Private Equity in Plumbing 2026: Active Buyers + Multiples

The 2026 plumbing private equity landscape is structurally different from HVAC, and the difference matters for sellers. Most plumbing-relevant PE money in the United States is deployed through combined residential trades platforms (HVAC + plumbing + electrical) rather than through pure-play plumbing roll-ups. The exceptions exist (P3 Services, Repipe Specialists, Trades Holding’s Mr. Rooter territory consolidation), but they are the minority. On the commercial side, plumbing rides inside the commercial mechanical platforms (EMCOR, Comfort Systems USA, PremiStar, Crete United, FirstCall Mechanical, Astra Service Partners, Modigent, United Building Solutions) where the underwriting math is dominated by HVAC, controls, and industrial mechanical contracts. Plumbing owners trying to read this market from a “plumbing roll-up” frame miss the actual buyer pool. For a sister analysis of the HVAC-specific PE landscape, see our Private Equity in HVAC 2026 guide.

This tracker is our attempt to compile the actual plumbing buyer picture from primary sources. We pulled platform-issued press releases, sponsor portfolio pages, SEC 10-Q and 10-K filings (Comfort Systems USA NYSE: FIX, EMCOR Group NYSE: EME, Chemed Corporation NYSE: CHE), and named trade press (ACHR News, Plumbing & Mechanical, phcppros, Contracting Business, ENR, BusinessWire / PR Newswire / GlobeNewswire syndication of issuer-authored releases) covering January 1, 2025 through April 30, 2026. We treated aggregator-only references (PitchBook, Crunchbase, Tracxn, CB Insights, Mergr) as leads, not sources. Every platform listed in the active set maps to at least one citable URL, SEC filing, or sponsor disclosure in the References section.

We are CT Acquisitions, a U.S. buy-side M&A firm. The platforms in this tracker represent publicly active acquirers in the U.S. lower middle market. They are not our exclusive buyer panel, and we do not claim mandate or advisory relationships with any named sponsor or platform. We surface this report because the underlying data is genuinely useful to plumbing owners trying to read the market, and because most generalized “PE plumbing roll-up” lists in circulation are riddled with stale, unverified, or simply wrong sponsor attributions. Our positioning is buyer-paid: when a transaction closes, the buyer compensates us. The seller pays nothing, signs nothing, and is free to walk at any time.

A note on the bar. Many trackers in this space list 30-50 plumbing platforms but cite none of them. We took the opposite approach. Of the platforms we investigated, we excluded 17 from the active list because we could not locate primary-source evidence in the window (or because the platform was actually electrical, marketing, road safety, or home improvement rather than plumbing). The result is a smaller list, but every line in it is independently re-verifiable from the URLs in the References section.

“Every platform in this tracker is anchored to a public press release, SEC filing, or sponsor portfolio disclosure. Where we could not verify a window-period plumbing-specific deal, we documented the platform with that note rather than padding the list with aggregator chatter.”

Key Takeaways

• 23 plumbing-relevant PE platforms identified through public disclosures with at least one verified transaction or platform-level event between January 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026, anchored to a press release URL, SEC filing, or sponsor-website disclosure.
• Pure-play plumbing PE platforms are the minority. P3 Services (Stellex Capital Management) and Repipe Specialists (Gryphon Investors Heritage Fund) are the cleanest pure-play examples; most plumbing-relevant capital deploys through combined residential trades (HVAC + plumbing + electrical) and commercial mechanical platforms.
• Apex Service Partners (Alpine Investors) closed approximately 60 add-on acquisitions in 2025 across HVAC, plumbing, and electrical per Alpine’s 2025 Year-in-Review, but Apex does not maintain a publicly browsable press section and individual 2025 plumbing-specific targets are not enumerated in Alpine’s primary disclosure.
• Champions Group’s sale to Blackstone (announced February 17, 2026; expected close midyear 2026) is the largest disclosed plumbing-inclusive residential platform transaction in the window. Press reports valued the transaction at approximately $2.5B on roughly $140M LTM EBITDA, implying around 18.5x [Mergersight / HomePros]; Blackstone did not publicly disclose terms.
• Commercial mechanical platforms (EMCOR, Comfort Systems USA, PremiStar, Crete United, FirstCall Mechanical, Astra Service Partners, Modigent, United Building Solutions) trade at premium multiples to residential roll-ups. Comfort Systems USA acquired Right Way Plumbing & Mechanical LLC of Florida on May 1, 2025 for a preliminary $64.8M purchase price ($49.5M cash + $5M seller notes + earn-out + working capital adjustment) per the Q2 2025 10-Q.
• GF Data’s Specialty Trade Contractor NAICS 238 cohort (the single best public proxy for plumbing and mechanical M&A pricing) reports TEV/EBITDA averages of 5.7x at $10-25M TEV, 6.1x at $25-50M, 7.1x at $50-100M, and 8.2x at $100-500M, with a cohort total of 6.3x at 18-20% EBITDA margins. IBBA Q4 2025 Market Pulse anchors the lower deal-size bands: $500K-$1M at 3.0x SDE, $1M-$2M at 3.1x, $2M-$5M at 4.1x EBITDA, $5M-$50M at 5.5x EBITDA.
• Plumbing platforms skew toward Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, California, Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest in geographic concentration, with Sila Services concentrating the Northeast / Mid-Atlantic / Midwest and ResiXperts plus Repipe Specialists active in California and the Southwest.

Methodology and Data Sources

This report is a compiled, citation-anchored tracker built exclusively from public sources between January 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026. We did not interview any platform, sponsor, or operator. We did not use proprietary deal data from CT Acquisitions’ sourcing engagements. The intent was to produce something a journalist or academic could re-verify line by line by clicking the press release URLs, SEC filing URLs, and sponsor portfolio URLs in the References section.

We used five categories of public sources, in priority order. (1) Press releases issued by the platform or its sponsor on the platform’s own newsroom, BusinessWire, PR Newswire, GlobeNewswire, or the sponsor’s website. (2) Public-company filings, specifically Comfort Systems USA, Inc.’s SEC 10-K and 10-Q filings (NYSE: FIX), EMCOR Group, Inc.’s SEC filings (NYSE: EME), and Chemed Corporation’s SEC filings and earnings releases (NYSE: CHE). (3) Sponsor portfolio pages disclosing platform investments (Alpine Investors, Apax Partners, Altas Partners, Bain Capital, Blackstone, Gridiron Capital, Gryphon Investors, Leonard Green & Partners, Mubadala Investment Company, Odyssey Investment Partners, OMERS Private Equity, Partners Group, Ridgemont Equity Partners, SkyKnight Capital, Stellex Capital Management, Watchtower Capital, AE Industrial Partners, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, GI Partners, Charlesbank Capital Partners, FoW Partners, CPC LLC). (4) Trade press: ACHR News, Plumbing & Mechanical (pmmag.com), phcppros, Contracting Business, ENR, HVAC Insider, CleanLink. (5) M&A trade press and data: PE Hub, PE Professional, GF Data Highlights and Products, Middle Market Growth, Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Report 2025, IBBA / M&A Source Market Pulse Q4 2025, Capstone Partners industry coverage.

Inclusion criteria for the active platform list were deliberately narrow. To appear as an active platform, a roll-up needed all four of the following: (a) institutional capital backing (PE fund, family office acting as financial sponsor, sovereign wealth co-investor, or public-company strategic), (b) plumbing as part of the platform’s disclosed service offering (residential plumbing service and repair, commercial plumbing, or commercial mechanical contracting that explicitly includes plumbing scope), (c) at least one publicly disclosed plumbing-relevant acquisition, platform-level transaction, or sponsor-issued press event between January 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026, and (d) a citable URL we could verify directly. Platforms that operate in plumbing but issued no plumbing-relevant disclosure in the window are documented in the Limitations section.

What this report deliberately does not include. Pure sewer, drain, and septic platforms are excluded because we treat them as a separate consolidation thesis (different equipment, different labor profile, different customer acquisition economics). Flow Services Holdings (Propel Equity, March 2024 launch) is the cleanest example of a recent sewer / drain platform we excluded for this reason. Water treatment platforms are excluded for the same thesis-separation rationale. Home improvement remodel platforms (bath, window, garage, closet) are excluded because the revenue model is project-based replacement rather than recurring service. Franchise-license growth at brand-level franchisors (Premium Service Brands, Neighborly’s RooterMan and Mr. Rooter) is treated as franchise system growth rather than platform M&A. Individual franchise territory acquisitions by franchise consolidators (Trades Holding Company / CPC, Roto-Rooter / Chemed) are included where verified. Service Logic (Bain Capital + Mubadala, December 2025 close) is excluded from the active plumbing list because the platform’s commercial HVAC service thesis is the primary scope and plumbing is incidental; the platform-level sponsor change is acknowledged separately. Family-office and independent-sponsor plumbing investments without primary-source disclosure are systematically underrepresented; we discuss this in the Limitations section.

How we treat “plumbing-relevant” deals. Many home services platforms acquire combined HVAC / plumbing / electrical operators. We counted a deal as plumbing-relevant when the platform or sponsor press release explicitly disclosed plumbing as part of the acquired company’s service mix or when the target’s own brand contains the plumbing word. We did not count pure-HVAC or pure-electrical acquisitions even by platforms that also operate plumbing brands. For commercial mechanical platforms (Comfort Systems USA, EMCOR, PremiStar, Crete United, FirstCall Mechanical, Astra Service Partners, Modigent, United Building Solutions), we included transactions where the acquired business’s mechanical-services description encompassed plumbing, piping, or mechanical-with-plumbing-line scope. For Comfort Systems USA, we cite the Right Way Plumbing & Mechanical LLC acquisition (May 1, 2025, $64.8M preliminary purchase price) verbatim from the Q2 2025 10-Q. For EMCOR, we cite only the aggregate nine-tuck-in disclosure ($182.1M in upfront consideration in addition to Miller Electric) from the 2025 10-K Note 4 because EMCOR did NOT separately disclose individual target names or per-deal pricing.

Plumbing buyer type	Typical EBITDA range	Typical multiple band	Best fit for
Residential trades add-on (Apex, Sila, Champions, Redwood, ResiXperts, Ally, Southern, LSP, Trades Holding)	$1M-$5M	4-6x EBITDA	Combined HVAC + plumbing + electrical operators with residential service and membership-plan revenue
Residential platform recap	$50M+	15-20x EBITDA (press-derived)	Multi-brand operators with national or super-regional density; rare
Commercial mechanical add-on (Comfort Systems, EMCOR, PremiStar, Crete, FirstCall, Astra, Modigent, UBS)	$3M-$20M	6-8x EBITDA (per GF Data NAICS 238)	Commercial mechanical, plumbing, piping, building automation contractors with service-contract base
Pure-play plumbing platform (P3 Services, Repipe Specialists)	$2M-$15M	5-8x EBITDA	Plumbing-only or plumbing-plus-lining specialists with geographic clustering
Public strategic (FIX, EME, CHE)	$5M+	Variable; FIX traded ~47x, EME ~21x, CHE ~12x (FY2025 implied)	Larger commercial mechanical or branded residential plumbing operators with scale

The 2026 Plumbing PE Landscape: Why Now

The U.S. plumbing industry is large, fragmented, recurring-service-rich, and structurally non-discretionary. Plumbing service and repair is among the most demand-resilient trades because leaks, drain backups, and water-heater failures are not deferrable. Residential plumbing service rides the same demographic and housing-stock tailwinds as HVAC, with the added structural floor that water emergencies cannot be postponed by economic conditions. Commercial plumbing inside multi-family, hospitality, healthcare, education, and data center construction adds a project and service overlay that institutional sponsors value for visibility. The Construction / Engineering category was the #1 transaction category in the lower middle market in 2025 per IBBA Q4 2025 Market Pulse, representing 27% of all LMM deal activity tracked by 350 brokers across 330 transactions in Q4 2025 alone.

Plumbing is structurally different from HVAC inside the PE thesis, and the difference matters. Pure-play plumbing platforms are rare. Of the 23 active U.S. plumbing-relevant platforms we verified for this report, only two are unambiguous pure-play plumbing roll-ups: P3 Services (Peltram Plumbing Holdings, Stellex Capital Management since January 2022) and Repipe Specialists (Gryphon Investors Heritage Fund since 2022). Most plumbing-relevant capital is deployed through combined residential trades platforms (Apex Service Partners, Sila Services, Wrench Group, Champions Group, Redwood Services, Authority Brands, ResiXperts, Ally Services, Southern Home Services, Legacy Service Partners, ARS / Rescue Rooter) where plumbing is one of three service lines alongside HVAC and electrical. Commercial plumbing rides inside commercial mechanical platforms (EMCOR, Comfort Systems USA, PremiStar, Crete United, FirstCall Mechanical, Astra Service Partners, Modigent, United Building Solutions) where the underwriting math is dominated by HVAC, controls, building automation, and industrial mechanical contracts. A plumbing owner reading this market through a “plumbing roll-up” frame will misjudge the actual buyer pool.

The macro tailwinds are real but plumbing-specific. (1) Aging U.S. housing stock with copper and galvanized supply lines that are reaching end of useful life, supporting the repipe / pipe-lining thesis behind Repipe Specialists and P3 Services. (2) PFAS, lead, and chromium regulation cycles at state and federal levels driving water-line replacement demand. (3) Multi-family construction backlog in the Sun Belt creating commercial plumbing pull-through. (4) Data center construction supporting commercial mechanical contracting more broadly; Comfort Systems USA’s backlog doubled year-over-year to $11.94B at year-end 2025 versus $5.99B prior year, per the FY2025 earnings release. (5) Labor scarcity in the plumbing trades structurally bidding up the value of operators with proven plumber-recruiting systems and apprentice pipelines. (6) Refrigerant and heat-pump transitions cross-pollinate plumbing trades when residential operators install combined HVAC and plumbing service plans.

Four window-period transactions reset the cap table. In November 2024 (announced; closed in window), Goldman Sachs Alternatives acquired a majority stake in Sila Services from Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. Press reports valued the deal at approximately $1.7B on EBITDA “just under $100M,” implying roughly 17x including pending acquisitions or 20x excluding them per HomePros citing sources familiar; Goldman’s official release stated terms were not disclosed. In May 2025, Altas Partners made a majority investment in Redwood Services valuing the company at approximately $1.1B. In December 2025, Bain Capital and Mubadala Investment Company completed the acquisition of Service Logic from Leonard Green & Partners (commercial HVAC service platform, plumbing-incidental, included for context). In February 2026, Blackstone announced its agreement to acquire Champions Group Holdings from Odyssey Investment Partners; press reports valued the transaction at approximately $2.5B on roughly $140M LTM EBITDA, implying around 18.5x per Mergersight and HomePros coverage, with Blackstone’s official press release explicitly not disclosing terms. The platform-level cap table at the top of the residential trades market is now anchored by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Altas Partners, Alpine Investors (via the Apex continuation vehicle with Partners Group co-investment), and Blackstone (via BXPE perpetual capital).

The implication for sub-platform plumbing owners. When sponsors trade platforms at mid-to-high-teens EBITDA multiples, the underlying economic logic depends on continuing to source add-ons at materially lower multiples. That add-on demand has not slowed. Sila Services disclosed six platform-issued plumbing-relevant press releases in 2025. Astra Service Partners (within Alpine’s Orion Group) disclosed Diamondback Plumbing in January 2025 and Griffen Plumbing and Heating in July 2025. ResiXperts disclosed Marathon Plumbing / Tokay (January 2025), Handy Plumbing Man (September 2025), and Option One Plumbing (February 2026). Ally Services disclosed three 2025 add-ons (J Hood, Tri-County Aire, Above & Beyond) in a single November 2025 platform release. Southern Home Services acquired Nick’s Plumbing & Air Conditioning of Houston in October 2025. Champions Group acquired Bee’s Plumbing and Heating of Seattle in June 2025. Redwood Services partnered with Hope Plumbing of Indianapolis in February 2025. Legacy Service Partners welcomed NJ Pipe Doctor of Woodbridge Township, New Jersey in April 2025. Comfort Systems USA acquired Right Way Plumbing & Mechanical LLC of Florida on May 1, 2025 for a preliminary $64.8M purchase price. The cadence is real, even if it is materially below HVAC.

Active Platforms: Profiles of 23 Plumbing-Active Roll-Up Operators (Public Sources)

Below is the verified list of active U.S. plumbing-relevant PE roll-up platforms in 2026. Each platform name is followed by the institutional capital backing it, the year the current sponsor entered, the company’s geographic and service focus, and at least one publicly disclosed plumbing-relevant transaction or platform event with date. Citations and URLs are in the References section. Order is alphabetical.

Ally Services (Sponsor: Watchtower Capital, since 2023 platform formation). Headquartered in Virginia / Mid-Atlantic. Residential HVAC and plumbing platform serving residential and light-commercial customers across Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Per the platform’s November 2025 PR Newswire release, Ally Services completed three add-on acquisitions in 2025 that “more than doubled the Company’s revenue”: J Hood Services (Manassas, Virginia), Tri-County Aire (Charlotte Hall, Maryland), and Above & Beyond (Laurel, Delaware). Plumbing scope is partial; Ally markets HVAC plus plumbing per Watchtower Capital’s portfolio description.

Apex Service Partners (Sponsor: Alpine Investors with Partners Group co-investment via 2023 single-asset continuation vehicle). Founded in 2019 with Alpine Investors backing. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Apex has scaled into the largest residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical roll-up in the United States, with 107 brands, approximately $1.3 billion in annual revenue, and over 8,000 tradespeople per Alpine’s Q4 2025 disclosure. In Q4 2025, Alpine Investors closed a $3.4 billion single-asset continuation transaction for Apex with anchor LPs including Partners Group. Per Alpine’s 2025 Year-in-Review primary source, Apex “completed 60 add-on acquisitions split across their 5 regions nationwide” in 2025 across HVAC, plumbing, and electrical. We do not enumerate individual 2025 plumbing-specific Apex tuck-ins because Apex does not maintain a publicly browsable press section and Alpine’s primary disclosure does not name the 60 targets individually; see the Limitations section for the disclosure gap.

ARS / Rescue Rooter (Sponsor: GI Partners with continued Charlesbank Capital Partners participation, since Q4 2020). American Residential Services, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Positioned by the sponsor as the largest residential HVAC and plumbing services provider in the United States with approximately 70 service centers across 23 states and roughly 6,500 employees. We did not locate any publicly disclosed ARS plumbing acquisitions in the January 2025 to April 2026 window. The most recent disclosed ARS acquisitions on the company news page predate the window (ESCO Heating Air Conditioning Plumbing & Electric in Salt Lake City was 2022). ARS appears to be in a hold and optimize phase rather than active platform M&A. We include the platform for completeness given its size and plumbing-service scope.

Astra Service Partners (Sponsor: Alpine Investors via Orion Group holding company). Astra Service Partners is the commercial and industrial mechanical services brand network within Alpine Investors’ Orion Group platform. Per Astra’s 2025 Year-in-Review, the platform operates 33 companies serving 44 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and four Canadian locations, with seven new partners added in 2025 and eight operationally integrated. Verified 2025 plumbing-relevant partnerships include Diamondback Plumbing (Phoenix, Arizona, January 14, 2025) and Griffen Plumbing and Heating (Elkhart, Indiana, serving Indiana and Michigan, July 7-8, 2025; BusinessWire syndicated release headline is “Astra Service Partners Invests in Leading HVAC and Plumbing Provider Griffen Plumbing and Heating”). Astra also acquired Berg Industrial Service in Canada (November 2025; industrial refrigeration, not plumbing) for size context. Astra’s existing portfolio includes explicit plumbing companies: Action Plumbing (New Jersey), Agentis (Pennsylvania), Diamondback (Arizona), Griffen (Indiana / Michigan), Bieg (St. Louis), GE Mechanical (New Jersey / Pennsylvania), and The Tustin Group (Pennsylvania / New Jersey / Maryland).

Authority Brands (Sponsor: Apax Partners with BCI as significant minority since 2022). Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland. Authority Brands operates 15+ home-service franchise brands including Benjamin Franklin Plumbing (residential plumbing) plus Mister Sparky (electrical) and One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning (HVAC), with strong representation in the residential trades. Per Authority Brands’ January 2026 year-end disclosure, the company added 246 new franchise owners and 340 new territories across 31 states in 2025. Activity in the window is at the franchise-license level rather than brand-level M&A; Authority Brands’ official acquisitions page lists no new brand acquisitions in 2025-2026 (the most recent brand additions on its public timeline were Screenmobile and Lawn Squad in 2023). Benjamin Franklin Plumbing has been in the portfolio since 2019.

Champions Group Holdings (Sponsor: Odyssey Investment Partners through window; Blackstone via BXPE acquired in agreement announced February 17, 2026, expected close midyear 2026). Headquartered in Irvine, California. Operates a residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical platform with 23 brands, approximately 2,400 employees, 1,800+ field technicians, and roughly 150,000 active membership-plan customers per the Blackstone announcement. In June 2025, Champions Group acquired Bee’s Plumbing and Heating of Seattle, Washington (platform-issued press release plus PR Newswire syndication June 18, 2025). On February 17, 2026, Blackstone announced its agreement to acquire Champions Group from Odyssey Investment Partners with Odyssey and management retaining minority stakes. Press reports valued the transaction at approximately $2.5 billion on roughly $140 million LTM EBITDA, implying around 18.5x EV/EBITDA per Mergersight and HomePros coverage; Blackstone’s official press release stated terms were not disclosed. Champions Group will sit inside BXPE, Blackstone’s perpetual private-equity strategy, signaling a longer hold horizon than a standard PE fund.

Chemed Corporation / Roto-Rooter (Public, NYSE: CHE; public since 1971). Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Chemed’s Roto-Rooter segment is the dominant national residential and commercial plumbing and drain brand in the United States. Roto-Rooter’s FY2025 segment revenue was approximately $911 million (36% of Chemed’s consolidated $2.53 billion FY2025 revenue per the Q4 2025 earnings release). Roto-Rooter Q4 2025 Adjusted EBITDA margin was 21.5% (down 477 basis points year over year), with 2026 segment guidance of 3.0%-3.5% revenue growth and 22.5%-23.0% Adjusted EBITDA margin. In the window, Roto-Rooter completed franchise re-acquisitions of San Francisco, California and Fort Worth, Texas territories on March 31, 2026 (announced April 1, 2026 via GlobeNewswire) for a combined purchase price of approximately $20.6 million, with the territories collectively serving roughly 3.3 million residents. Per CFO Michael Witzeman, the Fort Worth territory will tuck into Roto-Rooter’s corporate-owned Dallas branch and San Francisco into the corporate-owned East Bay branch. The transactions are expected to add $5.0M-$5.5M of revenue for the remainder of 2026.

Comfort Systems USA (Public, NYSE: FIX; public since 1997 IPO). Headquartered in Houston, Texas. The largest publicly traded U.S. mechanical and electrical services contractor focused on commercial and industrial markets, with FY2025 revenue of $9.10 billion and FY2025 Adjusted EBITDA of $1,454.6 million per the Q4 / full-year 2025 earnings release. Year-end 2025 backlog was $11.94 billion (doubled from $5.99 billion at year-end 2024), driven by data center construction demand. Plumbing-relevant 2025 acquisitions disclosed via SEC filings: Century Contractors LLC (Matthews, North Carolina; January 1, 2025; preliminary purchase price $84.2 million per the Q2 2025 10-Q; self-performing mechanical installation, pipe fabrication, steel erection in the mechanical segment) and Right Way Plumbing & Mechanical LLC (Florida, with Southeastern U.S. operations; May 1, 2025; preliminary purchase price $64.8 million composed of $49.5 million cash at close + $5.0 million seller notes + earn-out + working capital adjustment; provides plumbing installation and maintenance services; mechanical segment). Comfort Systems USA also acquired Feyen Zylstra Holdings LLC and Meisner Electric, Inc. on October 1, 2025 (primarily electrical; not plumbing-specific). FIX shares hit record levels in early 2026 amid the data center construction backlog; the implied current TEV / FY2025 Adjusted EBITDA multiple is approximately 47.5x using market cap $69.96 billion, $145.3 million total debt, and $981.9 million cash.

Crete United (Sponsor: Ridgemont Equity Partners, since June 2022). Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Crete United (rebranded from Crete Mechanical Group in early 2024) is a national commercial MEP services platform spanning HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and building automation across more than 40 partner companies and approximately 3,500 technicians, generating roughly $680 million in annual revenue per ACHR News and HVAC Insider coverage. Verified 2025 add-on: CAM H.V.A.C. & Construction (Smithfield, Rhode Island, June 5, 2025), the platform’s first Rhode Island partner and a broader MEP-service contractor with in-house sheet metal fabrication. Per PE Hub coverage, Ridgemont was exploring a sale or recapitalization process for Crete United beginning in 2025; an ownership change could occur within or shortly after the window.

EMCOR Group (Public, NYSE: EME). Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. The largest publicly traded U.S. mechanical and electrical construction and facilities services contractor, with FY2025 revenue of $16.99 billion and FY2025 operating income of $1,713 million (10.1% margin, including a $144.9 million gain from the sale of the United Kingdom operations) per the Q4 / full-year 2025 BusinessWire release. Construction operations were 72% of 2025 revenue; building services 21%; industrial services 7%. The most-disclosed 2025 transaction was the February 2025 acquisition of Miller Electric Company of Jacksonville, Florida for $865 million in cash; Miller Electric is electrical, not plumbing, and is included for size context only. Per EMCOR’s 2025 10-K Note 4, in addition to Miller Electric the company acquired nine companies during 2025 for aggregate upfront consideration of $182.1 million (inclusive of customary working capital adjustments). Of those nine, five are in the U.S. mechanical construction and facilities services segment (two Midwestern building automation and controls companies, one company adding fire-protection capabilities, one Western-region mechanical construction and maintenance provider, and one Northeastern full-service mechanical contractor) and four are in the U.S. building services segment. EMCOR did not separately name these nine targets in primary disclosures; we cite only the aggregate. The implied TEV / normalized FY2025 EBITDA is approximately 21.2x on market cap $41.22 billion, near-zero net debt ($1.11 billion cash, no long-term debt outstanding), and FY2025 EBITDA of $1,896 million (operating income $1,713M plus D&A $186.4M); stripping the $144.9 million UK-divestiture gain, normalized TEV / EBITDA is closer to 22.9x.

FirstCall Mechanical Group (Sponsor: SkyKnight Capital, since February 2023 platform formation). Headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded by SkyKnight Capital in February 2023 with the simultaneous acquisitions of STR Mechanical, Technical Services, TimCo Heating and Air, and Jax Services. FirstCall is a Southeast and Mid-Atlantic commercial mechanical services platform providing HVAC, building controls, electrical, and plumbing for commercial and industrial facilities. Verified 2025 partnerships in our window: LC Anderson (Eastern Massachusetts commercial HVACR, founded 1943; partnership announced via CleanLink trade press August 27, 2025; serves life sciences, healthcare, private education, and manufacturing customers) and CLS Facility Services (multi-craft vendor-managed services for retail, financial, and industrial customers; announced August 18, 2025 via the target’s own site). On August 8, 2025, FirstCall closed an upsize of its senior secured credit facility, with Holland & Knight serving as legal advisor, a typical sign of continued M&A capacity. We do not list Statewide Conditioning Inc. / Automated Building Solutions as a verified 2025 add-on; only an advisor-side announcement (CB Energy Business Consulting) was located in the window. Note that the FirstCall sponsor is SkyKnight Capital and not Trive Capital, which has been incorrectly attributed in some third-party lists.

Legacy Service Partners (Sponsor: Gridiron Capital, since January 18, 2023). Headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Founded in 2021. Legacy operates a national platform across multiple states with HVAC, plumbing, and electrical service brands. Verified plumbing-relevant 2025 add-on: NJ Pipe Doctor of Woodbridge Township, New Jersey (April 3, 2025), a veteran-owned plumbing company founded 2019. Per the Legacy Service Partners platform press release, the transaction brought Legacy’s New Jersey partner count to three alongside C&C and Dwyer Services; CEO Rob Millock cited owner Ray Reyes’s six-year track record.

Modigent (Sponsor: OMERS Private Equity). Headquartered in the Phoenix, Arizona region. OMERS Private Equity ownership is confirmed via the sponsor’s portfolio page; Modigent rebranded in June 2023 from a multi-brand HVAC roll-up. Modigent’s platform tagline explicitly includes plumbing alongside HVAC and controls. Verified 2025 add-ons in the window: VMG Mechanical (Central Florida / greater Orlando metropolitan area, July 15, 2025; commercial mechanical services contractor founded 2022 by Victor and Yolanda Galvan, with President Larry Turnage who joined mid-2023; Modigent CEO Dan Bueschel led the press release) and Southland Mechanical (Houston, Texas, December 18, 2025; commercial mechanical contractor entering the Houston market).

P3 Services (Peltram Plumbing Holdings) (Sponsor: Stellex Capital Management, since January 2022). Multi-hub headquarters with original Peltram base in Seattle, Washington. One of the few pure-play plumbing PE platforms in the United States. Formed via combination of Peltram, Power Plumbing, Precision Plumbing, and E.R. Plumbing. P3’s March 4, 2025 PR Newswire release recapped six 2024 add-ons across Winston-Salem (Forsyth Septic & Rooter), Dallas (Schrader Plumbing), Jacksonville (Bob’s Backflow & Plumbing and Rolland Reash Plumbing), and Seattle (The Plumbing & Drain Company, 2 Sons Plumbing). The announcement date is in the 2025 window; individual underlying close dates span 2024-2025 and should be confirmed by deal date rather than announcement date for a strict 2025-only frame. P3’s scope spans residential service plumbing, light commercial, septic, drain / sewer, and lining / pipe rehabilitation across the Pacific Northwest, Texas, North Carolina, and Florida.

PremiStar (formerly Reedy Industries) (Sponsor: Partners Group, since August 2021). Headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois. Reedy Industries traces to 1947; the PremiStar rebrand occurred in 2024. The platform operates 52 commercial branches across 16 states with approximately 2,400 employees per PremiStar website materials. Provides commercial HVAC, building automation, and plumbing services to mission-critical and institutional customers. Verified 2025 add-ons: Dahme Mechanical Industries (HVAC services division of Dahme Mechanical, Countryside, Illinois; March 4, 2025) and Rabe Environmental Systems (Erie, Pennsylvania; July 2025). Plumbing relevance is partial; PremiStar markets plumbing among its commercial service lines but the disclosed 2025 add-ons are HVAC and mechanical-led.

Redwood Services (Sponsor: Altas Partners majority investment announced May 8, 2025 valuing the company at approximately $1.1 billion; founding backer Union Main Group continues). Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Redwood Services positions itself as a partnership platform for residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical operators in growing U.S. markets. Per the Altas / Redwood May 2025 release, the platform had 19 leading partners at the time of investment, more than 2,500 employees, and over $500 million in annual revenue. Reuters and PE Hub coverage cited trailing-twelve-month EBITDA of approximately $65 million at the time of the Altas transaction, implying a roughly 17x multiple. Verified plumbing-relevant partnership in the 2025 window: Hope Plumbing (Indianapolis, Indiana; February 24, 2025; the platform’s 17th partnership). Each Redwood partnership preserves significant minority ownership for the founding operator.

Repipe Specialists (Sponsor: Gryphon Investors Heritage Fund, since 2022). Headquartered in Burbank, California. One of the cleanest pure-play plumbing PE platforms in the United States. Founded in 1991. Focuses on residential and commercial repiping, multi-family pipe replacement, and pipe lining / rehabilitation. Verified 2025 add-on: A-1 Total Service Plumbing of Los Angeles (January 29, 2025); operates residentially across California, Nevada, and Arizona, plus commercial pipe-lining services nationally. Founder Raymond Gray retained a significant minority stake, consistent with the Gryphon Heritage Fund structure.

ResiXperts (Sponsor: FoW Partners / Future of Work Partners). Multi-state residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical platform with sponsor based in Portland, Maine and offices in New York and Boston. Three verified plumbing-relevant 2025-2026 add-ons: Marathon Plumbing, Heating & Air plus Tokay Heating & Air (January 2025; Southern California and Northern California, marking ResiXperts’s entry into California); Handy Plumbing Man (San Carlos, California; September 2025); Option One Plumbing (California and Arizona; February 10, 2026). All three announced window adds include plumbing as a core service line. Geography concentrates on the West Coast and Southwest.

Sila Services (Sponsor: Goldman Sachs Alternatives Private Equity, since November 10, 2024 announcement; previously Morgan Stanley Capital Partners since 2021). Headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Operates 30+ brands across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest providing residential HVAC, plumbing, electrical, water treatment, indoor air quality, and home performance services. Press reports valued the November 2024 Goldman Sachs Alternatives investment at approximately $1.7 billion on EBITDA “just under $100 million,” implying around 17x including pending acquisitions or 20x excluding them per HomePros citing sources familiar; Goldman’s official release stated financial details were not disclosed. Verified plumbing-relevant 2025 add-ons (each with its own platform-issued press release): Norfolk Air Heating, Cooling, Plumbing & Electrical and Guy Smith Heating & Cooling (Virginia, April 2025); Delco Storm & Sewer Services (Mid-Atlantic region, May 2025); Live Free Heating, Cooling & Electric (New Hampshire, June 2025); My Plumber Plus (Virginia, July 2025); Ahrens plus Tangney (Chicagoland, Illinois, August 2025). Sila led the verified 2025 plumbing-relevant disclosed deal count in the residential Northeast / Mid-Atlantic / Midwest cohort.

Southern Home Services (Sponsor: Gryphon Investors, since October 2021). Headquartered in Maitland, Florida. Residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical consolidator. Rebranded from Southern HVAC to Southern Home Services holding company upon Gryphon’s October 2021 investment. Verified plumbing-relevant window add-ons: Nick’s Plumbing & Air Conditioning of Houston, Texas (October 21, 2025; sponsor-issued Gryphon Investors press release) and Dunn’s HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical of Alabama (March 4, 2026 per PE Hub coverage). Southern Home Services expanded into Texas with four locations by October 2025.

Trades Holding Company (Operating sponsor: CPC LLC, since August 2023). Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. CPC, LLC is the operating-company holdco; Trades Holding Company has been under CPC since August 2023. Trades Holding rolls up Mr. Rooter Plumbing, Mr. Electric, Aire Serv HVAC, and Rainbow Restoration franchise territories (all under the Neighborly franchise umbrella). Verified 2025 add-on: Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Mid-Ohio (TWD Plumbing Inc. of Mansfield, Ohio). Trades Holding is a niche but legitimate plumbing-relevant consolidator at the Mr. Rooter franchise-territory level. Exact dates of additional 2025-2026 adds require direct verification on the CPC LLC news site.

United Building Solutions / UBS (Sponsor: AE Industrial Partners, since February 2025 significant investment). Northeastern U.S. base expanded into the South-Central via the January 2026 DFW Mechanical Group acquisition (Wylie, Texas; operates Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Florida). UBS is a commercial and industrial HVAC, plumbing, heating, and piping platform. Per AE Industrial Partners’ primary release, DFW Mechanical delivers “a full range of services including plumbing, heating, and piping.” The DFW Mechanical Group transaction (January 20, 2026) is in-window with both sponsor and platform releases plus phcppros trade-press coverage. UBS is a clean commercial mechanical and plumbing platform formed under AEI in the window.

Wrench Group (Sponsor: Leonard Green & Partners with TSG Consumer Partners and Oak Hill Capital as significant minority since 2022). Headquartered in Marietta / Atlanta, Georgia. Operates in 26 markets across 15 states with residential HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and water services. We did not locate any publicly disclosed Wrench Group acquisitions in the January 2025 to April 2026 window. Wrench Group’s own press archive lists zero acquisitions for 2025 or 2026; the most recent disclosed acquisition is Lindstrom Air Conditioning & Plumbing in February 2024. Platform-level activity in the window consisted of a May 2025 COO promotion (Dennis Laliberte), a September 2025 $1.3 billion debt refinancing (financing capacity for future M&A) led by Blue Owl and Oak Hill, and a March 2026 Lace AI partnership. We include Wrench Group on the active list because the platform remains operational and well-capitalized; the disclosure cadence in the window is genuinely quiet.

Acquisition Velocity: What 2025-Q1 2026 Tells Us

Within our verified set, Sila Services led 2025 plumbing-relevant disclosed deal volume by platform-press-release count. Sila disclosed six platform-issued press releases in 2025 with plumbing relevance: Norfolk Air and Guy Smith (Virginia, April), Delco Storm & Sewer Services (Mid-Atlantic, May), Live Free (New Hampshire, June), My Plumber Plus (Virginia, July), and the Ahrens / Tangney Chicagoland transactions (August). ResiXperts disclosed three plumbing-relevant adds (Marathon / Tokay in January 2025, Handy Plumbing Man in September 2025, Option One Plumbing in February 2026). Ally Services disclosed three 2025 adds (J Hood, Tri-County Aire, Above & Beyond) in a single November 2025 platform release. Astra Service Partners disclosed two plumbing-named adds (Diamondback in January 2025, Griffen in July 2025). Southern Home Services disclosed Nick’s Plumbing (October 2025) and Dunn’s HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical (March 2026). Champions Group disclosed Bee’s Plumbing of Seattle (June 2025). Redwood Services disclosed Hope Plumbing (February 2025). Legacy Service Partners disclosed NJ Pipe Doctor (April 2025). Comfort Systems USA disclosed Century Contractors (January 2025) and Right Way Plumbing & Mechanical (May 2025) in SEC filings. Modigent disclosed VMG Mechanical (July 2025) and Southland Mechanical (December 2025). Crete United disclosed CAM H.V.A.C. & Construction (June 2025). PremiStar disclosed Dahme Mechanical HVAC services (March 2025) and Rabe Environmental Systems (July 2025). United Building Solutions disclosed DFW Mechanical (January 2026). Repipe Specialists disclosed A-1 Total Service Plumbing (January 2025). Roto-Rooter / Chemed disclosed the SF and Fort Worth franchise re-acquisitions (March 31, 2026 close; announced April 1, 2026).

Apex Service Partners disclosed the largest aggregate cadence by far, but without individual target enumeration. Alpine Investors’ 2025 Year-in-Review primary source states Apex “completed 60 add-on acquisitions split across their 5 regions nationwide” in 2025 across HVAC, plumbing, and electrical. Apex does not maintain a publicly browsable press section, and Alpine’s disclosure does not name the 60 targets individually. The implication: Apex’s actual plumbing-relevant 2025 add-on count likely exceeds Sila’s, Astra’s, ResiXperts’s, and Ally’s combined, but we cannot verify specific Apex tuck-ins from primary sources. We discuss this disclosure gap in the Limitations section.

The pattern suggests three distinct activity tiers in the plumbing-relevant 2025 cohort. Tier one platforms (Apex Service Partners aggregate, Sila Services, Comfort Systems USA, Astra Service Partners, ResiXperts, Ally Services) operated at multiple-deal cadence in 2025 with disclosed activity. Tier two platforms (Southern Home Services, Champions Group, Redwood Services, Legacy Service Partners, Modigent, Crete United, PremiStar, Repipe Specialists, United Building Solutions, FirstCall Mechanical, Trades Holding Company) disclosed one to two plumbing-relevant transactions in the window. Tier three platforms (Wrench Group, Authority Brands, ARS / Rescue Rooter) appear to have entered a hold and optimize phase during the window with no disclosed plumbing-specific M&A, although each remains operationally active and well-capitalized; Wrench Group’s September 2025 $1.3B debt refinancing led by Blue Owl and Oak Hill explicitly preserves M&A capacity.

Geographic concentration of disclosed activity. California (Repipe Specialists, ResiXperts, Champions Group), Texas (Astra, Modigent, United Building Solutions, Southern Home Services, FirstCall Mechanical headquarters), Florida (Comfort Systems USA Right Way Plumbing, Modigent VMG, Southern Home Services base), Virginia (Sila Services, Ally Services), the Mid-Atlantic broadly (Sila, Ally), the Pacific Northwest (Champions Bee’s Plumbing, P3 Services Peltram base), Indiana (Astra Griffen, Redwood Hope Plumbing), Illinois (Sila Chicagoland, PremiStar Dahme), New Jersey (Legacy NJ Pipe Doctor), Massachusetts (FirstCall LC Anderson), Rhode Island (Crete CAM), Pennsylvania (PremiStar Rabe), Ohio (Trades Holding Mr. Rooter Mid-Ohio), Arizona (Astra Diamondback), and Alabama (Southern Home Services Dunn’s). The Sun Belt and Northeast / Mid-Atlantic produced the deepest disclosed plumbing-relevant flow in the window.

Residential vs. commercial split inside plumbing. The disclosed 2025 plumbing-relevant deal count skewed residential, driven by Sila Services, ResiXperts, Ally Services, Champions Group, Redwood Services, Legacy Service Partners, Southern Home Services, and Repipe Specialists. The commercial side generated fewer deal counts but materially larger per-deal economics. Comfort Systems USA’s Right Way Plumbing & Mechanical at $64.8 million preliminary purchase price (with $49.5M cash at close) and Century Contractors at $84.2 million preliminary purchase price together exceeded the disclosed deal-value of the entire residential plumbing-relevant cohort. EMCOR’s nine 2025 tuck-ins at $182.1M aggregate (in addition to the $865 million Miller Electric deal, which is electrical not plumbing) included five companies placed in the mechanical construction segment. Commercial mechanical plumbing rides at materially higher dollar-per-deal scale than residential plumbing service add-ons.

Sponsor-to-sponsor deal flow at the platform level. Platform-level transactions in the window or just outside it include Sila Services (Morgan Stanley Capital Partners to Goldman Sachs Alternatives, announced November 10, 2024 with the deal closing in the 2025 window), Redwood Services (Union Main Group plus Altas Partners majority, announced May 8, 2025 at approximately $1.1 billion), Service Logic (Leonard Green & Partners to Bain Capital and Mubadala, closed December 16-17, 2025; commercial HVAC service thesis, plumbing-incidental), and Champions Group (Odyssey Investment Partners to Blackstone BXPE, announced February 17, 2026 at press-derived approximately $2.5B). Apex Service Partners’ $3.4 billion single-asset continuation transaction with Alpine Investors and Partners Group closed in Q4 2025. The cap-table reshuffle at the top of the residential trades market is real, and every transaction priced into mid-to-high teens EBITDA multiples per the available press-derived data.

Source	Size band / cohort	Multiple (median or average)	Notes
GF Data NAICS 238	$10-25M TEV	5.7x TEV/EBITDA	Cohort average, multi-year cumulative. EBITDA margin 18.1%.
GF Data NAICS 238	$25-50M TEV	6.1x	EBITDA margin 18.2%; avg revenue $40.8M.
GF Data NAICS 238	$50-100M TEV	7.1x	EBITDA margin 18.7%; avg revenue $65.3M.
GF Data NAICS 238	$100-500M TEV	8.2x	EBITDA margin 20.4%; avg revenue $154M.
GF Data NAICS 238 cohort total	All bands	6.3x	EBITDA margin 18.5%; avg revenue $46.4M.
Pepperdine PCM 2025	$1M-$4.99M EBITDA (Construction & Engineering)	4.8x	Investment-banker survey; closest proxy for mechanical / plumbing contractors.
Pepperdine PCM 2025	$5M-$9.99M EBITDA	5.0x	Construction & Engineering median.
Pepperdine PCM 2025	$10M-$24.99M EBITDA	6.3x	Construction & Engineering median.
Pepperdine PCM 2025	$25M-$49.99M EBITDA	7.5x	Construction & Engineering median.
IBBA Q4 2025 Market Pulse	<$500K (Main Street)	2.0x SDE	350-broker, 330-transaction survey; cross-industry.
IBBA Q4 2025	$500K-$1M	3.0x SDE	2025 averages held 2.8x-3.0x across quarters.
IBBA Q4 2025	$1M-$2M	3.1x	2025 range 3.0x-3.3x.
IBBA Q4 2025	$2M-$5M	4.1x EBITDA	2025 range 3.5x-4.1x.
IBBA Q4 2025	$5M-$50M	5.5x EBITDA	Top of LMM band; #1 transaction category was Construction / Engineering.

Multiples and Deal Structure: What Plumbing Owners Should Expect

Public disclosure of plumbing-specific M&A multiples is rare; we report what was disclosed and flag what was not. The most rigorous publicly available multiple data for plumbing-relevant M&A is GF Data’s NAICS 238 Specialty Trade Contractors cohort, which covers PE-sponsored transactions in the $10M-$500M TEV range across plumbing, HVAC, mechanical, electrical, masonry, and drywall specialty contractors. Per the GF Data Highlights and Products Q4 2024 release (published April 2025), the cohort average TEV/EBITDA is 5.7x at $10-25M TEV, 6.1x at $25-50M, 7.1x at $50-100M, and 8.2x at $100-500M, with a cohort total of 6.3x at EBITDA margins of 18.1%-20.4%. The underlying NAICS 238 table is multi-year cumulative rather than 2024-only, and the public release does not disclose the sample size for the NAICS 238 segment.

Pepperdine PCM 2025 provides the second-best public benchmark. Per Table 27 of the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Report 2025 (Investment Banker survey), Construction & Engineering median deal multiples by EBITDA band are 3.8x at $0-999K, 4.8x at $1M-$4.99M, 5.0x at $5M-$9.99M, 6.3x at $10M-$24.99M, and 7.5x at $25M-$49.99M; the $50M+ band did not have sufficient sample. Pepperdine’s Construction & Engineering category rolls plumbing, HVAC, and mechanical specialty trade contractors together with general contractors and engineering services, so it is closer to the commercial mechanical end of plumbing than to small residential service work. Plumbing-specific data is not separated.

IBBA Q4 2025 Market Pulse anchors the lower deal-size bands. Per the IBBA / M&A Source Q4 2025 Executive Summary (350-broker, 330-transaction Q4 survey), 2025 quarterly averages were $500K-$1M at 3.0x SDE (Q4; range 2.8x-3.0x across 2025), $1M-$2M at 3.1x SDE / EBITDA (range 3.0x-3.3x), $2M-$5M at 4.1x EBITDA (range 3.5x-4.1x), and $5M-$50M at 5.5x EBITDA. IBBA also reported that Construction / Engineering was the #1 transaction category in the lower middle market ($2M-$50M) in 2025, representing 27% of all LMM deal activity, and that PE buyers represented 27% of buyer types in the $5M-$50M LMM band (with strategic buyers at 50%).

GF Data Q4 2024 all-industries average TEV/EBITDA was 7.3x in Q4 2024 (94 transactions) and 7.2x for full-year 2024 (379 transactions). For H1 2025, GF Data reported Business Services dominated small-deal volume with 57 deals averaging 6.2x TTM EBITDA, outpacing the long-run Business Services average of 5.8x. By size band in H1 2025, $1M-$5M TEV traded at approximately 5.5x TTM EBITDA, $5M-$10M at 5.6x, and $10M-$25M at 6.2x-6.7x.

Press-derived platform-level multiples sit materially above the cohort data. Press reports valued Champions Group’s February 17, 2026 sale to Blackstone at approximately $2.5 billion on roughly $140 million LTM EBITDA, implying around 18.5x EV/EBITDA per Mergersight and HomePros. Blackstone’s official press release stated terms were not disclosed; the multiple is press-derived from sources familiar, not from sponsor disclosure. Press reports similarly valued Sila Services’ November 12, 2024 sale to Goldman Sachs Alternatives at approximately $1.7 billion on EBITDA “just under $100 million,” implying approximately 17x including pending acquisitions or approximately 20x excluding pending acquisitions per HomePros citing sources familiar; Goldman’s official release stated financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Redwood Services’ May 2025 majority investment from Altas Partners at approximately $1.1 billion enterprise value on approximately $65 million trailing-twelve-month EBITDA per PE Hub coverage implied a roughly 17x multiple. Apex Service Partners’ Q4 2025 $3.4 billion single-asset continuation transaction disclosed $3.4 billion in transaction value and $1.3 billion in annual revenue (an approximately 2.6x revenue ratio), but the primary source did NOT disclose EBITDA or an implied EBITDA multiple. We do not publish an implied Apex EBITDA multiple because it would require an unverified margin assumption.

Public-comparable trading multiples bracket the top of the disclosed range. Comfort Systems USA (NYSE: FIX) traded at an implied TEV / FY2025 Adjusted EBITDA of approximately 47.5x at share price $1,988.70 (close May 17, 2026) with market cap $69.96 billion, $145.3 million total debt, $981.9 million cash, and FY2025 Adjusted EBITDA of $1,454.6 million. The 47.5x multiple reflects the data-center construction tailwind that doubled FIX’s backlog year-over-year to $11.94 billion at year-end 2025 versus $5.99 billion prior; FIX should not be used as a typical commercial mechanical comp. EMCOR Group (NYSE: EME) traded at an implied TEV / FY2025 EBITDA of approximately 21.2x at share price $913.11 (close May 15, 2026), with market cap $41.22 billion, near-zero net debt ($1.11 billion cash, no long-term debt outstanding), and FY2025 EBITDA of $1,896 million (operating income $1,713 million plus D&A $186.4 million); normalizing out the $144.9 million UK-divestiture gain pushes the implied multiple to approximately 22.9x. EMCOR is the best public proxy for diversified mechanical, electrical, and plumbing commercial contracting at scale. Chemed Corporation (NYSE: CHE) traded at an implied consolidated TEV / FY2025 Adjusted EBITDA of approximately 12.3x on market cap $5.64 billion, minimal debt, and consolidated FY2025 Adjusted EBITDA of $458.7 million. The Roto-Rooter segment contributed $911 million of FY2025 revenue (36% of consolidated $2.53 billion) with Q4 2025 Adjusted EBITDA margin of 21.5%; the segment alone, if valued separately, would imply a higher multiple than the hybrid consolidated 12.3x. Chemed is the closest public floor reference for a branded national residential plumbing and drain platform.

The platform-vs-add-on multiple gap is structural. PE roll-ups earn returns by acquiring add-ons below their own platform multiple and integrating them at platform-level operating economics. If a platform trades at 17x EBITDA and acquires add-ons at 6x EBITDA, every closed add-on creates immediate multiple arbitrage. Plumbing owners trying to negotiate a platform-equivalent multiple for an add-on-sized business will encounter this floor across virtually every PE buyer in our tracker. The owners who clear the floor are the ones whose business genuinely qualifies as a platform: $5M+ EBITDA, recurring or contracted revenue mix, market position, technology stack, and management depth that operates without the founder.

Deal structure preferences in disclosed plumbing-relevant 2025 transactions. Redwood Services consistently structures partnerships in which the founding owner retains a “significant minority ownership stake” (Hope Plumbing language explicit). Sila Services language emphasizes career-development continuity for tradespeople and continuity of local brands. Astra Service Partners and ResiXperts use partnership language consistent with significant founder rollover. Comfort Systems USA’s Right Way Plumbing & Mechanical structure was explicitly disclosed in the Q2 2025 10-Q: $49.5 million cash at close, $5.0 million seller notes, an earn-out tied to financial targets after the acquisition date, and a working capital adjustment, on a $64.8 million preliminary total purchase price. The structural norm in 2026 plumbing-relevant platform add-ons is majority control with founder rollover at the 10-25% range, cash at close at 60-80%, and earn-outs tied to revenue or EBITDA milestones over 12-36 months. Specific structures are deal-by-deal.

Acquisition Criteria: What These Platforms Look For

Across the 23 platform-tier plumbing-relevant operators, the buy-box patterns inferred from publicly disclosed deals are reasonably consistent. (1) EBITDA range: roughly $500K-$5M for residential trades add-ons, $3M-$20M for commercial mechanical add-ons that include plumbing scope, $10M-$50M+ for new platform investments. (2) Service mix: residential bias for Apex, Sila, Wrench, Champions, Redwood, ARS, ResiXperts, Ally, Southern, Authority Brands, Legacy, Trades Holding. Commercial bias for Comfort Systems USA, EMCOR, PremiStar, Crete United, FirstCall Mechanical, Astra Service Partners, Modigent, United Building Solutions. Pure-play plumbing for P3 Services, Repipe Specialists. (3) Recurring revenue: explicitly preferred. Membership clubs, maintenance plans, multi-year commercial service contracts, recurring repipe / pipe-lining service for institutional customers. (4) Geographic fit: most platforms expand into adjacent markets where they already operate or where they see scale economics in dispatch, plumber routing, and marketing. (5) Licensing continuity: master plumber license transferability is a real underwriting consideration that the platform diligence teams flag early. (6) Cultural fit and people: nearly every press release in our window emphasizes plumber retention, apprentice pipelines, and crew continuity.

What disqualifies a plumbing business in 2026 PE underwriting. Heavy new-construction concentration (project-based, GC-dependent). Heavy customer concentration (more than 20% of revenue from a single customer or a single GC). Owner-dependency without a clear master plumber succession plan, particularly in jurisdictions where the master plumber license travels with the individual and not the business. Messy permit and warranty history that surfaces in diligence. Below-floor labor practices that create regulatory or reputational risk. Material compliance gaps under lead, PFAS, or backflow-prevention regulations. None of these are deal-killers individually for every buyer, but each one moves the deal from the platform tier toward the add-on tier or out of the buy-box entirely.

What materially raises the multiple in 2026 plumbing diligence. (1) Membership and maintenance-plan revenue with documented retention metrics (residential platforms care about this most). (2) Multi-year commercial service-contract base in multi-family, healthcare, education, government, or hospitality. (3) Technology stack (ServiceTitan or equivalent residential dispatch and CRM; BuildOps for commercial; KPI dashboards). (4) Master plumber and journeyman plumber headcount that transfers reliably (not an owner-dependent rolodex). (5) Geographic density supporting dispatch efficiency. (6) Clean financial reporting with auditable add-back schedules. (7) Apprentice pipeline and journeyman certification compliance posture. The same six-to-eight characteristics show up consistently across press-release language and trade-press buy-box descriptions across both residential and commercial platforms.

What This Means for Plumbing Owners Considering an Exit

First: identify which tier of buyer you actually fit before you go to market. If your plumbing business does $500K-$2M of EBITDA, your realistic 2026 buyer pool is dominated by add-ons to existing platforms, search funders, family offices, and independent sponsors. The combined residential trades platforms (Sila, ResiXperts, Ally, Champions, Redwood, Southern, Legacy, Trades Holding, Apex) are the most likely add-on buyers; pure-play plumbing platforms (P3 Services, Repipe Specialists) and franchise consolidators (Roto-Rooter / Chemed, Trades Holding) are second-tier. PE platforms generally will not buy you directly as a new platform investment at this size. If your business does $3M-$10M of EBITDA, you have the deepest 2026 buyer pool: combined residential trades platforms, commercial mechanical platforms with plumbing scope (Comfort Systems USA, EMCOR, PremiStar, Crete United, FirstCall Mechanical, Astra, Modigent, UBS), search funders, family offices, and independent sponsors. If your business does $15M+ of EBITDA with regional or multi-state geographic potential, you are a candidate for a new platform investment by a lower middle market PE firm and possibly a strategic acquirer (Comfort Systems USA, EMCOR, Chemed / Roto-Rooter at the right scale).

Second: target the right region against the right platform. Sila Services is concentrated in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest. Apex Service Partners is national with a Sun Belt and Florida bias. Wrench Group is national but disclosure-quiet in the window. Champions Group is California-centered. Southern Home Services is Florida and Texas. ResiXperts is California and the Southwest. Repipe Specialists is California with national lining capability. P3 Services is the Pacific Northwest, Texas, North Carolina, and Florida. Ally Services is Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Legacy Service Partners is national with East Coast density. Trades Holding is Ohio and the Mid-Atlantic. Comfort Systems USA, EMCOR, and PremiStar are national commercial mechanical. Astra Service Partners is national commercial. FirstCall Mechanical is Southeast and Mid-Atlantic commercial. Modigent is Southwest commercial. United Building Solutions is Northeast and Southeast commercial. Crete United is national commercial MEP. Aligning your geography with platforms that already operate density there improves your conversion probability and your competitive bid pool.

Third: understand the commercial mechanical premium. Commercial mechanical contracting platforms trade at materially higher public-comp multiples than residential roll-ups. Comfort Systems USA at approximately 47.5x and EMCOR at approximately 21.2x (FY2025 implied) sit far above the press-derived residential platform multiples of approximately 17x-20x for Sila, Redwood, and Champions Group, and far above the GF Data NAICS 238 cohort averages of 5.7x-8.2x for add-on-sized businesses. The implication for a plumbing owner whose business includes meaningful commercial scope (multi-family, hospitality, healthcare, education, government, data center mechanical) is that running a process that surfaces commercial mechanical platforms (Comfort Systems USA’s mechanical segment, EMCOR’s mechanical construction segment, PremiStar, Crete United, FirstCall Mechanical, Astra, Modigent, UBS) alongside residential trades platforms often produces a wider competitive bid pool and higher valuations than residential-only outreach. If your mix is 60-80% commercial mechanical with multi-year service contracts in mission-critical end markets, the commercial mechanical platforms are not just one option, they are the option.

Fourth: when PE makes sense vs. when alternatives are stronger. PE makes sense when you have institutional-quality financials, a sub-50% owner-dependency profile, recurring or contracted revenue, and a willingness to retain rollover equity. Family transition, ESOP, or sale to a search funder make more sense if you have a willing successor inside the family, a strong management team without you, or a small enough base ($500K-$1.5M SDE) that PE add-on economics are marginal. The right answer is buyer-type-specific, not industry-specific. Master plumber license transfer mechanics are an additional consideration that should be flagged with M&A counsel early; in some jurisdictions, the license transfer process can drive the structure of the transaction (asset vs. stock, license-holder employment continuity).

Fifth: most plumbing owners over-estimate PE buyer interest at small sizes. Below $1M of EBITDA, the realistic plumbing buyer pool is dominated by SBA-financed individual buyers, search funders, and add-on tuck-ins to existing platforms, not direct PE platform formation. A plumbing owner who runs a 12-month process targeted at a generic “PE roll-up audience” without sizing into the right tier will see thin response and weaker terms. The platforms in this tracker are meaningful, but they are not the only buyers, and for small businesses they are not the dominant buyers. The platforms also tend to ignore highly seasonal or single-service-line operators (drain-only, sewer-only, septic-only) where year-round residential or commercial service mix is structurally constrained; those operators map better to the separate sewer / drain / septic consolidation thesis we cover elsewhere.

Limitations of This Analysis

We want to be explicit about what this tracker does not capture. Every limitation below is a real constraint on the data. Naming them up front is what differentiates research from marketing.

Limitation 1: Apex Service Partners’ specific 2025 plumbing acquisitions cannot be verified individually. Apex does not maintain a publicly browsable press section on apexservicepartners.com (no /news or press archive). Alpine Investors’ 2025 Year-in-Review primary source states that Apex completed 60 add-on acquisitions in 2025 across HVAC, plumbing, and electrical but does NOT enumerate individual targets. We investigated specific aggregator-flagged plumbing deals (including a “We Care Plumbing, Heating & Air” December 2025 transaction that appears in PitchBook and Crunchbase) and were unable to locate any primary or acceptable cross-check source. We excluded that specific deal from the platform profile, but the aggregate “60 add-ons in 2025” claim from Alpine’s primary source is documented. The implication is that Apex’s actual plumbing-relevant 2025 cadence is likely the highest in the residential cohort, but our verified count is lower than the underlying activity.

Limitation 2: EMCOR Group’s nine 2025 tuck-ins are not individually named in primary disclosures. Per EMCOR’s 2025 10-K Note 4, the company acquired nine companies in 2025 in addition to Miller Electric for aggregate upfront consideration of $182.1 million. Five of the nine are in the U.S. mechanical construction and facilities services segment and four in the U.S. building services segment, described only by region, segment, and capability rather than by name. Aggregator references to specific EMCOR mechanical tuck-in target names cannot be verified against the primary disclosure. We cite only the aggregate.

Limitation 3: Wrench Group has had no announced acquisitions in the window. Wrench Group’s own press archive lists zero acquisitions for 2025 or 2026, with the most recent disclosed acquisition being Lindstrom Air Conditioning & Plumbing in February 2024. The platform remains operational and well-capitalized (May 2025 internal COO promotion; September 2025 $1.3 billion debt refinancing led by Blue Owl and Oak Hill; March 2026 Lace AI partnership) but the disclosed M&A cadence in our window is genuinely quiet. We include Wrench Group on the active list because the platform is real and the refinancing preserves M&A capacity; we do not pad the list with aggregator-only claimed 2025 add-ons.

Limitation 4: Authority Brands and ARS / Rescue Rooter are similarly disclosure-quiet on plumbing-specific M&A in the window. Authority Brands’ 2025 growth was at the franchise-license level (246 new franchise owners, 340 new territories across 31 states) rather than brand-level M&A; the official acquisitions page lists no new brand-level acquisitions in 2025-2026. ARS / Rescue Rooter’s most recent disclosed acquisitions on the company news page predate the window. We include both because they remain operationally active, but their 2025 plumbing-specific M&A disclosure is empty.

Limitation 5: FirstCall Mechanical Group’s full window-period add-on roster cannot be fully verified. The firstcallgroup.com/news page returned 403 to direct fetches and is not fully crawlable, so we relied on trade-press and target-side announcements. LC Anderson (August 2025) and CLS Facility Services (August 2025) are primary-sourced. Other claimed 2025 FirstCall add-ons (notably Statewide Conditioning Inc. and Automated Building Solutions) only have advisor-side announcements (CB Energy Business Consulting) and could not be cross-confirmed with a dated FirstCall release; we did not include them as verified window adds.

Limitation 6: Sewer, drain, and septic platforms are excluded by scope. We treat sewer / drain / septic as a separate consolidation thesis. Flow Services Holdings (Propel Equity, March 2024 platform launch) is the cleanest example we excluded; if a Flow Services in-window add-on can be located via a Propel Equity primary release, it should be promoted into the active list in a future refresh. Water treatment platforms are similarly excluded for thesis-separation rationale.

Limitation 7: Family offices and independent sponsors are systematically underrepresented. These buyer types frequently acquire plumbing businesses without issuing press releases, and even when they do, the announcements are often brief and not picked up by major trade press. They are real participants in the plumbing buyer pool, particularly for sub-$3M EBITDA deals, and a tracker built only from press releases will under-represent them. Green Heron Partners’ February 23, 2026 PE investment in Regency Plumbing Contractors (a Houston-area commercial plumbing operator) is an example of a one-and-done standalone PE investment that does not currently meet a multi-add platform definition.

Limitation 8: Platform classification is fuzzy at the edges. Several platforms straddle home services more broadly (HVAC + plumbing + electrical) and we counted them as plumbing-relevant when plumbing is in their disclosed service mix (as it is for every platform in this active list). A reader interested specifically in pure-play plumbing operators will find that only P3 Services (Stellex), Repipe Specialists (Gryphon Heritage Fund), and Trades Holding Company (CPC, via Mr. Rooter franchise territory consolidation) clearly meet that bar; most other platforms have plumbing as one of several service lines. Conversely, Service Logic (Bain Capital + Mubadala) is excluded from the active list because its commercial HVAC service thesis is the primary scope and plumbing is incidental.

Limitation 9: Multiples and deal terms are systematically under-reported. Most platform-level recapitalization press releases in 2024-2026 explicitly stated “terms not disclosed.” Where we report multiples, we cite the underlying source. Where we do not, we do not guess. Press reports for Champions Group (approximately $2.5B and approximately 18.5x EBITDA per Mergersight and HomePros), Sila Services (approximately $1.7B and approximately 17x-20x EBITDA per HomePros citing sources familiar), and Redwood Services (approximately $1.1B and approximately 17x per PE Hub) are press-derived rather than sponsor-confirmed and should be cited with attribution. Apex Service Partners’ $3.4B continuation transaction disclosed transaction value and revenue but did NOT disclose EBITDA or an implied EBITDA multiple; we do not publish a derived multiple for Apex.

Limitation 10: Our coverage window cuts off April 30, 2026. Anything announced after that date is not in this report. We expect to refresh quarterly. The cleanest way to use this tracker is as a starting baseline, not as a real-time deal feed.

Future Updates and Methodology Notes

We plan to update this tracker quarterly. Each refresh will add platforms that cleared our verification bar during the quarter, retire platforms whose plumbing-specific activity has gone dormant, update geography and add-on counts, and re-cite any platform-level multiples that became public. The next scheduled update is Q3 2026 (covering activity through July 31, 2026).

We will expand coverage over time in three directions. (1) Family-office and independent-sponsor plumbing activity, which is currently underrepresented because of disclosure norms. (2) Regional consolidators outside our current geographic footprint, particularly in the Mountain West, Northern New England, and the Upper Midwest. (3) Plumbing-specific deal terms when disclosed in public filings; Comfort Systems USA’s SEC 10-K and 10-Q filings remain a valuable data source for commercial mechanical M&A activity, EMCOR’s 10-K Note 4 remains the primary EMCOR M&A disclosure, and Chemed Corporation’s filings remain valuable for Roto-Rooter franchise consolidation.

If you operate one of these platforms or work in M&A advisory and notice an error, please reach out. We will correct in-line and re-publish. Our intent is for this tracker to be the most accurate publicly available compilation of active U.S. plumbing-relevant PE roll-up activity. The contact form on the article page goes directly to our partner team.

Conclusion

The 2026 plumbing PE landscape is structurally distinct from HVAC, and the verified platform list is shorter than the trade-press hype suggests. 23 active U.S. plumbing-relevant platforms verified through primary sources. Two pure-play plumbing platforms (P3 Services with Stellex Capital Management, Repipe Specialists with Gryphon Heritage Fund) plus one franchise-territory consolidator (Trades Holding Company with CPC). Eleven combined residential trades platforms (Apex, Sila, Wrench, Champions, Redwood, ARS, ResiXperts, Ally, Southern, Authority Brands, Legacy). Eight commercial mechanical platforms with plumbing scope (Comfort Systems USA, EMCOR, PremiStar, Crete United, FirstCall Mechanical, Astra Service Partners, Modigent, United Building Solutions). Four platform-level recapitalizations in the window or just outside it (Sila Services to Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Redwood Services to Altas Partners at approximately $1.1B, Apex Service Partners $3.4B continuation with Alpine and Partners Group, Champions Group to Blackstone BXPE at press-derived approximately $2.5B and approximately 18.5x EBITDA per Mergersight / HomePros). GF Data NAICS 238 add-on multiples in the 5.7x-8.2x EBITDA range, Pepperdine Construction & Engineering medians in the 4.8x-7.5x range, IBBA Market Pulse Q4 2025 LMM at 5.5x EBITDA in $5M-$50M, and a sub-$1M EBITDA tier where the realistic plumbing buyer pool tilts toward search funders, SBA-financed individuals, and platform add-ons rather than direct PE platform formation. None of this is a substitute for an actual conversation about your specific business. If you would like one, the 30-minute call is the easiest place to start. We will tell you which platforms in this tracker would actually compete for your plumbing business, what range of multiples you would see, and what to do over the next 6-12 months to put yourself in the best position. The conversation is confidential, costs nothing, and ends if you decide it is not the right time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which PE firms are buying plumbing companies in 2026?

Active PE firms in U.S. plumbing consolidation as of Q1 2026 include Alpine Investors (Apex Service Partners), Goldman Sachs Alternatives (Sila Services), Apax Partners (Authority Brands via Benjamin Franklin Plumbing), Stellex Capital Management (P3 Services / Peltram Plumbing Holdings), Gryphon Investors (Repipe Specialists, Southern Home Services), KKR (Mr. Rooter via Neighborly Brands), Ridgemont Equity Partners (Crete United), Watchtower Capital (Ally Services), AE Industrial Partners (United Building Solutions), OMERS Private Equity (Modigent), Trilantic North America (Astra Service Partners), Partners Group (PremiStar), and others. The complete tracker of 23 publicly active plumbing-relevant platforms with sponsor, date, and primary-source URL is documented in the Active Platforms section.

What is my plumbing business worth in 2026?

Your plumbing business is worth a multiple of your Adjusted EBITDA (for businesses above $1M EBITDA) or your Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (for owner-operators under $1M SDE). Multiples vary by tier: GF Data NAICS 238 Specialty Trade Contractors cohort averaged 6.3x TEV/EBITDA in Q4 2024, with size-band averages of 5.7x at $10-25M TEV, 6.1x at $25-50M, 7.1x at $50-100M, and 8.2x at $100-500M. Pepperdine PCM 2025 Construction & Engineering medians ranged 4.8x at $1-5M EBITDA to 7.5x at $25-50M EBITDA. Public commercial mechanical comparables (EMCOR at ~21.2x, Comfort Systems USA at ~47.5x) show the top of the market.

How active is plumbing M&A in 2026?

Plumbing M&A activity remained elevated in 2024-Q1 2026. We documented 41 plumbing-relevant acquisition events across 19 high-confidence platforms in the window. Multiple platform-level cap-table transactions closed: Sila Services to Goldman Sachs (Nov 2024), Apex Service Partners $3.4B continuation (Q4 2025), Service Logic to Bain Capital and Mubadala (Dec 2025), and Champions Group to Blackstone (Feb 2026). Strategic public consolidators Comfort Systems USA, EMCOR, and Chemed continued tuck-in activity disclosed in SEC 10-K filings. IBBA Market Pulse Q4 2025 ranked Construction as the #1 LMM industry at 27% of deal flow.

How was the list of 23 active plumbing-relevant PE platforms compiled?

Each platform appears in the active list only if we found a publicly disclosed plumbing-relevant acquisition, platform-level transaction, or sponsor-issued press event between January 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026, anchored to a citable URL, SEC filing, or sponsor-website disclosure. Sources include platform-issued press releases on BusinessWire / PR Newswire / GlobeNewswire / sponsor and platform sites, public-company SEC filings (Comfort Systems USA NYSE: FIX, EMCOR Group NYSE: EME, Chemed Corporation NYSE: CHE), sponsor portfolio pages, trade press (ACHR News, Plumbing & Mechanical / pmmag.com, phcppros, Contracting Business, ENR, CleanLink), and M&A trade press (PE Hub, PE Professional, GF Data, Middle Market Growth, IBBA / M&A Source, Pepperdine PCM). Platforms whose plumbing-specific activity we suspect but could not verify in writing are documented in the Limitations section, not the active list.

Is this tracker exhaustive?

No. It captures publicly disclosed plumbing-relevant roll-up activity. It systematically underrepresents family-office buyers, independent sponsors, and smaller regional consolidators that do not routinely issue press releases. It also reflects only the period through April 30, 2026; transactions announced after that date are not included. We update quarterly.

Why are there so few pure-play plumbing PE platforms?

Because plumbing alone is a structurally narrower thesis than HVAC. HVAC has higher equipment-replacement revenue, broader maintenance-plan attach, and more clearly defined platform-quality EBITDA bands. Plumbing service and repair is recurring and non-discretionary but typically lower ticket-size per visit, with master plumber licensing as a constraint on rapid geographic expansion. Most PE money that touches plumbing flows through combined residential trades platforms (HVAC + plumbing + electrical) and commercial mechanical platforms (HVAC + plumbing + piping + controls) rather than through pure-play plumbing roll-ups. The pure-play examples in our tracker (P3 Services, Repipe Specialists, Trades Holding Company) are the exceptions.

What multiple should a $2M EBITDA residential plumbing business expect?

Per GF Data NAICS 238 Specialty Trade Contractors cohort data, businesses in the $10-25M TEV range (which roughly corresponds to $2M-$5M EBITDA at 18-20% margins) average 5.7x TEV/EBITDA. Per Pepperdine PCM 2025, Construction & Engineering median at $1M-$4.99M EBITDA is 4.8x. Per IBBA Q4 2025, $2M-$5M EBITDA deals averaged 4.1x cross-industry. A well-run residential plumbing business with $2M of EBITDA, recurring membership-plan revenue, ServiceTitan or equivalent technology, clean financial reporting, and master plumber license continuity could realistically expect 5-7x EBITDA in 2026 add-on diligence. The realistic 2026 buyer pool for this size is dominated by combined residential trades platforms (Sila, ResiXperts, Ally, Champions, Redwood, Southern, Legacy, Trades Holding, Apex), pure-play plumbing platforms (P3 Services, Repipe Specialists where geography aligns), search funders, family offices, and independent sponsors. Pure PE platform investment at $2M EBITDA is rare; that is add-on territory.

Why do commercial mechanical platforms trade at such higher multiples?

Because their underlying revenue and contract base is materially different. EMCOR Group at FY2025 revenue of $16.99 billion and Comfort Systems USA at FY2025 revenue of $9.10 billion and FY2025 Adjusted EBITDA of $1,454.6 million sit at a scale, customer mix (data centers, healthcare, hyperscale technology, government, education, hospitality), and contract structure (multi-year mechanical service contracts) that residential platforms do not approach. Comfort Systems USA’s FY2025 backlog doubled year-over-year to $11.94 billion (vs. $5.99 billion prior). The data center construction tailwind is the dominant driver of the FIX 47x multiple. EMCOR’s normalized 21-23x is more typical of the commercial mechanical category. Residential plumbing platforms do not have data center backlog and do not trade at those multiples.

Which platform was most active in plumbing-relevant 2025 disclosed deals?

By verified platform-press-release count, Sila Services led with six 2025 plumbing-relevant adds (Norfolk Air, Guy Smith, Delco Storm & Sewer, Live Free, My Plumber Plus, Ahrens / Tangney). Apex Service Partners likely led by underlying volume per Alpine’s primary disclosure of 60 total 2025 add-ons across HVAC, plumbing, and electrical, but Apex does not maintain a publicly browsable press section and individual plumbing-specific targets cannot be enumerated from primary sources. ResiXperts (three plumbing-relevant adds), Ally Services (three combined adds), and Astra Service Partners (two named plumbing adds) were also notably active.

What was the Champions Group Blackstone deal multiple?

Press reports valued the February 17, 2026 Blackstone agreement to acquire Champions Group at approximately $2.5 billion on roughly $140 million LTM EBITDA, implying around 18.5x EV/EBITDA per Mergersight and HomePros coverage. Blackstone’s official press release stated terms were not disclosed; the multiple is press-derived from sources familiar, not from sponsor confirmation. Champions Group operates 23 brands with approximately 2,400 employees, 1,800+ field technicians, and roughly 150,000 active membership-plan customers across residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical. Champions Group will sit inside BXPE, Blackstone’s perpetual private-equity strategy, signaling a longer hold horizon than a standard PE fund.

What was the Sila Services Goldman Sachs Alternatives deal multiple?

Press reports valued the November 12, 2024 transaction at approximately $1.7 billion on EBITDA “just under $100 million,” implying approximately 17x including pending acquisitions or approximately 20x excluding pending acquisitions per HomePros citing sources familiar. Goldman Sachs Alternatives’ official press release stated financial details of the transaction were not disclosed; the multiple is press-derived, not sponsor-confirmed. Sila Services operates 30+ brands across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest providing residential HVAC, plumbing, electrical, water treatment, indoor air quality, and home performance services.

What is the GF Data NAICS 238 benchmark and how should I use it?

GF Data is the most rigorous publicly accessible source of EBITDA multiples for plumbing and mechanical M&A specifically. The NAICS 238 cohort covers Specialty Trade Contractors including plumbing (NAICS 2382), HVAC, electrical, masonry, and drywall in the $10M-$500M TEV range, all PE-sponsored transactions. Cohort averages by size band: 5.7x at $10-25M TEV, 6.1x at $25-50M, 7.1x at $50-100M, 8.2x at $100-500M, cohort total 6.3x at EBITDA margins of 18.1%-20.4%. Use these as the baseline expectation for an add-on-quality plumbing business in the $10M+ TEV range. Below $10M TEV, IBBA Market Pulse and Pepperdine PCM are better references; expect lower multiples (3-5x for sub-$1M EBITDA, 4-6x for $1-3M EBITDA, depending on quality and recurring revenue).

Do these platforms pay full price up-front or use earn-outs and rollover equity?

Most disclosed transactions in our tracker explicitly mention founder rollover equity, particularly Redwood Services partnerships (“significant minority ownership stake” language). Comfort Systems USA’s Right Way Plumbing & Mechanical deal was disclosed in the Q2 2025 10-Q as $49.5 million cash at close plus $5.0 million seller notes plus an earn-out tied to financial targets after the acquisition date plus a working capital adjustment, on a $64.8 million preliminary total purchase price. The structural norm in 2026 plumbing-relevant platform add-ons is 60-80% cash at close, founder rollover equity in the 10-25% range, and earn-outs tied to revenue or EBITDA milestones over 12-36 months. Specific structures are deal-by-deal.

How do master plumber licensing rules affect a sale?

In many U.S. states, the master plumber license is held by an individual rather than by the business, and the license-holder must remain involved in the business after a sale or must be replaced by another qualified license-holder. This can drive deal structure (asset purchase vs. stock purchase), the founder’s post-close employment continuity, and the timeline for license transfer with state contractor boards. Some platforms have in-house licensing operations that streamline the process; others require the founding owner to remain employed through a transition window of 12-36 months. Flag licensing mechanics with M&A counsel early in any process.

Is plumbing PE consolidation slowing or accelerating in 2026?

The cap-table reshuffle at the top of the residential trades market accelerated in 2024-2026 with Sila Services (to Goldman Sachs Alternatives November 2024), Redwood Services (to Altas Partners May 2025), Apex Service Partners (Alpine continuation Q4 2025), Service Logic (to Bain Capital and Mubadala December 2025; HVAC primary, plumbing-incidental), and Champions Group (to Blackstone BXPE announced February 2026). Add-on cadence at the platform level was steady to growing in 2025 across Sila, Astra, ResiXperts, Ally, Southern Home Services, Champions, Redwood, Legacy, Comfort Systems USA, EMCOR, Modigent, PremiStar, Crete United, FirstCall Mechanical, UBS, and the pure-play Repipe Specialists and P3 Services. Wrench Group and ARS / Rescue Rooter went quiet on disclosed add-ons in the window, but each remains operationally active and well-capitalized. The IBBA Q4 2025 Market Pulse reported 72% of advisors expect 2026 market conditions to be at par with or stronger than the 2021 peak, with 71% expecting multiples to hold steady; LMM-focused advisors were the most optimistic, with 26% predicting an increase.

Are pure-play plumbing platforms competitive buyers for my business?

It depends on your geography and scope. P3 Services (Stellex Capital Management) is most likely to compete in the Pacific Northwest, Texas (Houston, Dallas, Austin), the Carolinas, and Florida, with strong scope for residential service plumbing plus light commercial plus septic plus drain plus pipe lining. Repipe Specialists (Gryphon Heritage Fund) is most likely to compete in California, Nevada, and Arizona for residential and commercial repiping and pipe-lining operators with multi-family or institutional customer mix. Trades Holding Company (CPC) is most likely to compete for Mr. Rooter franchise territory acquisitions in the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic. For most plumbing owners outside those geographies and scopes, the combined residential trades platforms and commercial mechanical platforms are the more probable buyer pool.

How often will this tracker be updated?

Quarterly. The next planned refresh covers activity through July 31, 2026, expected publication early Q4 2026. We will add platforms that cleared the verification bar during the quarter, retire dormant platforms, and update multiples and deal counts. If you operate a plumbing platform and would like to be included in the next refresh, contact us through the form on the article page; we will review the disclosure and add the platform if it clears our citation bar.

How is CT Acquisitions different from a sell-side broker or M&A advisor?

We are a buy-side partner. The buyers in the U.S. lower middle market pay us when a deal closes, not the seller. There is no engagement contract, no retainer, and no listing fee. A seller-side broker or sell-side M&A advisor typically charges the seller 5-10% of transaction value through a fixed-term engagement letter; we charge the seller nothing. We are not a substitute for sell-side representation in every situation, but for owners who want a buyer-network-led path to a transaction without paying a sell-side fee, we are a different model than a traditional broker.

Sources & References

All claims and figures in this analysis are sourced from the publicly available references below.

1. Alpine Investors Closes $3.4B Single-Asset Continuation Transaction for Apex Service Partners (Alpine Investors). Apex Service Partners $3.4B continuation; 107 brands; $1.3B annual revenue; 8,000+ tradespeople; 60 add-ons in 2025.
2. Alpine Investors 2025 Year-in-Review (Alpine Investors). Apex Service Partners completed 60 add-on acquisitions in 2025; Astra / Orion Group operational integration data.
3. Apex Service Partners Pantheon International Case Study. Apex scale: 100+ brands, $1.3B annual revenue, 8,000+ tradespeople.
4. Sila Services Equity Investment from Goldman Sachs Alternatives (BusinessWire, November 10, 2024). Sila Services platform-level recapitalization to Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Goldman release explicitly states financial details not disclosed.
5. Goldman Sachs Alternatives press release on Sila Services investment. Primary sponsor release; financial details not disclosed.
6. HomePros: Goldman Sachs’ private equity arm to acquire Sila Services. Press-derived ~$1.7B valuation on EBITDA “just under $100M”; ~17x including pending acquisitions / ~20x excluding.
7. Sila Services Acquires Norfolk Air and Guy Smith (Sila Services, April 2025). Sila Virginia plumbing-relevant add-ons.
8. Sila Services Acquires Delco Storm & Sewer Services (Sila Services, May 2025). Sila Mid-Atlantic plumbing-relevant add.
9. Sila Services Acquires Live Free Heating, Cooling & Electric (Sila Services, June 2025). Sila New Hampshire add-on.
10. Sila Services Acquires My Plumber Plus (Sila Services, July 2025). Sila Virginia plumbing add-on.
11. Sila Services Accelerates Chicagoland Growth (Sila Services, August 2025). Sila Ahrens and Tangney Chicagoland add-ons.
12. Blackstone Announces Agreement to Acquire Champions Group (Blackstone press release, February 17, 2026). Champions Group platform-level transaction; Blackstone press release does not disclose financial terms.
13. Mergersight: Blackstone’s $2.5bn Acquisition of Champions Group. Press-derived ~$2.5B transaction size, ~$140M LTM EBITDA, ~18.5x EV/EBITDA. Mergersight authors explicitly state multiples are calculated from press reports, not officially confirmed.
14. HomePros: Champions Group strikes $2.5 billion Blackstone deal. Tertiary press-derived multiple reference.
15. Champions Group Acquires Bee’s Plumbing of Seattle (Champions Group, June 18, 2025). Champions Seattle plumbing add-on.
16. Redwood Services Strategic Investment from Altas Partners (BusinessWire, May 8, 2025). Redwood platform-level recap to Altas Partners; ~$1.1B valuation; 19 leading partners, 2,500+ employees, $500M+ revenue at time of investment.
17. Altas Partners: Strategic Investment in Redwood Services. Sponsor confirmation of Redwood platform investment.
18. Redwood Services Announces 17th Partnership with Indiana-Based Hope Plumbing (GlobeNewswire, February 24, 2025). Redwood Hope Plumbing Indianapolis plumbing add-on.
19. Astra Service Partners Acquires Diamondback Plumbing (Astra, January 14, 2025). Astra Phoenix plumbing add-on.
20. Astra Service Partners Acquires Griffen Plumbing and Heating (BusinessWire, July 7, 2025). Astra Indiana / Michigan plumbing add-on.
21. Astra Service Partners 2025 Year-in-Review (Astra). 33 operating companies; 44 U.S. states plus Puerto Rico and 4 Canadian locations; 7 new partners in 2025.
22. Astra Service Partners Acquires Berg Industrial Service (BusinessWire, November 17, 2025). Astra Canadian industrial refrigeration add-on (size context, not plumbing).
23. Alpine Investors Launches Orion Group / Astra (BusinessWire, November 10, 2020). Astra Service Partners platform formation by Alpine Investors via Orion Group.
24. Crete United Adds CAM H.V.A.C. & Construction (Crete United, June 5, 2025). Crete United first Rhode Island partner; commercial MEP with in-house sheet metal fabrication.
25. Ridgemont Equity Partners portfolio: Crete Mechanical Group. Crete United sponsor verification; Ridgemont since June 2022.
26. Crete Mechanical Rebrands as Crete United (ACHR News, 2024). Crete United platform scale; 40+ partner companies; ~$680M annual revenue; ~3,500 technicians.
27. SkyKnight Capital Launches FirstCall Mechanical Group (BusinessWire, February 9, 2023). FirstCall Mechanical platform formation by SkyKnight Capital.
28. Holland & Knight Advises FirstCall Mechanical Group in Upsize of Senior Secured Credit Facility (September 2025). FirstCall August 2025 credit facility upsize.
29. LC Anderson Joins FirstCall Mechanical (CleanLink, August 2025). FirstCall LC Anderson Massachusetts commercial HVACR partnership.
30. Comfort Systems USA Q2 2025 10-Q (SEC, period ended June 30, 2025). Right Way Plumbing & Mechanical LLC May 1, 2025 acquisition; $64.8M preliminary purchase price ($49.5M cash + $5M seller notes + earn-out + WC adjustment); Florida HQ; Southeastern U.S. operations; mechanical segment. Also Century Contractors LLC January 1, 2025 ~$84.2M preliminary purchase price; Matthews NC; mechanical segment.
31. Comfort Systems USA Reports Q4 and Full-Year 2025 Results. FY2025 revenue $9,101.6M; Adjusted EBITDA $1,454.6M; cash $981.9M; long-term debt $139.1M; current debt $6.2M; diluted shares 35.413M; operating cash flow $1.19B; backlog $11.94B vs $5.99B prior.
32. EMCOR Group 2025 Form 10-K (SEC, filed February 2026). Note 4 acquisitions disclosure: in addition to Miller Electric, EMCOR acquired nine companies during 2025 for $182.1M aggregate upfront consideration; five mechanical-segment, four building-services. No individual target names disclosed.
33. EMCOR Group Reports Q4 and Full-Year 2025 Results (BusinessWire, February 26, 2026). FY2025 revenue $16.99B; operating income $1,713M (10.1% margin including $144.9M UK divestiture gain); D&A $186.4M; construction 72%, building services 21%, industrial 7%.
34. EMCOR Completes Acquisition of Miller Electric Company (EMCOR, February 3, 2025). $865M cash acquisition; electrical, not plumbing; included for size context.
35. Roto-Rooter Completes Two Significant Franchise Acquisitions (GlobeNewswire, April 1, 2026). SF and Fort Worth territories closed March 31, 2026 for ~$20.6M combined; ~3.3M residents; CFO Witzeman tuck-in commentary; $5.0-5.5M revenue contribution for remainder of 2026.
36. Chemed Q4 2025 Earnings Release. FY2025 consolidated revenue $2.53B; VITAS 64% / Roto-Rooter 36% (~$911M); Roto-Rooter Q4 revenue $220.6M (-3.7%); Q4 Adjusted EBITDA $47.5M (-21.1%, 21.5% margin); FY consolidated Adjusted EBITDA $458.7M (-8.8%); Roto-Rooter 2026 guidance 3-3.5% revenue growth, 22.5-23% EBITDA margin.
37. VMG Mechanical Joins Modigent (Modigent, July 15, 2025). Modigent Central Florida / greater Orlando commercial mechanical add-on.
38. Modigent Welcomes Southland Mechanical (Modigent, December 18, 2025). Modigent Houston commercial mechanical add-on.
39. OMERS Private Equity portfolio: Modigent. Modigent sponsor verification.
40. PremiStar Acquires Dahme Mechanical HVAC services division (PremiStar, March 4, 2025). PremiStar Illinois commercial mechanical add-on.
41. PremiStar news page (Rabe Environmental Systems, July 2025). PremiStar Pennsylvania add-on.
42. Stellex Capital Management Acquires Peltram Plumbing Holdings (BusinessWire, January 2022). P3 Services (Peltram Plumbing Holdings) sponsor formation.
43. P3 Services Accelerates National Expansion (PR Newswire, March 4, 2025). P3 Services 2024-2025 add-ons: Forsyth Septic & Rooter, Schrader Plumbing, Bob’s Backflow & Plumbing, Rolland Reash Plumbing, The Plumbing & Drain Company, 2 Sons Plumbing.
44. Repipe Specialists Acquires A-1 Total Service Plumbing (Gryphon Investors, January 29, 2025). Repipe Specialists Los Angeles plumbing add-on; founder Raymond Gray retained significant minority.
45. Southern Home Services Acquires Nick’s Plumbing & Air Conditioning of Houston (Gryphon Investors, October 21, 2025). Southern Home Services Texas expansion.
46. Southern Home Services Acquires Dunn’s HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical (PE Hub, March 4, 2026). Southern Home Services Alabama add-on.
47. ResiXperts Partners with Marathon Plumbing and Tokay Heating & Air (FoW Partners, January 2025). ResiXperts California entry.
48. ResiXperts Partners with Handy Plumbing Man (PR Newswire, September 2025). ResiXperts Northern California plumbing add-on.
49. ResiXperts Partners with Option One Plumbing (PR Newswire, February 10, 2026). ResiXperts California and Arizona plumbing add-on.
50. Ally Services Completes Three Add-on Acquisitions in 2025 (PR Newswire, November 2025). Ally Services J Hood, Tri-County Aire, Above & Beyond.
51. NJ Pipe Doctor Joins Legacy Service Partners (Legacy Service Partners, April 3, 2025). Legacy Service Partners NJ plumbing add-on; veteran-owned target founded 2019.
52. Gridiron Capital portfolio: Legacy Service Partners. Legacy Service Partners sponsor verification; partnered January 18, 2023.
53. United Building Solutions Acquires DFW Mechanical Group (BusinessWire, January 20, 2026). UBS DFW Mechanical Texas add-on with plumbing, heating, and piping scope.
54. AE Industrial Partners: UBS Acquires DFW Mechanical. UBS sponsor primary release.
55. Trades Holding Acquires Mr. Rooter Cincinnati / Dayton / Florence (CPC, Trades Holding). Trades Holding Mr. Rooter franchise territory consolidation; CPC LLC sponsor.
56. Authority Brands Closes Out 2025 With Strong Franchise Growth (PR Newswire, January 2026). Authority Brands 246 new franchise owners; 340 new territories across 31 states in 2025.
57. Authority Brands sponsor: Apax Partners. Authority Brands sponsor verification.
58. Wrench Group Press Releases archive. No 2025 or 2026 plumbing acquisitions on Wrench Group’s press archive; last disclosed Lindstrom February 2024.
59. Leonard Green & Partners: Investcorp Sale of Wrench Group. Wrench Group sponsor lineage.
60. Charlesbank Capital Partners portfolio: American Residential Services. ARS / Rescue Rooter sponsor verification.
61. ARS Media Kit (February 2025). ARS scale: largest residential HVAC and plumbing services provider in US; ~6,500 employees.
62. GF Data Highlights and Products Q4 2024 (April 2025). NAICS 238 Specialty Trade Contractors: $10-25M TEV 5.7x; $25-50M 6.1x; $50-100M 7.1x; $100-500M 8.2x; cohort total 6.3x; EBITDA margin 18.1-20.4%. Full-year 2024 average 7.2x; Q4 2024 7.3x on 94 transactions.
63. GF Data Small Deals H1 2025 (Middle Market Growth, Fall 2025). Business Services dominated H1 2025 small-deal volume with 57 deals averaging 6.2x TTM EBITDA vs 5.8x long-run average.
64. Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Report 2025. Table 27 Construction & Engineering median deal multiples by EBITDA band: $0-999K 3.8x; $1M-$4.99M 4.8x; $5M-$9.99M 5.0x; $10M-$24.99M 6.3x; $25M-$49.99M 7.5x.
65. IBBA / M&A Source Market Pulse Q4 2025. 350-broker survey, 330 Q4 transactions. Average multiples 2025: <$500K 2.0x SDE; $500K-$1M 3.0x; $1M-$2M 3.1x; $2M-$5M 4.1x EBITDA; $5M-$50M 5.5x EBITDA. Construction / Engineering #1 LMM transaction category (27%). 72% of advisors expect 2026 at par with or stronger than 2021 peak.
66. GF Data: Small-Deal Resilience H1 2025. $1-5M TEV ~5.5x; $5-10M 5.6x; $10-25M 6.2-6.7x TTM EBITDA.
67. Altas Partners Backs Redwood Services (PE Hub). Redwood ~$65M TTM EBITDA; ~17x implied multiple; HVAC / plumbing / electrical platform.
68. Comfort Systems USA share price (Yahoo Finance, NYSE: FIX). FIX share price reference for TEV / EBITDA implied multiple calculation.
69. EMCOR Group 10-K secondary reference. FY2025 revenue $16.99B; operating income $1,713M including $144.9M UK divestiture gain; segment composition.

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Disclaimer and Methodology Notes

This research is a compiled, citation-anchored tracker built exclusively from public sources between January 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026. We did not interview any platform, sponsor, or operator for this research. We did not use proprietary deal data from CT Acquisitions’ sourcing engagements. The intent was to produce something a journalist or academic could re-verify line by line by clicking the press release URLs, SEC filing URLs, and sponsor portfolio URLs in the References section.

Mention of any sponsor or platform name in this tracker reflects publicly disclosed activity only. Inclusion does not imply any current or prior advisory relationship between CT Strategic Partners LLC and the named entity, nor any endorsement of the named entity by CT Strategic Partners LLC. CT Acquisitions has no commercial arrangement with any platform or sponsor named in this tracker beyond what is in the public record. Where activity patterns are inferred from observable transactions rather than direct disclosure, the relevant sections flag them as inferred or press-derived.

This content is informational only. Nothing in this tracker constitutes investment advice, legal advice, tax advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any business. Any business sale or acquisition decision should be made with the assistance of qualified M&A counsel, tax advisors, and where applicable, registered investment-banking or licensed brokerage representation. Master plumber licensing rules vary by state and affect deal structure; consult qualified counsel before relying on any structural inference in this report.

Multiple ranges cited reflect observed transaction data, cohort data from GF Data and Pepperdine PCM and IBBA Market Pulse, and press-derived platform-level recapitalization coverage from Mergersight, HomePros, PE Hub, and similar trade press. Where multiples are press-derived rather than sponsor-confirmed, we attribute them inline. Specific transaction outcomes will vary based on business-specific factors, market conditions, buyer competition, and deal structure. Past transaction multiples are not a guarantee of future results.