Case Studies
Real Assessments · Real Findings

The same framework. Two very different businesses.

Summit Mechanical and Crawford Electric are both owner-operated service businesses with decades of operating history. Run the same operational inspection on both, and you get two completely different pictures — and two completely different paths to market. This is what DealFax actually finds.

Case Study 01 · Conditionally Ready
Summit Mechanical LLC
HVAC Services · Fairfax, VA · $4.2M revenue · 28 employees · Est. 2004
2.8 / 5.0
Conditionally Ready

Strong operating history. Loyal customers. But the business runs through the owner — three critical gaps that will affect how any transaction is structured and priced.

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Case Study 02 · Transaction-Ready
Crawford Electric LLC
Electrical Contractor · Arlington, VA · $7.8M revenue · 38 employees · Est. 1998
3.8 / 5.0
Transaction-Ready

Owner stepped back. GM runs daily operations. Documented systems, clean compliance record. A stronger starting position — with a clear path to the 4.0+ Premium-Ready tier.

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Side by Side
What the Inspection Found

Same industry. Same region.
Very different operational profiles.

Summit Mechanical · 2.8
Conditionally Ready
2.8
Owner is the businessAll commercial relationships, pricing, and vendor contacts run through the owner. No delegation framework documented.
Largest client is undocumented14% of revenue on a personal handshake. No written service agreement with Westfield Systems.
Financial records not verifiableQuickBooks Desktop, local backup only. Pre-2021 records in paper binders.
Crawford Electric · 3.8
Transaction-Ready
3.8
GM runs daily operationsOwner stepped back 18 months ago. Sarah Torres has managed field operations, scheduling, and client communication independently.
Cloud accounting, documented SOPsQuickBooks Online, field service management platform in use since 2021. Top-12 processes documented.
Revenue diversified, contracts in placeTop client at 9% of revenue with written MSA. No single customer concentration above 15%.
Case Study 01 · Summit Mechanical LLC

A well-run business
with gaps it didn't know it had.

Summit Mechanical has been operating for 22 years, has a 4.7 Google rating, and low employee turnover. From the outside, it looks like a strong acquisition target. The operational inspection found a different picture underneath.

Summit Mechanical LLC
DFX-2026-0247 · Assessed Report
2.8 / 5.0
Overall Readiness Score
Conditionally Ready
Owner Dependency
2.2
Op. Systems
2.4
Revenue Quality
2.6
Succession
3.0
Workforce
3.2
Customer Health
3.4

What the inspection found

Summit Mechanical's strengths are real — 22-year history, low turnover, strong reviews. But three operational gaps will materially affect how any deal is structured and priced. The owner is the primary point of contact for all commercial relationships. The largest client has no written agreement. And financial records aren't accessible without significant migration work.

None of these show up on the income statement. All of them affect deal structure.

Critical
Owner dependency — no delegation framework
All commercial client relationships, invoice approvals, vendor contacts, and pricing decisions route through the owner. Without documented authority, it is not possible to independently verify how the business operates after the owner exits.
Critical
Westfield Systems — 14% of revenue, no written contract
The largest commercial account has no formal service agreement. The relationship is personal. Revenue concentration on an undocumented relationship is among the first factors typically raised in any structured diligence process.
Elevated
Technology gap — desktop accounting, no field management system
QuickBooks Desktop with local-only backup. Pre-2021 records in paper binders. Cloud-accessible, verifiable records are a standard expectation in any structured diligence process — inaccessible financial history commonly leads to pricing adjustments or migration requirements as a closing condition.
Readiness score
2.8 / 5.0
Conditionally Ready — deal possible with conditions attached
90-day target
3.3+
Formalize Westfield, document authority matrix, migrate to cloud accounting
Full report
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Case Study 02 · Crawford Electric LLC

A business that prepared.
And what that changes.

Crawford Electric went through a deliberate transition planning process 18 months before the DealFax engagement. The owner stepped back. A GM was elevated. Systems were migrated. The inspection found a materially different profile — and a much cleaner path to market.

Crawford Electric LLC
DFX-2026-0381 · Assessed Report
3.8 / 5.0
Overall Readiness Score
Transaction-Ready
Owner Dependency
3.8
Op. Systems
4.0
Revenue Quality
3.7
Succession
3.6
Workforce
3.9
Customer Health
3.8

What preparation looks like in practice

Crawford Electric's owner, Robert Chen, began planning his exit 18 months before engaging DealFax. He elevated Sarah Torres to General Manager, migrated to cloud-based accounting, and worked with an attorney to formalize client service agreements. The operational inspection found a business that can demonstrably operate without the owner present.

The score of 3.8 doesn't mean Crawford is without risk. It means the risks that remain are documented, bounded, and manageable — which is a fundamentally different conversation to have at the table.

Strength
GM-led operations — owner not required for daily function
Sarah Torres has independently managed field operations, client scheduling, and subcontractor relationships for 18 months. The transition is documented. A buyer can verify it.
Directly addresses the most common closing condition
Strength
Revenue diversified — no customer above 9%
Top 10 clients each hold written master service agreements. No single customer represents more than 9% of revenue. Revenue concentration risk is below the threshold that commonly triggers earnout conditions.
Supports cleaner deal structure
Elevated
Two licensed master electricians — no succession plan documented
The business holds licenses through two individuals. No documented succession plan exists if either leaves post-close. This is manageable but requires a documented contingency to fully close the risk in diligence.
Readiness score
3.8 / 5.0
Transaction-Ready — stronger position to negotiate favorable terms
Path to 4.0+
Licensing contingency
Document a licensing succession plan to address the one remaining elevated risk
What changed
18 months of preparation
Owner stepped back. GM elevated. Systems migrated. Contracts formalized. One business became a fundamentally different deal.

Which profile does your business look like today?

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