Sell a Business in Seattle, Washington

Selling a business in Seattle, Washington means pricing a wet January week, not a Pike Place Saturday. Kent, Tukwila, Georgetown, SODO, and the Duwamish are the industrial southend. Boeing supplier work runs from Everett and Paine Field. Amazon and South Lake Union still have to work when offices are thin. Bellevue and Redmond sit in this buyer pool and use a different rent from a Harbor Island dock. Harbor Island and the Northwest Seaport Alliance name are shared with Tacoma, and they are not the Tideflats. Pike Place, a T-Mobile Park Saturday, and cruise season on a Belltown hotel are visitor weeks. A Tacoma buyer who prices downtown towers onto the Tideflats, a Spokane buyer who ignores the rain, or a Bremerton buyer reading a Kitsap ferry ride is using the wrong market. Use a wet January, including a week outdoor work slowed in the rain, as the week that has to cover payroll. If that week cannot cover a manager's wage, do not let cruise season or a Pike Place Saturday raise the price.

An owner-operated business in Seattle, Washington often sells for about 2x to 3.5x seller's discretionary earnings after a real manager wage. If a lead already runs the day, the price is often 2.5x to 4.5x SDE. A managed company is often priced on adjusted EBITDA, commonly about 3x to 6x near a $10 million price. Those ranges are not a quote. Call (352) 515-0226.

This page is not legal, tax, or lending advice. Bridge Point Advisors is a national firm, not a Florida-only practice. The firm works from Spring Hill, Florida.

What the local economy looks like

Shops and plants in Seattle serve King County customers the invoices already name. A manufacturing shop in Georgetown or SODO that sells to more than one account is a different book from a shop on one Boeing program. Staffing tied to one line or one campus badge is a concentration problem. A work stoppage or a program gap belongs on its own line. Paine Field and the Everett corridor are a different commute from I-5 into SODO.

IT services that already invoice when South Lake Union attendance is thin can be read across a full year. Badge counts belong in diligence. A vendor book that only worked in a fuller office week is a different year. Bellevue is wealth and software, at a different rent from a SODO dock. Redmond counts when the book already shares that Eastside pool.

A warehouse on a Kent, Tukwila, or Renton dock, or on Harbor Island and the Duwamish, transfers when a second dispatcher and more than one customer are already real. Seattle's downtown towers are not Tacoma's Tideflats. A book that is truly a Tacoma terminal should start on the Tacoma page. Sea-Tac cargo is separate from the Duwamish. A Kent dock that ran one line of overtime has to show that overtime on its own line.

A neighborhood restaurant that still covers when Pike Place is quiet has customers a buyer can see on an ordinary day. Read the restaurant guide. A hotel that only worked in cruise season is a different ticket from a southend dock. HVAC and construction slow in the long wet season. That is not Spokane's dry-side winter. See the service-business guide. The University of Washington is a weekday campus. Ballard, Fremont, Alki, and West Seattle count only when the invoices name them.

Washington B&O tax belongs in the first week of the model. It is not an Oregon sales-tax story, and Portland keeps a different employer mix. L&I registration and professional licenses sit on their own calendar. A qualifying person does not transfer by itself. City of Seattle, Bellevue, and Kent write different receipts. Buyers who already know Spokane, Bremerton, or San Francisco still have to price this rain and these customers on their own.

What is seasonal and what holds all year

Cruise season, a T-Mobile Park Saturday, a Pike Place week, a single overtime stretch, and a dry-summer outdoor month are the weeks buyers will try to treat as the year. Put those weeks on their own lines in two years of weekly sales, with a cruise week next to a wet January. Name the southend share, the Eastside share, the waterfront share, and the person who already runs a Tuesday in January.

Ordinary weeks are the rest of the record. A Kent or Tukwila dock with more than one customer still moves freight when the ships are out. An IT book that invoices in a thin office week still collects. A Georgetown shop that is not one Boeing program still has orders. A Bellevue suite whose clients already call the firm still has work. A Shoreline or southend HVAC route with a second lead still has calls in the rain. Indoor shops still pay a wet-season wage. A summer-only profit and loss is a seasonal file. Read the restaurant guide for a dining room and the service-business guide for a route.

Who buys a business here

A local owner who already runs a similar dock, shop, route, or dining room is often the cleanest buyer on a Main Street file. Industrial operators already on the southend know which January week is wet. Ask whether they are adding a location or replacing one.

A search fund or an independent sponsor fits when a second person already runs the day. That can be a dispatcher on a multi-site dock, an IT desk that is not the founder, or a trade company with a lead tech. The business has to operate when the founder is not the person holding the only campus badge. A one-program shop is a poor fit. If that second person is not yet named on the schedule, say that before the meeting.

A strategic buyer fits when the route adds King County work the company already knows how to staff. That buyer wants this file, not a Tideflats terminal and not a Spokane shop. Buying a dock so you can claim the seaport does not create customers. Ask which contracts move, and which shippers must approve the change.

Private equity belongs only when the company is large enough to price on adjusted EBITDA and a second lead is already real. Most owner-operated shops on this map are smaller than that. The management test is why a large buyer walks when the work still follows one person. M&A advisory fits a managed group. It is the wrong tool for a route that still needs the owner on every stop.

Leave the deal if you priced SODO as a cheaper Tideflats, if you ignored the rain because you know Spokane, or if you treated one cruise Saturday as the year. Read how to sell your company confidentially before the first tour. A South Lake Union vendor hall and a small Ballard shop both hear a rumor, for different reasons. Read what to tell employees and customers before that tour becomes talk. The people who can run the shop may already be looking at Eastside pay or an Everett commute.

How the price is set

Owner-operated shops are priced on seller's discretionary earnings. That fits a dining room, a hotel, a trade crew, and a dock that still needs a manager wage. Add back owner pay and personal costs that are truly personal. Then subtract a real wage for the person who will run the company after the owner leaves. Skip that wage and the earnings are too high for a buyer to staff.

After that wage, an owner-operated shop often sits around 2x to 3.5x SDE. If a lead already runs the day, the range is often 2.5x to 4.5x SDE. A cruise week is not an add-back. An overtime Saturday stays in the year's sales.

Adjusted EBITDA fits a multi-crew IT or trade company, or a multi-building logistics group, that already runs without the founder. Near a $10 million price, that conversation commonly lands around 3x to 6x. Most owner-operated shops in Seattle, Washington are smaller than that. Keep a single-counter shop on seller's discretionary earnings.

The valuation guide is the national frame. A valuation here follows King County customers, the rent on the actual door, and a manager the shop can hire. Compare offers that are not all cash in the offer comparison guide. Cash, a seller note, an earn-out, and working capital are different promises. Holdbacks belong on receivable quality, an open lease, a license that still lists one person, and any insurance minimum the port or the OEM already requires.

How the buyer writes the check

An SBA 7(a) loan commonly caps at $5 million. It can fit a documented trade route, an IT book, or a diversified dock when the manager wage is real and a quiet January shows on the profit and loss. Waterfront rooms and single-program books usually need more buyer equity. The SBA financing guide explains the national structure. It is not a loan approval, and it is not a promise that a King County file will clear.

A seller note fits when the hard part is the lease or the program file, or when the founder is still the only name the landlord or the OEM will carry. The note does not move a contract the other party will not assign, and it does not turn a Kitsap or Spokane ticket into a King County qualifier. If an ordinary week cannot pay the note, the note is too large.

An earn-out fits when one OEM, one campus, or one cruise quarter is a large share of sales. Pay the extra money only if that revenue continues. Write the measure in plain numbers, such as revenue from a named program or sales in named weeks.

A handshake on the Duwamish does not move a port contract, an OEM agreement, or a Belltown hotel lease. Have local counsel review assignment language before you set a closing date. Ask the landlord in writing whether the lease assigns and whether the rent changes. B&O tax and L&I registration belong in that same first week. Prevailing-wage history on public work belongs when it is already in the book.

Working capital is the cash, parts, inventory, and receivables a normal week needs. Set the target on a January Tuesday, and leave the owner's draw out of that target. Parts a Shoreline HVAC call still needs in the rain, receivables an IT book still collects when South Lake Union is thin, and food a neighborhood room still uses when Pike Place is quiet belong in it. Extra inventory bought for a cruise week goes on its own line.

Mistakes buyers make in this town

Diligence often stalls on the contract and on the calendar. A dock lease, an OEM program, a campus badge, or a Belltown hotel lease may not assign. If the founder still dispatches every southend stop and still holds the only badge, that book is a person until a named lead is on the roster.

The model may treat cruise season as twelve months, or it may leave the wet January out. Use the sale-prep roadmap to separate industrial work, Eastside work, and downtown before a summary goes to buyers. If the model only works when the ships are in or the offices are full, the buyer is pricing the busy week.

A Tacoma buyer who prices SODO as a cheaper Tideflats annex is in the wrong market. A Spokane license is not this occupancy when the qualifying person sits in a different county. A Bellevue suite is not a Harbor Island dock. A Belltown cruise room is not a Georgetown machine shop. I-5 is a labor road, not a reason to give every city on it the same price.

Sellers can start at the sell-side overview, the industry index, or contact. Buyers can start at buyers, review listings, and sign an NDA before they see the program share. The blog holds the longer guides on valuation, financing, and diligence.

What to look at in a warehouse, an IT firm, and a machine shop

Walk a Kent or Duwamish dock on a wet weekday. Ask who dispatches when the owner is off the floor, how many customers are on the book, and whether any single-program overtime is on its own line. A second dispatcher is what makes a January week transferable.

For an IT or staffing book, look at badge counts and a week when South Lake Union attendance is thin. Ask whether the lead is someone other than the founder, and which campus contracts can move. A vendor book that only worked in a full office week is a different year.

For a Georgetown or SODO shop, separate a multi-customer book from one Boeing program. Ask who runs the floor when the owner is out, and what a work stoppage did to the year. A one-time waterfront remodel is not a maintenance agreement. If the owner is the only qualifier, name who can qualify after closing.

Use the same split for a restaurant, a hotel, an HVAC route, and a construction crew. A Pike Place Saturday can fill a dining room. It does not staff the dock on a Tuesday in January. If Bellevue, Redmond, Shoreline, Ballard, or West Seattle is inside the asking price, show the invoices. If the building is the business, say whether the rent changes when the seller is no longer the tenant.

What to bring when you call

Bring two years of weekly sales, with a wet January and a cruise week both visible. Bring the lease or the program file, the customer list, and the name of the person who already runs an ordinary day. If one OEM, one campus, or one cruise quarter is a large share of the year, bring that split. If a license still lists the owner, bring it and the steps required to change it. If Everett, Bellevue, Kent, or Tacoma work is inside the asking price, bring the invoices that name it.

Start with a valuation, your industry page, or contact. Call (352) 515-0226. The ranges at the top of this page are a direction, not a quote. Bring the week that has to cover a manager's wage, and the name of the person who already runs that week.