---
title: "Building a comp set that holds up, Route Valuation Mastery"
url: https://poolroutemarketplace.com/learn/valuation-mastery/market-comps
description: "Real comps come from three places, and a comp set built from any one source alone is fragile.\n\n**1. Closed transactions in the last 18 months in your region.**"
lang: en
---

# Building a comp set that holds up

Lesson 2 of 10 · 7 min read

Real comps come from three places, and a comp set built from any one source alone is fragile.

**1. Closed transactions in the last 18 months in your region.** Hardest to get and most valuable. Sources:
\- Brokers (will share anonymized comps to win your business)
\- Industry associations (some maintain transaction databases for members)
\- Direct conversations with buyers and sellers in your region (small industry, people talk)
\- Public records for asset sales above certain thresholds (rare for pool routes but worth checking)

**2. Active listings at similar revenue and account count.** Easier to find. Bias to closed comps when possible because asking prices skew high. But active listings tell you what the market is currently willing to consider.

**3. Broker market reports**, regional, not national averages. National averages mask huge regional variation. A Phoenix route comps very differently from a Buffalo route.

**Adjusting comps.** Any two routes are different. Adjust your raw comps for:

\- **Geography**, region, drive density, traffic, commercial vs residential mix
\- **Recurrence rate**, % auto-pay, % weekly recurring, % one-time
\- **Account size**, average ticket, ticket distribution
\- **Tenure**, average and weighted-average customer tenure
\- **Included equipment**, truck, trailer, chemicals, software
\- **Transition support**, included or extra
\- **Year of sale**, pool service multiples have generally trended up over the past decade; older comps need an upward adjustment
\- **Market conditions**, interest rates affect financing-dependent buyers; comps from a low-rate era need adjustment

**A national average is a starting prompt, not an answer.** A "12.5x" national average tells you very little about what a specific 64-stop, $11k MRR route in a specific zip code should command.

**Build a comp table.** For each comp:
\- Route description (revenue, accounts, geography, key attributes)
\- Sale price and structure (if known)
\- Implied multiple
\- Key adjustments needed to make it comparable to your subject route
\- Adjusted multiple

Three to five well-adjusted comps are more useful than fifteen poorly-matched ones.

**Triangulation.** A defensible valuation typically comes from triangulating: comps + a discounted-cash-flow style buyer-return model + a simple replacement-cost analysis ("what would it cost to build this from scratch?"). When all three converge in a range, you have a number. When they diverge, you have more diligence to do.

## Quick check

\1. What makes a comp set credible?

\2. Why are public listings a weak comp source?

\3. Best source for closed-deal comps?

\4. How recent should comps be?

\5. Right way to use a comp range?

\6. A single recent comparable sale is enough to anchor a valuation.

Earn 45 points

Mark this lesson complete

← Previous lesson: https://poolroutemarketplace.com/learn/valuation-mastery/what-drives-multiple
Next lesson →: https://poolroutemarketplace.com/learn/valuation-mastery/quality-adjustments

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