Glass manufacture & installation for residential and commercial

March 15, 2021

by a searcher from Harvard University - Harvard Business School in New York, NY, USA

It feels like there are a lot of niche glass manufacture and installation companies out there, but there are not that many/any posts on Searchfunder that I can find. Is anyone proactively targeting, or has reviewed these types of opportunities before?

e.g. USA-based, ~$2.5M revenues, ~0.6M SDE, ~$1.8M price. Repairs, manufacture, and installation services of glass for residential and commercial purposes - mostly interiors (e.g. bathrooms, mirrors) and specialty items (awnings, etc). No mass/commodity exterior windows. Sales primarily through B2B relationships with other builders/contractors, real state companies, etc

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Reply by an investor
from The University of Chicago in Chicago, IL, USA

Typical segments include 1) automotive glass; 2) mfg & sale of insulated glass units (IGU) and 3) bath & shower products (typically custom / all tempered glass). Auto glass is a world to itself. Service is key and thus mfg. capability / flexibility is often a distinguishing characteristic. Are design services offered? Does the target mfg. its own IGU's? Have the ability to temper glass (oven)? ERP system in place? If not, they are at the mercy of their supply channels (like all of the weaker competitors). Quick mfg. / delivery of IGU's to the building community and other glass shops is a good business. Negatives include overwhelming reliance on residential applications (hopefully little to no new construction) and discretionary aspects of bathroom / shower remodeling projects (often 25% of sales). Skilled install techs are in high demand and represent a potential practical barrier to growth. I am not targeting this space but have taken a look at it. My thinking is that acquisition #1 needs to be large enough to built upon (i.e. a multi-locational business to begin with). The aggregation of single location businesses in this space strikes me as a difficult path.

Reply by a searcher
from Babson College in Needham, MA, USA

Did you end up acquiring in the glass space? I am currently looking in this industry. I have experience in auto glass, if that could be helpful.

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