Fabrication companies are valued on adjusted EBITDA with unusual weight on signed backlog and verifiable job-level margin. Buyers discount earnings they cannot trace to individual jobs.
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The presence of field installation changes the analysis. A shop-only fabricator is valued like other industrial manufacturers. A fabricator that self-performs erection carries contract risk, licensing, and bonding into the transaction, and buyers evaluate the backlog contract by contract: what is signed, what margin is left in it, whether the price was set before or after the last material run-up, and what happens if the schedule slips. Owned heavy equipment and crane capacity are appraised and generally act as a floor under value rather than an addition. Certified welding procedures and current welder qualifications are transferable assets; a lapsed qualification found in diligence is a price adjustment rather than a deal breaker.