Self-Performing Heavy Civil & Underground Utility Contractor, Southwest Florida

$12.7M

Revenue

$2.0M

SDE

3.6x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a self-performing heavy civil and underground utility contractor based in Lee County, Florida, operating in the booming Southwest Florida infrastructure market. The company handles underground wet utilities, water and sewer mains, storm drainage, roadway and site development, excavation, box-culverts, bridges, and marine construction. That breadth is the pitch: it can bid and self-perform scopes most regional competitors have to subcontract out, which protects both margin and schedule control.

Roughly 90% of revenue comes from public and quasi-public owners (municipal utility authorities, county and state roadway programs) on competitively bid, bonded contracts. That revenue mix is the real asset here. It means predictable, essential demand tied to population growth, aging utility replacement, and hurricane resilience funding rather than cyclical private development. The business is prequalified with FDOT, county, and municipal owners and carries meaningful surety bonding capacity, a credential that takes years to build and is hard for a new entrant to replicate.

At $12.7M in revenue and roughly $1.96M in cash flow (a 15.5% margin), the company is being offered at $7M, or about 3.57x cash flow, with a $2M equipment fleet and $100k inventory included. A tenured field and estimating team is expected to stay, and ownership is open to rolling equity. It is positioned as a PE platform or add-on for a buyer wanting a bonded, self-perform Florida infrastructure entry point.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is anchored by 90% public-sector revenue on competitively bid, bonded contracts, which is about as durable as construction income gets. At $1.96M cash flow on $12.7M revenue, the 15.5% margin is healthy for heavy civil, and the bonded backlog closing into 2026 and 2027 gives real visibility that most construction deals lack.
The moat is the self-perform capability plus surety bonding capacity and FDOT/county/municipal prequalification. Those credentials take years and clean financials to earn, so a buyer is purchasing a bid position that competitors cannot quickly replicate, not just a crew and a fleet.
Market tailwinds are unusually strong and non-discretionary. Southwest Florida is absorbing heavy population growth, aging utility systems need replacement, and hurricane resilience funding is flowing, which creates demand for water, sewer, and roadway work that gets paid regardless of the broader economy.
The owner-friendly structure is a plus: a $2M fleet owned and included, a tenured estimating and field team staying on, and ownership willing to roll a minority interest. That alignment reduces the single largest risk in a bid-build contractor, which is losing the estimating and project execution talent after close.

How to improve it

Audit and tighten the bid-to-win and job-cost process immediately. In heavy civil, margin lives and dies on estimating accuracy and change-order capture, so instrument win rates by owner, gross margin by job type, and productivity per crew within the first 90 days to find which scopes actually make money.
Push for maximum surety bonding capacity and work-on-hand limits. Bonding capacity is the true throttle on revenue for a public-works contractor, so engaging the surety early to expand the single and aggregate limits lets the business chase larger projects without adding fixed cost.
Build a disciplined pipeline across additional public owners. With FDOT, county, and municipal prequalifications already in place, systematically add adjacent utility authorities and neighboring counties to diversify beyond any single owner and smooth out the backlog across more bid lettings.
Formalize equipment utilization and fleet replacement planning. A $2M fleet is a major value driver and a major cash drain if underused, so track utilization by machine, decide buy-versus-rent thresholds, and avoid both idle iron and emergency rentals that quietly erode margin.
Lock down key-person risk with retention agreements and incentive comp for estimators and project managers. The business runs on a handful of tenured people, so tying their upside to project gross margin protects the institutional knowledge that makes the bonding and bid position work.
Pursue recurring maintenance and emergency-response contracts with municipal owners. Converting a portion of revenue into standing water/sewer maintenance agreements or hurricane-response retainers would add a smoother, more defensible income layer on top of lumpy project work.

Diligence notes

Scrutinize the backlog and bid pipeline line by line. Confirm signed, bonded contract values closing into 2026 and 2027, the gross margin baked into each, and how much of the cited pipeline is awarded versus merely bid, because backlog quality is the entire thesis.
Verify customer and owner concentration within that 90% public revenue. A single utility authority or county roadway program carrying most of the work is a materially different risk than ten owners, so pull the revenue split by project owner over the last three fiscal years.
Pressure-test the cash flow figure and working capital needs. Heavy civil ties up large sums in retainage, WIP, and progress billings, so normalize the $1.96M for owner add-backs and confirm how much working capital the buyer must fund at close to keep jobs moving.
Confirm the surety relationship and bonding terms in writing. Get the current single and aggregate bonding limits, loss history, and whether the capacity survives a change of ownership, since a reset or reduction in bonding post-close would directly cap the business you are buying.
Inspect the fleet condition, titles, and any liens. Validate that the $2M of equipment is owned free and clear, assess remaining useful life and deferred maintenance, and quantify near-term capex, because an aging fleet can turn a clean 3.57x multiple into a far more expensive deal.
Review the facility lease and non-compete terms. The lease expires 8/31/2027 with no owned real estate, so confirm renewal options and rent, and verify the scope, mileage, and duration of the seller non-compete given ownership may retain a minority stake.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →