Seeking to Acquire an MEP Engineering Firm from a Retiring Owner

October 17, 2025

by a searcher from University of Toledo in Houston, TX, USA

We are operator-buyers with hands-on experience delivering Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) engineering services across residential, commercial, and light industrial projects. Having worked inside both small boutiques and larger firms, we understand internal operations, QA/QC, permitting workflows, and client service. Our principal is a licensed PE, and we can assume/transfer the firm license to our Principal Engineer for a smooth transition. What we’re looking for (deal criteria): Owner profile: Retiring or planning a structured transition. Location: Texas or California preferred (flexible nationwide for the right fit). Size: Sub-$1M EBITDA (open to SDE-framed deals). Business profile: Permitting/design services, stable client base, low litigation exposure, clean financials, reasonable client concentration. Transition: Willing to stay 3–12 months for smooth handoff (flexible). Questions: 1. For sub-$1M EBITDA MEP services firms (TX/CA), what EBITDA or SDE multiples are you seeing close today (owner-dependent vs. more institutionalized ops)? 2. If you closed non-SBA in this niche, what capital stacks/lenders worked best? 3. Not many MEP firms are listed. Could anyone suggest the best tactics you’ve used to source off-market MEP opportunities? Thank you in advance for your insights and introductions!

Reply by an intermediary
from University of Nevada in Henderson, NV, USA

I have not closed in this industry particularly but I can tell you some industry practices that I and my team have use and use to close deals. For the 1st question I would Chatgpt to do some research and tell you what the average multiple would be for that industry at the level you are seeking. The 2nd question, is that I would use creative financing methods, I can't tell you the exact capital stack because it depends on what the seller actually wants, and what the value of the business is and then my stack would be built from there. You could do could out reach by email, phone calls, from mailers, visiting the business in your area, and/or reaching out to the businesses on their socials. I can only go over so much here, if you need more info...then message me and reference the post topic

Reply by a searcher
from Rice University in Houston, TX, USA

Praveen, I'm looking at similar deals. Let's discuss.

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