Prepared by: Layer8TechGroup · Basis: Questionnaire · 0 documents · 44/44 answered · Vertical: Home Services / Trades
No overall score is published for this assessment
The assessment floor withholds a headline score when no domain rests on corroborated evidence. Every answer here is self-reported, so none does. Domain scores are shown because they are useful; a single blended number would carry a confidence this evidence cannot support. Reason recorded by the engine: no_corroborated_domain.
Domain profile
Bar length reflects the score only. Badges sit in their own column, so equal scores draw equal bars whether or not a domain carries one.
| DRDiligence Risk | 5.4 | ||
| OROwner Risk | 4.8 | ||
| CQCustomer Quality | 6.0 | CAPPED AT 6 | |
| OSOperational Scalability | 6.0 | CAPPED AT 6 | |
| FRFinancial Readiness | 6.0 | CAPPED AT 6 VERIFY | |
| LCLegal & Regulatory Compliance | 6.0 | CAPPED AT 6 | |
| TMTechnology & Systems Maturity | 5.5 | CAPPED AT 6 | |
| HCHuman Capital | 5.3 | CAPPED AT 6 |
What your answers say
Everything in this section is drawn from your responses, not from documents. It is what you reported, organised — not what your records substantiate. Validation is where the two are compared.
Strongest, as reported
- LCLegal & Regulatory Compliance 7.6/10 as reported · moderate exposureLicences, employment compliance, IP ownership, and whether contracts survive a change of control. These are the questions with binary answers — an agreement either carries assignment terms or it does not, an IP chain is either clear or it is not — and they are far easier to answer now than to answer under time pressure.Strongest here: Litigation & Contingent Liability, Business Licenses & Permits
- FRFinancial Readiness 7.2/10 as reported · moderate exposureYour financials are prepared consistently and your CPA reviews them annually, which establishes a foundation. Add-backs are documented and known to your advisor, though they're not yet organized into a formal schedule—your truck, fuel, wife's payroll, and conference costs are all there, just embedded in the broader picture. Revenue timing shows some irregularity. Pulling add-backs into a clear, itemized format would sharpen this picture considerably.Strongest here: Add-Back Documentation, Three-Year Financial Trend
- CQCustomer Quality 7.0/10 as reported · moderate exposureWhere the revenue comes from and how reliably it repeats — concentration, contract terms, retention. The distinction that matters here is between a base that renews on paper and one that renews on goodwill — only one of the two is written down anywhere.Strongest here: Revenue Predictability & Recurring Mix
Thinnest, as reported
- OROwner Risk 4.8/10 as reported · high exposureThe business currently relies on you for operational decisions and job execution, with the service coordinator handling dispatch in your absence—a setup that would create real disruption if you stepped away. Critical knowledge about how jobs run lives primarily in people's heads rather than documented systems, and your management team isn't being actively prepared to fill gaps. Strengthening this area means building documented processes and developing the team's decision-making capacity before a transition.Weakest here: Succession Readiness, Institutional Knowledge Capture
- DRDiligence Risk 5.4/10 as reported · high exposureYour core business records are fragmented: financials are more than two quarters old, key figures live only in summaries or pitch documents rather than source records, and your contract and employment files are incomplete. Corporate records are minimal beyond formation paperwork, and assembling what exists takes significant time. Diligence processes depend heavily on documentation that can be traced and dated—gaps here create friction that buyers examine closely.Weakest here: Corporate Records Completeness, Data Room Organisation & Access
- TMTechnology & Systems Maturity 5.7/10 as reported · high exposureYour core systems run on a mix of undocumented processes and personal accounts, with data integrity heavily dependent on manual work you're not confident in. Key vendor relationships and subscriptions exist but aren't formally tracked, and while you know about technical debt, some upgrades remain deferred. This combination creates operational risk and makes it difficult for an incoming owner to understand what actually runs the business.Weakest here: Data Integrity & Business Intelligence, Core Systems Documentation & Ownership
Where to start
- OROwner Risk4.8/10 as reportedStart with: Succession Planning & Knowledge Capture SprintCaptures what you know and who else could do it, so decision authority and the relationships you hold personally stop being undocumented.Pulled down by Succession Readiness, Institutional Knowledge Capture, Management Team Depth
- DRDiligence Risk5.4/10 as reportedStart with: Security Hardening & Data Room PreparationAssembles the diligence document set in advance, and closes the access and records gaps that turn a request list into a scramble.Pulled down by Corporate Records Completeness, Data Room Organisation & Access, Tier A Document Set Completeness
- TMTechnology & Systems Maturity5.7/10 as reportedStart with: Technology Infrastructure Audit & Modernization PlanMoves the systems into business ownership, documents what runs where, and addresses the security and technical-debt items that surface during a technical review.Pulled down by Data Integrity & Business Intelligence, Core Systems Documentation & Ownership, Technology Vendor & Subscription Management
- HCHuman Capital5.9/10 as reportedStart with: Workforce Retention & Bench Depth SprintBuilds the bench and structures retention, so the people who make the business work have a reason to stay through a transition.Pulled down by Recruiting & Training Capability, Bench Depth & Succession Beyond Owner, Compensation Competitiveness
- OSOperational Scalability6.8/10 as reportedStart with: Process Documentation & Systems AuditWrites down how the work is actually done, so the process lives somewhere other than in the head of the person currently doing it.Pulled down by Technology & Systems Scalability, Financial Controls & Reporting Cadence
Flagged for verification — 1
These are prompts to check an answer against records, raised where a self-reported answer and the owner's own description may not align. They are not findings, and they are not a suggestion that anything was misstated — a description written loosely and an answer chosen carefully will often differ.
- Add-Back Documentation (
fr_02) — Self-reported add-back answer and the owner's description may not align — confirm against an itemised add-back schedule and the filed tax return.
Readiness Guidance & Next Steps
Self-reported — not yet evidenced by documents Everything below rests on the answers above. No documents were reviewed, so none of it is verified — it is where to look first, ordered by what you told us.
DRDiligence Risk
High exposureWhere to start: Security Hardening & Data Room Preparation
Assembles the diligence document set in advance, and closes the access and records gaps that turn a request list into a scramble.
OROwner Risk
High exposureWhere to start: Succession Planning & Knowledge Capture Sprint
Captures what you know and who else could do it, so decision authority and the relationships you hold personally stop being undocumented.
CQCustomer Quality
Moderate exposureWhere to start: Contract Audit & CRM Implementation
Puts the customer base on paper — executed agreements with assignment terms, and a system of record so retention is something you can show rather than describe.
OSOperational Scalability
Moderate exposureWhere to start: Process Documentation & Systems Audit
Writes down how the work is actually done, so the process lives somewhere other than in the head of the person currently doing it.
FRFinancial Readiness
Moderate exposureWhere to start: Books Cleanup & Add-Back Schedule
Cleans the books and itemises the add-backs, so your real earnings are a schedule someone can verify rather than a figure they have to take on trust.
- Add-Back Documentation — Self-reported add-back answer and the owner's description may not align — confirm against an itemised add-back schedule and the filed tax return.
LCLegal & Regulatory Compliance
Moderate exposureWhere to start: Legal Compliance Audit & Contract Review
Reviews the agreements and the filings for the terms that block a transfer — change-of-control, IP assignment, employment compliance — while there is time to fix them.
TMTechnology & Systems Maturity
High exposureWhere to start: Technology Infrastructure Audit & Modernization Plan
Moves the systems into business ownership, documents what runs where, and addresses the security and technical-debt items that surface during a technical review.
HCHuman Capital
High exposureWhere to start: Workforce Retention & Bench Depth Sprint
Builds the bench and structures retention, so the people who make the business work have a reason to stay through a transition.
What Validation adds
Validation verifies each of these against your documents, scopes the remediation to what your records actually show, and computes your valuation gap from your real EBITDA — the substantiation and the figures a self-reported assessment cannot produce. Engagement pricing comes out of a scoping conversation, once there is a document set to scope against.
DRDiligence Risk — 5.4/10 · 7 criteria
Of these six things — three years of financials, tax returns, formation documents, your customer contracts, an employee roster, insurance certificates — how many could you put your hands on this week?
About half, and some only as summaries rather than the documents
How old is the most recent version of your key paperwork — financials, insurance certificates, licences?
Several are stale — financials more than two quarters old
When you state your revenue, EBITDA, headcount and customer count, can you point to a document that shows each number?
Several appear only in a CIM, overview or memo
Which corporate records do you hold — formation documents, the operating or shareholder agreement, a current cap table, board or member minutes?
Only a formation certificate
For your material customer, vendor and lease agreements, do you hold signed copies you could retrieve on request?
A representative sample rather than the full set
What employment paperwork exists — offer letters or agreements, a handbook, an org chart, work-eligibility records?
A roster exists but supporting documents are largely absent
If a buyer asked for three years of financials, contracts, and corporate records tomorrow, how long would it take you to produce them?
A month or more, with a lot of digging
OROwner Risk — 4.8/10 · 4 criteria
If you decided to step back permanently, who takes over, and how far has that been prepared?
No plan — I make the decisions and no one is being prepared
If a long-standing employee left tomorrow, how much of what they know is written down somewhere another person could follow?
Very little — most knowledge is in people's heads
If you stepped away for 60 days, what would happen?
Revenue would slip and problems would pile up
If your most important employee resigned next month, what happens?
We'd manage, with real disruption
CQCustomer Quality — 6.0/10 · 4 criteria
How much of your revenue comes from your largest customer?
10–25%
How much of next year's revenue is already under contract or on recurring agreements, rather than needing to be won again?
Roughly half to 70%, mostly annual agreements that renew well
Are your customer and vendor agreements signed, current, and transferable to a new owner?
Mostly signed and current; transferability not checked
Of the customers you had this time last year, how many are still with you — and how do you know?
Roughly 80–90%; tracked informally
OSOperational Scalability — 6.0/10 · 4 criteria
How much of the day-to-day work is written down?
Some written procedures, applied unevenly
If your volume tripled over two years, what would your current systems do?
Strain — some systems are dated or poorly documented
Is there any single supplier, platform or subcontractor you could not replace within a month without hurting customers?
One or two matter, but replacements are available
How long after month-end do you have financials you'd act on, and who reviews them?
Quarterly, handled by a bookkeeper
FRFinancial Readiness — 6.0/10 · 4 criteria
How are your books kept?
Accrual, prepared in-house, reviewed annually
When you calculate your real earnings for a buyer — SDE or adjusted EBITDA — what do you add back to reported profit, and could you document each one?
Modest add-backs — owner comp to market, a clear one-time item or two — all documented
When do you record revenue — and has that been the same in each of the last three years?
Mostly consistent, with some irregular timing
Over the last three years, what have revenue and profit done?
Grown around 10-15% a year with stable margins
LCLegal & Regulatory Compliance — 6.0/10 · 5 criteria
Are every licence and permit you operate under current — and do you know whether they survive a change of ownership?
All current; transferability never formally checked
Have your key customer, vendor and lease agreements been read for what happens to them when the business changes hands?
The contracts exist but nobody has checked the assignment language
Where do you stand on employment paperwork — work-eligibility records, written agreements, and how staff and contractors are classified?
Eligibility records inconsistent, agreements informal, some classification questions
Who legally owns your software, brand, customer data and processes — the business, or a person?
The entity owns the core; minor gaps in registration or assignment
What disputes, claims or potential liabilities exist that a buyer would want disclosed?
None open, none threatened, and a clean history
TMTechnology & Systems Maturity — 5.5/10 · 5 criteria
If you were unavailable, could someone else get into every system the business depends on?
Mostly, but nothing is documented and some accounts are personal
When did you last review who has access to your systems, and test that your backups restore?
Within the last year or two
If you needed to know your revenue by service line and customer for last quarter, how would you get it?
A significant manual exercise, and I'd question the result
Do you have a list of every software subscription the business pays for, with who owns the account and when it renews?
We know what we use, but it isn't written down
Is anything you rely on running on software that is out of date, unsupported, or that you have been putting off replacing?
A mixed picture; some deferred upgrades, all known
HCHuman Capital — 5.3/10 · 5 criteria
Of the people working here two years ago, how many are still here — and how long has the average person been with you?
Most; average tenure over five years, with little turnover in key roles
How do you decide what to pay people, and when did you last compare it to what others in your industry pay?
Roughly market rate for most roles; benchmarking is occasional
The last time you hired, how much of it did you personally do — and what did the new person's first month look like?
Job descriptions exist but hiring is informal and training ad hoc
Setting yourself aside — for each key role, is there a second person who could do it?
Some roles still have only one person who can do them
Is anyone paid or given benefits in a way that only works while you own the business — handshake bonuses, personal arrangements, family terms?
Mostly formal and portable, with minor exceptions
Automation Maturity Index — 1.8/10 · reported separately, not blended into the assessment
When a customer calls outside business hours, what happens — voicemail, an answering service, or an automated agent that can book work?
Voicemail after hours.
Which CRM or job-management system do you use, and is every lead entered into it?
We use ServiceTitan for dispatch; quoting is still manual.
Can a prospective customer reach you or book time at 9pm on a Sunday without a person being involved?
Nothing overnight.
Are appointment reminders and confirmations sent automatically by text?
ServiceTitan sends some reminders.
Is a review request sent automatically after a completed job, or does someone remember to ask?
We do not ask systematically.
When a quote goes unanswered, does anything follow up automatically?
No follow-up sequences.
About this assessment
Every score above comes from an answer the owner selected, with no supporting documents submitted or reviewed. 13 of 44 criteria were held to the attestation ceiling of 6: where a criterion's top band asserts something a buyer could ask to see, an answer alone cannot carry it higher.
The remaining criteria score a judgement about capability rather than a claim about an artifact, and are not capped — capping a judgement would understate the business as surely as failing to cap an artifact claim would overstate it.
Verification prompts are raised where a self-reported answer and the owner's own description may not align. They are prompts to check against records, not findings, and not a suggestion that anything was misstated.
What this report captures is what the owner reported. A document-based validation of the same business scores the same 44 criteria against the records themselves. The difference between the two is not a formatting change: every score held at the ceiling above, every verification prompt, and the withheld headline each mark a place where the two could diverge — and a buyer's diligence is where that divergence surfaces if it is not surfaced here first. The distinction that matters is whose timetable it happens on.