How Much Is a Concreting Business Worth in Australia?

A concreting business in Australia is worth between 2x and 3.5x adjusted EBITDA for owner-managed operations, or 0.5x to 1.0x annual revenue where earnings are harder to verify. The wide range is doing real work here — a well-run concreting business with maintenance contracts, trained crews, and modern plant can trade at a significant premium over an owner-operator business where the owner is quoting, pouring, and finishing every job himself.

If you're buying or selling a concreting business in Australia and want to understand where a particular business sits in that range, you need to understand a few things that are specific to concreting: the asset intensity, the licensing requirements, the ATO's benchmark ratios for the industry, and the difference between a business that runs and a business that depends entirely on one person's back.

What Concreting Businesses Actually Sell For

Here's a rough guide based on what I've observed in the Australian small business market:

Business Type	Typical Multiple	Revenue Range
Owner-operator, no employees	1.0x – 1.5x SDE	Under $400K
Small crew (2–4 concreters)	2.0x – 2.5x EBITDA	$400K – $1.2M
Managed business (5–10 staff)	2.5x – 3.5x EBITDA	$1.2M – $4M
Larger operation with commercial contracts	3.0x – 4.0x EBITDA	$4M+

Rule of thumb: For a small to mid-size Australian concreting business, expect a fair deal to land somewhere between 2.5x and 3x normalised EBITDA. Anything above 3.5x needs a strong justification — recurring commercial contracts, fully managed operations, or a proprietary client base that actually transfers.

Concreting businesses tend to trade at slightly lower multiples than plumbing or electrical, and there's a reason: the work is more commoditised, the margins are tighter in residential concreting, and the plant costs are significant. A buyer acquiring a concreting business is also acquiring responsibility for the truck, the pump, the formwork, and the mixer — assets that depreciate fast and cost a lot to replace when they fail at the wrong moment.

For the general framework on small business valuation, the guide on how to value a small business in Australia is a good starting point before you get into the industry-specific numbers.

How to Calculate the Real Earnings

The number in the financials is rarely the number you should use to calculate value. Normalising EBITDA is the process of stripping out what won't be there after you buy the business and adding back what the owner has been running through it.

Common add-backs for concreting businesses:

Owner's salary where it's below market rate for the work they actually do
Personal vehicles (utes, trailers) run through the business
Fuel, personal phone, insurances on non-business assets
One-off expenses — equipment repairs from a single incident, legal fees, a bad job write-off
Accelerated depreciation on plant and equipment taken for tax purposes

Deductions you need to make:

Owner's replacement cost — what would you pay a qualified concreter/supervisor to do the work the owner currently does? In most capital cities, that's $80K–$110K all-in
Deferred plant maintenance — if the concrete pump hasn't had a full service in two years, budget for it
Below-market subcontractor rates if the owner has mates working at discounts that won't continue for a new buyer

I looked at a concreting business in outer Melbourne last year that appeared to be generating $320K in EBITDA. After normalisation — adding a replacement supervisor at $95K and writing off an overdue agitator truck service — the real number was $185K. The vendor wasn't trying to deceive anyone; he just hadn't thought about the business from a buyer's perspective. (Which is common. Most business owners think about their business the way they live in their house — they know where the dodgy floorboard is, so they step over it automatically.)

The Asset Problem That's Specific to Concreting

This is the thing that makes concreting businesses different from most trades, and it catches buyers who haven't done this before.

A plumbing business's biggest assets are a couple of vans and some tools. A concreting business might be carrying:

Concrete pump ($150K–$400K new, maybe $60K–$120K used and depreciated)
Agitator truck or transit mixer ($80K–$200K)
Screeds, vibrators, float machines, formwork ($30K–$80K in aggregate)
Trailers, compactors, hand tools

On the balance sheet, this plant might show up as $100K after depreciation. At replacement cost, it might be $400K. The gap is your problem if you don't check condition carefully.

The right approach is to have a machinery assessor look at everything before you proceed past due diligence. Not a quick walk-around — a proper assessment with service histories checked and wear levels documented. I've seen deals where the "included plant" saved the buyer $200K and deals where it should have knocked $180K off the asking price. You won't know which you're looking at until someone who knows machinery looks at it properly.

This is covered in depth in the valuation module of the Playbook — how to handle asset-heavy trades businesses where the balance sheet value and the replacement value have diverged.

Want the full checklist? The EBITDA Normalisation Checklist walks through every add-back and deduction for a trades business — free download.

What Drives a Premium Valuation

Commercial and Repeat Contracts

Residential concreting — driveways, patios, slab-on-ground homes — is largely reactive work. The phone rings, you quote, you win or lose. There's nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't command a premium valuation because a buyer can't look at a contract book and get comfort about next year's revenue.

Commercial concreting — warehouses, industrial floors, commercial construction projects — is different. Preferred contractor relationships with developers or builders, where the buyer gets first right of refusal on projects, are genuinely worth more. So are maintenance relationships with councils, property managers, or infrastructure operators.

Quotable number: A concreting business where 40%+ of revenue comes from repeat commercial relationships or contracted work should attract a multiple at least 0.5x–0.75x higher than an equivalent business doing purely reactive residential work.

Owner Dependency

This is the single biggest valuation question for any trades business. If the owner is still quoting every job, managing every subcontractor, and holding every client relationship, then what you're buying is not a business — it's a very complicated arrangement where you're paying several hundred thousand dollars for the privilege of taking over someone else's stressful job.

The owner dependency question matters more in concreting than in some trades because quoting concrete work requires real site knowledge. A quote that's 10% wrong on a large commercial pour can wipe out the whole margin. If the owner is the only person who can quote, you have a problem.

A useful test: ask the vendor to take two weeks completely offline during the due diligence period. See what happens. Not as a real test — as a thought experiment. If they go pale at the suggestion, you know the answer.

Licensing and Contractor Registration

This varies by state and job value, and it matters for how easily the business can be transferred.

In NSW, concreting work over $5,000 requires a contractor licence issued by NSW Fair Trading. The licence is held by the individual or the company — check whether the company itself holds a contractor licence or whether the business has been operating under the owner's personal licence. If it's personal, you need a plan.

In Queensland, QBCC (Queensland Building and Construction Commission) contractor licensing applies for structural concrete work. QBCC licences are company-held or individual-held, and transferring the business means navigating this carefully.

In Victoria, domestic building work over $10,000 requires registration with the VBA (Victorian Building Authority). Commercial work has different requirements. Don't assume — check the licence situation specifically in the state you're buying in.

Licence risk isn't usually a deal-breaker, but it is a negotiating point. If there's a gap between settlement and licence transfer, build a transition clause into the SPA.

The Crew

A concreting business with three experienced concreters who've been there five-plus years and know how to run a pour without supervision is worth meaningfully more than one with the same revenue but high staff turnover and a reliance on day-labour subcontractors.

Concrete work is skilled. The finishing especially — a bad finish on an exposed aggregate driveway or a polished concrete floor is expensive to rectify, and the reputational damage from a botched job is real. Experienced crews are an asset. Check tenure, check pay, check whether there are any employment contracts that might prevent key staff from leaving.

Red Flags That Should Lower Your Offer

Watch for these in any due diligence on a trades business:

Revenue from one or two developers — if 50% of revenue depends on a single construction group, you're exposed to their pipeline fluctuations
ATO debt or unpaid super — concreting businesses often carry cash, and some operators have been loose with their obligations; check the ATO portal via accountant access
Ageing pump without service records — a concrete pump failure on a job site is expensive, both the repair and the cost of holding up the pour
The owner is the only qualified supervisor — immediately limits when and how much the business can actually do
Declining residential margins — material costs (concrete, formwork, reinforcement) have risen; a business whose margins haven't held up has either been buying volume or competing on price

The ATO publishes industry benchmarks for concreting services businesses — look for cost-to-income ratios outside the expected range, as these are the first sign of either unusual efficiency or unusual concealment.

How to Increase a Concreting Business's Value Before Selling

If you own a concreting business and are planning to exit in the next two or three years:

Win commercial relationships and document them. A letter of engagement from a builder saying they intend to give you their next 10 slab jobs is worth something to a buyer. A handshake agreement isn't.
Get off the tools. Every day you're mixing, pouring, or finishing is a day you're the business. Hire and train a lead concreter who can run a job start to finish.
Service the plant. Buyers will discount heavily for deferred maintenance. Spend the money now; it comes back in the sale price.
Clean the financials. Stop running personal expenses through the business. Two years of clean, clearly documented accounts is the minimum for a credible sale process.
Document the quoting process. If only you know how to price a job accurately, the business dies when you leave. Write it down. Build a quoting template. Teach someone.

Financing the Purchase

Most buyers in the $300K–$800K range use a combination of savings, bank debt, and vendor finance arrangements. Australian banks are generally comfortable lending against established concreting businesses with clean financials — they understand construction industry cash flows, and the asset base provides some security.

Vendor finance is common in this sector. A typical structure: 60–65% upfront (your equity plus bank debt), 35–40% vendor-financed over 2–3 years at a modest interest rate, sometimes with a performance condition tied to revenue retention. Sellers who are motivated to exit but confident in the business will often do this deal.

The Industry Multiples Cheat Sheet covers current lending multiples and vendor finance norms across different trades — worth reading before you approach a bank.

Whether you're doing an asset vs share sale will also affect both the purchase price and the financing structure — most buyers prefer assets to avoid inheriting unknown liabilities, but sellers often push for share sales for tax reasons.

Frequently Asked Questions

How profitable is a concrete company in Australia?

Well-run concreting businesses typically earn EBITDA margins of 10–20% of revenue. A managed operation turning over $2M might generate $200K–$400K in profit, depending on whether it's primarily residential or commercial. Owner-operators working in the business often extract $150K–$250K in total owner benefit.

How much does a concreter make a year in Australia?

A qualified concreter employee earns $70K–$100K including superannuation. An owner-operator business running 2–4 people can generate $180K–$350K in total owner benefit annually, but this includes the owner's effective labour value — it's not all profit.

How do you value a business based on revenue?

Revenue multiples for concreting businesses run from 0.5x to 1.0x annual turnover for small to mid-size operations. This method is a useful cross-check but not the primary approach — earnings-based valuation (EBITDA multiples) is more reliable because it accounts for profitability differences.

Are concrete companies a good investment?

Concreting businesses can be solid acquisitions — consistent demand, reasonable barriers to entry (equipment cost, licensing), and good cash conversion. The risks are asset intensity, owner dependency, and exposure to construction industry cycles. Managed operations with commercial contracts tend to be the most stable.

What multiple do concreting businesses sell for in Australia?

Most concreting businesses in Australia sell for 2x to 3.5x normalised EBITDA. Owner-operators with no staff typically sell at 1x–1.5x seller's discretionary earnings. Premium multiples above 3.5x require strong recurring commercial revenues and low owner dependency.

The Bottom Line

A concreting business in Australia is worth what the normalised earnings justify — not the revenue, not the balance sheet plant value, and not what the broker says the owner "could have earned" if he'd managed it better.

Do the normalisation carefully. Get the plant assessed. Understand the licensing situation in the relevant state. And be honest about whether the business actually runs without the current owner, or whether you're buying a high-margin job with some trucks attached.

The fundamentals are solid — concrete is not going away, demand is structural, and good operators make good money. But the gap between a business that's worth 3.5x and one that's worth 1.5x comes down to how well it's been set up to survive the owner walking out the door.

For more on the process of evaluating and buying trades businesses in Australia, The Leveraged Worker newsletter covers real deals and real numbers every week.