Got a PE / roll-up / DSO offer on your Illinois plumbing business?

Circle the earnings definition and the period. Trailing twelve versus last calendar year matters if last year was a remodel spike. Ask for their add-back list in writing.

Circle licensed-plumber conditions. If closing is conditioned on a second license you do not have, you are negotiating a hiring project, not just a price.

Circle working capital. Plumbing jobs throw WIP and deposits. A peg written for a software company will punish you in February.

Circle the noncompete geography. Collar-county language can be broader than the routes you actually run. Illinois counsel should read it.

Municipal contractor registrations and the seller’s personal license do not ride along as a courtesy. Chicago and suburban permitting is a closing workstream. Bulk Sales can apply to tools, cameras, and inventory.

If they want a stock purchase to keep vendor numbers, Secretary of State and tax-allocation issues change. Do not let the LOI say ‘buyer’s choice of structure’ without understanding your tax. That is a CPA conversation.

New-construction mark-up in a rate-cut year is not a platform earnings base. Ask them to underwrite a trailing twelve that isolates remodel spikes. If they refuse, you do not have a priced letter. You have a compliment.

Permit-puller conditions belong in the LOI comments, not in a side text. If closing requires a second Illinois license, the hiring plan is part of price. Platforms that stay vague are buying an option on your calendar.

A neighboring plumber with an SBA lender can still be the higher cash-at-close path once holdbacks and employment are honest. Run both if you are not exclusive. That is the whole point of representation.

Ask how they will treat a year when one GC was loud. If the letter is silent, the QoE will not be. A concentration haircut delivered after exclusivity is a process failure you can still prevent.

Municipal registrations the buyer already holds in the next village do not transfer by courtesy. Each city is a file. Put the list in the LOI conditions so “45 days” has to survive contact with a clerk.

Employment length is price. If you will not stay two years, say so before the multiple is printed. A platform that needs you and pretends it does not will find a way to pay you later, worse.

Ask for a written add-back list before exclusivity. A platform that “will recast later” is buying an option. You are selling a calendar. Those are not the same trade, and the trade is worse for you every week the option runs.

WIP and customer deposits in February look like cash until the peg treats them as a seller problem. Have a seasonal example ready. Plumbing is not SaaS. A peg written for SaaS is a tell.

If the only licensed plumber is you, the letter is a hiring project wearing a multiple. Price the hire or delay the process. Pretending the license wall is “paperwork” is how week twelve becomes a failed exclusive.

Bring the LOI to the consult. We will walk license conditions, the peg, and whether a neighboring SBA plumber is still allowed to exist. No upload portal. No listing retainer. The first hour is still free.

Plumbing roll-up letters often praise your brand and then diligence your license wall. If you are the only Illinois-licensed plumber, the platform is buying a transition problem. They will demand a hire before close or they will cut price. Both are rational. Pretending the license wall is “paperwork” is how week twelve becomes a failed exclusive. Bring the letter to /contact.

Circle the earnings definition and the period. Trailing twelve versus last calendar year matters if last year was a remodel spike. New-construction mark-up in a busy year is not a platform earnings base. Ask them to isolate service agreements from GC mark-up. If they refuse, you do not have a priced letter. You have a compliment. The IBBA SDE definition is the Main Street language. Do not let them mix it with sponsor talk.

Circle cash at close. Debt on vans and cameras, a peg fight on deposits, holdback, and rollover all come off the headline. See net proceeds. BizBuySell’s market-wide 2.7× cash-flow multiple and 0.7× revenue multiple from Q2 2026 are not a plumbing-platform quote. They are a reminder that Main Street and roll-ups are different rooms.

Forty-five percent of sellers in that report cited retirement as the motive. Plumbing owners who want out before their knees decide should still read the holdback. Retirement urgency is how platforms buy quietly. A neighboring plumber with an SBA 7(a) lender can still be the higher cash-at-close path once holdbacks and employment are honest.

Municipal contractor registrations and the seller’s personal license do not ride along as a courtesy. Chicago and suburban permitting is a closing workstream. Put the list in the LOI conditions so “45 days” has to survive contact with a clerk. Silence on who pulls permits the week after close is a red pen, not a detail.

Bulk Sales can apply to tools, cameras, and inventory. Form CBS-1 needs at least ten business days. Start it when the LOI is real. See IDOR CBS-1 instructions. Shop leases in industrial parks treat assignment as optional reading until someone mails them twice.

If they want a stock purchase to keep vendor numbers, Secretary of State and tax-allocation issues change. Do not let the LOI say “buyer’s choice of structure” without understanding your tax. That is a CPA conversation. The Form 8594 instructions explain why both sides report allocation.

Noncompete geography in the collar counties can be broader than the routes you actually run. Illinois counsel should read it. Carve-outs for a few commercial accounts you hoped to keep need to be written. Usually the customer list is the deal. Hoping is not a carve-out.

Educational only. Not legal or tax advice. Platforms do not waive Bulk Sales, Secretary of State filings, license updates, or lease assignment. We work on a success fee — no upfront listing fee.