01
Regional aggregators
Multi-state route rollups — fast on routes that extend coverage.
Sector · Trades · Recurring Revenue
HVAC, pest control, lawn care, and similar route-driven service businesses command a recurring-revenue premium that generalist brokers consistently underprice. Legacy values these on a blend of SDE multiples plus contracted MRR — and matches against regional aggregators, family-office PE, and serious owner-operator buyers.
what the numbers actually look like.
2.5–3.5x
30–60%
$5M
60–90 d
who's actually writing offers.
02
Family-office PE
Looking for cash-flow assets with operator continuity.
03
Owner-operator buyers
First acquisition — SBA-financed, need clean books + retention plan.
what kills these deals — and what works.
Texas trades buyers care about three things, in order: contracted MRR, route density, and operator-replacement risk. A 60% recurring-revenue base sells for materially more than a 30% recurring base even at identical EBITDA — because the buyer's underwriting model gives more credit to the contracted stream.
What kills trades deals: undocumented add-backs, contractor-employee misclassification, customer concentration above ~15% of revenue, and missing customer-contract assignability clauses. Each one is fixable in pre-market staging.
what owners actually ask.
What's the recurring-revenue premium worth?
Texas trades businesses with 50%+ contracted recurring revenue sell at 2.8-3.5x SDE on average, versus 1.8-2.5x for purely transactional businesses. The premium reflects buyer-side certainty on the cash-flow underwriting.
Are HVAC businesses SBA-eligible?
Yes. Texas HVAC, pest control, and lawn-care businesses are routinely financed via SBA 7(a) loans up to $5M with 10% buyer down. The lender shortlist matters — some SBA-PLP lenders specialize in trades acquisitions and close faster.
How does route density affect value?
Dense Texas-metro routes (DFW, Austin, Houston, San Antonio) sell at a premium because the operating cost per customer is lower and the buyer can layer on existing routes. Rural-route businesses sell well to regional buyers who lack metro density.
the first conversation costs nothing.
Whether you're a year out or six months out, the conversation costs nothing, sets the value bar, and protects the asset while you decide.