Thoughts on Owner/Operator Biz w No Employees?

Hey All,

First post and want to say thanks for the content as this has been a great resource. For the past 6 months I’ve been searching for different businesses to purchase via self fund. This would be my first major acquisition.

I came across an interesting business (site preparation / simple excavating) asking $1.5m.
The core business has been around for 10 yrs and has great margins…. Around 40%.
Annual sales the past few yrs have been around $1.7 to $1.8 m.
B2B sales and the owner works mostly with 5-6 local home builders.
2024 already has contracts for close to 100 jobs.

Here’s the big catch…. The owner does all of the work including running the skid steer. He has no employees. Subcontracts the dirt removal and some other excess work. He works 80 hr weeks. All of his jobs are word of mouth and repeat customers.

Obviously, my concern is how do you replace the owner that is basically the entire business? I could hire an operator and project manager, but how would I be assured to keep the current customers and contracts? Without that I’m better off starting my own site preparation business instead of spending $1.5m.

Really curious to hear anyone’s thoughts or feedback.

Thanks!