Consulting support scoped to the decision in front of you.
Every service is built around a specific buyer decision, not a fixed package. Our focus is acquisitions up to roughly $20 million in revenue, especially for buyers who are new to owning a construction, trade, or service-related business. We scope work to what the transaction actually requires, and we say so when a stage doesn't warrant additional spend.
The goal behind every service on this page is the same: an unbiased opinion that gets you to closing, or to a clear decision not to, with every material fact on the table and a valuation indicative of the actual facts of the business.
1. Initial Fit & Deal Screening
Client problem: You've found a business that looks interesting, but you don't yet know whether it's worth the time and cost of full diligence.
Scope: Review of listing materials, basic financials, and deal structure; a short set of clarifying questions to the seller or broker; identification of obvious red flags or disqualifying issues.
What you get: Clear, candid guidance on our initial observations, the open questions they raise, and whether deeper diligence is warranted.
Limitation: Based on limited, largely seller-reported information. Not a substitute for full diligence, and not a valuation opinion.
Decision benefit: Avoid spending significant time and money pursuing a deal that has a disqualifying issue early on.
2. Full Acquisition Due Diligence Review
Client problem: You're under a letter of intent or in serious negotiations and need a structured, independent review before you commit to closing.
Scope: Document request list; evidence classification (verified, partially verified, seller-reported, assumed, not yet verified); financial, operational, legal-risk, and strategic review; contradiction testing; bias review.
What you get: A clear, evidence-based recommendation (Proceed, Proceed with Conditions, Renegotiate, Pause Pending Additional Information, or Do Not Proceed), along with the material findings and confidence level behind it.
Limitation: Reliant on documentation made available during the engagement. Does not provide legal, tax, accounting, valuation, environmental, or engineering opinions. Does not guarantee discovery of every liability.
Decision benefit: A clear, evidence-based recommendation and a documented list of what remains unverified before you close.
3. Financial & Cash Flow Analysis
Client problem: You need to know whether reported earnings are real, and whether the business can support acquisition debt and a reasonable owner salary.
Scope: Reconciliation of financial statements against tax returns and bank statements where available; earnings normalization; working capital and cash conversion review; debt service coverage analysis under your proposed financing.
What you get: A clear picture of which figures are verified, adjusted, or assumed, and how debt service and cash flow hold up under reasonable downside scenarios.
Limitation: Analysis quality depends on the completeness and reliability of financial records provided. This is not an audit, quality-of-earnings report issued by a CPA firm, or a formal valuation.
Decision benefit: A realistic view of debt capacity and cash flow before you finalize financing or price.
4. Risk Matrix & Red-Flag Review
Client problem: You need a structured view of what could go wrong operationally, legally, or after closing, not just financially.
Scope: Review of licensing and qualifier dependence, customer and employee concentration, contracts, insurance and claims history, employment practices, and industry-specific risk factors (e.g., bonding, prevailing wage, public works requirements, backlog quality for construction and trade businesses).
What you get: A prioritized view of each material issue, its evidence and verification status, severity, likelihood, and our recommended condition or mitigation.
Limitation: Identifies matters requiring specialist review; does not replace legal, insurance, licensing, environmental, or engineering opinions.
Decision benefit: A prioritized list of what must be resolved, verified, or negotiated before closing.
5. Negotiation & Closing Support
Client problem: Diligence findings suggest price, terms, or structure should change, but you need help translating findings into negotiating positions.
Scope: Risk-informed input on purchase price adjustments, representations and indemnities, working capital targets, holdbacks, seller financing, and closing conditions based on diligence findings, including differences between asset-sale and stock-sale structures.
What you get: Risk-informed guidance on terms and conditions tied directly to identified findings, for you and your attorney to use in negotiating or drafting transaction documents.
Limitation: We do not draft or negotiate legal agreements and are not a substitute for your transaction attorney.
Decision benefit: Negotiating positions grounded in evidence rather than guesswork.
6. Post-Closing Transition Review Add-On, Separately Engaged
Client problem: Diligence identified transition risks (seller handoff, customer continuity, licensing, or systems conversion) that need to be actively managed after closing.
Scope: Review of the transition plan against issues identified during diligence; periodic check-ins during an agreed post-closing window.
What you get: Ongoing guidance on transition risks identified during diligence, with periodic check-ins during the engaged window.
Limitation: Does not include day-to-day operational management or guarantee a successful transition.
Decision benefit: Early warning if a known transition risk is starting to materialize.
A consistent set of review areas, applied to every engagement.
Regardless of service scope, we evaluate a business against the same disciplined set of areas, adjusted to what's relevant for the specific deal.
Financial Reliability
Revenue verification, expense completeness, earnings normalization, cash conversion, tax return reconciliation.
Revenue Quality & Customer Risk
Recurring vs. project revenue, customer concentration, contract quality, backlog reliability.
Operations & Capacity
Process maturity, labor productivity, equipment condition, vendor dependence.
Management & Personnel
Owner and key-employee dependence, licensing qualifiers, employment issues, succession risk.
Legal, Contractual & Regulatory
Entity records, material contracts, litigation, licenses, permits, and public works or government contract requirements.
Insurance, Safety & Environmental
Coverage adequacy, claims history, workers' compensation, safety record.
Market & Strategic Position
Competitive position, geographic concentration, supplier power.
Transaction Economics & Financing
Purchase price assumptions, debt service, working capital, downside liquidity.
Transition & Integration
Seller transition, customer handoff, systems conversion, first-100-day execution risk.
Fees are scoped to the stage, not a percentage of the deal.
We're mindful of the time, uncertainty, and expense involved in pursuing a business acquisition, and of how difficult it can be to justify an out-of-pocket expense before you know a deal will even happen. Fees generally correspond to the work requested and performed at each stage (screening, diligence, financial analysis, or closing support), so you can limit early-stage costs when a potential acquisition doesn't advance or close, while still getting a genuinely thorough, high-level review at the stages that matter most.
This is different from a transaction-value-based brokerage commission, which can equal a percentage of the acquisition price. A dedicated buyer-side broker's fee is sometimes described in the market as 5% to 10% of the transaction, figures that vary widely by market, deal size, and arrangement, and should be confirmed directly with any broker you engage.
What this means for you: Fee arrangements are set out in your written engagement agreement and are not contingent on your transaction closing unless that agreement expressly says otherwise. We'll discuss scope and estimated fees for each stage before work begins.
Not sure which service fits your situation?
An Initial Fit Consultation is the fastest way to find out, with no pressure and no obligation.