Landscaping Business Valuation Multiples 2025
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Read Article →Valuation BenchmarksMay 2025 · 5 min read
Landscaping Business Valuation in North Dakota: Fargo & Bismarck Market Data 2025
North Dakota landscaping businesses benefit from Fargo's booming commercial and healthcare campus grounds, Sanford Health institutional accounts, and North Dakota's 1.41% top income tax — among the lowest in the U.S. for landscaping exits.
JT
Jason Taken
HedgeStone Business Advisors
North Dakota's landscaping market operates in a challenging climate — a 5-month compressed season in Fargo (May through September) that shortens further in the colder interior of the state. Despite the short season, Fargo's explosive economic growth (one of the strongest small metro economies in the U.S.) has created substantial commercial grounds and residential landscaping demand. North Dakota's 1.41% top income tax rate creates exceptional exit economics.
North Dakota Landscaping Multiples
North Dakota landscaping businesses sell for 2.5x–4.5x SDE. Fargo (Cass County) dominates — North Dakota's largest city with Sanford Health's flagship Fargo campus (one of the world's largest rural health systems), NDSU's campus grounds, Microsoft's Fargo campus, Bobcat Company's engineering headquarters, and Fargo's rapidly growing commercial real estate corridor along I-29. The West Fargo and Moorhead (Minnesota) suburban expansion creates new residential landscaping routes. Bismarck (Burleigh County) adds the North Dakota state government campus, Capitol grounds maintenance, CHI St. Alexius grounds, and Bismarck's commercial corridor.
Sanford Health and Institutional Campus Grounds
Sanford Health's Fargo campus — the flagship of one of the world's largest rural health systems — is North Dakota's most significant single institutional landscaping account. Sanford's Fargo Medical Center (rebuilt as a $700M+ new facility in 2021), the Roger Maris Cancer Center, and Sanford's corporate campus grounds require year-round grounds management: spring establishment, summer weekly maintenance, fall cleanup, and winter snow management (snow removal revenue extends landscaping businesses' revenue season by 3–4 months). Institutional grounds at Sanford and NDSU are multi-year contracts at stable billing rates. Landscaping businesses with Sanford Health or NDSU approved grounds contractor status generate the most stable recurring institutional revenue in North Dakota.
Fargo's Commercial Growth Market
Fargo has quietly become one of the U.S.'s strongest small metro economies — technology companies (Microsoft, Bobcat's parent Doosan, Intelligent InSites, and dozens of software companies), agricultural machinery companies, and healthcare draw highly compensated workers to a city with very low cost of living. This professional workforce drives demand for premium residential landscaping (higher-income homeowners investing in outdoor living spaces) and commercial grounds management for Fargo's expanding office park and retail corridor. The Fargo-Moorhead metro's new construction in West Fargo (one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. by percentage) creates continuous new residential landscaping client acquisition.
North Dakota at 1.41% — Northern Plains' Best Landscaping Exit Tax
North Dakota's 1.41% top income tax rate creates near-zero state exit tax exposure. On a $1.5M landscaping exit, North Dakota sellers pay just $21,150 in state income taxes — versus $114,750 in Wisconsin (7.65%), $101,250 in Montana (6.75%), or $114,750 in Minnesota (9.85%). Total effective rate in North Dakota is approximately 21–23% — making North Dakota one of the best exit environments in the Northern Plains. North Dakota landscaping business owners with Sanford Health institutional grounds contracts, NDSU campus grounds maintenance, or strong Fargo commercial accounts should engage a broker who can market North Dakota's exceptional tax profile alongside these institutional account profiles.
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