{"id":8935,"date":"2026-10-19T12:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T12:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aventis-advisors.com\/?p=8935"},"modified":"2026-11-15T21:52:52","modified_gmt":"2026-11-15T21:52:52","slug":"valoracion-empresas-ensayos-materiales-construccion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aventis-advisors.com\/es\/valoracion-empresas-ensayos-materiales-construccion\/","title":{"rendered":"Valoraci\u00f3n de laboratorios de ensayos de materiales de construcci\u00f3n: EV\/EBITDA & EV\/Revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

A construction materials testing lab earns its place on projects slowly, through accredited methods, trained technicians and contractors who come back for the next job, often over the whole working life of its owner. Selling it is the moment that work is valued, and what it fetches depends on how many credible buyers compete for it: eighteen different buyers have acquired construction materials testing laboratories since 2015. This page brings together the prices paid for construction materials testing laboratories, the points a buyer looks for and the groups that have been buying.<\/p>

These laboratories test the concrete, cement, asphalt, aggregates, soils and other materials that go into roads, bridges and buildings: concrete cubes and cylinders crushed for strength, asphalt checked for binder content and density, aggregates graded, soils classified and compacted. Many collect the samples from sites themselves and bring them back to their own laboratory. The work returns because building codes and project specifications require materials to be sampled and tested as a structure goes up, and because concrete, asphalt and aggregate producers test their own output on a schedule.<\/p>

Most construction materials testing laboratories are small, local and privately owned, and testing groups and private equity-backed platforms have started to buy them, so a well-run laboratory can draw both kinds of buyer into one sale. We count 39 acquisitions of construction materials testing laboratories since 2015, 28 of them from 2021 onward. The count is small because we include only laboratories: firms whose main work is field testing or special inspection on site are counted elsewhere, and many US construction testing firms work that way.<\/p>

In short, the EBITDA reference for this segment is the 10.1x median across 24 testing laboratory<\/a> deals, whose median deal size was about $60M. Four deals carry a revenue multiple, with a median of 1.8x, inside the usual range for testing laboratories, against 2.4x<\/strong> for all testing laboratories and 1.8x for all TIC deals on our pages<\/a>.<\/p>

Construction Materials Testing Laboratory Deal Multiples Compared With the Wider TIC Market<\/h2>

Only four of the 39 construction materials testing laboratory acquisitions since 2015 come with a published value. From acquirer announcements, company filings and Mergermarket we could calculate an EV\/Revenue multiple for the same four and an EV\/EBITDA multiple for one. The segment column is therefore a pointer only, and the all-laboratories column carries most of the weight. A laboratory much smaller than the deals behind those medians should expect to sell below them unless several buyers compete for it and it can show accreditation with official approvals and repeat producer customers.<\/p>

<\/th>Construction materials testing laboratories<\/th>All testing laboratories<\/th>All TIC (our three hubs)<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Median EV\/EBITDA<\/td>Too few deals (1): see All testing laboratories<\/td>10.1x (24 deals)<\/td>9.9x (54 deals)<\/td><\/tr>
Median EV\/Revenue<\/td>1.8x (4 deals)<\/td>2.4x (72 deals)<\/td>1.8x (142 deals)<\/td><\/tr>
Median deal size (EV where disclosed, otherwise the disclosed deal value)<\/td>$11.5M (4 deals)<\/td>$13.4M (128 deals)<\/td>$13.4M (282 deals)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Source: Aventis Advisors TIC deal database.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

We track every construction materials testing laboratory acquisition since 2015, 39 deals by eighteen different buyers, so we know which buyers fit a laboratory like yours and what they have paid.<\/p>

What is your laboratory worth?<\/strong><\/p>

Send us three numbers: revenue, EBITDA and revenue growth rate. Within two working days we show you in confidence how your laboratory measures up against 39 construction materials testing laboratory deals, which buyer groups have acquired laboratories like yours, and how any offer you hold compares with what they paid where terms are published.<\/p>

Request your valuation assessment<\/a> or email the numbers to marcin.majewski@aventis-advisors.com<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>

What Drives a Construction Materials Testing Laboratory Valuation<\/h2>

Before it settles on a price, a buyer works through the points below, and each one moves a construction materials testing laboratory up or down the range. Records such as accreditation history, customer retention and equipment registers build up over years, so an owner who starts on them early has more to put in front of a buyer.<\/p>

<\/g><\/svg>

Accreditation scope and official approvals<\/p>

ISO\/IEC 17025 accreditation from the national body, such as UKAS in the UK, ACCREDIA in Italy or NATA in Australia, sets out which tests on concrete, asphalt, aggregates and soils the laboratory may report. Many clients and regulations ask for more than that. In Italy, acceptance tests on the concrete and reinforcing steel of a structure must be done by a laboratory authorized by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. On US federal-aid highway projects, 23 CFR 637.209 requires acceptance testing to be done by qualified laboratories, and state transportation department (DOT) central, independent-assurance and dispute-resolution laboratories must be accredited under the AASHTO Accreditation Program or an FHWA-approved equivalent; many state DOTs also keep lists of qualified laboratories. In the EU, notified laboratories carry out the testing some construction products need before CE marking. Show this: the current schedule of accredited tests, every authorization or listing with its renewal date, and the last two assessment reports with how each finding was closed.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

<\/g><\/svg>

Repeat customers and producer testing<\/p>

Project testing ends when the project does, while concrete, asphalt and aggregate producers test their output on a schedule under factory production control and often send part of it to an independent laboratory year after year. Contractors and public road authorities with multi-year framework agreements also send work every month. Buyers pay more for revenue from customers who keep coming back. Show this: three years of revenue by customer, split between producers, contractors, public authorities and engineers.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

<\/g><\/svg>

Laboratory revenue against site work<\/p>

Many laboratories collect samples and run some tests on site, such as slump and air content on fresh concrete or density on compacted fill. A buyer looking for a laboratory reads how much of the revenue is earned inside the laboratory and how much is technician time on site, because the two earn different margins and depend on different staff. A firm whose site work outgrows its laboratory starts to look like a field testing business to a buyer.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

<\/g><\/svg>

Capacity, equipment and turnaround<\/p>

Compression machines, curing tanks, asphalt and aggregate equipment and soil test rigs set how many samples a laboratory can handle, and each machine needs its own calibration records. Concrete specimens are usually tested at set ages, often 7 and 28 days, so a laboratory has to plan collection and testing around them. Buyers check utilization, the age of the main equipment, turnaround against what customers are promised, and how much spare room there is to take extra samples from the buyer’s own network.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

<\/g><\/svg>

Technical manager and staff<\/p>

Accreditations and official authorizations name the people responsible for the laboratory and for signing results. Where the owner is that person, a buyer sees key-person risk and wants to know who could take over. Buyers also check how long technicians stay and how they are trained, because each new technician must show competence on the accredited methods before testing alone.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

<\/g><\/svg>

Construction cycle and end markets<\/p>

Sample volumes follow construction activity. Road, rail and other public infrastructure work runs on funded programs that last several years, while private housing and commercial building moves with interest rates. Buyers look at the split between public and private work and at how revenue held up in the last slowdown in building.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

<\/g><\/svg>

Location and density<\/p>

Fresh samples travel by road from site to laboratory, so a construction materials testing laboratory earns most where many sites sit within a short drive. A group adding laboratories region by region will pay more for one that fills a gap on its map than for one that overlaps a site it already runs.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>

How we present these to buyers.<\/strong> A buyer pays for what it can see and check. Part of our work in a sale is to present the business as strongly as the facts allow: we set out the accreditation scope and official approvals, show the repeat producer and contractor work, and separate laboratory revenue from site work, and we deal with weak points before a buyer finds them and uses them to lower the offer. A valuation assessment is the place to start, a year or two before a sale.<\/p>

Who Is Buying Construction Materials Testing Laboratories<\/h2>

Eighteen buyers account for the 39 acquisitions of construction materials testing laboratories we count since January 2015. Private equity firms and their platforms made 59% of them: 1 of the 11 deals in 2015 to 2020 and 79% of the 28 since 2021. The targets were in 16 countries: 12 in the UK and Ireland, 12 in continental Europe (seven countries), 5 in Asia-Pacific, 4 in North America, 3 in Latin America, 2 in the Middle East and Africa and 1 in Australia.<\/p>

Five buyers made 23 of the 39 deals.<\/p>

Buyer<\/th>Headquarters<\/th>Ownership<\/th>Construction materials testing laboratory deals<\/th>Other TIC deals<\/th>Total TIC deals<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
\"PhennaPhenna Group<\/a><\/td>UK<\/td>PE-backed (Oakley Capital since 2022)<\/td>10<\/td>92<\/td>102<\/td><\/tr>
\"SGSSGS<\/a><\/td>Switzerland<\/td>Listed<\/td>6<\/td>111<\/td>117<\/td><\/tr>
\"CTSCTS Group (formerly CET Group)<\/td>UK<\/td>Part of Phenna Group since 2022 (Palatine-backed 2018 to 2022)<\/td>3<\/td>8<\/td>11<\/td><\/tr>
\"CerterraCerterra<\/td>US<\/td>PE-backed (OceanSound Partners since 2021)<\/td>2<\/td>22<\/td>24<\/td><\/tr>
\"GBAGBA Group<\/td>Germany<\/td>PE-backed (Ardian since 2021; sale to Bridgepoint agreed 2026)<\/td>2<\/td>28<\/td>30<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Source: Aventis Advisors TIC deal database.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

For an owner, every buyer in the table buys mainly outside construction materials testing laboratories: for each of them, a construction materials laboratory is a small share of its TIC acquisitions. The approach is therefore most likely to come from a group that wants your accreditations, your customers or your region as part of a wider network. A private equity platform buys with a later sale in mind, while a group buying for its own network plans to keep the laboratory, and the two weigh the business and the seller’s role after completion in different ways; see strategic vs financial buyers<\/a>.<\/p>

One buyer’s offer tells you what that buyer would like to pay. Offers from several buyers, made at the same time on the same information, tell you what the business is worth. That is what a sale process does, and it is the work we do for owners: talk to us<\/a> before you reply to an approach.<\/p>

Selling a Construction Materials Testing Laboratory: What a Run Process Changes<\/h2>

An approach usually comes on the buyer’s timetable, on the buyer’s terms and as the only offer on the table, so an owner who answers it alone is negotiating with one party. A competitive sale process changes that in four ways, and running it is what we do for owners.<\/p>

Several buyers bid at the same time.<\/strong> Private equity firms and their platforms made 79% of the 28 deals since 2021, and eighteen different buyers have acquired these laboratories since 2015. A testing group adding a site to its network and a private equity platform buying with a later sale in mind value the same laboratory differently, and offers made in the same week, on the same information, show what the market will pay.<\/p>

The process sets the terms of engagement.<\/strong> The seller sets the timetable, the information each buyer sees and the date offers are due, so competition between buyers sets the value.<\/p>

Every term is negotiated while alternatives exist.<\/strong> The split between cash at completion and an earn-out exposed to the building market, your role after the sale and the terms for your technical manager and senior technicians all move most while a second buyer is still in the process.<\/p>

The business is ready before the first call.<\/strong> The schedule of accredited tests and assessment reports, every authorization and qualified-laboratory listing with its renewal date, revenue by customer type and year, the split between laboratory and site revenue, the equipment list with calibration records and your framework agreements. We prepare all of it with you before any buyer is contacted.<\/p>

Why Laboratory Owners Work With Us<\/h2>

We advise owners on sales with typical enterprise values between $5M and $100M, as partners of the Globalscope network. We also advise serial acquirers, which is how we know the way their offers are built and where they leave room.<\/p>

Recent transactions:<\/p>