Established Fireplace Retail, Service & Installation Business, Since 1873

$9.0M

Revenue

$3.0M

SDE

3.3x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a fireplace retail, service, and installation company with roots dating back to 1873, giving it more than 150 years of operating history and a deep regional presence. The business sells and installs fireplaces for residential customers, local contractors, residential developers, and national homebuilders, generating approximately $9M in average annual revenue with roughly $3M in EBITDA. The operation runs on 21 employees plus 6 contractors and a team supporting sales, installation, and service.

The revenue picture requires a careful read. Pre-COVID revenue averaged around $11M annually, and the current $9M figure represents a step down from that peak. That decline matters because fireplace sales and installations are tied heavily to new residential construction and homeowner discretionary remodeling, both of which are cyclical and rate-sensitive. The builder and developer relationships provide real distribution, but they also concentrate the business in housing cycle exposure.

The deal includes two commercial properties totaling approximately 12,800 square feet, with roughly 3,600 square feet of retail and office space in the main building plus a newer 3,000 square foot building. At a $10M asking price on $3M EBITDA, the headline multiple is 3.33x, but a meaningful portion of that price is real estate, so the operating-business multiple on a clean basis is lower than it looks. Seller is retiring and offers seller financing to qualified buyers.

Why we like it

At $3M EBITDA on a $10M ask the headline multiple is 3.33x, and because two commercial properties are bundled in, the true multiple on operations alone is lower once you carve out the real estate value. A buyer can finance against owned real estate and potentially recapture capital through a sale-leaseback or SBA 7(a) structure.
A 150-plus year operating history and entrenched relationships with homeowners, local contractors, residential developers, and national homebuilders create a real referral moat that is hard for a new entrant to replicate. Longevity like this usually means established vendor pricing and brand recognition in the local market.
The business combines product retail margin with installation and service labor, which diversifies the revenue mix beyond pure product resale. Service and installation work tends to carry stickier margins and recurring builder volume than standalone retail.
Ownership is retiring and offering seller financing, which signals both motivation and willingness to keep skin in the game. A note from the seller aligns incentives and reduces the equity check a buyer must write at close.

How to improve it

Build the eCommerce and digital marketing channel that the listing flags as untapped. A category this specialized with 150 years of brand equity should be capturing online research traffic and quote requests, not relying solely on walk-in retail and builder referrals.
Rebuild the builder and developer pipeline toward pre-COVID volume. Revenue fell from roughly $11M to $9M, so a disciplined business development push to re-sign dormant national homebuilder accounts could recover 20 percent of lost top line.
Launch recurring service and maintenance contracts for installed fireplaces. Annual inspection, cleaning, and safety-check plans would convert one-time installs into a predictable service annuity and smooth out construction-cycle volatility.
Analyze the 6 contractors versus 21 employees mix and right-size labor to demand. Converting peak-season contractor spend into controlled crew utilization, or vice versa in slow quarters, can protect margin through the housing cycle.
Expand into adjacent product lines such as outdoor fireplaces, fire pits, gas inserts, and HVAC-adjacent installs. The existing installation crews and builder relationships are a distribution asset that can carry more SKUs per customer.
Evaluate a sale-leaseback of the two commercial properties post-close. Separating the real estate from operations frees trapped capital and lets a strategic or financial buyer deploy it into growth or debt paydown.
Tighten pricing and attach rates at the point of sale. Bundling installation, service plans, and accessories at quote time lifts average ticket without new customer acquisition cost.

Diligence notes

Dig into the revenue decline from $11M pre-COVID to $9M now. Confirm whether this reflects a permanent loss of builder accounts, pricing pressure, housing cycle softness, or deliberate contraction, because the trajectory directly affects what EBITDA is actually sustainable.
Verify the $3M EBITDA figure, which is described as estimated. Request normalized financials, add-back detail, and confirm whether owner compensation, the retiring owner's role, and real estate occupancy costs are properly reflected in the number.
Separately appraise the two commercial properties totaling 12,800 square feet. You need to know how much of the $10M price is real estate versus operating goodwill, since the operating multiple changes materially once the property value is carved out.
Assess customer and builder concentration. Heavy dependence on a few national homebuilders or large developers creates cyclical and counterparty risk, so map the top accounts by revenue and their renewal or project pipeline status.
Scope the management and installation team's post-sale retention. With a retiring owner and only 21 employees plus 6 contractors, identify who holds the key builder relationships and estimating knowledge, and secure them with retention agreements before close.
Confirm the location and regional market, which the listing omits. New-construction demand, local housing starts, and competitive density vary widely by region and will drive the realistic growth case and downside exposure.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →