defence and advanced manufacturing sites at Edinburgh, Osborne and Tonsley, where compliance maintenance must be done whatever the economy is doing.
Licensing decides who can buy the business. In South Australia, building work contractors, plumbers, gas fitters and electricians are licensed through Consumer and Business Services, with contractor licences resting on a qualified person, and fire protection and air conditioning work carries its own licensing and certification requirements. Where the departing owner is the only qualified person, a buyer must supply their own, which shrinks the pool and pushes up the rate. A firm whose employees hold their own licences, and whose contractor licence sits with the company and a qualified person who is staying, is far easier to sell, and the comparable set reflects that.
New firms keep entering. 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), and South Australia had 174,310 actively trading businesses at 30 June 2026, a net gain of 5,613 for the year (same source). Easy entry keeps project margins thin, which is a large part of why a contracted service book is valued so differently from tendered work.
We start 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 the reason behind it, and how the results were weighted into a range, in language an owner or a lawyer can follow.
That reasoning is what an opponent tests. 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 long under cross-examination in the District Court of South Australia or the Supreme Court of South Australia, or against a second expert in a partnership dispute. Our reports follow APESB, APES 225 Valuation Services and carry the signature of a credentialed certified valuer who will stand behind the opinion and explain it under questioning.
Which assumption would a reviewing expert attack first, and what would you say in reply? A valuer without a ready answer still has work to do.
Choose an Indicative valuation if you want to find out 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 when selling, buying out a partner or applying for finance. Choose a Detailed report for a family law matter, a dispute between partners or shareholders, or any matter where a second expert will review the opinion.
Think about 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 of it when any of them is 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.