Buying a plumbing business in Southwest Florida

• Service and repair revenue from many homeowners and businesses, rather than reliance on one builder.
• Commercial customers, such as property managers, restaurants and associations, who call the company first and have for years.
• A phone number and reviews people trust. Most plumbing calls are urgent and go to whoever answers.
• Plumbers who can diagnose, price and sell the fix on their own, not only follow instructions.
• Equipment for the work that pays well: drain cameras, water jetters, leak detection tools.
• A licensed qualifier (the person whose license the company works under) who isn't the departing owner, or who will stay on after the sale.
• Job records and pricing in software, so you can see what each type of job earns.

• The license itself. Look up the qualifier at myfloridalicense.com: the license should be active and show this company's name.
• The split between service, repiping and new construction, and how the new construction share has moved with the housing market.
• Builder contracts: payment terms, retainage (money held back until the job is done) and how much builders owe the company now.
• Warranty claims and callbacks on repipes, slab leak repairs and water heater installs.
• Water damage claims. A failed repair can flood a home, so ask for the general liability claims history.
• Whether plumbers are employees or subcontractors, and how they're paid (hourly, commission, or per fixture on new construction).
• How much work comes from home warranty companies, which often pay set rates below retail.
• Fleet condition and the inventory on each truck.

• Whose license does the company work under, and are they willing to stay after a sale?
• How does your revenue split between service, repiping and new construction?
• Where do your service calls come from: repeat customers, referrals, online search, home warranty companies?
• Do you price jobs at a flat rate or by time and materials, and who sets the prices?
• Which commercial customers call you regularly, and is any of that work under contract?
• How many of your plumbers can run a service call alone, start to finish?
• What's the most expensive warranty or damage claim you've had in the last few years?

This region covers Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Sarasota and Manatee counties on the Gulf coast and Hendry, Glades and DeSoto inland: Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Naples, Bonita Springs, Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Sarasota, Venice, Bradenton, LaBelle, Clewiston, Moore Haven and Arcadia. The coastal economy runs on people who choose to live or spend the winter here: retirees, seasonal residents, and the construction, real estate, health care, financial and home services that follow them. Tourism, golf and boating add to it.

Inland, the economy is agricultural: sugarcane around Clewiston, citrus, cattle and vegetables, with Immokalee in Collier County a center for farm work. The building trades, pool, landscaping and pest control companies, property managers, medical and dental practices, and marine businesses tend to do well along the coast.

This is one of Florida's most seasonal markets. From roughly January through April, restaurants, shops and service companies run at full speed. Summers are slower, so look at monthly revenue, not only the yearly total. The coast has taken two major hurricanes in recent years: Ian came ashore at Cayo Costa in Lee County in September 2022, and Milton at Siesta Key in Sarasota County in October 2024. Rebuilding brought a wave of work for contractors that won't last forever, so ask how much recent revenue came from storm repairs. Insurance costs and flood zones weigh on every property.

Housing costs near the coast make hiring hard, especially around Naples. New communities east of Interstate 75 in Lee, Collier, Charlotte and Manatee keep service companies busy.