I would say this is highly dependent on the thesis and your management team less so on a specific deal.

The best roll ups are Gross Profit Margin accretive in my opinion

One point that certainly always seems to get overlooked is the culture fit. Financials and strategy aside, how well will the Target integrate with the Platform?

I'd echo the previous comments - additionally, synergy with existing product lines and customer base is key.

I haven't done a roll-up but am pursuing one.

Here are some thoughts from my research on what to look for in a consolidation play.
- Roll-ups should reinvent an industry not just have incremental advantage.
- Rollups should both reduce costs and drive growth.
- The roll-up entity should be more competitive than the many fragmented companies it competes with.
- The value created should be shared with customers (better quality, better pricing, or both) & employees.
- The superior value proposition will allow for accelerated organic growth.
- Key pieces to look for in a roll-up opportunity: Large market size, above average growth rate, extreme fragmentation.
- When a sellers business is more valuable to an acquirer then it's a good match for roll-up.
- Professional services generally are not a good candidate for a roll-up.
- Roll-ups historically have had massive success mixed with many instances of long term failure.
- My hypothesis for why some fail. When the roll-ups cashflow isn’t increased with roll-up activities by enough to offset the increased acquisition costs, costs of debt, costs of high level management, costs of technology, etc.

Many good points above. On professional services, there are interesting plays in such businesses where a hyper-specialized back office can bring scale benefits to multiple, customer-facing front offices and more importantly, drive customer value. Re-inventing operational value chain is key to a successful roll-up of professional services firms.

I am in the process of doing the same, Kevin. Sorry, don't know of any case studies. I suspect companies such as H&R block, though they are not roll-ups, do the same. So end state exists but the path there may not be that well laid out. May be therein lies the opportunity!

MOTIVATED SELLERS.