Cardinal Comfort Group
$4.1M revenue · 22 employees · Two Ohio branches
Cardinal runs residential HVAC and plumbing out of two branches. Revenue is seasonal and violent — July does four times what April does. The owner just signed an LOI on a competing plumbing shop and is discovering that a good technician business and a good acquisition are two different skill sets.
The question on the table
Can we fund a $900k tuck-in acquisition without running out of cash in the shoulder season?
Company file
- Revenue
- $4.1M
- Technicians
- 14
- Avg ticket
- $1,180
- Seasonality swing
- 4.1x
- Target acquisition
- $900k
What the system found
6 wks → 19 wks
Shoulder-season runway after the collections and deposit changes
+$318k
Annualized revenue recovered from missed inbound calls
$140k
Overpayment avoided on the tuck-in after the numbers were rebuilt
Five modules doing the work that would otherwise require a controller, a marketer, and a deal advisor.
Cash Flow Command
Surviving the shoulder season
Cash on hand
$214k
Runway before
6 weeks
Runway after
19 weeks
Overdue AR
$96k
| Lever | Cash impact | Effort | Runway added |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50% deposit on installs over $6k | +$142k | Low | +6 wks |
| Collect the 60+ day AR bucket | +$61k | Medium | +3 wks |
| Move the van purchase to Q3 | +$78k | Low | +3 wks |
| Renegotiate supplier terms to net 45 | +$34k | Medium | +1 wk |
- HighThe acquisition close date lands two weeks before the seasonal trough
Funding $180k of the purchase from operating cash in that window takes you negative. Move the close to the first week of June or finance the equity portion.
Revenue OS
The daily action list
Call back 4 missed inbound leads from yesterday
Estimated $9,400 of ticket value · median close rate drops 62% after 30 minutes
Today
Send the drafted quote to the Beechwood furnace replacement
$11,200 · quote generated from the tech's site notes
Today
Follow up on 3 quotes aging past 9 days
$18,600 combined
Offer maintenance plans to 12 install customers from March
Recurring revenue conversion averages 31% at this stage
Quotes outstanding
$142k
Missed calls last month
37
Maintenance plan members
418
Recurring revenue
$104k/yr
Competitive Position Radar
Five local competitors, watched weekly
| Competitor | What changed | Recommended response |
|---|---|---|
| Buckeye Air | Added 24/7 emergency to their homepage | Match it or stop bidding on emergency terms |
| Fairfield Plumbing | Review velocity dropped 70% in 60 days | Acquisition target — they are struggling |
| Statewide Heating | Financing banner added at 0% for 18 months | Your close rate on $8k+ tickets will drop |
| Nolan HVAC | Hiring 3 installers | Wage pressure coming in your market |
| Green Valley Mechanical | Quiet | — |
Document Intelligence
The tuck-in's financials, rebuilt
- HighOwner-operator labor was never charged to cost of sales
The seller worked 30 billable hours a week for free. Normalizing it removes $86k of the $310k SDE.
- MediumTwo of the top five customers are relatives
$54k of revenue at above-market pricing that will not survive the transfer.
- LowVan fleet is older than represented
Average age 9.2 years, not 6. Roughly $40k of deferred replacement.
SOP Library
Making two branches run the same way
Service call arrival and homeowner walkthrough
Install quality checklist with photo evidence
Maintenance plan offer script
Warranty claim submission
Branch cash handling and daily close
In draft
What would this look like for your business?
Cardinal Comfort Group is illustrative. The tools are not. Point them at your own numbers and you will have the first version of this file inside an afternoon.