What private equity can't buy

RCS Influencer Tammara Hall urges sellers to do their research. 

Private equity did not discover roofing. It discovered recurring revenue, fragmented ownership and a generation of founders with no succession plan. That is our industry, and the money is not leaving.

I have been inside an acquisition. I watched the clock change on everything. Decisions that used to take a phone call started taking a committee. That is not a complaint, it is just what happens when the capital has a five-to-seven-year horizon and you do not. But here is the part the deal models miss: In August, Ken Kelly told Roofing Contractor's Best of Success podcast that when the founder leaves, the soul of the organization can leave with him. He said it after buying his family's company back out of a private equity backed structure. He also said, fairly, that private equity can be a good exit for a lot of contractors. Both things are true. What he named is the thing no balance sheet tracks.

Culture in roofing is not a poster in the break room. It is the foreman who calls the owner directly because he has known him twelve years. It is the crew that stays until the deck is dry because that is how this company does it. It is the estimator who walks away from work that will not run right. None of that transfers in a purchase agreement, and most of it depends on someone specific still being in the building.

So, if you are an independent contractor watching platforms buy density in your market, stop competing where you lose. You will not beat consolidated purchasing and shared overhead on unit price. You can beat them on the things that only exist in an owner-led company. Speed. Judgment. Accountability with a name attached. Building owners still want the person who can say yes. That is your positioning. Put it in your proposals in plain words.

Now the harder truth. Preparing to sell and preparing to defend are the same work. Three years of reviewed financials. No customer over twenty percent of revenue. Processes documented somewhere other than your head. A second layer of leadership who can run the job without you. Backlog with real margin, not volume you bought. Do that work and you are worth buying. Do that work and you are hard to take share from. You do not have to decide today which one you are building. And if you do sell, ask what happened to the last three companies your buyer acquired. Call those owners. Ask what happened to the people, and ask what happened to the earn-out. The letter of intent tells you the price. The reference calls tell you the truth.