Full-Service Plumbing Contractor, 15-Year Dallas-Area Operator

$5.5M

Revenue

$1.3M

SDE

4.4x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

Founded in 2011, this is a full-service plumbing contractor operating out of the greater Dallas market and serving four surrounding counties. The founder is a third-generation, dual-state Master Plumber (Texas and Arkansas) with over 22 years of experience running large institutional projects like DFW Airport, Parkland Hospital, and UTSW Hospitals. The company runs a 23-person full-time crew and executes across the full spectrum of plumbing work: residential service, new construction, commercial, medical gas, water treatment, and utility infrastructure.

The business has compounded from $40k in Year 1 to roughly $5.5M in projected 2026 revenue, with $1.3M in owner cash flow and $1.2M in EBITDA. It serves 1,000+ active customers across residential, commercial, and municipal segments, driven almost entirely by reputation and referral, with a 4.9/5.0 Google rating, 95% customer retention, and an 11-year run as the region's #1-voted plumber. Management claims it has never had a slowdown severe enough to send crews home across 15 years.

What makes this notable is the combination of technical breadth (medical gas and utility infrastructure are hard-to-replicate capabilities) and a claimed lack of comparable competition within 60-100 miles, in a market experiencing a sustained construction and population boom. The seller wants a growth partner and will remain as CEO for a minimum of 3-5 years, with possible rollover equity, which changes the risk profile meaningfully versus a clean exit.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is solid for a trades business: $5.49M revenue against $1.3M SDE and $1.2M EBITDA is a healthy ~22% margin, and the diversified mix across residential, commercial, and municipal work reduces single-channel dependence. The 95% retention and referral-driven growth suggest recurring, sticky revenue rather than one-off project churn. At a 4.42x cash flow multiple with 10-20% seller financing, the entry math is reasonable for the sector.
The moat here is real and hard to buy: dual-state Master Plumber licenses, medical gas and utility infrastructure certifications, and a bench that can staff 100+ person institutional jobs. Licensing barriers and a claimed 60-100 mile competitive gap mean price and share are defensible. Plumbing is non-discretionary, so demand holds through downturns, which the 15-year no-layoff track record backs up.
Market tailwinds are genuine and geographic: the DFW corridor and surrounding counties are in a sustained construction and population boom, generating organic demand without marketing spend. Being the largest full-service player in four counties positions the company to capture disproportionate new construction and municipal volume as the region grows.
The operator advantage is unusual: the CEO wants to stay 3-5 years and take rollover equity for a second bite. That aligns incentives, de-risks the transition, and keeps the licensed technical leadership in place, which is exactly the person you cannot easily replace in a trades business.

How to improve it

Stand up the dedicated estimating department the seller flags as a growth lever. Systematic bid pursuit is the difference between reactive referral work and proactively winning larger commercial and municipal contracts, and the listing claims a 40% commercial volume increase is immediately achievable in the existing footprint.
Expand the fleet and hire additional crews to break the capacity ceiling. The company is turning away or under-serving demand in a booming market, and the seller explicitly names fleet, working capital, and headcount as the levers to reach $10M+ in revenue. This is a scaling problem, not a demand problem.
Formalize recurring service contracts and maintenance agreements with the 1,000+ active customers. Converting transactional residential and commercial relationships into scheduled preventive maintenance smooths revenue, raises retention above the already-strong 95%, and increases the valuation multiple at exit.
Pursue union labor agreements the company is already positioned for to unlock larger institutional and municipal projects. The owner's history on DFW Airport and hospital work is a credential a buyer can leverage to bid work that competitors physically cannot staff.
Buy or lock in a long-term lease on the seller's 15,000 SF building at fair market rent. The real estate is not in the asking price but is essential to operations, and controlling it protects against a future rent squeeze and preserves the option to build equity in the facility.
Implement job-costing and field management software if not already in place. At $5.5M in mixed residential, commercial, and municipal work, margin leakage on estimating accuracy and crew utilization is the most common profit killer in this business, and tighter data directly funds the growth plan.
Build a second layer of licensed leadership under the founder before Year 3. The entire enterprise value rests on his Master Plumber licenses and reputation, so cross-training and adding certified journeymen into leadership reduces key-person risk and makes an eventual re-sale far cleaner.

Diligence notes

The revenue figure is described as 'current projected 2026 annual revenue,' which is a forward estimate, not trailing actuals. Pull the last three years of tax returns and financials to confirm the $5.5M is realized and not a projection, and reconcile the $1.3M SDE and $1.2M EBITDA to those returns.
The 'zero viable competition within 60-100 miles' and 'largest in four counties' claims are seller marketing language and should be independently verified. Map the actual competitive landscape, permit data, and market share, because a defensible moat is central to the thesis and to the premium multiple.
Customer and revenue concentration needs scrutiny across the 1,000+ accounts. Determine what percentage of revenue comes from municipal and large commercial contracts versus residential service, and whether any single institutional client or general contractor represents a dangerous share.
The deal is structured around the founder staying as CEO with rollover equity, so the true owner-independent cash flow is unclear. Understand the comp package he expects, what the business earns after paying a market-rate replacement leader, and what happens to the licenses and relationships if he leaves before the 3-5 year commitment ends.
Confirm the real estate arrangement in writing. The $1M building is excluded from the asking price but critical to operations, so nail down whether you are buying it, the lease terms and rate, and the risk of the seller retaining it and raising rent later.
Verify licensing, bonding, insurance, and any open warranty or lien exposure on completed jobs. In a full-service plumbing operation touching medical gas and municipal infrastructure, license transferability, workers comp history, and outstanding project liabilities can materially change the risk and the price.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →