Hello from a 5-month-in self-funded searcher in Idaho

April 25, 2026

by a searcher from University of Central Florida in Caldwell, ID, USA

New here, wanted to introduce myself. Jason Prendergast, based in Caldwell, Idaho. My wife Julie and I are five months into searching for a profitable trades or trade-adjacent business in the Mountain West and broader Western US. Target size is $1.5M to $5M EV with $400K+ SDE. Industries open: electrical, mechanical, HVAC, plumbing, roofing, fabrication, machine shops, B2B services, and adjacent trades. Background: 20+ years in commercial construction, five running commercial electrical projects (BergElectric, Kenny Electric, ADK Electric) on jobs from $90K TIs to a $17M campus build. Currently a Principal Category Supply Manager at Micron Technology in Boise. Mechanical engineer by training (UCF). The five months have been a real education. Three LOIs submitted. Walked from one when the seller refused to share basic records. Walked from another when the counter came back as a price increase with a seller note priced like bank debt. The third is currently in negotiation with a 35-year commercial EC. We will see how it lands. What I have taken away so far: walk signals are walk signals, the financials tell you the story the seller is willing to share, and there will always be other businesses. Capital is in place (ROBS-funded acquisition entity), SBA lender relationships are active, QoE provider engaged, M&A counsel selected. Excited to be part of this community. If you are a searcher in the trades, a broker with deals in my geography, or an operator who has been through the transition I am about to walk into, I would genuinely welcome the connection. Always up for a call or a coffee if you are in the Boise area. Jason

Reply by a professional
from Technische Universität Berlin in Miami, FL, USA

Welcome to the community, Jason. Your lessons from the first five months are exactly right - walk signals are walk signals, and the sellers who won't share basic records are telling you something important about how they'll behave through the whole process. The 35-year commercial EC is an interesting one to be negotiating right now. That tenure is a real asset - established crews, GC relationships, a reputation that brings work in - but it also means the owner has been the business for three and a half decades. The estimating, the GC relationships, the licensing qualifier situation - a lot of that is personal to him, not to the company. That's the piece worth mapping carefully during diligence while he still has reason to cooperate. Your construction background is a genuine advantage here. You know how EC businesses actually run. Happy to connect - I work with acquirers on the operational infrastructure side of transitions like this one, and always up for a conversation with someone who has real trades experience. Good luck with the negotiation.

Reply by a searcher
from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Not in your area, but I acquired a low voltage installation company in Canada about 2 years ago. I 100% agree with your perspective on "walk signs". I ignored some of those as I got too excited to close a deal back then, and definitely put in a lot more money & effort into the businss than expected as a result of that.

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