Midwest Electrical Contractor, Multi-Market Since 1983

$13.8M

Revenue

$1.1M

SDE

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a Midwestern electrical contractor operating since 1983 that serves an unusually broad set of end markets: residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural, and institutional. It also provides services to an affiliated solar company, giving it a foothold in the green energy trend. The listing positions it as the largest locally-owned and family-operated electrical contractor in its service region, with a well-established brand and strong reputation among clients.

The financial profile is what makes this notable. The business did roughly $13.8m in revenue with $1.15m of EBITDA as of December 2024, and it grew at a 26.4% compound annual rate from 2021 to 2024. That is aggressive top-line growth for a 40-year-old trade business, which usually signals either a hot regional construction market, a deliberate expansion push, or both. The company also reports client retention and referral rates above 75%, which is meaningful in a business that technically bills project by project.

The one number that jumps out is margin. At $1.15m EBITDA on $13.8m revenue, this is running around an 8.3% EBITDA margin, which is on the thin side even for electrical contracting. That is not a dealbreaker, but it frames the entire thesis: this is a revenue-growth story with margin expansion as the primary value-creation lever, not a cash cow you buy and coast on.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is anchored by real diversification across five end markets plus an affiliated solar business, so no single sector downturn takes the whole company down. Retention and referral rates both above 75% mean a large share of new work comes from a warm pipeline rather than cold bidding, which lowers customer acquisition cost and stabilizes the funnel.
The moat here is old-fashioned but durable: a licensed, 40-year electrical brand that is the largest locally-owned operator in its region. Electrical work is licensed, safety-critical, and relationship-driven, which keeps out fly-by-night competition and makes incumbency worth real money in institutional and industrial bidding.
Market tailwinds are stacked in this deal's favor. New construction in the surrounding tri-state area, the shift toward electrification and green energy via the solar affiliate, and rising demand for low-voltage and data work all point the same direction, and the 26.4% revenue CAGR from 2021 to 2024 shows the business is already capturing that demand.
The operator advantage is the margin gap. At an 8.3% EBITDA margin the business is under-earning its scale, so a disciplined buyer who tightens job costing, crew utilization, and pricing can expand EBITDA materially without needing a single new customer. Revenue is already there; the opportunity is converting more of it to the bottom line.

How to improve it

Attack the margin problem first. At 8.3% EBITDA, install real job-level cost tracking, review estimating accuracy against actuals, and identify which end markets and job types actually make money versus which are chased for revenue. Even a 200 basis point margin improvement adds roughly $275k of EBITDA on current volume.
Build recurring revenue where none exists today. Launch electrical service and maintenance agreements for the commercial, industrial, and institutional base, converting one-time project clients into contracted, predictable annual spend that smooths the cyclicality of new construction.
Lean into the low-voltage and data expansion the listing already flags. Structured cabling, security, and building automation carry higher margins than commodity electrical work and cross-sell directly into the existing client base, so this is incremental revenue at better economics.
Formalize the sales infrastructure. The listing notes a need to deepen the sales team, so put a real estimator and business-development function in place with a CRM and pipeline discipline rather than relying on referrals and owner relationships that may walk out the door at close.
Clarify and potentially integrate the solar affiliate relationship. Understand whether that revenue and margin travel with the deal or stay with the seller, and if favorable, build solar and battery storage into the core offering to ride the electrification tailwind.
Standardize crew productivity and scheduling. In labor-intensive trades, utilization and rework drive profitability, so implement mobile field reporting, tighter scheduling, and clear productivity targets to squeeze more billable output per electrician.

Diligence notes

Scrutinize the margin and the growth together. A 26.4% CAGR with an 8.3% EBITDA margin can indicate revenue bought through underpricing or thin-margin work, so pull job-level gross margins over the last three years to confirm the growth is profitable and not just volume.
Investigate the solar affiliate relationship in detail. The business provides services to an affiliated company, which creates related-party revenue risk, so quantify what portion of revenue and EBITDA comes from that affiliate and whether it continues on arm's-length terms post-sale.
Verify backlog, work-in-process, and customer concentration. Confirm how much of the $13.8m is booked versus speculative, whether any single client or a handful of institutional contracts dominate revenue, and how durable the pipeline is if the regional construction boom cools.
Assess licensing, workforce, and owner dependence. Determine whose master electrician license the business operates under, how tight the labor market is for qualified electricians in the region, and whether the retention and referral strength is tied to the departing owner's personal relationships.
Confirm the true earnings base and reason for sale. EBITDA is disclosed but SDE, add-backs, and asking price are not, so build a normalized earnings figure and clarify the seller's motivation, transition commitment, and whether real estate or equipment factors into any eventual price.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →