How a self-funded searcher built an HVAC platform in central Texas

The Setup The operator was a 32-year-old former management consultant who had done 18 months of search after leaving a strategy consulting role. He had identified home services early in his search, narrowed to HVAC after talking to two dozen owners across blue-collar services categories, and decided central Texas based on a combination of population growth, weather (which drives HVAC demand), and the competitive intensity of buyers (lower than coastal markets). He found the deal through a broker after sending mailers to 800 HVAC owners across the I-35 corridor. The seller was 67, second-generation owner, ready to retire. Two service techs and one office manager. Annual revenue around $4.2M, EBITDA around $1.4M, light asset base. The Deal Closed at $5.0M enterprise value (3.6x EBITDA), structured as: - $3.75M SBA 7(a) loan at prime + 2.5%, 10-year amortization - $750K seller note, 6 percent interest, 5-year term - $500K equity from the operator's savings and a small angel raise Working capital adjustment came in at the operator's favor by $150K because the seller had been running thin on AR collections. First 100 Days The operator skipped the integration mistakes most searchers make. He spent the first 30 days riding along on service calls. Every dispatcher conversation, every quote, every install. He took notes but made zero changes. By Day 30 he could describe the business in operating detail the seller couldn't. Days 31-60: he ran the customer interview program from the Stanford SF playbook. 18 customers, mix of residential maintenance contracts and commercial service. Three findings that shaped everything else: customers were getting invoiced inconsistently, response time on emergency calls was wildly variable depending on which tech took the dispatch, and the existing maintenance plan pricing hadn't moved in seven years despite refrigerant and labor inflation. Days 61-100: he shipped three quick wins. Standardized invoicing through ServiceTitan (replacing handwritten paper). Implemented an emergency dispatch protocol with a rotating on-call schedule. Raised maintenance plan prices 22 percent at renewal, with no churn beyond the modeled 4 percent. Operating Lessons - Response time was the hidden differentiator in residential. Once it was standardized, customer reviews jumped and word-of-mouth referrals followed. Revenue grew 18 percent in Year 1 with no marketing spend. - The price increase was the single highest-leverage decision. It dropped 80 cents on the dollar to EBITDA. The operator validated elasticity by rolling it out to one zip code first and measuring 60-day churn before pushing across the full book. - The dispatch software paid for itself in three months through reduced unbilled work and faster collections. Most searchers underestimate how much margin leakage exists in paper-based field operations. - The bolt-on came in Year 2: a smaller HVAC company in an adjacent market, $1.8M revenue, distressed seller. Acquired for $1.2M with no SBA debt added (used cash flow). Folded onto the same dispatch platform.