QoE & Sell-Side Prep for Marinas & Boatyards
Marina consolidators have discovered what marina owners always knew: a slip lease is one of the most annuity-like pieces of revenue in the small-business world. The prep is proving your slip and storage income is exactly that stable — and separating it from the fuel and service revenue that isn't.
What a buyer is really paying for
A marina buyer is paying, above all, for the slip and storage revenue — the annual leases and dry-stack contracts that renew with near-utility reliability and occupancy that rarely swings. That's the durable core that earns the premium, and marina roll-ups pay up precisely because it behaves more like real estate than like a service business.
Around that core sits revenue that's more volatile: fuel sales with thin, fluctuating margins, service and repair work, and seasonal transient dockage. A buyer values these differently, so blending them into one number sells your best revenue short. QoE prep separates the annuity-like slip and storage income from the variable streams, and confirms occupancy and rate trends so the durable base is priced as durable.
EBITDA is what the multiple attaches to, but for a marina the composition of that revenue — how much is contracted slip and storage — is what a buyer really underwrites.
Add-backs, deferrals, and revenue mix
The usual legitimate add-backs apply — owner comp, personal use of a boat or vehicle, family on payroll, one-time dock or seawall repairs. Each raises adjusted EBITDA when documented well. Marinas also carry deferred revenue: annual slip fees and storage often collected up front are earned over the year, not on the day the check clears, and a buyer expects that handled correctly.
We normalize owner costs, correct prepaid-slip deferral, restate revenue into contracted slip and storage versus fuel versus service, and confirm occupancy and rate history — so a buyer sees the annuity clearly and the variable revenue honestly, rather than one blended figure that flatters neither.
How Kaizen runs it
We run a diligence-grade scan of your trailing twelve months, restate revenue into slip and storage versus fuel versus service, correct prepaid-slip deferred revenue, normalize owner comp and personal expenses, quantify occupancy and rate trends, and build the Reported-to-Adjusted EBITDA bridge a buyer's QoE firm will respect. You get a workbook, a narrative memo, and a clean-up list of the things to fix before the buyer's team finds them.
The goal: show a buyer the stable, contracted core under the seasonal noise, so diligence confirms your revenue quality instead of discounting the whole thing to fuel-margin economics.
What's included
- Trailing-twelve-month Reported → Adjusted EBITDA bridge with support for every add-back
- Revenue restated into contracted slip/storage vs. fuel vs. service and transient dockage
- Prepaid annual slip and storage fees deferred to match the period earned
- Occupancy and rate trends quantified so the annuity-like core is visible
- Fuel margin normalized so its volatility doesn't distort the run rate
- Contract and tenant concentration analysis (buyers ask — have the answer ready)
- Owner compensation and personal expenses normalized as documented add-backs
- Working-capital peg estimate so the closing true-up doesn't ambush you
Pricing
Straight answers
Why separate slip revenue from fuel and service?
Because a buyer values them completely differently. Contracted slip and storage income is annuity-like and earns a high multiple; fuel margin is thin and volatile and service is lumpy. Blend them and you drag your best revenue down to the level of your most variable. Separating them lets the durable core be priced as durable.
We collect annual slip fees up front. Is that a problem?
Not if it's booked right. Prepaid annual fees are deferred revenue earned over the year, not income on the day of payment. Recognized correctly it's a strength — visible, committed occupancy. Recognized on receipt, it overstates a given period and diligence will adjust it.
Isn't this what the buyer's QoE firm does anyway?
They do it to protect the buyer, and their version tends to lump revenue conservatively. Sell-side prep runs it first, on your side, so the contracted core is clearly presented before they arrive.
How far ahead of a sale should we start?
Ideally 6–12 months, enough time to correct the slip-fee accounting and build a clean occupancy and rate history a buyer can underwrite.
Related
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