How are you finding trades businesses before they hit brokers?
March 18, 2026
by a professional-accounting from Boise State University - College of Business and Economics in Boise, ID, USA
For those of you targeting trades businesses (plumbing, HVAC, roofing, electrical) — curious what your off-market sourcing process looks like.
I've been building a data layer that cross-references Google Business Profiles, Secretary of State registration dates, and website tech audits to identify owner-operated businesses that show signs of being acquisition-ready — things like no digital marketing presence, aging web infrastructure, high review counts but no online lead capture. Basically trying to surface the 'analog king' — a cash-flowing business where the owner is still running it like it's 2006.
Still early days and refining the methodology. Would be interested to hear how others in this community are approaching proprietary sourcing and whether signals like these are useful in your process.