Commercial HVAC Company, Chicago Metro Contractor & Service Provider

$4.5M

Revenue

$557K

SDE

3.8x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a commercial HVAC contractor serving the Chicago metropolitan market, generating roughly $4.47M in revenue and $557K in SDE. The business serves general contractors and facility managers, delivering commercial installation and project work alongside a service arm built around annual maintenance contracts, preventive maintenance, and emergency response. Founded in 2012, it runs lean with 11 employees and is being marketed as relocatable, which signals the value sits in the crews, contracts, and customer relationships rather than a fixed location.

What makes this listing more interesting than a typical trade shop is the deliberate mix of project revenue and recurring service work. Commercial construction is inherently cyclical, and the operator has offset that by converting completed jobs into ongoing maintenance agreements, creating steadier receivables and repeatable revenue between projects. In the Midwest, where heating and cooling systems get hammered by seasonal extremes, service demand and emergency calls are close to non-negotiable for facility operators.

The deal is pre-qualified for SBA 7(a) financing at the asking price, with the seller offering 10% seller financing, and the owner is exiting for retirement. At a 3.76x SDE multiple, the pricing is reasonable for a profitable HVAC business with a recurring service layer, and the clear growth playbook (more maintenance conversions, added sales capacity, geographic expansion) gives an operator-buyer a defined path to grow earnings post-close.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is solid for a trade business, with $556,668 in SDE on $4.47M of revenue and a service arm built on annual maintenance contracts that produce steady receivables. The recurring maintenance and emergency-response work smooths out the natural lumpiness of commercial construction, which is exactly what you want underneath a project-based contractor.
Commercial HVAC is genuinely durable demand: facility managers cannot skip heating and cooling maintenance in a Chicago winter or summer, and emergency response is non-discretionary. The mix of preventive maintenance contracts and rapid-response service creates switching costs and repeat relationships that hold up in a downturn.
Market tailwinds favor commercial HVAC service across aging building stock, tightening energy-efficiency requirements, and a chronic shortage of skilled trade labor. A buyer with recurring contracts and a trained crew of 11 sits in a defensible position that new entrants cannot easily replicate.
The operator advantage is clear and the growth levers are spelled out: convert completed jobs into maintenance contracts, add sales and project-management capacity, target more GCs and facility managers, and expand into surrounding counties. These are executable moves that convert one-time project revenue into higher-margin recurring service.
The deal is pre-qualified for SBA 7(a) financing at the asking price and the seller is offering 10% financing, which lowers the equity check and signals seller confidence. A retiring owner and a relocatable structure give a buyer flexibility on both financing and integration.

How to improve it

Systematically convert every completed installation into a recurring maintenance agreement before the crew leaves the site. This raises the recurring revenue base, improves gross margin, and increases the multiple a future buyer will pay for the service book.
Add dedicated sales and estimating capacity to break the owner-as-rainmaker dependency and pursue a wider set of GCs and facility managers. A repeatable pipeline reduces key-person risk and supports growth beyond the current 11-person team.
Expand the geographic footprint into surrounding Chicago-area counties where the same GC and facility-manager relationships already operate. Density in service routes lowers drive time and boosts technician utilization on maintenance calls.
Implement field service management software to track dispatch, contract renewals, and technician productivity. Better data on job margins and renewal rates lets you price contracts more accurately and cut the least profitable project work.
Build a formal renewal and price-escalation process on maintenance contracts so annual agreements automatically step up with inflation. Locking in escalators protects margin and increases the predictability of the recurring base.
Cross-sell higher-margin services like controls, indoor air quality, and energy-efficiency retrofits into the existing facility-manager client base. These add-ons deepen relationships and lift revenue per account without new customer acquisition cost.
Invest in apprenticeship and retention programs to secure the skilled technician pipeline that limits every HVAC contractor's growth. A stable, trained crew is the single biggest constraint on scaling service revenue.

Diligence notes

Break down revenue between one-time project/installation work and recurring service/maintenance contracts, because the two carry very different valuations and stability. Confirm the actual dollar value and renewal rate of the maintenance book the listing describes as robust.
Assess owner dependence given the lean 11-person team and retirement-driven sale: identify who holds the key GC and facility-manager relationships, estimating authority, and technical licensing. Verify the master mechanical/contractor licenses transfer or that a qualified employee can hold them post-close.
Review customer concentration among GCs and facility managers, since project-based contractors often lean heavily on a few relationships. Loss of one or two major accounts could materially change the earnings picture.
Validate the $556,668 SDE with tax returns and add-back schedules, scrutinizing owner compensation, one-time project margins, and any normalization of a cyclical construction year. Confirm working capital needs given that project work ties up cash in receivables and materials.
Confirm the SBA 7(a) pre-qualification terms and what the 10% seller financing looks like, including any standby requirements. Understand backlog at close and whether signed contracts and warranty obligations transfer cleanly to a new owner.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →