Family-Owned Plumbing Contractor, 12-Year Denver Metro Operator

$1.9M

Revenue

$635K

SDE

4.4x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 12-year-old, family-owned residential plumbing contractor serving the Denver metropolitan area. The revenue mix breaks down to plumbing repairs at 60%, sewer and drain work at 30%, and boiler services at 10%. The company positions itself on a diagnose-first ethos, doing only necessary repairs and standing behind the work, and it competes on both price and personal service against larger regional players.

The operation runs lean with four employees, including a tenured key employee with more than 10 years of tenure who handles service call management, scheduling, and sales. The required master plumber and plumbing contractor licenses are already in place, which is the single most important gate to operating legally in this trade. Lead flow comes from SEO, Google Local Services Ads, and Angi, so demand generation is already systematized rather than tied to the owner personally.

At $1.94M revenue and $634,735 of cash flow, this business runs a roughly 33% owner-earnings margin, which is strong for the trade and reflects the home-based, low-overhead structure. The asking price of $2.8M implies a 4.41x cash flow multiple. Note that the home-based location does not transfer, so a buyer needs to stand up a yard, shop, or office to house operations post-close.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is genuinely strong for a small home-services shop, with $634,735 of cash flow on $1.94M of revenue, a 33% margin driven by the home-based, four-person structure. Plumbing repairs, sewer, and boiler work are non-deferrable spends where customers pay to keep water running and homes habitable.
The moat here is regulatory and reputational. The master plumber and plumbing contractor licenses are already in place, and a tenured 10-plus-year key employee anchors scheduling, sales, and service management, which reduces owner-dependency in the day-to-day.
Denver metro is a large, growing housing market with steady demand for repair and replacement plumbing across an aging housing stock. Emergency and repair work like sewer backups and boiler failures is recession-resistant because homeowners cannot postpone a burst pipe or failed water heater.
Lead generation is already systematized through SEO, Local Services Ads, and Angi rather than relying on the owner's personal network. A buyer inherits a working customer-acquisition engine that can be scaled with more marketing spend and additional crews.

How to improve it

Add HVAC service as the listing flags, since your plumbing and boiler techs already work in the same homes and mechanical rooms. Cross-selling furnace and AC installs and maintenance to your existing customer base is the fastest path to lift revenue without paying to acquire new leads.
Launch a recurring maintenance membership program covering annual plumbing inspections, water heater flushes, and boiler tune-ups. This converts one-off transactional customers into a predictable renewal base and materially improves the multiple a future buyer will pay.
Secure a proper commercial yard, shop, or office immediately, because the home-based location does not transfer with the sale. Build this transition cost and lease into your model before closing so operations are not disrupted on day one.
Reduce dependence on Angi and third-party lead marketplaces by investing in owned channels like a stronger website, Google reviews, and direct database remarketing. Angi leads carry high cost and low margin, so shifting mix toward organic and repeat work protects earnings.
Add a second and third service truck and hire additional licensed or apprentice plumbers to capture demand you are currently turning away. With lead flow already in place, capacity is likely the binding constraint on revenue growth.
Implement job-costing and dispatch software if not already in place to track close rates, average ticket, and technician utilization. Better data lets you raise pricing on high-demand emergency work and coach techs to improve conversion.

Diligence notes

Confirm exactly how the master plumber and contractor licenses are held and whether they attach to the owner personally or to the tenured key employee. If the license travels with the seller, you need a clear plan to secure a qualifying licensee, or the business cannot legally operate post-close.
Scrutinize the key employee's role, compensation, and retention risk, since this 10-plus-year tenured person handles scheduling, sales, and service management. Lock in an employment or retention agreement before closing, because losing them would gut day-to-day operations.
Quantify the true cost and disruption of relocating from the home-based setup, including a new lease, buildout, permits, and any addressing or licensing tied to the current location. This is a real added cost that the 4.41x multiple does not reflect.
Verify the $634,735 cash flow with tax returns and bank statements, and confirm what owner add-backs are included given the home-based structure hides certain real operating costs. Separate normalized owner labor from true profit, because a buyer will likely need to pay a replacement operator or absorb that role.
Analyze lead source economics across SEO, Local Services Ads, and Angi, including cost per lead, close rate, and average ticket by channel. Understand how much of revenue depends on paid marketplaces that could raise prices or shift lead quality.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →