Established Infrastructure Architectural Firm, 50-Year Houston SLED Practice

Full Editorial Writeup

This is a multi-decade architectural design practice based in Houston, established in 1973 and focused squarely on the state, local, and education (SLED) market. The firm designs K-12 and public-sector facilities, winning work through the standard public-agency RFQ, shortlist, interview, and award process. Its bread and butter is school bond programs, and revenue has jumped from $1.2MM to a $4.2MM TTM run rate on the back of a large bond-funded award, with over $10MM of contracted work in progress that has not yet been invoiced.

What makes this notable is the depth and stickiness of the client base. Top district relationships span 25 to 30 years and are under contract, which for a services firm is about as durable as it gets in public architecture. The practice runs lean with just five full-time employees, no owned real estate, and a modest lease at roughly $5,225 per month through 2029. An outside contract marketing firm handles proposal preparation, which is a structural advantage in a business where winning RFQs is the whole game.

The headline financials are attractive: $739K EBITDA on $4.17MM revenue at a 2.25x multiple, or an asking price of $1.661MM. Both owner-principals want to stay on in project-delivery roles and are explicitly seeking a larger platform to bid bigger contracts, which reframes this less as a clean exit and more as a bolt-on or merger for an acquirer with capacity and bonding to chase larger public work.