Buying a $3M Irrigation Business in California

Bill D'Alessandro (0:00)

Hello, everyone, welcome back to Acquisitions Anonymous. This is the internet's number one podcast on buying, selling and operating small businesses. I am one of your hosts, Bill D'Alessandro, and on this episode, I am with Heather Endresen, and we found a very interesting, specialized irrigation services company in West Hollywood, California, outside of LA.

And what's really interesting about it is it changed hands in 2025, and the new buyer claims to have 6x'ed the business in the past 15 months or so, but now needs to sell it in order to care for their aging parents. So we talk a little bit about how you might structure a deal like that, what might be going on here. The business has 40% net margins as well, so really unique for a home services contractor. Please enjoy this episode of Acquisitions Anonymous. Well said, Acquisitions Anonymous.

Hello, another episode of Acquisitions Anonymous. We don't have 100% beers anymore.

Heather Endresen (0:59)

Thumbs downing on just the Plus Inventory Lab.

Michael Girdley (1:03)

Buying a business might be the biggest financial decision of your life, and most people try to make it alone. Cold emailing brokers, reading financials at midnight, and guessing what are the numbers actually hold up. Acquisition Lab exists so you don't have to. It's the leading community, platform, and fund backing of serious vetted acquisitions entrepreneurs with a standing board of advisors who've actually done this. People will talk you out of a bad deal as fast as into a good one. The education and the deal search tools are free and open to everyone before anyone asks you for a dime. The easiest way to feel that is a roundtable. It's a free live conversation where you talk through what you're actually stuck on with other buyers and advisors who've been exactly there. Nothing recorded, so it always stays in the room.

Sit in on the next one for free at acquisitionlab.com/roundtables and tell them that Acquisitions Anonymous sent you.

Bill D'Alessandro (1:53)

Hello, Heather. It's just us today. I love these. Hi, Bill.

Heather Endresen (1:57)

Yeah. What are we going to get up to without the other guys around?

Bill D'Alessandro (2:01)

Well, not only did you show up to record with me today, you also brought a cool deal, so I appreciate it. I did.

I was just saying to Heather before we started recording that I was out to lunch with another entrepreneur today and they want to sell their business, but they only have five years left on their lease. I could hear Heather sitting on my shoulder going, an SBA buyer can't buy that unless you have 10 years left on the lease. I told her to go out and get an option and she's going to do that. Thank you, Heather.

Heather Endresen (2:31)

You're helping one entrepreneur at a time. You're helping make the world a better place.

Bill D'Alessandro (2:36)

She listens to the podcast and I was like, this is like live podcast advice. This is what Heather would tell you.

Heather Endresen (2:42)

That's right. Thank you. That's awesome.

Bill D'Alessandro (2:45)

Yes, it was great. We have a cool deal today because it's home services, but not the typical home services. This is a high growth specialty irrigation company in LA, where you have to irrigate a lot of things.

Michael Girdley (3:05)

I think it does not rain a lot.

Bill D'Alessandro (3:08)

This business, it says it has gross revenue of 2.95 million, but the title also says a $5.5 million run rate. That would be pretty shocking acceleration to be going from basically $3 million of TTM to a $5.5 million run rate.

Unless this is one of those classic like, hey, it's our busiest month of the year and we multiplied it by 12, like July or whatever the biggest month of irrigation is.

Heather Endresen (3:40)

I'm already looking at who the business is listed by, and I can't tell for sure, but it looks like this might not be a broker. Because it doesn't say just a person's name, there's no company. So this could be a for sale by owner.

Bill D'Alessandro (3:55)

It could be, which I always like the best. The owner is always right, kind of the most candid, or at least entertaining.

Heather Endresen (4:01)

Yes.

Bill D'Alessandro (4:04)

So it says it's been around since 2018 It's got almost 3 million of revenue and 1.3 million of SDE. So 40, 45% net margins, SDE margins.

Not too shabby.

Heather Endresen (4:18)

Too shabby.

Bill D'Alessandro (4:19)

Not too shabby. So let's learn more about this. It is a leading specialty irrigation business in SoCal, a highly specialized irrigation services company services residential and commercial properties across four Southern California counties. The company provides comprehensive solutions across the full project life cycle. Diagnostic assessment, system design, installation, drip and water efficiency conversion. I imagine that's big in California.