“2025 is still a seller's market for quality pest control businesses. The operators who prepared their businesses and work with a broker are seeing competitive offers within 60 days of going to market.”
Market Context: Where We Are in the Pest Control M&A Cycle
Pest control M&A has been one of the most active subsectors in home services M&A since 2017. The combination of predictable recurring revenue, essential service demand (homeowners don't stop treating for pests), a large and aging owner base, and proven PE roll-up economics has kept deal activity elevated through multiple interest rate environments. That activity continues in 2025, with some important shifts.
PE Platform Activity in 2025
Private equity-backed pest control platforms remain active acquirers, but the market has matured. Early PE entrants have consolidated large platforms and are now focused on add-ons in specific geographic corridors rather than open-market searches. New PE entrants are still pursuing platform deals — first acquisitions of larger, standalone businesses. The result: PE competition for quality businesses remains strong, but sellers in markets without existing platform presence may see less PE activity than in 2022–2023.
SBA Deal Volume and Rates
SBA-financed acquisitions remain the backbone of pest control deal volume. Despite higher interest rates than the 2020–2021 environment, SBA 7(a) deals are closing consistently because pest control's cash flows comfortably service the debt. A $1.5M deal at current SBA rates (prime + 2.25%–2.75%, approximately 10.5%–11% in early 2025) requires roughly $155K–$165K in annual debt service — achievable for most businesses generating $300K+ in SDE.
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Pricing Trends — What the Data Shows
Transaction multiples for pest control businesses have stabilized after the compression seen in late 2022 and early 2023. Quality businesses — 70%+ recurring, low attrition, owner-independent operations — are trading at or near 2021–2022 peak multiples. Lower-quality businesses (high owner dependency, poor financials, declining revenue) are seeing meaningful discounts from buyers who have become more selective. The spread between quality and non-quality businesses is wider than it's been since 2019.
What Sellers Should Know for 2025
The advice for sellers going to market in 2025 is consistent with what it's been for the past three years: prepare your business before listing, work with a broker who specializes in pest control (not generalists), and run a competitive process with multiple buyer types. Sellers who do this are consistently achieving 4x–6x SDE. Sellers who go direct to a single buyer or list without preparation are leaving 20–40% on the table.
Jason Taken
Pest Control Business Broker · HedgeStone Business Advisors
Jason specializes exclusively in pest control company acquisitions and sales. He works with sellers across 34 states and buyers ranging from owner-operators to private equity platforms.