Central NC Commercial & Residential HVAC Contractor, Decades-Old North Carolina Operator

$12.6M

Revenue

$1.4M

SDE

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a decades-old HVAC contractor based in Central North Carolina that installs, replaces, and maintains heating and cooling systems for general contractors, commercial real estate agents, and homeowners. The business does roughly $12.6M in revenue with $1.44M in SDE, and it runs a real operation: 61 full-time employees spanning field technicians, installation crews, and a dedicated management layer, plus a multi-vehicle service fleet and $479k in FF&E. Operations are centralized in a 10,872 square foot standalone commercial facility with immediate highway access.

Historically the revenue was concentrated in commercial new construction, but over the last couple of years management has deliberately shifted the mix toward residential service and system replacement work. That matters: commercial new construction is cyclical and lumpy, while residential replacement and recurring maintenance is steadier and higher margin. The stated backlog supports a 2026 forecast of roughly $15M in revenue and $1.8M to $1.9M in EBITDA, which suggests real momentum rather than a business in decline.

The seller is retiring and offering four weeks of training at no cost. The facility is leased, not owned, but the real estate is offered separately for sale ($950k) or lease ($79,380/year), so a buyer can choose their structure. With a management layer already in place and a workforce built to run both large commercial contracts and recurring residential calls, this is a turnkey acquisition for an operator or a platform buyer looking to add scale in a growing Sunbelt market.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is solid with $1.44M SDE on $12.6M revenue, and the SDE is already burdened with a full $79,380 rent charge and reflects a full-time owner-operator, so the number is conservative rather than dressed up. The LTM basis through May 2026 and a stated 2026 forecast of $1.8M to $1.9M EBITDA on $15M revenue suggests the trailing figure understates near-term earning power.
The moat is a decades-long regional reputation in a fragmented local market, which is exactly where entrenched HVAC contractors win recurring service requests without heavy marketing spend. With 61 full-time employees and a dedicated management layer, the operation is not owner-dependent for daily execution, which protects continuity through the transition.
HVAC is genuinely recession-resistant because replacement cycles and energy-efficiency upgrades keep demand steady regardless of the economy. The deliberate shift from cyclical commercial new construction toward residential replacement and recurring maintenance reduces the single biggest risk in this business, which is a construction slowdown.
Central North Carolina is a Sunbelt growth market with strong housing demand, and the operator advantage here is real: a fully staffed technical workforce, a fleet, and a facility with highway access. A buyer inherits a scaled platform rather than a founder juggling a truck and a phone.

How to improve it

Aggressively build structured maintenance agreement programs to convert one-time residential replacements into recurring contract revenue. The listing explicitly calls this out as a pathway, and maintenance contracts lift both margin and enterprise value at exit by making cash flow predictable.
Continue rebalancing away from commercial new construction toward residential service and replacement work, which the business has already started. This reduces backlog volatility and revenue lumpiness, and residential service typically carries better gross margins than large commercial installs.
Layer in adjacent trades such as electrical installations, which is a natural extension given the workforce and fleet already in place. Cross-selling electrical to the existing HVAC customer base increases revenue per job and average ticket without new customer acquisition cost.
Invest in digital advertising and a modern lead-generation funnel, explicitly named as an immediate opportunity. A decades-old contractor with a reputation moat but weak digital presence is leaving residential replacement volume on the table to newer, more aggressive competitors.
Implement field service management software and dispatch optimization to lift technician utilization across the fleet. With 61 employees, even a few points of scheduling and routing efficiency drop directly to EBITDA and improve response times on service calls.
Negotiate the facility purchase at $950k versus the $79,380 annual lease, which implies a sub-9 percent cap rate on rent already baked into SDE. Owning the real estate captures the rent charge and gives the buyer a financeable hard asset alongside the operating business.

Diligence notes

Scrutinize the commercial versus residential revenue split over the last three years and the composition of the current backlog. The forecast jump to $15M revenue and $1.8M to $1.9M EBITDA needs to be tied to signed contracts and committed work, not optimistic pipeline assumptions.
Verify the workforce stability and wage structure across the 61 employees, especially the dedicated management layer that will run the business post-close. In a retiring-owner sale, key technician and manager retention is the single biggest execution risk, so review tenure, compensation, and any non-competes.
Confirm the fleet condition, ownership status, and maintenance capex on the multi-vehicle service fleet and the $479k of FF&E. A large services fleet carries real replacement cost, and deferred maintenance would meaningfully reduce the true owner earnings versus reported SDE.
Assess customer concentration among general contractors and commercial real estate clients, since commercial new construction historically drove the majority of revenue. A handful of GC relationships walking after the sale could impair the backlog and the forecast, so quantify top-account exposure.
Evaluate the real estate decision carefully by comparing the $950k purchase price and the $79,380 lease against local market comps and the buyer's capital structure. The rent is already deducted in SDE, so understand exactly how each scenario changes financeable cash flow and total capital outlay.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →