Established Pool Construction Company, Naples FL

$14.2M

Revenue

$632K

SDE

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is an established residential pool construction company operating in the Naples and greater Collier County market, one of Florida's wealthiest and fastest-growing regions. The business handles pool design, construction, project management, and related outdoor improvement work for residential clients, and has built a reputation over many years for quality workmanship and strong referral activity. At roughly $14.2 million in annual revenue, this is a real operating platform with meaningful scale rather than an owner-operator startup.

The economics tell an interesting and somewhat cautionary story. Despite $14.2 million in top-line revenue, average SDE sits at approximately $632,000, an owner-earnings margin of only about 4.5 percent. That is thin for a specialty construction business and suggests either a high-volume, low-margin build model, heavy subcontractor and materials cost, or normalization/overhead issues that a buyer will want to understand before assigning a multiple.

The listing is being marketed confidentially, with the company name, exact location, and detailed financials withheld until a buyer signs an NDA and clears qualification. Real estate (a 9,000 square foot facility valued at $2.45 million) is available but explicitly not included in the asking price. Inventory of $200,000 is also excluded, while $350,000 of FF&E is included. The buyer profile is a strategic acquirer, industry operator, or construction entrepreneur seeking an established platform in a premium coastal market.

Why we like it

The business operates in Naples and Collier County, one of the highest-net-worth and fastest-growing markets in the country, where high-end residential pool and outdoor living demand is structurally strong. A wealthy, second-home-heavy homeowner base tends to keep building even when the broader economy softens. That geographic positioning is a genuine asset worth paying for.
At $14.2 million in revenue this is a substantial, functioning enterprise with experienced operating infrastructure, established project management systems, and a mature referral engine. A buyer inherits a real platform rather than having to build crews, permitting relationships, and a customer pipeline from scratch. Scale of this size in specialty construction is not easy to replicate quickly.
The margin problem is also the opportunity. A 4.5 percent SDE margin on $14 million implies meaningful room to add earnings through pricing discipline, better job costing, and overhead tightening without needing top-line growth. If a disciplined operator can lift margin even a few points, the earnings picture changes materially.
The company carries a durable brand built over many years, with strong referral activity in a market where reputation drives high-ticket residential work. In pool construction, word-of-mouth and past-client trust are the primary customer acquisition channel, and that goodwill is hard for a new entrant to buy. This referral base is the real moat here.

How to improve it

Rebuild the job costing and pricing model in the first 90 days to understand why a $14 million business only throws off $632,000. Identify the lowest-margin project types and either reprice them, add change-order discipline, or walk away from unprofitable work. Margin repair is the single highest-leverage move on this deal.
Audit subcontractor and materials spend, which is almost certainly the largest cost bucket in a build-heavy pool business. Consolidate vendors, negotiate volume pricing on gunite, tile, pumps, and equipment, and lock in preferred subs on standardized scopes. A few points of COGS improvement flow straight to SDE.
Add recurring revenue by layering pool maintenance, cleaning, and equipment service contracts onto the existing construction customer base. Every pool the company builds is a future service annuity, and this smooths the notoriously lumpy cash flow of a project business. This is the most obvious durability upgrade available.
Formalize and expand the marketing engine beyond referrals with a modern web presence, before-and-after project galleries, and paid search targeting affluent Naples and surrounding zip codes. The listing explicitly flags expanded marketing as an untapped lever. A referral-dependent business is leaving predictable demand on the table.
Pursue geographic expansion into adjacent affluent coastal markets like Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, and Marco Island using the existing crews and brand. The permitting and supply relationships are already in place, so incremental territory is a capacity and scheduling problem rather than a build-from-zero problem. This is how you grow revenue without diluting the core.
Add high-margin outdoor living upsells (outdoor kitchens, pergolas, hardscape, lighting, screen enclosures) to raise average ticket per job. Wealthy pool buyers are natural buyers of the full backyard package, and these add-ons typically carry better margins than the pool shell itself. Cross-selling existing pipeline is faster than winning new customers.
Reduce key-person and owner dependency by documenting the estimating, project management, and vendor relationships before close. A thin-margin, high-volume construction business is fragile if institutional knowledge lives in the seller's head. Building a strong operations lieutenant is essential to protecting the earnings you paid for.

Diligence notes

Scrutinize the 4.5 percent SDE margin relentlessly. Get three to five years of tax returns and job-level P&Ls to confirm the earnings are real and stable, not a single strong year averaged into a weaker trend. A low margin on high revenue is where working capital surprises and hidden losses hide.
Examine work-in-progress, backlog, and deposit liabilities carefully. Pool construction collects customer deposits and progress payments against future work, so a buyer could inherit significant obligations to complete jobs already paid for. Understand exactly how much unearned revenue and committed labor transfers at close.
Clarify the real estate and inventory structure. The $2.45 million building and $200,000 of inventory are excluded from the asking price, so model the total cost of control including a lease or purchase of the facility. Rent on a $2.45 million property will directly compress the SDE you are underwriting.
Assess customer concentration, cyclicality, and the Florida-specific exposure to hurricane, insurance, and permitting cycles. Naples pool demand is tied to housing turnover, second-home purchases, and construction lending, all of which can slow sharply. Confirm the referral base is broad and not dependent on a handful of builders or developers.
Verify licensing, bonding, and any open warranty or construction-defect liability. Pool construction carries real exposure to structural, plumbing, and safety claims, and unresolved defect litigation can follow the entity. Confirm insurance history, claims experience, and that all contractor licenses transfer cleanly to the buyer.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →