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What It Takes to Sell a Concrete Contractor

Concrete buyers want to know the work keeps coming after your name leaves the trucks. El Paso Business Brokers Edge introduces established concrete contractors to a broker partner.

Here is what they check.

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A concrete crew in hard hats and safety vests smoothing a freshly poured slab with long handled floats at a commercial job site

What a buyer asks a concrete owner

Which builders and general contractors call you first?
Buyers want the list of repeat customers, how long they have used you, and what share of revenue each gave over three years.
Who bids the jobs?
If you are the only estimator, the buyer needs to know who prices work after you go and how accurate past bids were.
Is your bonding tied to you personally?
Surety lines often rest on the owner's guarantee. A buyer has to qualify for its own bonding before it can chase bonded work.
How much retainage is still owed to you?
Money held back on finished jobs is part of the deal math. Buyers want a list by job and expected release date.

Repeat customers beat big jobs

A concrete company that pours for the same home builders, general contractors and commercial developers year after year is worth more than one that lands a few large projects. Repeat work is easier for a buyer to count on.

El Paso keeps concrete crews busy with homes on the east side and in Horizon City, warehouses near the ports of entry and Santa Teresa, and work tied to Fort Bliss. Show where your revenue came from across those kinds of jobs.

If one builder gave you a third of last year's work, a buyer will see risk. Expect the price or terms to reflect it.

Job costing tells the truth

Buyers want to see profit by job, not just a year end total. Job costing shows which kinds of work pay and which lose money. It also shows that your bids are sound.

  • Backlog with contract value, percent complete and expected finish
  • Gross margin by job type for three years
  • Change orders and how you collect on them
  • Warranty callbacks and their cost

For how buyers turn those numbers into a price, read how buyers price a business.

Bonding, insurance and the owner

Many concrete owners carry the bonding line on their own guarantee. A buyer cannot just take that over. It needs its own surety relationship.

Talk to your bonding agent early about how the line can be replaced, and have the attorney handle what happens to your guarantee.

Insurance history and safety records matter too. A low injury rate helps a buyer get coverage and win jobs with builders who check.

Crews and leaders

Finishers, form setters and foremen are hard to find. Buyers ask how long your foremen have been with you, whether they can run a pour without you, and whether a bilingual superintendent manages the field.

A company where the owner runs every big pour sells for less than one where foremen handle the day and the owner handles customers.

Equipment and the yard

Trucks, trailers, skid steers, screeds, saws and forms make up the hard assets. Keep a list with hours, ages and service records.

Equipment sold to one buyer in one deal can often move without sales tax, while vehicles are taxed when titled; see sales tax on equipment and confirm with your CPA.

The property tax on equipment follows whoever owns it on January 1, so buyers and sellers usually split the year's bill. Our El Paso CAD guide explains it.

Want to know where your company stands? Request a valuation or call (915) 555-0193.

Call (915) 555-0193