Buying a drywall or finish carpentry company in South Florida

• Several builder and contractor customers, so one builder's slowdown doesn't idle the crews.
• Crew leaders who manage quality and schedule without the owner, and fix problems before the builder's superintendent finds them.
• Estimates from plans, with margins tracked per house or project.
• A reputation for being on time: a late drywall or trim crew holds up every trade after it.
• Enough crews to take on a new subdivision without hiring in a panic.
• Proper insurance for every crew and a clean workers' compensation record.
• Some remodel or commercial work to soften housing slumps.
• Lifts, tools and trucks in good shape, with no surprise replacements due.

• Revenue by customer for three years, and how much each builder owes now.
• What each builder pays per house or square foot, and whether that has kept up with labor and material costs.
• Who buys materials, the company or the builder. Buying drywall or trim ties up cash and adds risk.
• Whether workers are employees, paid by the piece, or subcontractors, and how each is insured. Treating employees as independent contractors can mean back taxes and penalties; ask your accountant.
• Callbacks and punch-list work (small fixes before handover) that eat into margins.
• Back charges (deductions builders take for problems), disputes and unpaid invoices.
• Equipment and trucks, and any loans on them.
• Past injuries. Drywall and trim work involve lifts, stilts and ladders, and claims raise insurance costs.

• Who are your main builders and contractors, and how long have you worked with them?
• How do you price a house or a project, and when did you last raise prices?
• Do you buy materials, or does the builder supply them?
• Are your crews employees or subcontractors, and how are they paid?
• What licenses or certifications does the company hold?
• How often do builders hit you with back charges, and what for?
• Who runs the crews day to day?

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.