Who Buys
Plumbing Companies in 2026

Who is buying plumbing companies in 2026

As of November 2, 2026, most plumbing companies that sell to an institutional buyer end up inside a private equity-backed home-services platform that also runs HVAC and electrical work. Commercial plumbing platforms, Roto-Rooter, mechanical contractors and Kingsway buy plumbing for its own sake.

Capstone Partners’ 43 HVAC, plumbing and electrical deals in 2026 through July 27 are 19.3% of its residential services count, second only to landscaping. The Census Bureau counted 111,207 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractor establishments in 2023, 88.7% with fewer than 20 employees. IBISWorld puts plumbing revenue at $208.1 billion in 2026, with no company above 5% of the market.

Deal log, last checked November 2, 2026:

New platforms with a plumbing business, formed since January 2025. Capstone counts new platform formation across residential services “10.5% higher YOY to 21 transactions” in 2026 through late July, even as add-ons fell to 114 deals from 149.

What do the 2025 and 2026 plumbing deals show?

By the numbers:

• 34 plumbing acquisition announcements from January 2025 through October 2026: 21 in the main table and 13 in its notes.
• 19 different buyers made them. Eight made two or more: Sila Services (seven); Kingsway Skilled Trades and Southern Home Services (three each, counting Southern Home’s Presidential brand); and Redwood Services, Leap Partners, Northwinds Services Group, ResiXperts and Team First Home Services (two each).
• At least 9 of the 34 included a Midwest plumbing company, in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio or Nebraska.
• 5 of the 21 table deals launched a new platform: Ackerman Plumbing, ACME Plumbing Company, Regency Plumbing Contractors, Team First Home Services and American Service Partners.
• Only 4 of the 34 disclosed a price: Kingsway’s three purchases ($3.5 million to $5.625 million) and Roto-Rooter’s $60.6 million franchise buyback.

Commercial plumbing is getting its own buyers. Three of the six new platforms above are commercial. Kingsway described its Cleveland and Omaha purchases as 65% and 70% commercial, and Roto-Rooter’s branch commercial revenue grew 9.0% in Chemed’s third quarter of 2026, against 5.2% for residential.

The biggest platforms are taking new money. Blackstone agreed to buy Champions Group from Odyssey in February 2026, and Apollo closed a minority investment in Apex Service Partners on October 30, 2026. That is when a seller’s rollover turns into cash; see our HVAC guide.

What types of buyers acquire plumbing companies?

Mostly add-on buyers, plus the new platforms above, mechanical contractors, holding companies and employee ownership plans.

Add-ons to a residential home-services platform

The most common buyer. Sila’s releases put it at “over 35 brands” in January 2025 and “over 40 brands” by January 2026. Leap Partners went from 19 companies in March 2025 to 27 by June 30. Redwood’s Sierra purchase brought a group that “held more than 19,000 active membership agreements” in 2025, per Redwood.

• Structure: cash plus rollover equity (part of the price reinvested in the platform). Hope Plumbing’s owners “will retain a significant minority ownership stake,” per Redwood.

Commercial and mechanical strategics

A commercial sponsor looks at backlog first; Broadtree said ACME’s new CEO, a Broadtree operating partner, is positioned to “sustain a strong construction backlog.” Comfort Systems USA bought Right Way Plumbing & Mechanical in Florida on May 1, 2025, for $65.0 million: $49.5 million in cash at closing, $5.0 million in notes to the former owners, an earnout and a working capital adjustment, per its SEC filing. Limbach closed 1901 Inc., a union MEP contractor in Madison, Wisconsin, on September 1, 2026, for $63 million plus earnouts of up to $6 million over two years.

Search funds, holding companies and family offices

Kingsway Skilled Trades, part of Kingsway Financial (NYSE: KFS), buys small trade companies on a search-fund model; it bought three plumbing companies in 2025, per its annual report. Holding companies such as Chisel Industries (“No quick flips”) and family offices also buy at this size, often with a seller note (a loan from you to the buyer) or an earnout (more paid later if targets are hit). See Selling to a Search Fund or Independent Sponsor.

Employee ownership

Three commercial plumbing and mechanical contractors became employee owned in 2025: SPC Mechanical in Wendell, North Carolina, with more than 350 employees; DHE Plumbing in Grandville, Michigan; and HACI Mechanical in Arizona. An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) needs a deep management bench. See ESOP vs. Private Equity vs. Strategic Buyer.

Is Roto-Rooter still buying plumbing companies?

Roto-Rooter, owned by Chemed (NYSE: CHE), buys almost only its own franchises; we found no 2025 or 2026 purchase of an independent plumbing company. On its October 2026 earnings call, Chemed said it has spent $96 million in 2026 “to reacquire Roto-Rooter franchises, primarily in Texas and California.” Its biggest independent franchise, serving about 11 million people from northern San Diego to Sacramento, cost $60.6 million per Roto-Rooter’s release (about $62.5 million and over 12 million people, per the call), roughly 1.1x to 1.2x its $50.0 million to $55.0 million of annual revenue.

Chemed said those franchisees “operate at a much lower EBITDA margin, often in the single digits.” If you are not a franchisee, treat Roto-Rooter as a competitor.

Is my plumbing company a platform or an add-on?

It depends more on earnings and management depth than on revenue: a company with a leadership team that runs it without the owner can be a platform, and most others sell as add-ons. Published buyer floors run from $250,000 of EBITDA (Sundream) to $4 million (Akoya Capital).

Below about $1 million of EBITDA, expect nearby platforms, holding companies and searchers; from $1 million to $4 million, family offices too; above that, with a leadership team, sponsors forming new platforms.

How do plumbing buyers structure their offers?

Most of the price comes in cash at closing, the rest in a seller note, earnout or rollover equity. CT Acquisitions, paid by buyers on introductions and by sellers on mandates, puts cash at close at 60% to 80% of deal value in home services deals with $1 million to $5 million of EBITDA. Kingsway paid 71% to 86% of its base price in cash at close on its three 2025 plumbing purchases:

• Bud’s Plumbing, Evansville. $5.0 million, “funded with cash on hand and a $1.25 million seller note”; revenue $6.0 million, adjusted EBITDA $0.8 million.
• Advanced Plumbing and Drain, Cleveland. $3.5 million plus up to $1.5 million of earnout: “$3.0 million cash at close, a $0.5 million seller note due in 2030”; revenue $7.0 million, adjusted EBITDA $0.7 million.
• Southside Plumbing, Omaha. $5.625 million plus up to $1.125 million of earnout: $4.0 million cash at close, a $0.5 million seller note and a 20% stake the seller kept, counted in the price; revenue $4.0 million, adjusted EBITDA $0.9 million.

The base prices were 6.25x, 5.0x and 6.25x reported adjusted EBITDA; Cleveland gets to about 7.1x if the full earnout pays. Three deals by one buyer are not a market; see our valuation multiples guide.

Earnouts. In SRS Acquiom’s 2020 to 2025 lower middle market data, where an earnout paid anything, the median payout was 43 cents on the dollar. An earnout tied to staying on can be taxed as pay rather than price. See Earnouts, Escrows, and Holdbacks, plus Rollover Equity Explained and Seller Financing and Seller Notes.

What do plumbing buyers check first?

Revenue mix comes first. It decides which buyer wants you and how much of the price is held back.

• Service versus new construction. Residential platforms want service and repair. IBISWorld expects plumbing revenue to grow only 0.5% in 2026 “as single-family residential construction slows.” Report new construction separately, with its own margin; commercial buyers read your backlog.
• Memberships and call sources. Show maintenance agreements and renewal rates; Capstone says attractive targets pair “non-discretionary, recurring revenue with dense routes.” Chemed said free search leads fell 11.8% in the third quarter, so expect to be asked what share of calls you pay for.
• Technicians. Capstone says buyers “have increasingly valued businesses that have institutionalized recruiting, training, and technician retention.”
• Water heaters. Under the Department of Energy’s 2024 rule, most electric storage water heaters must use heat pumps from May 6, 2029, and DOE has not announced a delay. Buyers will ask if your technicians install them.

What happens to your technicians, trucks and name

Most plumbing buyers say they will keep the technicians and the local brand, but not all. Team First said Holloway Plumbing “will continue operating under its established local brand.” Shipley, by contrast, will “transition to the Presidential name,” per Southern Home Services, Presidential’s parent.

None of that binds your buyer. Put the roles and any retention bonuses of your licensed plumber and lead technicians in the purchase and employment agreements before exclusivity.

What should I do if a private equity platform calls?

Treat it as the start of a process you run. Share nothing before a confidentiality agreement, and bring in other buyers before exclusivity.

• Ask who owns them and which deals they have closed in your state.
• Ask how they see you. An add-on to a nearby branch, or their entry into your market? Market entry needs your managers and should pay for them.
• Do not name a number first. Ask for a range and structure in writing.
• Before exclusivity (when you agree not to talk to other buyers), get in writing: cash at closing after debt and working capital, what equity you would roll, what an earnout measures, and two owners who sold to them, one at least two years ago.

The bid you get alone is the floor. See How to Evaluate an Unsolicited Offer and our letter of intent guide.

How long does a plumbing sale take?

About 11 to 12 months from hiring an advisor to closing, the all-industry average in the IBBA and M&A Source Q2 2026 Market Pulse survey, and 30 to 240 days after a signed letter of intent: Chisel Industries cites a 30-day “typical close from signed LOI,” Ridge & Valley says “Close in 90–240 days,” and Flint Group closed its purchase of Florida’s Air Around the Clock “in 60 days from LOI.”

How Salt Creek helps owners compare plumbing buyers

Salt Creek Advisory is a family-owned, Chicago-based investment bank for founder-owned companies with about $2 million to $75 million in revenue. We represent only sellers, and brothers Jack Pitts and Connor Pitts lead every engagement, with both principals on every call. For a plumbing owner, we would put residential platforms, commercial plumbing sponsors, mechanical contractors and holding companies into one confidential process, then compare offers on cash at closing, seller notes, earnouts and what happens to your licensed plumbers.

Jack worked in private equity business development at Blue Wolf Capital and Kingfish Capital and leads the firm’s buyer outreach. For standard M&A engagements we charge no retainer and are paid a success fee at closing; some engagements start with a small deposit, credited against that fee.

Pick someone else if your company is far larger than our range or you want a bank with a large team.

What this guide cannot tell you

• The tables are not complete. They list deals we could confirm publicly, some by announcement date; many small sales are never announced. Left out: Flint Group deals listed only on LinkedIn, and Sila’s Davis purchase (see the FAQ).
• No count isolates plumbing. Capstone combines HVAC, plumbing and electrical (its HVAC update counts 92 HVAC deals in 2026 through July), Fulkerson combines HVAC and plumbing, and the Census adds heating and air-conditioning contractors.
• Ownership changes. Backers are as stated in the cited sources, read October and November 2026; TruArc at Northwinds comes from its 2023 announcement. Reuters reported in March 2026 that GI Partners, still the majority owner of American Residential Services, was exploring a sale, so that backer may change. Grant Thornton Stax, Blackstone’s advisor, described the Champions Group deal as done by March 19, 2026; neither company has announced the closing.

Sources

• Capstone Partners, “Residential Services M&A Coverage Report”, October 2026.
• Fulkerson Advisors, “Private equity ownership: HVAC and plumbing”, counted October 3, 2026.
• U.S. Census Bureau, “County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 23822”, released June 26, 2025.
• IBISWorld, “Plumbers in the US”, July 2026.
• The Motley Fool, “Chemed (CHE) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript”, October 28, 2026.
• Roto-Rooter via GlobeNewswire (FinancialContent), “Roto-Rooter Buys Largest Franchisee Territory”, September 16, 2026.
• Kingsway Financial Services, “Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025”.
• Kingsway via Access Newswire, announcement of its $5.0 million acquisition of M.L.C. Plumbing, LLC (Bud’s Plumbing), March 17, 2025.
• Kingsway via Access Newswire, “Kingsway Announces Acquisition of AAA Flexible Pipe Cleaning Corp.”, August 5, 2025.
• Kingsway via Access Newswire, “Kingsway Announces Acquisition of Southside Plumbing”, August 18, 2025.
• Shore Capital Partners via Business Wire, “Shore Capital Partners Announces Partnership with Ackerman Plumbing, Inc.”, January 21, 2025.
• Redwood Services via GlobeNewswire, “Redwood Services Announces 17th Partnership with Indiana-Based Hope Plumbing”, February 24, 2025.
• Altas Partners, “Redwood Services Announces Strategic Investment from Altas Partners”, May 8, 2025.
• Redwood Services, “Redwood Services Expands National Footprint with Acquisition of Sierra Platform from SE Capital”, May 4, 2026.
• Seacoast Service Partners, “Seacoast Service Partners Acquires GP Plumbing”, April 14, 2025.
• Concentric Equity Partners, “Leap Partners” portfolio page, accessed November 2026.
• Leap Partners via PR Newswire, “Leap Partners Continues Expansion in North Carolina”, March 11, 2025; “Leap Partners Expands Again in Tennessee”, June 17, 2025; “Leap Partners Expands in Kentucky”, June 30, 2025.
• Sila Services via PR Newswire, “Sila Services Acquires Sullivan Super Service”, January 15, 2025; “Sila Services Acquires Delco Storm & Sewer Services”, May 19, 2025; “Sila Services Expands Midwest Footprint with Strategic Ohio Multi-Brand Acquisition”, January 13, 2026.
• Sila Services, “Sila Services Accelerates Its Chicagoland Growth with Two Important New Acquisitions”, August 4, 2025.
• Sila Services, “Sila Services Continues Eastern PA Growth with Acquisition of Oxford Plumbing & Heating”, October 15, 2025.
• Private Equity International, “Knox Lane-backed Any Hour Group to acquire Lee’s Plumbing”, November 24, 2025.
• TruArc Partners, “TruArc Partners Announces Formation of Northwinds Services Group”, May 4, 2023.
• Northwinds Services Group, “Northwinds Services Group Announces the Addition of Horn Plumbing & Heating”, April 28, 2025; “Northwinds Services Group Announces the Addition of Lifeline Plumbing, Heating & Cooling”, August 1, 2025.
• ResiXperts via PR Newswire, “ResiXperts Partners with Handy Plumbing Man”, September 22, 2025; ResiXperts, “ResiXperts Welcomes Bragg Home Services as Its Sixteenth Platform Acquisition”, April 7, 2026.
• Five Star Home Services via EIN Presswire, “Five Star Home Services Announces Acquisition of Mike’s Sewer & Drain”, October 13, 2025.
• The Middle Market, “Gryphon’s Southern Home acquires Nick’s Plumbing & Air Conditioning”, October 22, 2025.
• Richmond BizSense, “Mechanicsville heating and plumbing company acquired by Florida firm”, May 21, 2026.
• The Riverside Company, “The Riverside Company’s latest investment creates pipeline of value for EverSmith Brands platform”, December 9, 2025.
• Broadtree Partners, “Broadtree Partners Acquires ACME Plumbing Company”, January 7, 2026.
• Green Heron Partners via PR Newswire, “Green Heron Partners Announces Strategic Investment in Regency Plumbing Contractors”, February 23, 2026.
• Grove Mountain Partners via PR Newswire, “Grove Mountain Partners Launches Team First Home Services”, March 10, 2026.
• Team First Home Services via PR Newswire, “Team First Home Services Expands Texas Presence Through Partnership with Holloway Plumbing”, September 14, 2026.
• Panther Service Group via PR Newswire, “Panther Service Group Announces Partnership with Apex Plumbing and Affiliated Brands”, April 29, 2026.
• GI Partners, “GI Partners Joins Charlesbank Capital Partners to Accelerate Growth at American Residential Services”, September 15, 2020.
• Reuters (via SRN News), “Exclusive-American Residential Services explores $3.5 billion-plus sale, sources say”, March 23, 2026.
• American Residential Services via PR Newswire, “American Residential Services LLC Continues to Expand with the Acquisition of Tipping Hat Plumbing, Heating & Electric”, May 19, 2026.
• Transworld M&A Advisors via PR Newswire, “Transworld M&A Advisors Announces the Sale of Air Around the Clock to Flint Group”, May 27, 2026.
• Liberty Service Partners via PR Newswire, “Liberty Service Partners Welcomes DB’s Plumbing and Drain”, June 4, 2026.
• Southern Home Services via PR Newswire, “Presidential Heating & Air Conditioning Acquires Shipley, Expanding Plumbing and Whole-Home Services Across Montgomery County”, August 25, 2026.
• American Service Partners via GlobeNewswire (Markets Insider), “American Service Partners Launches National Home Services Platform”, October 7, 2026.
• Alpine Investors, “Apex completes Apollo minority investment”, October 30, 2026.
• Blackstone, “Blackstone Announces Agreement to Acquire Champions Group”, February 17, 2026.
• Grant Thornton Stax, “Grant Thornton Stax Advises Blackstone on its Strategic Investment in Champions Group”, March 19, 2026.
• Comfort Systems USA, “Acquisitions” note, SEC filing, 2026.
• Limbach Holdings, “Limbach Acquires Wisconsin-Based MEP Contractor 1901 Inc.”, September 2026.
• SPC Mechanical, “SPC Mechanical Becomes 100% Employee-Owned”, October 1, 2025.
• Construction in Focus, “DHE Plumbing: This plumbing and mechanical contractor makes a big transition”, October 2025.
• ENR, “Southwest Specialty Contractor of the Year: Employee Ownership Plan Helps HACI Mechanical Put Its People First”, October 20, 2025.
• CT Acquisitions, “How to Sell to Home Services Private Equity”, updated June 5, 2026.
• SRS Acquiom, “2026 M&A Earnout and Milestone Trends”, 2026.
• Federal Register, “Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Water Heaters”, 89 FR 37778, May 6, 2024.
• U.S. Department of Energy, “Consumer Water Heaters”, accessed November 2026.
• IBBA and M&A Source via PR Newswire, “The Market Pulse Survey Q2 2026 Reports the Latest Trends in Business Sales up to $50M”, August 25, 2026.
• Buyer criteria pages, each read October and November 2026: Sundream, PipeDreams, National Mechanical Services, Chisel Industries (and its home page), Chastain Equity, Grove Mountain Partners, Akoya Capital, Ridge & Valley Holdings.