Read the full deal writeup
Sign up for a free Accredited account to read the editorial writeup, financials, and broker contact for this deal.
Full Editorial Writeup
This is a two-decade-old residential fencing installer operating across the New York metro area, covering Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island and New Jersey. The core business runs roughly 400 fence jobs per year at an average ticket near $7,000, delivered by five to six installation crews led by long-tenured foremen, one of whom has been with the company since day one. On top of the fencing core sits a 19-year commercial snow removal division that carries 100-plus contracts on one to three year terms with residential communities and commercial properties.
The snow business is the structural standout here. Flat-rate contracts provide a six-figure revenue floor that pays out regardless of how much it actually snows, which turns a seasonal nuisance into a contracted, predictable income stream. Customer concentration is low: no single fence customer exceeds 4% of sales, and the company says it wins on reputation and referrals rather than price. Reported revenue has run roughly $2.67M to $2.80M annually from 2022 to 2025, with 2025 landing near $3.2M and 2026 tracking toward a record.
The operational setup is attractive for a buyer. The owner works from the office and is off job sites, with field operations, the yard and sales run by a general manager, a long-tenured project manager, office staff and a sales team, all expected to stay. Overhead is lean: the yard is held month to month, there is no office lease, and the truck fleet is owned with no loan payments. The seller is leaving to return to a corporate role, not retiring, and will train the buyer and help secure the NYC Home Improvement Contractor license before closing.
Why we like it
- Earnings quality is solid for a trades business, with $700K SDE on $3.5M revenue and a fleet owned free and clear, meaning no debt service dragging on cash flow. The owned trucks plus month-to-month yard and no office lease keep fixed overhead unusually light, which protects margins when volume dips.
- The 100-plus snow contracts on one to three year terms create genuine contracted recurring revenue with a six-figure flat-rate floor that pays regardless of snowfall. This is the rare trades deal where a meaningful slice of revenue renews by default instead of being re-won job by job.
- Both lines ride durable demand: fences get installed and repaired in good times and bad, and commercial snow removal is a safety and liability obligation that properties cannot skip. Customer concentration is low, with no fence client over 4% of sales and roughly 400 jobs a year spread across the metro.
- This is already a manager-run business with the owner off job sites, supported by a GM, long-tenured project manager, office staff, a sales team and foremen who are staying. A buyer inherits an operating team rather than having to become the operator on day one, which de-risks the transition materially.
How to improve it
- Push into commercial fencing, which the seller flags but has not pursued, by leveraging the existing snow contract relationships with communities and commercial properties. Those same account managers already buy snow services and are a warm channel for higher-ticket, higher-margin fence work.
- Expand the snow book through existing management relationships to grow the contracted, weather-insulated revenue floor. Every incremental flat-rate contract increases the predictable base that makes this business financeable and defensible, so prioritize renewals and upsells before chasing new one-off fence leads.
- Add a second full-time estimator and a New Jersey yard to capture demand the single-estimator bottleneck is currently leaving on the table. With 400 jobs a year running through limited estimating capacity, faster quoting directly converts more of the existing lead flow into booked revenue.
- Launch a holiday lighting line to monetize the snow crews and trucks in the shoulder season between fence and snow demand. It uses the same labor, same commercial relationships and same equipment, turning idle winter capacity into additional contracted revenue.
- Modernize scheduling and customer management with real CRM and job-management software to tighten crew utilization and follow-up. Two decades of repeat customers and referrals is a database worth mining systematically for repair, replacement and referral revenue that is likely undermanaged today.
- Build a formal service and maintenance offer for existing fence customers, converting the 400 annual installs into a recurring repair and warranty pipeline. Installed fences need repairs after storms and over time, and that base is a low-cost source of repeat high-margin work.
Diligence notes
- Scrutinize the snow contract terms, renewal history and the flat-rate vs per-event mix to confirm the six-figure floor is real and sticky. Pull the actual one to three year agreements, check how many renewed versus churned, and verify margin on low-snow years when flat-rate payouts outrun work performed.
- Reconcile the revenue narrative, which cites $2.67M to $2.80M from 2022 to 2025 but also 2025 near $3.2M and a headline of $3.5M. Get three years of tax returns and financials to confirm the true revenue base and to validate the $700K SDE, including exactly what owner add-backs are included.
- Assess the yard risk, since it is held month to month with no lease and no real estate included. A buyer needs certainty the yard can be retained or relocated affordably, because losing the staging and storage location mid-season would be operationally disruptive.
- Confirm the NYC Home Improvement Contractor license path and the full licensing stack across NY and NJ jurisdictions. The seller will help obtain the license before closing, but verify the buyer qualifies and that permits, insurance and bonding transfer cleanly across every borough and New Jersey where crews operate.
- Validate the depth and retention commitments of the GM, project manager, foremen and sales team, since the absentee-office owner model depends entirely on them. Review compensation, any employment or non-compete agreements, and quantify key-person risk around the foreman who has been there since day one.
- Inspect the owned truck fleet for age, condition and near-term replacement capex. The no-loan-payments story is attractive, but if several trucks are near end of life the real cost of ownership includes meaningful replacement spend a buyer must budget.
Source
- 245D Home Health Care Agency, 13-Year Twin Cities Provider
- Houston Property Restoration Franchise, Commercial-Focused, Harris County TX
- Light Commercial Service Mechanical Contractor, Anchorage Alaska Plumbing & Heating
- Commercial HVAC Contractor, Twin Cities Minnesota
- South Puget Sound Painting Contractor, 15-Year Washington Residential & Commercial
- Well-Established HVAC Contractor, 20-Year Monmouth County NJ Operator
Want the full analysis on every deal? Unlock the complete platform with Accredited Pro to screen live listings and read our operator-level writeups.