Pacific Northwest Commercial Electrical Contractor, 35-Year Oregon Business

$2.2M

Revenue

$577K

SDE

3.5x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 35-year-old electrical contractor based in Sutherlin, Oregon, serving the broader Pacific Northwest with a commercial-weighted book (roughly 70% commercial). The service mix is deliberately broad and technical: design-build work, lighting projects, backup systems, transfer panels, conduit installation, and limited data wiring. Project scope ranges from small service calls to complex commercial engagements, which gives the business a healthy blend of quick-turn revenue and larger contract work.

The company has built a durable regional reputation on quality workmanship and fair dealing, which shows up in the numbers: substantial repeat and referral business with minimal paid advertising. It runs out of an approximately 3,600-square-foot office and warehouse facility that handles admin, material storage, and project staging, and it is staffed by a team of 8 covering estimating, admin, scheduling, and field work, including a licensed Journeyman Electrician and an apprentice.

At $2,025,000 on $577,424 of cash flow (3.51x) with $2.2M in revenue, this is a classic operator-run trades business. The owner still handles estimating on larger commercial and design-build jobs, so the key transition risk is estimating capability, not general operations. The seller is retiring, offering up to two years of transition support, and is carrying 10% of the purchase price, which signals confidence and aligns incentives.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is solid for a trades business: $577,424 of cash flow on $2.2M revenue is a 26% margin, and the reliance on repeat and referral work rather than paid advertising means customer acquisition cost is low and predictable. A business that grows on reputation instead of ad spend tends to have stickier, higher-quality earnings.
The moat here is 35 years of regional reputation, licensing, and relationships in a market where trust and reliability drive commercial contract awards. Licensed electrical work carries real barriers to entry (journeyman requirements, bonding, code compliance), which protects margin against low-cost competition.
Electrical service is genuinely non-discretionary and recession-resistant. Backup systems, transfer panels, conduit, and code-driven work get done regardless of the cycle, and the commercial base means the customers are businesses that must keep facilities operational rather than fickle consumers.
The seller is offering an unusually strong handoff: up to two years of transition support plus a 10% seller note. For a business where the owner still owns estimating on large jobs, that runway is exactly what a new operator needs to absorb the one true key-man function before the seller fully exits.

How to improve it

Develop and productize recurring commercial service agreements, which the listing flags as a growth lever. Converting one-off service calls into monthly or annual maintenance contracts for commercial facilities would add a predictable revenue base and lift the business out of pure project-to-project cash flow.
Reintroduce solar work and expand generator services. Backup power and solar are structurally growing categories, and this team already has the electrical licensing and commercial relationships to cross-sell them into the existing customer base at high attach rates.
Build estimating capacity beyond the owner within the first 90 days. The owner personally handles estimates on larger commercial and design-build jobs, so hiring or promoting a dedicated estimator during the two-year transition removes the single biggest key-man dependency and protects the multiple at resale.
Layer in light digital marketing to complement the referral engine. The business currently runs on word of mouth, so a basic web presence, Google Business optimization, and targeted commercial outreach could capture demand the company is currently leaving on the table without eroding its reputation-based model.
Enter coastal and surrounding markets. Geographic expansion into adjacent Oregon markets leverages the existing brand and licensing with modest incremental overhead, and it is a natural fit for an acquiring contractor seeking density.
Expand the field team and apprentice pipeline to unlock capacity. With only a licensed journeyman and one apprentice on a team of 8, labor is likely the binding constraint on revenue, so investing in recruiting and apprenticeship would let the business bid and win more concurrent projects.
Tighten job-level margin tracking and estimating discipline. Implementing project-level cost tracking would reveal which service lines and job types actually drive the 26% margin, letting the operator steer the mix toward the most profitable commercial work.

Diligence notes

Quantify the owner's role in estimating and how much revenue flows through his personal relationships. The listing states he oversees estimates for larger commercial and design-build projects, so confirm whether those projects can be re-won or estimated by staff, because that is the core transition risk in this deal.
Analyze the revenue mix between quick-turn service calls and large commercial projects, and check customer concentration. With $2.2M in revenue from a commercial-heavy book, a few large recurring accounts could represent an outsized share, so verify that no single customer threatens continuity.
Verify the licensing structure and whether the business relies on a single licensed Journeyman Electrician. Electrical contracting requires proper licensing to operate and bid, so confirm that qualifying-party licensing transfers cleanly and that the license does not walk out with the seller.
Confirm the facility arrangement, since the 3,600-square-foot office and warehouse is used for storage and staging but real estate is not stated as included. Determine whether it is leased or owner-owned, and secure a market-rate lease or purchase option so the new owner is not exposed to an above-market or terminating lease.
Scrutinize backlog and work-in-progress at close. Trades businesses can show strong trailing cash flow while the forward pipeline thins, so review signed contracts, bid activity, and seasonality to confirm the $577,424 cash flow is durable rather than a peak-year snapshot.
Assess the labor market and wage inflation for electricians in the region. Growth here is gated by skilled labor, so evaluate the difficulty and cost of recruiting journeymen and apprentices before underwriting any expansion into coastal or surrounding markets.

Source

Originally listed on BusinessBroker.net. View original listing →