Building a Buyer-Ready HVAC Business From a M&A Expert
Selling an HVAC business isn’t just a financial milestone. It’s a legacy moment that reflects your leadership and the culture you’ve built. Successful exits happen when owners prepare early and treat the transition as the next chapter of their company’s story, not just a transaction.
This week on Cracking the Code, David Holt sits down with Austin Radke, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at The Seer Group, to reveal what buyers look for and how smart contractors position themselves for a smooth, high-value sale. Austin shares insights from evaluating hundreds of companies, explaining how team culture, clean financials, intentional planning, and early leadership alignment set standout businesses apart. Learn how to prepare your organization and avoid deal-killing mistakes to ensure your team and legacy thrive long after the handoff.
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These are the top factors to consider when selling your Hvac company. You need to think about when to get leadership involved. I’m really excited when you know that’s the number one concern you.
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Welcome to Cracking the Code where we make Hvac success clear, simple, and stress free. I’m your host and contractor. University general manager David Holt. This episode is the latest of a 16 part series that introduces you to the awesome speakers you’ll see at epic 2026. If you don’t want to miss next week’s episode, please subscribe and turn on your notifications.
00:00:39:02 – 00:01:09:00
And here’s a quick reminder. Your voice really matters, so please visit my contractor university.com to participate in our annual contractor survey for Hvac business leaders. You may even win a prize package that includes a two night stay at the Bellagio and an all access pass to Epic 2026. In today’s episode, we’re honored to speak with Austin Radke, head of mergers and acquisitions at The Seer Group.
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Austin has evaluated hundreds of opportunities in the home services industry and is presenting a breakout session during our epic 2026 conference entitled Maximizing Company Value What Buyers and Investors Really Care About. In his session, Austin will walk you through the entire sales process from start to finish, including how to prepare your business and team. Before speaking with buyers, what matters most in the lead up to a formal offer and how to manage the due diligence process effectively so let’s get cracking.
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Welcome to Cracking the code, Austin. Appreciate it David. Happy to be here. I’m more excited to be in Vegas in a few months, but, nonetheless excited to be John today. Man, Vegas is much more exciting than being on this thing with me, I promise you. So, Austin, you’ve reviewed hundreds of opportunities from a buyer’s perspective. What are the top 2 or 3 factors that really help companies stand out from the rest of the pack?
00:02:11:17 – 00:02:35:01
Yeah, I mean, I love thinking about this and it’s what I’m looking for every day and my role. So I would say the number one thing for, a lot of us buyers and, and specifically important to, to me when I’m jumped on a first conversation or second conversation is getting to learn how the owner talks about their team and the type of culture, their business.
00:02:35:03 – 00:02:54:18
I’m really excited when, you know, that’s the number one concern. How is this going to impact my team? Okay. You know, I make sure this is the best transition for them. I know that we’ve got a good with our hands. I believe that the best owners out there and the best businesses are run and taking care of their team and their people first.
00:02:54:20 – 00:03:19:09
Obviously, customer centric approach you on that. But if you take care of your people, they’re going to take care of the customer so easily. Number one for me. I would say number two would be, a level of intentionality, you know, kind of lead number three into this and a level of humility. When I’m talking to an owner and they’ve really thought about how they want to grow intentionally and even saying, you know what?
00:03:19:09 – 00:03:39:03
I’ve tried these things. And some of them, it worked out great and other things haven’t worked out. This is something I think we’re all going to get excited to talk to. You know, I can sit here and I can tell you it’s about metrics and it’s about revenue. There’s a lot of businesses out there that, look like shiny objects outside.
00:03:39:05 – 00:04:02:05
They hear all the numbers and they’ve got, you know, the maintenance agreements or whatever, the shiny marketing. But I’m looking for someone that, you know, backs. Everyone cares about their team. Number two is brown and intentional. You know, manner and maybe made some mistakes along the way and that was that. But is excited about either continuing on or I’m passing on the torch to, you know, a buyer and their team in the future.
00:04:02:05 – 00:04:30:15
So for me, you know call that in between 2 to 3. But those are definitely things I’m looking for. That’s that’s amazing. So back in 98, 99, my dad went through this process with a second generation company. I was the president, but he was the owner. And so when he was a was, contacted by a couple of different folks that were back during, I guess we’ll call it consolidation 2.0, because 1.0 happened a few years before 98.
00:04:30:15 – 00:04:52:18
But, in in 2.0, the, the, the whole process was it was just it’s just kind of amazing, you know, you think about. And that was a certainly a concern for my dad is, you know, how is this going to impact my customers. How’s this going to impact my people. Right. What are we going to do here? So that kind of leads me to my next question.
00:04:52:18 – 00:05:20:13
So many contractors I really worry about when and how to involve their team in, in this type of a process and, and the selling of their company. So from your perspective, what’s the right way to prepare both emotionally and organizationally before speaking with a potential buyer? Yeah, that that’s that’s another one that’s close to my heart because I think that we all want this to be successful.
00:05:20:13 – 00:05:43:20
And doing this the right way, really lends to, to a happy transition and transaction for our light bulb. So, honestly, this is this is something that I could spend the entire session talking about. I’m going to do it in person. There’s so much nuance here. But to keep it at a high level, each different company and culture can address it a bit differently.
00:05:43:20 – 00:06:10:10
And I’ve seen of this practice span a number of of United States and and thought process, thought processes. I’ve seen it both where the owner decides to, you know, maybe they’ve got an ownership group, they’ve got a partner themselves and they’re very well, you know, they’ve already decided that, and they’re just going to keep it close to the best and they’re going to slowly transition as we get closer to the, the closing day.
00:06:10:12 – 00:06:33:18
Now, I think that’s the most standard process, right. You’ve got, you know, one owner or two owners that want to wait. But the best thing is when we all know it’s it’s a go is to start building loop. And that senior leadership team is people you can trust and make them a part of the process. A little bit sooner, I would say even slightly better than that.
00:06:33:20 – 00:06:53:15
Which is fine because each group is different. But this, this one I’ve seen go really well established, sees 3 or 5 top leaders be involved even earlier than that. And, maybe we’ll examine the thought process years at a time and say, hey, you know, at some point we’re going to have to have this conversation, like what is going on in the space.
00:06:53:15 – 00:07:14:09
I want to involve you with that. When the time’s right. I may or may not. And just so they’re a little bit nicely prepared, you all have the horror stories. But it’s good to have their involvement because they can get excited about the future and the opportunities for themselves and for the rest of the team. And then the the nice added benefit of that is really to help in the process.
00:07:14:09 – 00:07:31:16
It’s a it’s a lot of work to sell your business. And, I’ve seen owners try to do all on their own. That’s tough. And we’re here to help and do what we can. But day to day there’s, you know, I when you when you filed to form the company up in 2001, I don’t have access to that document, but we’re going to need to see it.
00:07:31:16 – 00:07:56:09
So someone that that can help in that process. I think that I’ve seen that. And honestly, buyers like us said, you know, we do this and I know my partners in industry as well. We’ve got best practice guides on letters that our partners could use and how they communicated it in emails and and meeting agendas to communicate to the team for helping that process and figure out what’s right for them and their team and each individual way.
00:07:56:11 – 00:08:29:04
So. So you don’t think a good idea would be to get everybody a copy of Built to Sell and handed out to them as a Christmas gift? To start. All right. I want to see some teams. I’ve seen that, maybe bake some teams that sense, they’re all along for the ride. But, the problem from now, from there, it’s a it’s a good question, but so the the whole you talked about the difficulty and I, I do remember, you know, going through the due diligence process back in the 90s with my dad’s business.
00:08:29:06 – 00:08:47:14
That really can feel a bit overwhelming for owners. So I love the idea of, of, you know, getting engaged with your with your team, especially senior level team members, that that can help you kind of carry that load a little bit. What are what are the most common pitfalls, that you see that can derail a deal.
00:08:47:14 – 00:09:06:17
Right. And how can a contractor avoid that? Yeah. That you covered off number one. I mean, it’s a lot of work. I never sugarcoat it with an owner and, you know, there’s been a lot of colorful language used to describe that process that I will get into. But, you know, you could ask your buddies.
00:09:06:17 – 00:09:27:04
They’ve been. They know I’ll share with you. So one is common thought and that that’s the, you know, the members on your team that you trust to be in that conversation that, there’s going to be not only organizational questions, but obviously there’s a financial. All right. So having the accounting team, the controller, the, you know, the power structure, who’s helping you with that.
00:09:27:04 – 00:09:43:15
Your CPA involved. And that’s on the internal team. So they need to be there and helping you. And that’s the best way to get it done to manage the different work chains because it’s not locked on. That’s at the end of the day. You still have a business to run, right? But this is now a second job that you’ve taken on.
00:09:43:17 – 00:10:15:11
The other thing outside of that, as far as support is concerned, is to having a good advisor, even at a lot of the time results do. How do you really rate hear me specifically on this transaction and make specific attorney. We love your attorney that you’ve worked to us in 2030 years. They’ve they’ve done awesome stuff for your business to help you get to this point, to have a successful transaction, but it’s not a part of their day job to facilitate a transaction with, with the buyer.
00:10:15:11 – 00:10:36:15
And so they’re going to be more expensive and it’s going to be a new relationship. But at the end, it will save you time and frustration as you’re discussing a myriad of legal points that can are also tough to talk about. To have the right advice there and find someone you trust. And I will do a good job, and that will make the process a lot smoother.
00:10:36:17 – 00:10:57:23
The third thing I’ll say is, there’s a lot of anxiety around the financial component. Everyone’s worried about the price and it’s gain, you know, quote unquote re traded at the end or the buyer comes back and says, yeah, I know we agreed to a number here, but that number is out there that I think is, two pieces of advice.
00:10:57:23 – 00:11:18:06
And it’s on the, on the buyer side. And the sellers are it’s finding a good buyer in a relationship you trust. And that to us, you know, an advisor, a team that’s going to bring you better, you know, the right buyers that that we’re we’ll treat you with respect in that process. And I think, we’re in a space, an industry.
00:11:18:06 – 00:11:41:03
I’ve got a lot of colleagues that said, my CPA, I say do it the right way. So that’s probably number one. The second thing is be realistic about, your financial situation. I don’t understand that. We don’t expect you to be fortune 500 accountant to have all of this support, and there’s going to be issues and on your piano and your balance sheet and it’s our job to go out and try to help clean that up is a part of this process.
00:11:41:05 – 00:11:58:10
Thank you. Because of that, the numbers you’re looking at might change, and as a part of the process and just be prepared for that, a lot of buyers will have a conversation and walk through that. And that’s why I go back to the first thing is having a good team back, advise you and explain why these changes are there.
00:11:58:12 – 00:12:18:00
But just now that, you know, I think if you could find a team that you feel really good about, you trust you, you know, this is the right thing. The future of maybe yourself, your team and the company you’re going to. You’re going to be right there. You know, it’s the people business. And if you have that feeling, you’ll be able to work through all those other guys.
00:12:18:02 – 00:12:36:14
So true. And so, so when you talk about cleaning up the financials, you mean, you’re going to do something about my cabin up in the mountains and my, my condo on the beach and my big fishing boat. I mean, what are you talking about? Austin? You sure they’re open? I can’t learn where I’m supposed to be here about,
00:12:36:16 – 00:12:52:23
Yeah. That’s right. We we love them. I’m glad you got it, but we don’t want to keep them. So, those are for the sooner you can get those off the books, the better. Having you to a train of action, let me tell you. Yeah. And when you talk about clean, I mean, that’s really what you’re talking about.
00:12:52:23 – 00:13:15:09
Let’s have business transactions only get the personal transactions off these books. Put them on your own books. But, yeah, there’s so many. And I’ve worked with contractors as a coach for years, and I see stuff sometimes when I’m looking at their, their balance sheets and I’m like, dude, you don’t you don’t run service calls in Florida. You’re up here in Georgia.
00:13:15:11 – 00:13:37:05
What’s that? What’s this payment over here? Oh, that’s my condo. I use it for business, though. Yeah. Right. Okay. But the one thing I’ll say is I get asked this all the time. I’m not the IRS, so I don’t care. But it will be a lot easier. To your point is, if you’re thinking, hey, you know, they’ve been a year or two.
00:13:37:05 – 00:13:56:13
I want to entertain this. Just go get it banged up and get organized in the right way. That the ease of that and the value that it will create for you as a part of your transaction is worth any, you know. So, palisade, you know, if it does exist, doesn’t exist. Tax advantage that you know, they get that well.
00:13:56:13 – 00:14:17:18
So all right. All right. And that’s something that, you know, we had to learn in my dad’s transaction back in the day as well. It’s like that’s nice. But you know, let’s get this stuff cleaned up a little bit. So some of the stuff you just mentioned made me think of one more question. I mean, you said you really ought to get a specialist involved from a, from a legal standpoint.
00:14:17:18 – 00:14:40:14
So getting a lawyer that’s got, you know, M&A type experience, they they’ve been there done that. Got that t shirt. What about you I mean, there’s there’s a there’s a handful of pretty good business brokers out there that kind of can assist a seller. What’s your thoughts on on working with those guys. Yeah, I think it it’s but the whole thing is I think there’s, pros and cons.
00:14:40:14 – 00:15:04:07
I see a lot more pros. I was at a breakfast today, actually, with, with some brokers that one time visiting, and I, you know, I think it’s they’ve got relationships. They specialize in this. I think a good advisor. It really ease the transition because once again, you know, this is what I do for a day job. You know, as an owner, this is you don’t sell your business every day.
00:15:04:09 – 00:15:21:03
And so I’ve got, you know, we all have a bunch of relationships. We all sort of know each other. At the end of the day, it’s not that big of a space. We all know that. We, you know, joke that the trades are like high school in the rumor mill. So we know who’s out there. But a really good advisor.
00:15:21:05 – 00:15:36:11
On the buyer’s team can help. Not only that, everyone’s always thinking about value and price, so they’re going to help me get the highest price. I think also, sure, maybe that that could be the case, but they’re also going to weed out maybe some buyers that are also fit for your business, because I know in the simulator.
00:15:36:12 – 00:15:54:15
And then, you know, back to our money on that due diligence period, their expertise and organization, knowing what questions we’re going to ask anyway. So they’re going to help you in that process. At the end of the day, I mentioned calm. I think, where I’ve, you know, we’ve been around for a long time. And I say, you know, this year, great.
00:15:54:15 – 00:16:14:11
Meaning the brand that we have partnered with and, you know, our co-founders 35 years and in fact so he’s had a lot of relationships for buyers have called us and said, hey, I’m going to talk to you guys in two hours because I know you and I feel good about it. Now we’re on my own process now, organizationally may be difficult, and it might be more stressful for that.
00:16:14:17 – 00:16:31:22
That owner and all of us buyers have stories that we’ve worked with the buyer directly, which it’s fine, but the trouble for them is they’re saving the cost of an advisor, right? I mean, that’s the difference. I think some for some sellers, it’s I don’t want to have to pay someone else. I can manage process. All right. So yeah, we’re happy to do it.
00:16:32:03 – 00:16:52:05
You know discuss it. You know we do that all the time as well. So I think it’s just what each person needs and kind of the support level. But once again not, you know, cookie cutter answer there. Yeah. And that’s fair. And it was just like, can I buying a house? You can either, you know, go around and drive neighborhoods yourself and go find available houses that have signs in front of them.
00:16:52:05 – 00:17:09:01
Or you can talk to a realtor who knows which houses are for sale that don’t have a sign in front of them, right? It’s like having someone who’s a professional that does the work. Like you say, it’s their day job that does that work regularly is a lot better than the do it yourself or in a lot of cases.
00:17:09:01 – 00:17:33:04
So, I love there’s a, there’s a billboard floating around in our part of the country right now is it’s a, a plumber. It’s got a thing it says when DIY becomes OMG, right? It’s like it’s like, oh my gosh, I did it myself. And I got a two multiplier. Oh, boy. Well, I put it that way.
00:17:33:07 – 00:17:55:06
The example you just use I was exactly I was I mean he has a BA in the trades. You don’t you want someone to use your service because you’re, an expert. It’s the same exact thing. But that point around, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had relationships with buyers, and, you know, they’ve they said, I’m going to run it on my own.
00:17:55:12 – 00:18:11:21
I’m not going to get me how. And all of a sudden, you’ve had the last three years of noise and they’re like, I’ve gotten all that email and I don’t know who’s who. Like, they throw up their hand, we get some help. And that’s probably for the best because it’s it’s it’s a lot and there’s a lot going on.
00:18:11:23 – 00:18:34:02
Austin, thanks for joining us today and sharing your insights. I know your epic 2026 breakout session will be a big draw. Looking forward to it. And yeah, I can’t wait to see. I want to and appreciate it. For more information about Austin’s breakout session, visit the epic 2020 6.com website and check out the agenda for Thursday at 1 p.m..
00:18:34:04 – 00:19:02:16
If you haven’t already registered for the conference, make sure you do so quickly. It looks like another sell out is on the horizon. Click Register Now at Epic 2020 6.com so you don’t miss out. Also, please do us a favor like and share this episode so we can help more Hvac contractors improve their business. Thanks for watching! Cracking the code where we make Hvac success clear, simple, and stress free.
00:19:02:18 – 00:19:16:22
See you next time! Woo!
