We track M&A activity across every sector in Canada and the US. Most of it looks the way you'd expect. But when we isolated HVAC and the industrial trades, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, machining, and put the two countries side by side, something interesting showed up. In the US, consolidation is a machine. PE add-ons alone are four of every ten HVAC transactions, and the serious platforms close three tuck-ins in a quarter. In Canada since January 2024: 217 deals, 228 distinct acquirers. Almost nobody bought twice. The most active buyer in the country closed three deals in thirty months. 87 percent of those Canadian deals disclosed no price. Five published a multiple. There is no price discovery in this segment. Sellers anchor to rumor, and the informed buyer walks into every process knowing more than the other side of the table. Median target size: 29 employees. That's not a roll-up market being competed over. That's a succession wave transacting one handshake at a time, to whoever shows up. One question for those who've closed here. 87 percent of the comps in this market are dark, so when you priced your deal, what did you anchor to? A US comp with a haircut for the border? A broker's whisper number? The seller's retirement math? We're comparing notes with a few groups buying in this space right now, and this is the question nobody has a clean answer to.