Verified

A platform that buys trade firms, puts them on one system, and consolidates to sell.

Not a panel-upgrade company. We acquire electrical, plumbing, and HVAC shops, move them onto Verified's technology and business management, and roll them up into one sellable platform.

What I'm building · a walkthrough
01 · Where it came from

The whole idea started with one thing I kept seeing.

Running construction, the same problem showed up on every project: the trades are full of great, cash-flowing shops run by owners nearing retirement with no succession plan, no modern systems, and no buyer. They're worth more together than apart — but nobody is buying them, standardizing them, and rolling them up. Then it clicked.

Buy those shops cheap, put them all on one system — The Verified System: AI back office, JobTread, a standard field kit, playbooks, and a standardized estimation process — and you don't have a scattering of one-truck operators. You have one platform that can be consolidated and sold at a multiple far above what the shops cost — that's the arbitrage.

So instead of building one truck at a time, I designed a machine to acquire firms across the exact trades a whole building project requires — electrical, plumbing, HVAC, civil — and run them all on one standardized system.

02 · How it's built

Three moves.

1

Build the system

In the opening weeks — while I'm still under contract — stand up The Verified System: AI back office, JobTread, the field kit, playbooks, and the Verified estimation process. A hook offer gets one truck rolling and the licensed entity up.

2

Acquire onto it

Buy trade shops and move them onto the system — starting with electrical, then the next trade. "Come onto our system and we buy you out." Each wave gated on the last integration proving out.

3

Consolidate & sell

Roll the acquired firms into one platform of scale and recurring revenue, and sell it at a multiple well above what the shops cost.

03 · What it is

Five licensed trades. One platform.

Each trade is built by acquiring shops and putting them on Verified's system — one brand, one AI back office, one insurance umbrella. We go deep in one trade, then start the next.

Verified Construction
KB-1 GC · Year 1

The licensed GC that ties the acquired trades together and bids whole projects across the platform.

Verified Electric
First to prove · Year 1

Where we prove the system, then acquire electrical shops onto it. The hook: panel upgrades that get the first truck rolling.

Verified Plumbing
Year 2

The next trade to roll up. A sewer-scope hook gets the entity started; acquisitions build the fleet.

Verified HVAC
Year 3

Third trade to consolidate. A tune-up hook opens the door; we acquire shops to scale it.

Verified Civil
A engineering · ~Year 4

Site & underground work on the "A" license — the deepest trade, added once the platform has scale.

Room to add more
Optional bolt-ons

The same mechanic can add adjacent lines later — Pools, Landscaping, Roofing — on top of the core five.

04 · Why it compounds

Every shop we buy makes the platform worth more.

This is the value engine: buy small at a low multiple, standardize on one system, add scale and recurring revenue, and the whole thing re-rates to a much higher multiple on exit.

01

Buy shops cheap

Retiring owners with no buyer sell at roughly 4× — offered a buyout alongside a seat on our system.

02

Put them on the system

AI back office, JobTread, the standard field kit, and playbooks — one way of running every shop.

03

Scale + recurring revenue

Consolidated fleets, shared overhead, and service agreements turn one-off jobs into a repeatable base.

04

Sell the platform high

A standardized multi-trade platform at scale sells near 8.5× — the arbitrage over what the shops cost.

05 · The hook is just a hook

The panel upgrade gets one truck rolling.

The hook isn't the business — it's the bridge. A sharp, in-demand offer gets one truck on the road and the licensed entity stood up, funds itself while we build the system, and holds the fort until the first electrical firm is acquired. It exists to establish and prove, not to grow organically.

~19k
1970s Scottsdale homes that need a panel upgrade (~68k addressable pre-1990 homes overall)
~$6k → ~$3k
Average panel-upgrade ticket → gross profit per job, sold with a monthly-payment option
~4 / wk
Panels a week to cover the launch's operating base while we build the system and start acquiring
06 · How each trade gets started

Every trade opens with a hook, then grows by acquisition.

The hook stands up the licensed entity and gets a truck rolling. The fleet is then built by buying shops onto the system — the hook is the bridge, acquisitions are the engine.

07 · How it rolls out

Deep in one trade, then the next — each wave gated.

Year 1

Build system · prove electric

Stand up the system and the entity, then begin acquiring electrical shops onto it.

Year 2

+ Plumbing

Grow electrical to target size, then start plumbing and roll it up by acquisition.

Year 3

+ HVAC

Consolidate the mechanical trades onto the same platform and system.

~Year 4

+ Civil

The deepest trade, added on the "A" license once the platform has scale.

Capital is called in waves as deals close. Roughly $10M of equity plus about $6M in acquisition debt and seller notes — released as each wave of acquisitions closes, every wave gated on the prior integrations proving out. If a wave doesn't integrate, the capital behind the next one simply doesn't go in.
08 · The money

Acquisitions stack into a real platform.

Roughly 9 firms acquired → ~57 service trucks (~19 per trade), run on one system. The hook carries the earliest months; acquisitions build the revenue. Here's the base-case ramp as the platform consolidates.

Base-case platform revenue by year ($M)
$1.1
Yr 1
$4.5
Yr 2
$11
Yr 3
$20
Yr 4
$30
Yr 5
$37
Yr 6

By Year 6 that's about $37M in platform revenue at an ~12% EBITDA margin (~$4.5M). Valued sum-of-the-parts — but at scale, with recurring service revenue, the blended multiple lands near 8.5× for a ~$47M enterprise value and about ~$40M of equity. Because capital is called in gated waves, a stall caps how much is ever at risk rather than losing the whole commitment.

Floor
~1.8×
organic only · prove it but don't acquire
The Plan
~2.8×
acquisition-led · ~33% IRR
David
~$28M
on ~$10M in
Steve carry
~$11.5M
earned on the platform build
How the split works. David funds it and is paid back first — his capital, then a 10% preferred return, then a 55/45 profit split. Each trade's founding lead earns a 5% ownership stake carved from my share, so building the platform pays the people who build it. The organic-only ~1.8× is the floor — what the firm is worth if we prove it but never acquire; acquisitions are what take it to ~2.8×. Illustrative planning figures, not a guarantee; leverage amplifies returns and risk.
Less than half a million to prove it. The prove phase is deliberately lean — about $461k: minimal office, The Verified System built first while I'm still under contract, and the first crew. The full Stage-1 startup (~$1.121M) goes further — it also buys the first electrical firm, so the startup isn't prove-only, it lands the first acquisition. From there, capital is called in waves — ~$10M equity plus ~$6M in acquisition debt — to buy and consolidate 9 firms into a ~$37M platform. The arc: ~$461k to prove it → ~$10M to roll it up → ~$28M back to David at ~2.8× / ~33% IRR.
09 · Who builds it

Real people, real stakes.

Founder & CEO · runs it
Steve

Builds The Verified System, drives the acquisitions, and is the hands-on integration engine early — installing the system into the first firms, then cleanly CEO as the Integration Manager comes on. Runs Construction and Civil directly.

Capital partner
David

Funds the launch and the acquisition waves, paid back first with a preferred return. Backs the plan; I drive it.

Electric lead · QP · owner
Adrian

Anchors electric as licensed lead and a 5% owner — hands-on at launch, then oversees the acquired shops as they consolidate.

Operations coordinator
Sarah

Runs the Ops Desk — scheduling, billing, books, and the shared back office every acquired shop moves onto. The backbone.

The Verified System is the product. What we sell each shop is a way to run better — AI back office, JobTread, a standard iPad/phone/network field kit, playbooks, and the Verified estimation process — offered alongside a buyout (a full product tour of it exists — the demo). That standardization is what makes nine shops worth one clean multiple, and it's built first, before the scale capital moves. Don't undersell it: an owner who joins gets ~$250k+/yr of delivered value plus a salary plus a real exit — a solution, a salary, and a sure-thing exit.
10 · The endgame

Three ways to win — our choice.

The whole point is the sale — but a standardized, licensed, multi-trade platform gives us more than one way to cash it. When it's built and consolidated, we choose.

🏢

Sell it whole

A standardized multi-trade platform at scale is exactly what national consolidators pay a premium for.

✂️

Carve it by trade

Each licensed trade is its own sellable asset — sell one, keep the rest.

🔧

Keep operating

No forced sale. Hold it and run it for the cash flow as long as it makes sense.

In one line

That's what I'm building.

A platform that acquires trade firms, puts them on one system, and consolidates them to sell — starting with electric, trade by trade, in gated waves. Prove it for under half a million, deploy ~$10M of equity plus ~$6M of debt across 9 firms, and build a ~$37M platform. Sell it whole, carve it by trade, or keep it and run it. The plan is already fully mapped, and I'm all in.

// A walkthrough of the Verified plan. Figures are illustrative planning numbers for discussion — not guarantees or investment advice; financials to be confirmed with a CPA and lender. Verified · The Lugo Team · confidential.