A starting range, not an appraisal. Real pricing depends on your financials, lease, staff structure and buyer pool — book a confidential valuation conversation for a number you can act on.
Estimate Your Business Value
Small businesses in Calgary sell on a multiple of Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE). Enter three numbers and the calculator shows a low, median and high price, and which end of the range your business is likely to land in.
Medians are BizBuySell closed-sale multiples (trailing five years to Q2 2026, US-weighted); the low–high band is the range we see on Calgary deals of that type.
Profit before your own salary, personal expenses run through the business, interest, depreciation and one-time costs.
Saleable inventory at cost and equipment at what a buyer would pay today — not the original purchase price.
How SDE is calculated
| Line | Treatment | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Net profit before tax, from the filed T2 or T1 business statement | Starting point | Buyers and their lenders start from the return, not an internal profit-and-loss |
| One working owner’s salary, wages and draws | Add back | The buyer takes this income themselves |
| Owner’s personal expenses paid by the business (vehicle, phone, travel, family on payroll who do not work) | Add back | Discretionary, not a cost of running the business |
| Interest on business debt | Add back | The buyer’s financing will be different |
| Depreciation and amortization (capital cost allowance) | Add back | Non-cash charges |
| One-time costs that will not recur (a lawsuit, a flood, a renovation that was expensed) | Add back, with proof | They will not repeat for the buyer |
| Market wage for a second owner or an unpaid family member who works in the business | Subtract | SDE assumes one working owner; the buyer has to pay someone to do that job |
| Rent below market because you own the building | Subtract the difference | The buyer will pay market rent, or buy the building in a separate deal |
SDE differs from EBITDA by the owner’s salary and perks — SDE adds them back, EBITDA does not — which is why small-business multiples of SDE (roughly 2–3×) look lower than the EBITDA multiples quoted for larger companies. An add-back a lender cannot trace to the return will not count, so document every line before the business is listed.
What actually moves the number
Two businesses with identical earnings sell for very different prices. Buyers and their lenders pay more for: clean, verifiable financials (tax returns matching the story), a transferable lease with years remaining at market rent, staff who stay so the business runs without you, and diversified revenue rather than a handful of key accounts. They discount heavily for owner-dependence, cash sales that never hit the books, and month-to-month leases.
Why sell confidentially
Most of my business listings never show a name or address publicly. Staff, landlords, suppliers and competitors finding out early can damage the very value you’re selling. Serious buyers sign an NDA before seeing financials — you stay in control of who knows what, and when. That’s the process behind my current confidential listings.
Selling or buying a business in Alberta: the rules with numbers attached
| Rule or program | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) — maximum | $1.15 million per borrower: up to $1 million in term loans plus up to $150,000 in lines of credit | ISED, CSBFP |
| CSBFP — what it can finance | Commercial real property, new or used equipment, leasehold improvements, intangible assets and working capital, including the eligible assets of an existing business; it cannot finance a purchase of shares | ISED, CSBFP |
| CSBFP — cost | Registration fee of 2% of the loan; variable rate capped at the lender’s prime plus 3% (term loans), prime plus 5% (lines of credit) | ISED, CSBFP |
| CSBFP — who qualifies | Businesses operating in Canada with gross annual revenue of $10 million or less | ISED, CSBFP |
| GST on an asset purchase | No GST is payable when buyer and seller jointly elect under section 167 (Form GST44), provided the buyer acquires all or substantially all — generally 90% or more — of the property needed to carry on the business and, if the seller is registered, the buyer is too; the buyer files the form with its first return after closing | CRA, GST/HST Memorandum 14-4 |
| Seller’s lifetime capital gains exemption (share sale of a qualified small business corporation) | $1,250,000 for 2025, indexed to inflation after that — which is why sellers often prefer a share sale and buyers an asset sale | CRA, Line 25400 |
| Provincial sales tax on the purchase | None — Alberta has no PST | Government of Alberta |
These are the federal and provincial figures; the deal-specific numbers — the lease, the SDE multiple, working capital at closing — are covered above. Program limits and tax thresholds change; confirm the current figures with your lender and accountant before you rely on them.
How buyers actually value a Calgary business
Small businesses in Calgary sell on a multiple of Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE) — the cash the business generates for one working owner before that owner’s salary, personal expenses, interest, depreciation and one-time items. Lenders underwrite on the same number, which is why the multiple matters more than any list price.
| Business type | Median sale price ÷ SDE | What pushes a Calgary deal above or below it |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and food service | 2.18× | Lease term at market rent, AGLC licence transfer, kitchen condition, franchise resale rules |
| Retail | 2.63× | Inventory usually added at cost on top; foot-traffic location and supplier terms |
| Salons and personal services | 2.12× | Whether stylists and clients stay after the owner leaves; chair-rental versus employee model |
| Automotive and truck repair | 2.85× | Equipment and hoists at fair value, fleet contracts, licensed technicians who stay |
| Trades and construction services | ≈2.8× | Recurring service agreements, ticketed staff, backlog, owner-dependence |
| All small businesses | 2.58× | Clean, verifiable financials are the single biggest lever |
Multiples are BizBuySell marketplace medians for closed sales, trailing five years to Q2 2026 (US-weighted). Calgary transactions trade in the same bands; the calculator above applies a range around these medians to your SDE.
A worked example
A Calgary pizza and donair restaurant showing $140,000 of SDE on clean tax returns, with six years left on a transferable lease at market rent and staff who run the line without the owner, prices in the 2.0×–2.5× band: roughly $280,000 to $350,000, plus saleable inventory at cost. The same restaurant with a month-to-month lease and a chunk of cash sales that never reached the books is a 1.0×–1.5× business — $140,000 to $210,000 — and harder to finance, which shrinks the buyer pool again.
What a Calgary business appraisal looks at
A formal appraisal or a broker opinion of value normalises three years of financial statements, adds back owner compensation and personal expenses, confirms the lease and any franchise agreement, and benchmarks the result against comparable closed sales. Expect it to test the story: if revenue is up but tax returns are flat, the buyer’s lender will notice before the buyer does.
Preparing 12 months before you sell
Move every sale through the books, renew or extend the lease before listing, document the roles staff actually hold, separate personal spending from the business, and settle any CRA or AGLC issues. Each of those moves the multiple, and together they are the difference between a business that sells in ninety days and one that sits.
FAQ
What is SDE?
Seller’s Discretionary Earnings: your profit before owner salary and benefits, personal expenses run through the business, interest, taxes, depreciation and true one-time costs. It’s the standard small-business earnings measure buyers use.
Is this what my business will sell for?
No — it’s a realistic starting range using standard small-business multiples. Actual pricing depends on your books, lease, staff and how the sale is run. A confidential conversation gets you a defensible number.
Does the buyer pay for inventory separately?
Often, yes — saleable inventory is commonly added at cost on top of the goodwill price. Equipment can be inside or on top depending on the deal structure.
Can foreign buyers purchase my business?
Yes — Canada’s residential foreign-buyer ban doesn’t apply to businesses. I regularly work with US and out-of-province buyers, which widens your buyer pool. How cross-border purchases work.
Thinking about selling in the next year or two? The best exits are prepared 12+ months out. Start the conversation confidentially — 587-435-0029.
Want the reasoning behind the multiples? The business valuation guide explains SDE, the multiples buyers pay in Calgary and what moves them. Buying rather than selling? Read how to buy a business in Calgary and browse the current businesses for sale.
