Thoughts on Subcontractor-Only Service Businesses? (e.g., Lawn/Tree Care)

May 12, 2025
by a searcher from University of Texas at Austin in Dallas, TX, USA
Curious to get the community’s perspective on service businesses that fully outsource service delivery through subcontractors.
I’m evaluating a lawn and tree care business doing $2–4M in revenue and generating $500k-1M in SDE. What’s unique is that it owns minimal equipment, has no field crews, and subcontracts 100% of the actual work. The small internal team handles sales, quoting, scheduling, and customer service. All labor is outsourced to insured subcontractors who follow the company’s documented SOPs.
While this creates a lean, asset-light model with strong margins, it also raises questions around:
• Is this effectively just a lead-gen + project management business?
• How would you think about valuation and long-term defensibility in models like this?
• Has anyone acquired or operated something similar? Any lessons learned, good or bad?
• Would you apply a valuation discount vs. more vertically integrated service providers?
Curious if folks here have encountered similar models in home services, facilities maintenance, landscaping, etc., and how they ultimately underwrote the deal. Appreciate any input!
from Bentley College in Miami, FL, USA
from Pennsylvania State University in Philadelphia, PA, USA