Publicly traded companies often signal business opportunities to entrepreneurs owning privately held companies and family businesses or looking for acquisitions through their deployment of capital and marketing initiatives. This occurred last week in the construction and home improvement sector of the economy with the announcement that Home Depot will be acquiring SRS Distribution for an enterprise value of $18.25 billion. SRS Distribution sells goods for professional roofing and other building projects from 760 locations in 47 states generating approximately $10 billion in revenue (https://ir.homedepot.com/news-releases/2024/03-28-2024-100102814).
IBA, with its seven-location footprint of business brokerage offices in Washington & Oregon spanning from the metropolitan areas in the west to the Inland Empire and high desert in the east, has for approximately fifty years been a trusted professional resource for entrepreneurs in the construction and home improvement spaces seeking to sell their businesses or take the helm and lead an enterprise in this foundational component of the economy.
It did not surprise the M&A intermediaries of IBA’s Construction & Home Improvement Industry Transaction Division that Home Depot identified SRS Distribution as an attractive acquisition given their focus on roofing. IBA has successfully facilitated numerous transactions involving roofing space companies including Sound Building Supply (https://soundbuildingsupply.com/) and Mt. Baker Roofing (https://www.mtbakerroofing.com/) where founding owners sold to facilitate retirement.
Stepping back and taking a bigger picture view of the Home Depot / SRS Distribution transaction it involves a business acquisition of a business-to-business supply company by a business to consumer retailer seeking to enhance diversification in their customer base. IBA has long been recognized as a market leading firm in the Pacific Northwest to facilitate the sale of B2B suppliers and wholesale & distribution companies (https://ibainc.com/industries-served/distribution/). We have also sold numerous construction and home improvement component suppliers including Methow Valley Lumber (https://methowvalleylumber.com/), Construction Parts (https://constructionpartsllc.com/), and Tobin Electric (https://www.facebook.com/people/Tobin-Electric/100054230811897/) in the last year.
One of my favorite Home Depot advertisements is one where they highlight the people who are in their parking lot at 5:45 A.M. (https://youtu.be/LAQRv0XZfEc?si=1zJD0fAWfCPqJACR). The people highlighted in this advertisement are IBA’s type of clients. People willing to roll up their sleeves, go to work and get things done. An overwhelming percentage of IBA’s construction & home improvement sell side clients are business owners who perform the work in the field. Recent transactions facilitated by IBA involving service providers include EarthHeat (https://www.earthheat.com/), who installed geothermal heating systems; E2 Solar (https://e2solar.com/) who installed solar energy systems; G&S Heating & Cooling (https://ibainc.com/blog/nesha-ruther/the-story-of-roger-thompson-gs-heating/) where we merged an iconic provider into Home Comfort Alliance (https://homecomfortalliance.com/); and Washington Generators (https://www.washingtongenerators.com/) where we sold a company to a West Point graduate and veteran ready to lead his own army as an entrepreneur.
In addition to the robust transactional activity of our business brokerage division in the construction and home improvement sector, IBA’s franchise sale division (https://ibainc.com/what-we-do/franchise-sales/) also offers a large inventory of acquisition opportunities for entrepreneurs wishing to have more control in the selection of the market segment they want to do business in and area where the company is located. As an example, IBA’s franchise transaction division recently sold a multiple territory package of the Zoom Drain (https://www.zoomdrain.com/) franchise in Washington and has a deal involving one of the Neighborly (https://www.neighborlybrands.com/) family of brands in escrow pending sale.
IBA’s service to this industry sector is not limited to being a knowledgeable, experienced, highly skilled professional advisor to parties wishing to sell or buy businesses, but also includes long term sponsorship and involvement in organizations including the Master Builders of King & Snohomish Counties (https://www.mbaks.com/), Master Builders of Pierce County (https://masterbuilderspierce.com/), and others.
It is good to be a doer (https://youtu.be/9NvN89jbdEk?si=aQpMrL863jDkMiRi) whether you are fixing up your own home or doing it as an entrepreneur for others. If you are interested in “doing” the sale of your business in 2024. IBA would welcome the opportunity to be a resource. All conversations with IBA are held in strict confidence. 100% of IBA’s fees are payable on successful completion of projects. If that does not speak to our confidence in our ability to get things done, we do not know what would do it better.
IBA, the Pacific Northwest’s premier business brokerage firm since 1975, is available as an information resource to the media, business brokerage, mergers & acquisitions, real estate, legal, and accounting communities on subjects relevant to the purchase & sale of privately held companies and family-owned businesses. IBA is recognized as one of the best business brokerage firms in the nation based on its long track record of successfully negotiating “win-win” business sale transactions in environments of full disclosure employing “best practices”.