Niche Sports & Site Lighting Contractor, 30-Year Maryland Specialty Electrician

$2.8M

Revenue

$1.0M

SDE

3.1x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 30-year-old specialty electrical contractor operating in the sports and site lighting niche across the Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia metro market. The company installs, retrofits, and services athletic-field and stadium lighting, scoreboards, court and parking-facility lighting, and the supporting electrical infrastructure. Its customer base skews toward public agencies, school systems, parks-and-recreation departments, athletic clubs, and private facilities, meaning most of the demand is budget-backed and non-discretionary rather than tied to consumer sentiment.

What makes it interesting is the moat. The business is a preferred installation partner for leading national lighting and scoreboard manufacturers, which funnels negotiated-bid and referral work its way, and it holds a multi-year time-and-materials contract with a major regional public school system. Barriers to entry are real here: specialized equipment (a $472K owned fleet including a digger-derrick, directional drill, trenchers, skid steers, and an excavator), licensed and unionized field labor, agency approvals, and a three-decade track record of safe execution. Only a handful of regional competitors operate in this lane.

At $2.77M revenue and roughly $1.0M adjusted EBITDA, the business runs a fat 36% margin with a clean, low-debt balance sheet and a ~$3.5M contracted and pending backlog. Revenue mix is about 60% new construction, 30% retrofit and upgrade, and 10% service and maintenance. The $3.1M ask on ~$1.0M EBITDA works out to roughly 3.1x, which is reasonable for a licensed specialty trade with this margin profile and forward visibility, though the equipment package and project-based revenue warrant scrutiny.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is strong for a trade contractor: 36% EBITDA margins on $2.77M revenue is well above typical electrical contractor economics, driven by the niche specialization and manufacturer-preferred pricing. The ~$3.5M backlog exceeds a full year of current revenue, giving unusual forward visibility for a project-based business. A clean, low-debt balance sheet means the buyer is buying earnings, not a cleanup project.
The moat is genuine and layered. Manufacturer preferred-installer status drives negotiated-bid and referral work rather than pure low-bid competition, and multi-jurisdiction licensing plus specialized equipment create hard barriers that keep the competitor set to a handful of long-standing regional players. Thirty years of safe, on-time execution with public agencies is exactly the kind of track record that wins repeat agency work.
Demand is budget-backed and largely non-discretionary. Public school systems, parks departments, and municipalities fund lighting from capital and maintenance budgets, not consumer wallets, which holds up in a downturn. The ongoing LED conversion cycle and utility rebate programs add a structural tailwind that pulls forward retrofit demand across the installed base.
This is a clean platform or bolt-on for the right operator. A regional electrical, site, or utility contractor can plug this in to add recreational-lighting capability, while a PE-backed specialty trades roll-up gets a differentiated niche with pricing power. The retiring owner offering up to a full year of transition plus licensing continuity support de-risks the handoff materially.

How to improve it

Push the service and maintenance line hard. At only 10% of revenue today, recurring maintenance on the installed base is the most obvious lever: sell annual inspection and re-lamp contracts to every field and facility the company has ever lit. Recurring revenue smooths the lumpiness of project work and lifts the exit multiple.
Expand field capacity by adding electricians and project managers sourced through the union, as the listing itself flags. The constraint on this business is crew count, not demand, evidenced by the $3.5M backlog against $2.77M of trailing revenue. Adding two crews could meaningfully close the gap between booked work and delivered revenue.
Broaden the geographic footprint into adjacent Mid-Atlantic markets. The same manufacturer relationships and licensing model can be replicated in neighboring states where the competitor set is equally thin. Start with jurisdictions reachable from the current Silver Spring base before opening a second yard.
Market directly to facility owners rather than relying solely on manufacturer referrals and public bids. Building a direct pipeline of athletic clubs, private schools, and HOAs diversifies away from public-agency budget cycles and captures higher-margin negotiated work. A modest outbound sales effort could reset the revenue mix.
Formalize the manufacturer partner network into more preferred-installer designations. Each additional manufacturer relationship widens the negotiated-bid funnel and reduces dependence on any single brand. Treat these relationships as an asset to be actively expanded, not maintained passively.
Institutionalize the estimating and licensing knowledge before the owner departs. Document bid methodology, agency approval processes, and licensing requirements so the business is not dependent on the founder's head. The one-year transition is the window to build this operating manual.

Diligence notes

Confirm SDE versus EBITDA and the exact add-backs. The listing discloses ~$1.0M adjusted EBITDA but does not show cash flow (SDE) or the reconciliation. Verify what was added back, whether the retiring owner's compensation and any working-family payroll are normalized, and what a replacement crew leader or PM would actually cost.
Scrutinize the backlog quality and revenue recognition. A $3.5M backlog on $2.77M revenue is a headline selling point, so confirm which portion is contracted versus merely pending, the margin embedded in those jobs, and whether any single project dominates. Understand the mix of firm contracts against verbal or budgetary awards.
Assess customer and contract concentration. The multi-year time-and-materials contract with a major regional public school system is a strength but also a concentration risk if it represents a large share of revenue. Quantify the top customers, contract renewal terms, and whether the manufacturer preferred-vendor status transfers on a change of ownership.
Validate licensing continuity and key-person risk. Multi-jurisdiction electrical licensing and manufacturer relationships may be tied to the owner or a specific qualifier. Confirm whether licenses transfer, whether a qualifying individual stays post-close, and whether the 9-person field crew (especially any lead electricians) is committed to remaining.
Verify the equipment fleet condition and true value. The ~$472K replacement value fleet is included, but confirm actual age, maintenance history, and remaining useful life of the digger-derrick, directional drill, and excavator. Determine how much near-term capex is required and whether that value is real or aspirational replacement cost.
Clarify the real estate situation. The listing shows the operating facility as both leased and owned in different fields, which is contradictory. Confirm whether the facility is leased or owned, whether it is included in the ask, and if leased, secure lease terms and assignability before close.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →