How a sale with us actually works
Quiet, honest, and on paper.
Roughly three to five months from a serious first conversation to close, when financing goes smoothly. Confidentiality is the first mechanic of the process, not a courtesy at the end of it. Here is the whole arc — including the parts most buyers leave vague.
Day 1
A conversation
Thirty minutes, confidential, no documents. We talk about your timeline — now, later, or maybe never — what your people would need from a successor, and whether we're even the right kind of buyer for your business. If we're not, we say so and, where we can, point you toward who is.
All we need to be useful in this call: your industry, rough size, how the customer base is spread, and how deep the management bench runs. That's it.
Weeks 1–2
NDA, then a quiet look
Before you share anything identifying, we sign a mutual NDA. Then high-level numbers only — enough for us to form a serious, defensible view of a range. We never contact employees, customers, lenders, vendors, or competitors without your permission. Ever.
You will not be asked for a data room, tax returns, or customer lists at this stage. Owners who've been through a broker process are usually surprised how little we need to get to a straight answer.
Weeks 3–6
A number and structure, in writing
A letter of intent: the price, how it's structured, and what happens to your team — on paper, signed. You keep running the business exactly as before; nobody inside it knows anything yet.
If we can't get to a number you'd respect, we tell you quickly rather than dragging you through months of maybes. A fast, honest no protects your time and your confidentiality.
Months 2–4
Diligence and financing
The well-worn path: lender underwriting typically runs 60–90 days after a signed LOI. We work around your schedule — evenings, weekends, off-site — never through your office in ways your team would notice.
Diligence confirms what you told us; it isn't a second negotiation. Re-trading a price over small findings is how buyers lose our kind of reputation, and we know it.
Close
Your people hear it from you
The market norm — and ours — is a same-day announcement at close: from you, with us in the room. Majority of the price in cash at close is the standard at this size, and it's our standard too. If you want a key manager brought in earlier under their own NDA, that's your call.
Between signing and close we'll have worked out, with you, exactly what gets said to whom on day one — employees, customers, suppliers. Nobody improvises.
After
The handing down
We move in and learn the business from your team before we change anything. You stay involved exactly as long as you want — six weeks or two years. Your name stays on the building. Change, where it comes, comes slowly and from inside.
This is also when the building starts: better quoting, scheduling that doesn't live in one head, a growth engine for new work. Built to grow your team, never to shrink it.
The other honest answer
When we pass quickly.
A fast no is a form of respect. If any of these are true, we say so in the first conversation — and we don't follow up, ever, unless you ask us to.
- 01
The business is too small — or too large — for us to be a credible owner.
- 02
Everything depends on one customer, or on the owner personally.
- 03
The industry or model is in structural decline we can't honestly reverse.
- 04
A quiet, respectful process wouldn't be possible — protecting you and your team comes first.
Not ready to sell at all? That's the other door — partner with us first and decide later, or never. The relationship can start before the decision does.
The first step is the easiest one: a conversation.
No documents, no preparation, no obligation. Have your questions ready — the harder, the better.