A buyer-style guide to estimating what a marketing or digital agency may be worth, including normalized EBITDA, agency valuation multiples, revenue quality, client concentration, churn, owner dependence, and how enterprise value translates into seller proceeds.
By George Barsom, JD, CM&AA®, CAIA® • Last updated: May 9, 2026 Updated for founders, operators, acquirers, and referral partners evaluating what M&A buyers look for in water and wastewater engineering firms. This guide focuses on buyer underwriting, diligence evidence, valuation support, and deal-structure implications across service mix, backlog quality, client concentration, margins, contract risk, working capital,…
A deal-focused comparison of municipal and industrial water engineering firms that explains how contract structure, funding sources, backlog visibility, client concentration, and operating risk shape buyer underwriting, valuation, and transaction outcomes.
A practical MEP underwriting guide for founders, acquirers, and advisors on the specific criteria buyers evaluate in diligence—client quality, backlog, licensed staff, leadership depth, project mix, end-market exposure, and margin durability—and how those findings affect valuation and deal terms.
AEC mergers and acquisitions involve the sale, recapitalization, merger, or acquisition of architecture, engineering, construction, and related design services firms. Buyers evaluate AEC firms based on normalized EBITDA, backlog quality, client concentration, project margin consistency, leadership depth, employee retention, end-market specialization, buyer fit, and the ability to scale after closing.
Project concentration in an engineering firm is not just an operating issue. It affects buyer confidence in backlog conversion, EBITDA durability, closing certainty, and the purchase-price mechanics buyers use to protect against client, project, and contract-specific risk.
A practical sell-side readiness checklist for AEC founders preparing for buyer diligence, including financials, QoE, WIP, backlog quality, working capital, contracts, customers, people, systems, and data-room preparation.
Selling an AEC firm? This guide walks through the sell-side M&A process—from readiness and buyer mapping to valuation, diligence, and terms. Learn how backlog/WIP, utilization, QoE, earnouts, and the working-capital peg affect headline price and close certainty, and how to prepare schedules that support stronger outcomes.
Learn how strategic buyers and private equity underwrite AEC firms. We cover valuation drivers, EBITDA multiples, backlog/WIP quality, utilization, working capital, and diligence red flags.