Contractor M&A Deal Tracker: Who's Buying, What They're Paying (2024–2026)

The Consolidation Wave Has Real Numbers Behind It

Everyone talks about PE buying contractors. Few people show you the actual deal terms.

We track every major contractor acquisition where the buyer disclosed enough to calculate (or estimate) an implied EBITDA multiple. Here's what the last two years look like:

Sources: Company IR press releases, SEC filings, Reuters. Deal values and multiples as disclosed by buyers.

What the Numbers Tell Us

Strategic buyers are paying 8–13x EBITDA

The range is wide, but the pattern is clear. EMCOR paid 10.8x for Miller Electric — a single electrical contractor worth $865M. APi Group paid approximately 13x for Elevated Facility Services, a premium that reflects Elevated's recurring maintenance revenue model.

At the lower end, Comfort Systems paid 8–10x for Summit Industrial and J & S Mechanical — strong businesses, but more project-heavy.

Recurring revenue commands the premium

The highest multiple in this dataset — APi Group's ~13x for Elevated Facility Services — went to a business built on recurring elevator and escalator maintenance contracts. That's not a coincidence.

APi Group's own CEO has said it plainly: "Fifty-four percent of our revenue comes from inspection, service, and monitoring. That creates a protective moat around the company."

When buyers see recurring revenue, they see predictability. Predictability reduces risk. Reduced risk increases the multiple.

Comfort Systems is the most acquisitive buyer in the space

Comfort Systems completed five acquisitions in 2025 alone, on top of Summit and J & S in 2024. They grew revenue 29.5% year-over-year — almost entirely through M&A.

If you're a commercial HVAC or mechanical contractor doing $15M+, you're exactly the company they (or their competitors) want to buy.

The deals are getting bigger

Quanta paid $1.5B for Cupertino Electric and $1.35B (plus a $216M earnout) for Dynamic Systems. Goldman Sachs paid a reported $1.5B for Sila Services, a residential HVAC/plumbing/electrical platform.

These aren't small tuck-ins. The largest specialty contractor deals are now regularly crossing the billion-dollar mark.

What This Means for a $5–30M Contractor

You're not going to sell for $865M. But these deals set the math for every transaction below them.

The multiple arbitrage mechanic:

1. PE buys your company at 5–6x EBITDA
2. They combine you with 3–5 other contractors into a platform
3. The platform — with more scale, management depth, and diversification — is worth 10–12x
4. Your EBITDA is now worth twice what they paid for it

This is why PE has made 800+ contractor acquisitions since 2022. The math works every time if the operations are clean.

What "clean" means in practice:

• Accrual-basis financials (not cash-basis QuickBooks)
• Real job costing with labor and material tracking
• Service agreement book with documented renewal rates
• Customer concentration below 15% for any single account
• Management team that can operate without the owner
• Backlog documented with signed contracts and estimated margins

The End Markets Driving Premium Multiples

Not all contractor revenue is valued equally. The deals above reveal which end markets buyers are paying up for:

Data centers: Comfort Systems USA trades at the highest multiple in the public comp set — ~34x EBITDA — driven by its outsized data center and semiconductor exposure. IES Holdings is right behind at ~20x for the same reason. EMCOR and Limbach both called out data center demand as a growth driver in their FY2025 earnings.

Healthcare and life sciences: Limbach's owner-direct model is heavily weighted toward healthcare facility work. Their 75% ODR mix is exactly the transition PE firms want to see.

Industrial and semiconductor: Comfort Systems' acquisition of Summit Industrial targeted specialty industrial mechanical work — modular construction and process piping for manufacturing facilities.

Fire and life safety: APi Group's core Safety Services segment (69% of revenue) focuses on fire protection, inspection, and monitoring — all recurring, all essential.

If your business has exposure to any of these end markets, it's worth more than a general commercial HVAC shop. Make sure your financials reflect that — segment your revenue by end market so buyers can see it.

How to Use This Data

If you're thinking about selling in the next 3–5 years:

1. Review the Level Market Monitor to understand where public company valuations and M&A multiples stand today
2. Benchmark your financials against the Level Index to see where you fall on margins, collections, and billing speed
3. Focus on the factors that move multiples: recurring revenue, customer diversification, management depth, and financial reporting quality
4. Talk to us about a free financial audit — we'll show you exactly what PE would see

If you're not selling but want to build value:

The same factors that drive acquisition multiples drive business value. A contractor with 50% service agreement revenue, clean financials, and a management team isn't just worth more to a buyer — it's a better business to own and operate.

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FAQ

Q: Are these multiples realistic for a $10M contractor?

Not directly. These are strategic buyer multiples for $100M–$2B targets. A $10M contractor will typically sell for 4–8x EBITDA. But the gap between 4x and 8x is driven by the same factors: recurring revenue, customer diversification, management depth, and financial quality.

Q: Why do some deals show "N/A" for the multiple?

Not all buyers disclose enough financial detail to calculate an implied EBITDA multiple. Goldman Sachs' acquisition of Sila Services, for example, was reported at ~$1.5B but without enough target financials to derive a clean multiple.

Q: How often is this deal tracker updated?

We update the Level Market Monitor quarterly, after each earnings season. Major deals are added as they're announced and disclosed in SEC filings or press releases.

Q: What's the difference between a strategic buyer and a PE buyer?

Strategic buyers (EMCOR, Comfort Systems, APi Group) are operating companies that acquire contractors to add revenue, talent, and geographic coverage. PE buyers (Goldman Sachs, search funds) are financial sponsors building platforms. Strategics often pay slightly more because they can extract operational synergies — but PE can move faster and may offer better terms for the seller.