Coastal North Carolina Electrical Contractor, 22-Year Commercial Specialist

$2.3M

Revenue

$688K

SDE

2.6x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 22-year-old electrical contracting company operating across coastal eastern North Carolina, serving a corridor that runs from Southport up to the New Bern area. Founded in 2004, the business has built a durable reputation for quality work and reliable delivery in a region experiencing strong population and commercial development growth. Revenue is heavily weighted toward commercial projects at roughly 85% of the total, with the remainder from residential and maintenance service work.

The operation runs with 10 full-time electricians equipped with company vehicles and tools, working out of a leased 2,400 square foot office and warehouse facility positioned for fast jobsite access. The company has systematized project management, vendor relationships, and service delivery over two decades, which is what lets it carry $2.29 million in revenue at a $687,630 SDE, a healthy 30% owner-earnings margin for a trade services business.

At $1.8 million the deal prices at 2.62x cash flow, which is reasonable for a mature electrical contractor with a seasoned crew and commercial-heavy mix. The seller is retiring and willing to support a transition, and the business is pitched to both individual operators and strategic buyers rolling up electrical contracting in the Carolinas. The open question for any buyer is how much of the relationships, estimating, and sales sit with the departing owner versus the team.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is strong for the trade: $687,630 of SDE on $2.29 million of revenue is a 30% margin, well above typical electrical contractors in the low-to-mid teens. The 2.62x multiple means the operating business, net of the $100k inventory and $70k FF&E included, is being priced close to 2.3x on goodwill, which leaves room on entry.
Electrical work is essential and non-discretionary. Commercial tenants, developers, and homeowners cannot defer code-driven and operational electrical needs during a downturn, and licensed contractors are a gated, licensed trade that limits competition and protects pricing.
The business sits in a genuinely growing market. Coastal eastern North Carolina from Southport to New Bern is seeing sustained population and commercial development, and an incumbent with 22 years of reputation and vendor relationships is positioned to ride that construction demand rather than fight for it.
An operator advantage is real here. A hands-on buyer who can take over estimating and business development, or a strategic acquirer with existing back-office and bonding capacity, can grow billable headcount against a demand tailwind without reinventing the operational playbook already in place.

How to improve it

Build a recurring maintenance and service agreement program for the commercial base. Converting even a fraction of the 85% commercial revenue into annual preventive maintenance contracts would smooth the lumpy project cash flow and create renewable revenue that a buyer could underwrite and a future acquirer would pay a higher multiple for.
Add service vans and expand residential service calls. Residential and maintenance work is currently a minority of revenue, yet it carries higher margins and faster cash cycles than large commercial jobs; a dedicated residential service division with scheduling and dispatch could lift blended margins.
Systematize estimating and bidding so it does not depend on the retiring owner. Document the pricing playbook, historical job costs, and win rates, then train a project estimator so sales capability transfers cleanly and the business is not throttled by a single rainmaker after close.
Raise prices and tighten job costing. Review the last two years of completed jobs for margin leakage on materials and labor, implement job-level profitability tracking, and push selective price increases on repeat commercial clients who value reliability over the cheapest bid.
Recruit and apprentice to grow the crew. Growth is capped by the 10-electrician headcount, so a buyer should stand up an apprenticeship and recruiting pipeline to add licensed journeymen, directly converting the region's demand tailwind into additional billable capacity.
Invest in digital lead generation and a modern web presence. A commercial contractor with a strong local reputation can capture more inbound developer and GC relationships through a professional site, project portfolio, and targeted outreach rather than relying purely on word of mouth.

Diligence notes

Quantify owner dependence. Determine exactly what the retiring seller does day to day, specifically estimating, bidding, and key customer relationships, and whether those transfer to existing staff or walk out the door. This is the single biggest risk given the commercial-heavy revenue mix.
Verify customer concentration within the commercial 85%. Pull a revenue-by-customer and revenue-by-job report for the last three years to see whether a handful of GCs or developers drive the bulk of billings, which would materially change the risk profile and the price.
Confirm licensing, bonding, and workers comp standing. Electrical contracting is a licensed and bonded trade; verify the license transfers or that a qualifying individual remains, check bonding capacity, and review the EMR and any open safety or liability claims across the 10-person crew.
Scrutinize the SDE build and backlog. Normalize the $687,630 cash flow for owner salary, personal expenses, and any one-time 2025 projects, and verify current signed backlog and work-in-progress so you are buying forward demand, not a peak year.
Review the lease and facility fit. The lease on the 2,400 square foot facility expires 12/31/2026 at $3,200 per month; confirm renewal terms and whether the space supports growth, since relocation or a rent reset would hit margins.
Assess the age and condition of the vehicle fleet and equipment. The company provides vans and tools to all electricians; confirm what is owned versus leased, deferred replacement capex, and whether the $70k FF&E figure realistically reflects the working fleet's value.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →