Prepare a sale
Build the financial and operating record, reduce owner dependence, and plan a controlled disclosure process.
Prepare the evidence →Illinois · Ownership transitions
Prepare your home-services business for its next owner.
Understand the earnings, people and operating responsibilities behind a sale. Find practical resources, then talk through the next step for your business.
Buying a business? Start here →
Your point of contactJason Taken
HedgeStone Business Advisors
Sales, acquisitions and transaction preparation
Start with the decision ahead.
Choose the questions that fit your stage. The guides and tools are available without a sign-up.
Understand earnings
Separate supported adjustments, owner replacement, maintenance capital and the cash needed to run the business.
Work through an earnings bridge →Evaluate a purchase
Test the team, credentials, jobs, funding and monthly cash that must support the operation after closing.
Explore acquisition cash flow →Different trades. Specific questions.
Service mix, authority and delivery obligations deserve a closer look.
HVAC
Review maintenance agreements, technician coverage, service and installation margins, seasonal cash needs and the work that must continue after a sale.
Explore the transaction profile →
Plumbing
Separate plumber licensing, contractor registration, owner replacement, service mix and the operating evidence needed for a plumbing business transition.
Explore the transaction profile →
Roofing
Test roofing revenue by channel and job cohort, license and qualifying-party continuity, open-job margins, collections and working-capital needs.
Explore the transaction profile →Research you can work with
Bring the records into the conversation.
A clear explanation is more useful when you can trace it to a source, compare an example and apply the method to your own assumptions.
Browse research and guides- Illinois Contractor License Continuity in a Business Sale
A trade-by-trade diligence matrix for preserving Illinois and Chicago contractor authority through a home-services business acquisition.
- Working Capital at Closing: Define the Peg Before Comparing the Price
Build a negotiated working-capital population, review 24 months of balances and reconcile the closing adjustment without double counting.
- Prepaid Maintenance Plans: Reconcile the Cash and the Work Still Owed
Build an agreement-level runoff schedule that separates visits owed, direct fulfillment cost, accounting deferred revenue and funding.
- Headline Price and Seller Proceeds: Build the Closing Waterfall
Separate headline consideration, cash at closing, debt payoff, costs, adjustments, holdbacks, seller notes, earnouts and tax estimates.
- Service-Job Pricing: Reconcile Markup, Margin and Delivery Cost
Build a job-cost map, distinguish markup from margin, classify fixed and variable labor, and test price, volume and delivery capacity.
- Receivables in an Acquisition: Reconcile the Balance and Test the Cash
Review invoice aging, credits, subsequent receipts, disputes, retainage, collection rights and a thirteen-week opening-receivables schedule.
- From Lead to Paying Customer: Marketing Diligence for Home Services
Reconcile unique inquiries, first completed jobs, new paying customers and acquisition costs using dated cohorts, cash evidence and explicit attribution rules.
- Earnouts in a Home-Services Sale: Define the Metric Before the Headline
Separate fixed notes, contingent earnouts and holdbacks, then define measurement, accounting, buyer control, reporting and payment boundaries.
- Callbacks, Rework and Warranty Cost: Reconcile the Completed-Job Cohort
Link completed jobs to return events, compare equal follow-up horizons, and reconcile labor, parts, travel, refunds and received credits without inventing a reserve.
- Purchase-Price Allocation: Build the Asset-Sale Tax Evidence Schedule
Prepare an asset-class evidence schedule, distinguish allocated value from book and tax basis, and track later price changes without applying a universal tax rate.
- The First 13 Weeks After Closing: Build a Dated Operating Cash Plan
Put collections, payroll, suppliers, taxes and transition spending on actual cash dates; find the daily cash trough hidden inside a positive month or week.
- Verify Customer Receipts: Jobs, Processor Settlements and Bank Deposits
Trace customer payments through clearing balances, fees, refunds, reserves and bank payouts; preserve cutoff and ownership exceptions without inferring unrecorded revenue.
Tools for the next question.
Private browser calculations, editable models and printable preparation lists.
Earnings and cash
Reconcile SDE, EBITDA and the cash left after capital and operating needs.
Open the earnings bridge →Debt and liquidity
Model the bank loan, seller note, payment timing, balloon and cash trough.
Open acquisition scenarios →Revenue quality
Separate customer retention, revenue retention and remaining service obligations.
Open the retention worksheet →A practical path forward.
The scope, representation, fees and responsibilities belong in a written engagement.
Discuss the situation
A 30-minute introductory call starts with your goals, operating model, timing and main questions.
Define the evidence
Identify the financial, customer, employee and operating records needed for the decision.
Agree on the process
Set the scope of work, disclosure stages, adviser roles and next actions.
Coordinate the transition
Connect diligence, financing, credentials and operating delivery through the closing plan.
Make the next step a considered one.
Talk through the business, your objectives and the records that can make the next decision clearer.