Plumbing Operational Question

October 27, 2023

by a searcher from Yale University in New York, NY, USA

Looking to pre-screen a couple of plumbing businesses. Wondering about feasibility of switching some of the business from commercial new construction (25% of overall business) to residential maintenance business that is less cyclical. The seller says this is easy to do, but looking for an unbiased opinion about how hard this is.

Thanks in advance to any plumbing operators or people who have explored this topic in the past in their diligence.

Reply by a searcher
in Rindge, NH 03461, USA

I have 40 years in construction industry. The short answer is, it is harder then the seller says, if it was easy he would have done it already to make the company more valuable. The plumbers that do commercial new construction are not going to want to do service calls on plugged up toilets, half will quit. And by the way residential is the MOST cyclical part of the industry. I would go in different direction then residential service work where you are competing with every Tom Dick and Harry with a truck. Happy to discuss further if you want to dm me. Sven

Reply by a searcher
from Columbia University in Miami, FL, USA

This is much harder to do than it seems. Keep in mind that profitability will also go down and remember that "new construction guys" are not necessarily "Service guys". These guys are in most cases a different breed of people.

+3 more replies.

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