Recommendations: QoE, MAI appraiser, and diligence consultants (SoCal)

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by a searcher from Northwestern University
in New York, NY, USA

20h ago

Recommendations: QoE, MAI appraiser, and diligence consultants (SoCal)

Hi all, Under LOI on an industrial business with owned real estate in Southern California and am building out the diligence team. Diligence kicks off in about two weeks, so I would appreciate any recommendations from this community on providers you have actually worked with and would use again: - QoE provider comfortable with lower middle market deals, ideally fixed fee with a 2-3 week turnaround - MAI appraiser for industrial real estate in Southern California - Phase I environmental firm - Heavy equipment / fleet inspection service - Any diligence consultants you found worth their fee (or ones to avoid) If anyone has a name for any of the above, or has closed a deal with a similar profile and is open to comparing notes, I would genuinely welcome a quick call. Feel free to comment here or reach me directly at redacted Thank you in advance. Happy to return the favor as our process moves along.

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reply by a professional 14h ago
from Binghamton University, State University of New York in New York City, NY, USA

Hey @redacted‌, long time no talk since we last connected on LinkedIn. Congrats on the deal! Hope you've been well. The reason I'm jumping in here is because we've done QoEs on a number of deals in the industrial sector and most of the deals we work on are in the lower middle market, so we know this space well and are familiar with the nuances (customer and revenue concentration, gross margin trends by product line, inventory costing and reserve adequacy, maintenance vs. growth capex, normalizing a market rent since the real estate is owned, owner add-backs and related-party transactions, AR collectibility, and net working capital peg construction) that need to be analyzed deeper to truly understand how the business is actually performing. But here's the thing most buyers don't realize until it's too late. The QoE only tells you what you're buying. It doesn't tell you how to buy it. And that's why after the QoE we sit down with you and work through how to structure the acquisition itself, where the seller note fits, the right entity setup especially with owned real estate in the mix, how the purchase price gets allocated, and the tax planning around all of it, so you close on a structure that works in your favor instead of one that quietly costs you more than it should for years after. Which is why for us a QoE isn't a one-time transaction like it is for other firms, it's the start of a long-term partnership. So if you want to talk through what's worth digging into on this one before diligence kicks off, or compare notes on QoE and beyond, feel free to message me here or on LinkedIn, or book a call on my calendar at: redacted

reply by a professional 9h ago
from University of Notre Dame in New York, NY, USA

Hey @redacted‌ - I'm a partner at Wiggin & Dana LLP, a law firm representing both self-funded searchers and independent sponsors on SMB and lower-middle-market transactions (my practice is roughly a 50/50 split). We're very active in the space (and do a ton of deals in CA), so if you need a resource on the legal side, feel free to DM me or shoot me an email redacted