800 Trade Contractors Sold to PE Since 2022: What It Means for You

Since 2022, private equity firms have purchased more than 800 HVAC, plumbing, and electrical companies—and those are just the deals large enough to track publicly. Smaller acquisitions fly under the radar entirely. The actual number is likely significantly higher.

This is not a fad and it is not slowing down. It is a structural shift in how the trades industry operates. And whether you plan to sell your business or run it for another 20 years, this wave affects you directly.

Why PE Loves the Trades

The investment thesis is straightforward, and it is compelling:

Recession-resistant demand. Heating breaks in January whether the economy is booming or contracting. Pipes burst regardless of GDP growth. Essential services hold up in downturns better than almost any other sector.
Massive fragmentation. Over 178,000 independent HVAC and plumbing businesses operate in the U.S. alone. Average revenue: about $700K. That is an enormous landscape of roll-up opportunities with very little consolidation to date.
Recurring revenue potential. Service agreements and maintenance contracts create the predictable cash flow that PE firms can model, finance against, and scale. Unlike construction, which is project-by-project, service revenue compounds.
Aging ownership. Tens of thousands of contractor-owners are approaching retirement age without succession plans. They need buyers, and PE provides a path that a family transition often cannot.
Infrastructure tailwinds. Energy efficiency mandates, refrigerant transitions (R-410A to R-32/R-454B), smart building adoption, electrification trends—all of these drive long-term demand growth.

The Major Players (2024–2025)

Redwood Services: 35 acquisitions in four years across HVAC and plumbing. National footprint, aggressive growth.
Apex Service Partners (Alpine Investors): $100M+ deployed in founder-owned service companies. Focus on maintaining founder culture post-acquisition.
SEER Group: 40+ HVAC, mechanical, and plumbing companies. Multi-regional platform.
Any Hour Group (Knox Lane Capital): 23 brands consolidated under one platform. Heavy in residential HVAC and plumbing.
Sila Services (Morgan Stanley Capital Partners): 28+ acquisitions since 2021, operating across multiple states.
Crete United: Ongoing acquisition program spanning HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and building automation.
Kelso Industries (Paceline Equity Partners): $50M+ raised specifically for trade contractor acquisitions.

What This Means If You Are Thinking About Selling

The good news: competition among buyers is high, and multiples are strong. Well-run businesses with recurring revenue are commanding 4x–10x+ EBITDA depending on size and quality. The window is wide open for owners who are prepared.

But not all offers are equal. PE firms run sophisticated acquisition processes with detailed due diligence. Understanding what they evaluate and how they rank it gives you leverage at the negotiating table. And structuring the tax side properly can save six figures on a single transaction—money that goes in your pocket instead of to the IRS.

What This Means If You Are NOT Selling

This is the part most independent contractors overlook. When a PE-backed competitor enters your market, the competitive dynamics shift in ways that affect your business whether you are involved in the transaction or not:

They spend more on marketing. Bigger budgets, professional SEO, aggressive Google Ads. Your organic lead flow may shrink as they outbid and outrank you.
They recruit your technicians. PE-backed companies frequently offer 15–20% pay increases in the first year post-acquisition, plus benefits packages that most independent shops cannot match.
They leverage purchasing power. Volume purchasing across 20+ locations means lower equipment costs and better vendor terms than a single-location operation can negotiate.
They build brand awareness. Over time, local brand recognition shifts. Your 30-year reputation competes with a marketing machine that is spending real money on awareness.

The Counter-Strategy

Independent contractors win on three things PE platforms struggle to replicate: relationships, responsiveness, and specialized expertise. But those advantages only matter if the business is run well enough to compete on everything else—pricing, technology, professionalism, and follow-through.

The contractors who thrive alongside PE-backed competitors are the ones who run their businesses with the same financial discipline: tracking KPIs monthly, building recurring revenue through service agreements, investing in technician development, and pricing for margin rather than volume.

The era of running a trade business on gut instinct and a handshake is ending. The contractors who adapt will thrive on either side of the table.

The Bottom Line

Eight hundred acquisitions in three years is just the beginning. The fragmentation that makes the trades attractive to PE will drive consolidation for the next decade. Whether you see that as an opportunity (sell at a premium) or a threat (compete against well-funded platforms) depends entirely on how prepared your business is. Either way, the playbook is the same: clean financials, recurring revenue, strong team, documented systems. That is how you win in 2025 and beyond.