Frequently Asked Questions

The right time depends on your personal timeline, retirement goals, and business performance. Many owners start planning 3 to 5 years before their planned exit to optimize value drivers. If your business is stable, profitable, and you are ready for your next chapter, it is a great time to evaluate your options.

For a well-prepared business, the transaction process typically takes 6 to 9 months (up to 12 months) from listing to closing. Pre-sale preparation can add another 3 to 6 months, which is why we recommend starting conversations 12 to 18 months prior to your target exit date.

Not initially. We maintain absolute confidentiality through blind marketing protocols and strict non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Your identity is only revealed to pre-qualified buyers. Key employees are usually notified only after a Letter of Intent (LOI) is signed.

Yes. Many lower-middle-market contractor businesses carry some degree of owner dependency. We address this by identifying buyers looking for hands-on operational roles, structuring structured transition training periods (typically 3 to 6 months), and highlighting underlying operational systems.

While not mandatory, offering a small seller note (typically 10% to 20% of the purchase price) can expand your buyer pool and satisfy SBA lender requirements by demonstrating your confidence in the business. All financing terms are entirely optional and chosen by you.

Contractor service businesses typically trade between 2.5x and 4.5x adjusted EBITDA. Multiples are driven by recurring contract revenue, low customer concentration, documented operational systems, and a stable, skilled workforce.

For an initial valuation, we review 3 years of profit and loss statements, balance sheets, tax returns, equipment lists, and a high-level overview of your operations and employee structure.

Absolutely. Depending on your preference, you can structure a short-term paid transition consulting role (3 to 6 months), a part-time advisory position, or execute a clean, complete exit.

We specialize exclusively in the lower-middle-market contractor services sector, focusing on HVAC, plumbing, solar, roofing, and related light industrial trade operations.

Yes. Many of our highest-value acquisition opportunities are kept strictly off-market to protect seller privacy. Registered buyers gain access to exclusive, pre-vetted deal flow before it hits public channels.

We represent either buyers or sellers on a given transaction, never both simultaneously, to completely eliminate conflicts of interest. Total transparency is maintained at every stage of engagement.

We provide robust in-house financing navigation, underwriting literacy, and SBA buyer pre-qualification expertise. This ensures buyers are thoroughly vetted and loan contingencies are managed smoothly to prevent deal fall-throughs.

From initial review and signing an NDA to final closing, the process typically takes 4 to 6 months, factoring in due diligence and financing approvals.

A market valuation assesses real-world buyer appetite and actionable exit pricing based on current conditions. A formal appraisal is a rigid, highly standardized document typically reserved for formal tax, legal, or litigation proceedings.

Informed business owners make better decisions. We provide no-cost preliminary valuations to establish transparency, demonstrate our operational expertise, and help you plan your future without financial pressure.

Our preliminary valuations typically land within a 10% to 15% window of final transaction pricing, driven by real comparable market data and deep operational analysis rather than generic formulas.

We require 3 years of tax returns, historical profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and a basic operational summary. All submissions are treated with absolute discretion.

Once financial documents are received, our comprehensive review and analysis report is typically delivered within 7 to 10 business days.

Unlike traditional brokers who only review spreadsheets, our firm is led by Stan Cortland, an experienced operator who has built, scaled, and exited major service enterprises (such as a national Xerox dealership and a multi-million-dollar digital business). We understand the operational reality of running a service crew and translate that deep value directly to buyers.

We use anonymous teaser profiles, mandatory executed NDAs, and rigorous buyer pre-qualification before disclosing any corporate identity. Your employees, competitors, and customers remain entirely unaware until the right moment.

We maintain a closing success rate of approximately 70% to 75% for engaged listings, vastly outperforming industry averages due to rigorous upfront qualification and realistic pricing.

We operate on a 100% success-fee structure with zero upfront retainers or monthly fees. If your business does not sell, you owe us nothing. Our compensation is completely aligned with your outcome.

We hold active business brokerage licenses across six Western states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Idaho. This multi-state footprint creates competitive bidding tension among regional strategic buyers.