Core3 Drywall, Owner-Operated Colorado Drywall Contractor

$705K

Revenue

$183K

SDE

2.5x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

Core3 Drywall is a home-based, owner-operated drywall contractor serving the Colorado Front Range, with work spanning residential and commercial drywall repairs, remodels, texture matching, and the finishing of basements, garages, and similar spaces. The majority of demand comes from homeowners calling directly for projects that do not require a general contractor, which keeps the business out of the low-margin, high-competition production-builder lane and in the higher-touch repair and remodel niche.

The operating model is lean and asset-light. The owner works roughly 30 hours a week handling phone calls, estimates, scheduling, and crew coordination, supported by one long-tenured employee and a stable of dependable subcontractors, most of whom have been with the company a year or more. With no commercial lease and light inventory needs, overhead stays low and the business is genuinely relocatable, carrying a late-model work truck, scaffolding, ladders, tools, and some material stock.

What stands out is the $1.83M in reported cash flow generated by a two-person core team leaning on subs. That is unusually strong SDE for a drywall shop of this footprint, which makes revenue verification and margin durability the central questions. If the earnings hold up, this is a highly cash-generative, simple-to-run business with clear expansion paths into the broader Denver metro.

Why we like it

Reported cash flow of $1.83M from a business run on one owner at 30 hours a week, one employee, and subcontractors is exceptional operating leverage. A sub-based model means labor scales up and down with demand, protecting margins when volume softens.
Drywall repair, remodel, and finishing is non-discretionary maintenance and renovation work that continues through downturns, since homeowners still need damaged walls fixed and basements finished. The deliberate avoidance of production-builder work removes exposure to new-construction cycles, which are the first to freeze in a recession.
The Colorado Front Range is a durable, growing market with sustained renovation, basement-finishing, and property-repair demand. Established supplier relationships and a tenured subcontractor network give the business a stable supply side without the fixed cost of a full in-house crew.
The role is straightforward to hand off: answer the phone, run estimates, schedule jobs. A capable operator can step in with a short training period and immediately focus on demand generation rather than learning a complex trade or managing heavy fixed assets.

How to improve it

Install a simple CRM and lead-tracking system to measure where inbound calls originate and close rates on estimates. Today the owner handles this informally, and quantifying the funnel lets a buyer invest confidently in marketing that actually converts.
Build a dedicated estimating and scheduling function so the owner's 30 hours can be systematized and removed. This both de-risks the single-point-of-failure owner dependency and frees capacity to take on more jobs without losing response time.
Expand digital marketing and local SEO on the recently refreshed website to capture more of the Denver metro homeowner demand. Paid search and Google Local Services ads for drywall repair are high-intent channels that can scale lead flow quickly.
Develop recurring referral relationships with property managers, real estate investors, insurance restoration firms, and remodeling companies. These accounts generate repeat volume and smooth out the lumpiness of one-off homeowner jobs.
Add a second and third crew by recruiting and vetting additional subcontractors, then layer in a project manager to oversee quality and throughput. The asset-light sub model means capacity expansion requires people and process, not capital.
Formalize pricing and estimate templates to protect margins and reduce reliance on the owner's judgment. Standardized scopes and markup rules let newer estimators quote consistently and profitably.
Explore a light service agreement or warranty-callback program to deepen customer relationships and create repeat touchpoints. Even modest repeat and referral structure improves the lifetime value of each homeowner acquired.

Diligence notes

The single most important item is verifying revenue, since the listing discloses $1.83M in cash flow but no gross revenue. Pull three years of tax returns and P&Ls to confirm the SDE figure is real, sustainable, and not inflated by one-off projects or owner addbacks.
Scrutinize the subcontractor relationships and labor classification, since the entire delivery model depends on subs. Confirm these are properly documented 1099 arrangements, check retention and availability, and assess the risk that key subs leave or get reclassified as employees.
Examine customer concentration and lead source stability given that most work comes from inbound homeowner calls. Understand how those calls are generated, whether any single referral source dominates, and how durable that flow is without the current owner answering the phone.
Test owner dependency carefully, as the owner personally handles estimates, scheduling, and crew coordination. Quantify how much of the relationship capital and pricing judgment lives in the owner's head and build a realistic transition plan with contingencies.
Confirm the asset list and condition, including the late-model work truck, scaffolding, tools, and material stock, and verify none carry liens. Since there is no real estate, the hard-asset value is modest, so ensure the purchase price reflects an earnings multiple rather than inflated asset value.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →