A note for independent elevator service owners: where pricing has gone, what is driving it, the six factors that decide where you sit in the range, and what tends to be worth fixing well before anyone puts a number on your business.
Where pricing has gone
In April 2026, KONE agreed to combine with TK Elevator at roughly 18.4x trailing EBITDA. That is not your size and it is not your multiple — but it tells you what the most sophisticated buyers in the industry believe elevator service earnings are worth, and that view filters down.
Below that level, three sponsors are consolidating independents continuously rather than opportunistically: Arcline through American Elevator Group, Berkshire Partners through Specialized Elevator, and Thompson Street through ATIS on the inspection side. Continuous buying is why the middle of this market has firmed rather than spiked.
Here is where that leaves companies at each size, and more importantly where it has moved. These are adjusted EBITDA multiples for maintenance-weighted businesses; install-heavy companies sit a turn or two lower at the same earnings.
| Revenue | 2023–2025 | Last 6 months |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | 2.0–3.5x | 2.5–4.0x |
| $1–3M | 3.0–5.0x | 4.0–6.0x |
| $3–10M | 4.0–7.0x | 6.0–8.0x |
| $10–25M | 6.0–9.0x | 8.0–11.0x |
| $25M+ platform | 9.0–11.0x | 12.0–15.0x |
That is roughly two turns of movement in six months, and it is widest at the top. A $25M platform that would have cleared 10x last year is being bid at 13x now. The same assets are drawing more bidders, and the bidders are moving faster.
Why the market is paying up
The work cannot be automated away. This is now the first question a private equity buyer asks about any services business, and elevator maintenance answers it better than almost anything else. The work is physical, performed on site, on equipment that has to be touched, by a licensed mechanic whose presence is required by code. Software can route the truck and predict the failure; it cannot ride the car, pull the governor, or sign the inspection. Capital has moved decisively toward businesses with that property over the last three years, and away from ones whose margins depend on work a model can now do.
The installed base is old and getting older. Roughly 900,000 elevators are installed in the United States and about 60% are past twenty years old. Modernization demand is on a schedule rather than a cycle.
The work is mandated, not discretionary. ASME A17.1 requires Category 1 testing annually and Category 5 full-load testing every five years. A building owner cannot defer this the way they can defer a paint job.
The labor is scarce and expensive. Elevator installers and repairers were the highest-paid construction trade in the country at a $106,580 median in 2024, with employment projected to grow 5% through 2034. An acquirer cannot simply hire their way into your market.
Buyers are not paying for your trucks. They are paying for a contracted, code-mandated revenue stream, serviced by scarce licensed labor, doing work that cannot be automated.
The clearest evidence sits in the public accounts. Otis reported a 25.1% operating margin on service in 2025 against 4.8% on new equipment — service generated 91% of segment operating profit on 65% of sales. Every buyer looking at your business knows this. It is why the route book, not the backlog, sets your price.
The six factors that decide your number
- Share of revenue under contract. The largest lever. Moving from project-weighted to contract-weighted revenue has been worth one to two turns at every size tier.
- Retention on the book. Annual unit attrition, and whether losses are concentrated or spread. Most owners quote a figure they have never actually calculated.
- Contract portability and terms. Evergreen renewal, a defined escalator, and explicit assignability on change of control. The cheapest item on this list to fix and the most commonly neglected.
- Route density. Units per mechanic per geography. A scattered book of the same size is worth materially less.
- Customer concentration. Any single owner or management company above roughly 10% of revenue draws scrutiny; above 20% it usually costs multiple outright or shifts consideration into an earnout.
- Owner dependency. If you personally hold the relationships, price the jobs, or are the license holder of record, the buyer is purchasing a business that partly walks out with you.
What to fix, and when
24 months out: clean up contract language at each renewal, and start measuring retention properly — units at period start, lost, added, by reason.
18 months out: separate service from construction in the accounts, and move customer relationships and pricing authority to named managers.
12 months out: normalize and document the add-backs, and address any customer above 20% of revenue.
A useful way to hold all of this: a dollar of contracted maintenance EBITDA is worth roughly twice a dollar of construction EBITDA on exit. Any decision that shifts the mix in that direction is compounding, whether or not you ever sell.
We’ll value your business for free
No cost, no obligation, and confidential. We are glad to sign an NDA before you send anything, and can provide our own. To produce a report we would need three years of financial statements — compiled, reviewed or audited, if available — and your most recent balance sheet in Excel, your revenue split between maintenance, repair, modernization and new install, unit count under contract with units gained and lost over two years, and a sense of owner compensation and personal expenses running through the business.
About two weeks, and it comes back as a full report with the reasoning behind the range. Contact Chris Curtin or call 703-475-8627.
Transaction values are drawn from public announcements and published industry reporting. Size-band multiples reflect SummitPat’s observed transactions and current market view. Operating margins are from Otis Worldwide’s 2025 Form 10-K. Installed-base and labor figures are from National Elevator Industry, Inc. and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This note is general market commentary and is not a valuation, an appraisal, or advice on any specific business.
Frequently Asked Questions
What multiple do elevator maintenance companies sell for?
Maintenance-weighted independents with $10 to $25 million of revenue are trading at roughly 8 to 11x adjusted EBITDA, $3 to $10 million companies at 6 to 8x, and platforms above $25 million at 12 to 15x. Install-heavy companies sit a turn or two lower at the same earnings.
Why have elevator company valuations increased?
Continuous buying by sponsors such as Arcline, Berkshire Partners and Thompson Street, the KONE and TK Elevator combination at roughly 18.4x EBITDA, and buyers moving capital toward code-mandated, in-person work that cannot be automated. Valuations rose roughly two turns of EBITDA in the past twelve months.
What matters most to a buyer of an elevator company?
Share of revenue under maintenance contract, retention on the book, contract portability on a change of control, route density, customer concentration and owner dependency, in roughly that order.
How do I get my elevator company valued?
SummitPat provides a free, confidential valuation. Send three years of year-end financial statements, your most recent balance sheet and trailing 24-month profit and loss, your revenue split, and units under contract. The report is ready within two weeks.