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Exit Readiness Assessment · in person in Vancouver or online
An exit readiness assessment for design and construction owners planning to sell in the next one to five years.
You've built something real. You're ready to think about what comes next. Then a broker looks at it and tells you it isn't ready, or worse, gives you a number well below what you expected.
Almost always, the reason is the same one: the business is you. Take you out of it and there's no proven process, no team that holds quality without you, no documented way of working a buyer could inherit.
You're not selling a business. You're offering to sell a job.
That's fixable. It just isn't fixable in ninety days.
A written evaluation against the eight components that determine whether a company can operate, and therefore be valued, independently of its owner.
Unlike a valuation, it doesn't tell you what the business is worth today. It tells you what's suppressing that number, what each gap is costing you in multiple, and what sequence of work would close it in the time you have.
Owner dependence hides inside the first five: weak process, undocumented knowledge, a team that routes every decision through you. Each reads as risk in due diligence, and risk comes off the multiple. The last three are about you. Plenty of owners get the business ready and then find that they are not.
It is an assessment of sale readiness, not a valuation. To see how construction companies are valued, read how to value a construction company.
Buyers look at financials over multiple years. Changes made three months before a sale look like window dressing; changes made three years before look like how the company operates.
If you're planning to exit in one to five years, this is the right moment.
If you're planning to exit in six months, the honest answer is that most of the value-building window has closed, and I'll tell you that rather than sell you a program.
Design and construction business owners with a team, planning a sale, succession or step-back in the next three to five years. Three years is roughly the minimum runway for this work to show up in your financials as a trend rather than an event. Equally useful if you've already been told by a broker that the business isn't ready.
That includes contractors, builders, trades, architects and designers, wherever you are based. The work happens in person in Vancouver or online, so it is open to owners anywhere.
Group coaching is not offered to exit clients. A group moves at the group's pace, and an owner selling in three years cannot wait for the module they need. The work has to be specific to your business and your deadline.
Are you a business broker or M&A advisor with a client who isn't ready? See how this works for brokers.
$2,500, credited in full against your first monthly payment if you join the Master Plan Program within one month.
The time to fix this is before you go to market. Tell me roughly when you want out and whether a broker is already involved. Those two answers change the conversation more than anything else.
I reply myself. The first step is a short call, to understand your timeline and what leaving actually looks like for you.
I go through the business with you and interview you as the owner, in person in Vancouver or online.
Where the business stands on transferability, what each gap is costing you, and the major steps to closing the gaps before you go to market.
I take you through all of it. Then you decide: run the plan yourself, or bring me in to drive it through the Master Plan Program. Most owners at this stage do not have the time to do both.
A confirmation is on its way to your inbox. Eric reads these himself and replies personally. While you wait, the free Exit Readiness Scorecard shows you where the business stands.
A business is ready to sell when it can operate, and therefore be valued, independently of its owner. Take the owner out of it and there has to be a proven process, a team that holds quality without you, and a documented way of working that a buyer could inherit. The free Exit Readiness Scorecard gives you a first read. The Exit Readiness Assessment goes through all eight components in writing and tells you what is suppressing the number.
A broker may tell you the business is not ready, or give you a number well below what you expected. Almost always the reason is the same: the business is the owner. Without you in it there is no proven process, no team that holds quality without you, and no documented way of working that a buyer could inherit, so you are offering to sell a job and not a business. That is fixable, but it is not fixable in ninety days.
By closing the gaps that suppress it, and by giving buyers time to see the change. Buyers look at financials over multiple years, so changes made three months before a sale look like window dressing, while changes made three years before look like how the company operates. The assessment tells you what is suppressing the number, what each gap is costing you in multiple, and what sequence of work would close it in the time you have.
If you plan to exit in one to five years, this is the right moment. Three years is roughly the minimum runway for this work to show up in your financials as a trend rather than an event. If you plan to exit in six months, most of the value-building window has closed, and Eric will tell you that rather than sell you a program.
No. Unlike a valuation, the assessment does not tell you what the business is worth today. It tells you what is suppressing that number, what each gap is costing you in multiple, and what sequence of work would close it. To see how construction companies are valued, read how to value a construction company. If you need a formal valuation for a sale, a tax filing or a legal matter, that is separate work for a qualified valuer.
It is equally useful if a broker has already told you the business is not ready. The assessment turns that verdict into a written account of what is suppressing the number and the sequence of work that would close it. Your broker or advisor can be included in the walkthrough session if you would like.
The Exit Readiness Assessment is $2,500, credited in full against your first monthly payment if you join the Master Plan Program within one month.
No. Group coaching is not offered to exit clients. A group moves at the group's pace, and an owner selling in three years cannot wait for the module they need. The work has to be specific to your business and your deadline.
Yes. The deep dive and the walkthrough session can take place in person in Vancouver or online, so design and construction owners anywhere can take the assessment.
Start with the free Exit Readiness Scorecard. It gives you a first read on where the business stands before you speak to anyone.
Eric Lee · Starfish Coaching · 1937 Triumph St, Vancouver BC V5L 1K6
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