Aurora is a big place to run a trade company. The city covers about 165 square miles across Arapahoe, Adams and Douglas counties, and the 2020 census counted 386,261 people, which makes it the third largest city in Colorado. If your trucks run from the older blocks near East Colfax out to the new subdivisions along E-470, you already know it can feel like three towns in one.
Kent & Tamarack helps owners of trade and service companies in Aurora sell when they are ready, on terms they understand. The founder answers the phone at (983) 900-6537, and the first call costs nothing.
Three economies inside one city
Most of the steady work in Aurora comes from three sources. Each one matters to a buyer in a different way.
The big public employers. Buckley Space Force Base is the largest employer in Aurora, and the Aurora Economic Development Council lists aerospace and defense as one of its main industry groups. The council describes the industry around the base as anchored by military operations and supported by defense contractors. These sites need power, heat, cooling, plumbing and grounds work every week of the year.
The medical campus. The old Fitzsimons Army post closed in the late 1990s. Its land is now the Anschutz Medical Campus and a life science district, and the economic development council lists University of Colorado Hospital and Children's Hospital Colorado among Aurora's major employers. Medical buildings run around the clock, and the service companies that keep them running tend to have long relationships with facility managers.
Homes and the logistics belt. Aurora sits next to Denver International Airport and along I-70, I-225 and E-470. The economic development council lists transportation and logistics as a target industry, and it markets a long list of business parks built mostly for office, flex and industrial use. To the east, there is still a great deal of open land along the E-470 corridor south of the airport.
A plumbing, HVAC or electrical company in Aurora may touch all three. One owner might do service calls in north Aurora, a maintenance contract at a warehouse near the airport, and new-home rough-ins in the southeast. That mix is worth something, and it is our job to show it clearly.
What a buyer looks at in an Aurora company
How much of the work repeats
A buyer pays most for work that comes back. Service agreements, maintenance contracts with commercial sites and a long list of homeowners who call you every time something breaks all count for more than a single large job. In Aurora, a company with a solid base of older homes near Colfax, Havana and the original neighborhoods can have more repeat customers than it gives itself credit for.
How much depends on new building
New homes keep many Aurora crews busy. But builder work rises and falls with the housing market, and builders can change subcontractors. A buyer will ask what share of your income comes from two or three builders. If that share is high, we look for ways to show the other side of the business: warranty calls that turned into service customers, for example, or homeowners in new subdivisions who now call you direct.
Commercial contracts and site access
Work for defense contractors, the medical campus or large warehouses may come with rules about who can go on site. A buyer will ask whether those contracts are in the company's name, whether they can transfer, and whether access depends on one person. We find out before buyers ask, so there are no surprises late in the deal.
City tax and licensing
Aurora is a home rule city with its own sales and use tax, apart from the state. A careful buyer's accountant may ask to see those returns. It is a small thing, but it is easy to fix early and painful to fix at the last minute.
Who tends to buy here
Because Aurora is large and still growing on its east side, it draws several kinds of buyers. A competitor based in Denver or Centennial may want a shop on the east side so their techs stop crossing the metro twice a day. A company from another state may want an Aurora base to reach the whole metro and the airport area. A private buyer, often someone with years of management in the trades, may want to own one solid company and keep its name. And sometimes the best buyer is already on your payroll: a field manager who knows every customer.
We do not steer you to one kind of buyer. We show you who is interested, what each offer pays at closing, what depends on future results, and what each buyer expects from you after the sale.
Keeping the sale quiet in a big city
Aurora is large, but your trade is small. Techs know each other. Supply house counters hear everything. A rumor that you are selling can send a good tech to a competitor or make a commercial customer nervous.
So buyers first get a short profile that leaves out your company name, your street and anything that would point to you. Nobody learns who you are until they sign a confidentiality agreement and we have checked that they are serious. We meet you after the trucks are back, at your home or your accountant's office.
Your service radius is part of the value
Many Aurora companies cover more than Aurora. A shop near I-225 can reach Denver, Centennial and Greenwood Village in a short drive. A shop in the southeast reaches Parker and Centennial. A shop near the airport is close to Commerce City and Brighton. We map where your jobs really are, how long the drives take and which customers sit near each other. A buyer who already works in your area can see right away how your company fits theirs.
If you are close to the line between towns, read our pages for Centennial, Commerce City and Parker, or the main Denver page.
How the sale itself works
The process has four steps: a private first call, an honest range for what the company is worth, a quiet search for the right buyer and a clean close with your accountant and attorney. The full steps are on our home page. Most of the work on our side happens before a buyer ever sees your file, so the sale goes smoothly once it starts.
Before you call
You do not need anything ready to make the first call. If you have them, your last three years of tax returns, a list of your trucks and equipment and a rough idea of your biggest customers help us give you a useful answer sooner.
If you have been thinking about how to sell your business in Aurora, or you only want to know what it might be worth, call (983) 900-6537 or email hello@kentandtamarack.com. The conversation stays between us.