Environmental Engineering Consulting Firm, 12-Year Regulation-Driven Practice

$5.9M

Revenue

$1.3M

SDE

Subscribe Free

Read the full deal writeup

Get Free Access

Already a member? Sign in

Full Editorial Writeup

This is an environmental and civil engineering consultancy founded in 2013 that delivers a bundle of technical services: environmental planning and compliance, permitting, water resources engineering, biological and natural-resource studies, field services, construction support, and public/agency coordination. It serves both public and private sector clients and has built a decade-plus reputation for mission-critical work in a niche where technical barriers to entry and required licensure keep direct competition thin. The team is lean, seven full-time employees running out of a leased 4,900 square foot office, which tells you this is a knowledge and relationship business, not an asset-heavy one.

The numbers are the story here. Revenue moved from roughly $3.8 million in 2024 to more than $6.3 million in 2025 and sits around $6.4 million on a trailing-twelve-month basis, with adjusted EBITDA climbing to approximately $1.36 million in 2025 and $1.44 million for the 2026 TTM period, a healthy 22% margin. Reported SDE is $1,292,865 on gross revenue of $5,878,920. That combination of rapid top-line growth and fat margins from a seven-person shop is unusual and worth understanding in detail.

The demand driver is regulation, not consumer sentiment. Environmental permitting, compliance work, and water resources engineering are triggered by government mandates and infrastructure spending, which do not evaporate in a downturn. The listing positions itself for a strategic acquirer or PE-backed platform, and with LOIs requested by December 15, 2026 and no published asking price, the seller is clearly running a competitive process. One spouse of the husband-and-wife ownership is retiring now, the other later.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is strong on paper: 22% adjusted EBITDA margins and roughly $1.3M to $1.44M in owner earnings from a seven-person firm signal high value-per-head and pricing power. The revenue jump from $3.8M to $6.4M in roughly two years is impressive, though a diligence buyer needs to confirm how much is repeatable versus a few large project wins.
Durability comes from real barriers to entry. The work requires professional engineering licensure, specialized technical staff, and years of agency and client relationships, which is why the listing cites limited direct competition. That moat protects margins in a way most services businesses cannot match.
Market tailwinds are genuine and structural. Environmental permitting, water resources, and regulatory compliance are driven by government mandates and infrastructure spending, both of which are non-discretionary and largely insulated from economic cycles and near-term automation.
Operator advantage is meaningful because this is a founder-led practice with only seven staff. A buyer who can add business development bandwidth, a second office, or additional service lines can grow revenue without the fixed-cost drag that burdens larger firms, and the diversified service offering gives natural cross-sell paths.

How to improve it

Formalize a business development function within the first 90 days. The current growth appears to be relationship-driven off the owners, so building a repeatable pipeline of RFP responses and agency proposals de-risks the eventual owner departure and turns lumpy project revenue into a forecastable backlog.
Convert one-off project work into master service agreements and on-call retainer contracts with public agencies. Standing task-order contracts with municipalities and utilities create quasi-recurring revenue and smooth the bookings volatility inherent in project-based engineering.
Cross-sell the full capability stack into the existing client base. Clients buying permitting today may need water resources, biological studies, or construction support tomorrow, and systematically mapping each account to the other service lines lifts revenue per client with near-zero acquisition cost.
Address key-person risk before it becomes a crisis. With one spouse retiring immediately and the other later, promote or hire a licensed principal engineer who can hold agency relationships and stamp drawings, so the firm's value does not walk out the door with the founders.
Build a recruiting and retention engine for licensed staff. In a seven-person shop, one senior departure is existential, so implement equity or bonus retention for the technical bench and a pipeline of junior engineers to grow capacity for the larger contracts driving revenue.
Expand geographically into adjacent states or watersheds where the same regulatory expertise applies. The playbook is proven, and opening a second office or acquiring a small complementary practice compounds the platform faster than organic growth alone.
Tighten project accounting and utilization tracking. Confirming realized rates, write-offs, and staff utilization by project type will both defend the 22% margin and surface underpriced service lines that can be repriced.

Diligence notes

Scrutinize the revenue ramp from $3.8M to $6.4M. Determine whether the growth came from a small number of large, non-repeating projects or from broad-based client expansion, because that single question drives whether the trailing EBITDA is a sustainable base or a peak.
Verify the SDE versus EBITDA discrepancy. The listing shows SDE of $1,292,865 on $5,878,920 revenue in one field but $1.36M to $1.44M adjusted EBITDA on $6.3M to $6.4M revenue in the description, so reconcile which period, which adjustments, and which owner add-backs are being counted.
Assess customer and project concentration. Public and private clients are mentioned, but a firm this size can be dangerously reliant on one or two agencies or programs, and losing a major contract could halve profitability overnight.
Map licensure and key-person dependency. Identify which employees hold the required professional engineering stamps and special licenses, whether the retiring owner is the qualifying individual on contracts, and what transition or continuity risk exists given only 30 days of stated training support.
Confirm the backlog and signed contracts. Since this is project-based revenue with no recurring contracts, request the current signed backlog, win rate on proposals, and average project duration to gauge revenue visibility into 2027.
Review the long-dated lease carefully. The 4,900 square foot lease runs to 2037 at $7,300 per month with renewal options, so confirm the terms, escalators, and assignability, and whether the space still fits a growth plan or an eventual relocation.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →