When you’re considering selling your roofing company, getting the financials in order is a natural place to start. But buyers also want to understand how the business earned its reputation, why employees stay and what keeps the work running smoothly. Preparing for a sale means making those strengths visible, too.
At Pantheon, Tim Russell, CEO of Canopy Services Group; Dennis Elliott of Vertex Service Partners; and Chad Colony, CEO of Trusspoint Roofing & Exteriors, outlined what they look for in a business. For owners considering a sale, their advice offers eight places to start.
1. Get your financial records in order.
A profit and loss statement should give buyers a clear picture of the business. Elliott described finding commissions or marketing expenses missing from the books only after closing. Organized financials and supporting data help buyers understand both current performance and the opportunity ahead.
2. Make room for improvement easy to see.
You don’t need to lower your margins to show a buyer there’s potential. Elliott advises against it. Instead, make the opportunities clear enough for a buyer to recognize where the business could do better from an already solid foundation.
3. Build a strong record of customer reviews.
For Vertex, reputation supports referrals and efficient marketing costs. Elliott considers third-party review programs a major asset. Russell also encourages owners to collect reviews because they give buyers customer feedback they can examine for themselves. A handful of reviews, many of them negative, raises concerns.
4. Track who stays on your team.
Canopy starts with the team and the customer. Russell asks for employee turnover data and the sales team’s retention history, because both offer clues about the culture. Frequent departures are a warning sign.
5. Know your sales funnel.
Elliott follows revenue from lead to completed work: lead count, cost per lead, appointment conversion, close rate, average ticket and how quickly the backlog converts. He also looks for employee and customer satisfaction scores, which many owners don’t track.
The format matters less than having data you can easily share.
6. Build a culture that holds up after closing.
Buyers rarely get access to employees during diligence, Elliott said, so they may not fully understand the culture until afterward. Poor treatment of employees eventually comes to light. How you treat people before the sale matters to the business a buyer inherits.
Colony said changes follow a deal, “but it’s really important to tell why, tell this entire team why you’re doing this.” He also noted founders often focus on the sale without asking what comes after. He welcomes the question and wants to hear what an owner is passionate about, because “the right answer is to be honest.”
7. Keep improving how the work gets done.
Colony put it this way: “For me it’s always people, processes, systems.” Assemble and train the right team, then “always find a way to do things better” and put systems in place to support the work. Technology belongs in the mix. AI feels intimidating to some, he said, but “I would lean into that technology.”
8. Bring a business that already performs.
Canopy wants a business with a strong local brand and a strong team. Russell said the goal is to invest in a company that performs well, and all three buyers on the panel look for those qualities.
Preparing for a sale starts well before diligence. The financial records help buyers understand the business; the people, reputation and operations show what they’ll be responsible for carrying forward.
Hear the full conversation in the Pantheon session “The Roofing M&A Playbook: Insights from Industry Leaders.”
Preparing for a sale? Explore ServiceTitan’s Roofing PE Exit Readiness Guide to get started.
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