Mid-Atlantic Solar Sales, Installation & Service, 16-Year Renewable Energy Contractor

$5.6M

Revenue

$1.1M

SDE

5.7x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 16-year-old renewable energy contractor operating across the Mid-Atlantic United States, focused primarily on residential solar. The company runs three revenue lines: equipment sales, professional installation, and ongoing maintenance and service contracts. That last piece is what separates it from a pure project shop, because service agreements create repeat touchpoints and a recurring stream on top of the lumpy install revenue. It carries an A+ BBB rating and runs a 32-person operation of full-time staff, part-timers, and contractors across dedicated sales, install, and service teams.

On the numbers, the business does $5.6M in revenue with $1.15M in owner cash flow and $950K in EBITDA, priced at $6.5M or roughly 5.65x. The asking price includes $100K of inventory, $400K of FF&E, service vehicles, and $500K of working capital. It operates from a leased 4,500 square foot office and warehouse and is described as relocatable and not location dependent, since the actual work happens at customer sites.

The most important structural note is the deal shape itself. The seller is not retiring, he wants a strategic or financial partner to scale aggressively, and plans to retain 25% ownership plus offer 25% seller financing. That is a growth-capital story dressed as a business sale, which changes the diligence and negotiation posture considerably versus a clean owner-exit.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is real for the sector: $1.15M SDE on $5.6M revenue is a healthy margin, and the service and maintenance contract line adds a recurring layer that smooths the notoriously lumpy install cycle. The 16-year history through multiple market cycles gives you documented financials rather than a two-year incentive-fueled spike.
The moat is regional density and reputation rather than technology. An A+ BBB rating, established vendor relationships securing supply, and nearly two decades of local market knowledge are the things that actually win residential solar jobs, where trust and referral flow drive close rates more than price.
Market tailwinds are genuine on the demand side, with federal and state incentives, falling equipment costs, and rising adoption. The company is residential-heavy today, so the largely untapped commercial market represents real expansion runway into higher-ticket, longer-cycle projects.
The operator advantage is the seller's willingness to stay. He is keeping 25%, offering 25% financing, and transitioning as long as needed, which means you inherit institutional knowledge and aligned incentives rather than a cold handoff into a technical, permit-heavy business.

How to improve it

Segment and grow the service contract base in the first 90 days, since maintenance agreements are the highest-margin, most durable revenue line. Convert one-time install customers onto annual monitoring and maintenance plans to build a predictable recurring floor under the project revenue.
Launch a disciplined commercial pipeline. The listing flags commercial as large and growing but underpenetrated, so hire or redeploy one B2B salesperson and target property managers, small manufacturers, and municipalities where tax and energy savings drive faster decisions.
Tighten the installation cost structure and crew utilization. Solar margins live and die on install labor efficiency and materials waste, so implement job-level costing and crew productivity tracking to defend the strong margins the listing claims as volume scales.
Reduce policy risk exposure by diversifying revenue away from any single incentive program. Model the business under reduced federal credits and lean into utility bill savings and financing partnerships so demand does not collapse if a subsidy changes.
Systematize lead generation and reduce customer acquisition cost. Build a referral engine off the existing satisfied base and A+ reputation, layer in local SEO and reviews, and measure cost per acquired install so growth capital is deployed against a known payback.
Formalize the contractor workforce mix. Ten of the 32 workers are contractors, so evaluate misclassification risk and consider bringing core install roles in-house to protect quality, warranty exposure, and scheduling reliability during a scale-up.

Diligence notes

Interrogate the revenue mix hard. Break out exactly how much of the $5.6M is one-time equipment sales and installs versus recurring service contracts, because the durability and the multiple you should pay depend entirely on that split rather than the blended headline.
Understand the deal structure and why the seller is staying. He is retaining 25% and financing 25% while calling this a raise for aggressive growth, so clarify governance, control, capital call obligations, and what happens if the scale plan underperforms after close.
Stress test incentive dependency. Quantify how much of demand and margin relies on current federal and state tax credits and net metering rules, and model bookings under a scenario where those incentives shrink, since solar demand is highly policy-sensitive.
Verify warranty, callback, and permitting liabilities. Sixteen years of installs means an installed base with long-dated workmanship and equipment warranties, so review claim history, outstanding obligations, licensing across each Mid-Atlantic state, and any pending disputes.
Confirm the $500K working capital and the FF&E and vehicle values are real and unencumbered. Reconcile the included inventory, equipment, and service fleet against actual condition and liens, and confirm the working capital is genuinely additive rather than needed to fund normal operations.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →