PROPEL NEXT
Buy, Sell & MergeEvery trade business changes hands eventually. Few do it well.
Buying your first trade business, growing by acquisition, merging for scale, or stepping back without walking away - we help you evaluate, structure and run the deal, and the business after it.
~43%
of the trade workforce is approaching retirement age
4 in 5
trade businesses never find a buyer - they just switch off the phone
50%
of deals fall apart in due diligence (Forbes) - preparation decides who survives it
#1
success factor in M&A isn't the deal - it's how the business is run afterwards
Six doors. Pick yours.
"I'm not a tradie - I want to buy a trade business"
We connect you to brokers, help you evaluate what a business is really worth, and set you up to run it successfully from day one.
Buyer's pathway โ"I want to grow by buying a business like mine"
Same trade, same or new territory. Faster than organic growth - if you buy right and integrate well.
Acquisition pathway โ"I want to add a complementary trade"
Plumber buying an HVAC book. Sparky adding solar. One customer base, two revenue streams.
Expansion pathway โ"I'm done owning - but I still love the work"
Sell the business, lose the stress, keep the trade. We help you exit cleanly and land where you want.
Seller's pathway โ"I want to sell - but not disappear"
Getting older, thinking about the end game, not ready to lose your purpose. Sell down, stay on, hand over gradually. (Also see Propel Partner's profit-share model.)
Staged-exit pathway โ"We should merge - and sell for more, later"
Two or more owners combining books, overheads and teams. Bigger businesses sell for higher multiples. We structure it so everyone wins.
Merger pathway โEvery conversation is confidential. No obligation, no pressure - deals only work when they're right for both sides.
AI is rewriting white-collar work. Nobody's AI is crawling under a house.
While software eats office jobs, the work of plumbers, sparkies, builders and landscapers can't be automated away. That makes a well-run trade business one of the most future-proof assets you can own - real demand, real cash flow, real moat.
Here's the kicker: AI can't do the trade, but it transforms the back office. Buy a business run on paper and phone calls, put modern systems and AI-amplified admin behind it, and the margin you add is yours. That's the exact playbook Propel runs every day.
The generational wave
A huge share of trade business owners are approaching retirement, and most have no successor. More quality businesses will change hands this decade than ever before - and there are far more willing sellers than prepared buyers. Prepared wins.
Acquisition is a growth strategy
Buying a $1m competitor adds more revenue in one settlement than most businesses add in three years of grinding. Shared overheads, one back office, a bigger book - in a well-structured deal, one plus one is closer to three.
Five stages. Most deals die at stage three. Most value is won at stage five.
Define your buy-box, then find the target. Clear criteria first - trade, territory, size, price range, owner involvement - so you stop chasing everything. Then we source: brokers and marketplaces, direct outreach to owners, and our own network of retiring tradies. The best deals are rarely listed.
Assess and value. A 10-minute first-pass scorecard filters fast, then plain-English valuation: what the earnings really are once the owner pays themselves a market wage, and what a fair multiple looks like for that trade and size. No falling in love before the numbers agree.
Offer and due diligence. Half of all deals die here - usually because the buyer finds what the seller didn't mention. We run trades-specific DD: financials, licences and compliance, WIP and warranty exposure, the truth hiding in their job-management data, and customer concentration.
Negotiate and document. Preparation is 80% of a negotiation, and listening beats talking 70/30. Asset sale or share sale, seller finance, earn-outs, transition terms - structured win-win, documented properly with your lawyer.
Settle, integrate, grow. The research is blunt: how the business is run after settlement matters more than the deal itself. This is where we're unlike anyone else - our operations, tech, design and growth teams run the first 100 days with you, and beyond.
Common questions
Do I need the full purchase price in cash?
Rarely. Seller finance, earn-outs, bank and SME lending, asset finance and capital partners can cover a large share of a well-structured deal. The structure matters more than the size of your deposit.
How long does buying a business take?
Typically 6-12 months from setting your criteria to holding the keys - faster if you're prepared, much slower if you're browsing listings without a buy-box.
I'm not a tradesperson. Can I still buy a trade business?
Yes - you'll need the right licence structure (often retaining a licensed supervisor or the seller for a period) and a plan for operations. That second part is literally our business.
Will you actually run it with me after settlement?
Yes. That's the difference. Admin and back office via Propel Assist, systems via Propel Tech, quote-winning design via Propel Design, and operating leadership via Propel Partner - one team, from day one.
I want to sell. Is my business even sellable?
Most trade businesses aren't - yet. Almost everything that makes a business unsellable is fixable in 12-18 months, and fixing it raises your profit in the meantime. Start with a confidential exit-readiness chat.