Canon City is the county seat of Fremont County, on the Arkansas River where it leaves the Royal Gorge. The 2020 census counted 17,141 people here, the most of any town in the county. The Census Bureau's estimate for July 2024 was about 17,200. It is also a town where many people come to retire.
That matters for trade owners. Many of the people who built the plumbing, electrical, heating and roofing companies in this valley are reaching retirement age at about the same time. Kent & Tamarack helps owners like that sell their company to someone who will keep the crew working and the customers looked after.
Prisons, a hospital and a bridge
Canon City's economy rests on a few large pillars. The state of Colorado opened its first territorial prison here in 1871, and the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility still stands in town. Six more state prisons sit in the Canon City area, and the federal prison complex at Florence, which includes ADX Florence, is just down the road. The Museum of Colorado Prisons tells that story downtown.
Health care is another pillar. St. Thomas More Hospital serves the town and the county around it. Education and some manufacturing round out the year-round jobs.
Then there is tourism. The Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, rafting on the Arkansas, Skyline Drive and the local wineries bring visitors from spring through fall.
For a trade company, each pillar brings a different kind of work. Institutions need large-building maintenance, controls, boilers, kitchens and electrical work. Retirees need reliable service at home. Tourist businesses need quick repairs in peak season, when a broken cooler or a dead air conditioner costs them money every hour.
Work behind the fence
Some Fremont County trade companies do a share of their work for correctional facilities, state or federal. That work has its own rules. Bids, contracts, access procedures and background checks for anyone who goes inside are part of the job.
When you sell, a buyer will ask how that work comes in and whether it stays after you leave. Is it a contract with a fixed term? Is it awarded by bid every few years? Does it depend on one facility manager who trusts you? Which of your techs have already been cleared to work inside?
Clear answers help. Bring the contracts and the bid history. Name the techs who handle the work. If the work is a big share of your income, show what the company earns without it, so the buyer can judge the risk for themselves.
A town of retirees, and owners who want to retire
An older population brings steady service work. Furnaces, water heaters, grab bars, roofs, sewer lines and electrical updates come due, and older homeowners want a company they know. A customer list full of people who have used you for ten or fifteen years is a real asset in a sale.
The same age profile also means a lot of owners in Fremont County are thinking about stepping back. More sellers and a thin set of local buyers mean you need a plan, and some time, to find the right buyer.
That is why we look beyond the county. Buyers for a Canon City company come from Pueblo, 39 miles east on U.S. 50, and from Colorado Springs, about 45 miles to the northeast. A key employee may want to take over. Someone who has wanted to move to the Arkansas Valley for years may want to buy a company instead of starting one.
Smaller towns down the road
A Canon City company may also serve Florence, Penrose and Lincoln Park, which borders the city to the south. Highway 115 links Florence and Penrose with Colorado Springs. Some companies here run regular routes to those towns, and some go further up the river.
A buyer will want to see where your profitable jobs are. We map your work by town so the buyer knows what the drive time costs and which routes earn their keep.
The shop building and the land
Owners who have been in business here a long time own their shop, yard or building, sometimes on the same lot as the house. In a sale, the building and the business are two separate things. You can sell both to the same buyer, sell the business and lease the building, or keep the property and sell only the company.
Each choice changes the price, the taxes and your income after the sale. A lease can give you a monthly check for years, and it lets a buyer who cannot afford both at once still buy the company. Selling everything at once gives you a clean break. Your accountant and attorney should weigh in, and we lay out what each buyer is offering for each piece so you can compare them side by side.
Quiet in a town this size
In a town of 17,000, a stranger asking about a plumbing company gets noticed. Our early descriptions of your company leave out anything a local could tie to you, including the street, the size of the fleet and which institutions you serve. A buyer learns who you are only after signing a confidentiality agreement. You pick when your crew hears.
What the company is worth
Value here comes from the same base as anywhere: earnings for an owner in a normal year, repeat work, the crew, the trucks and clean books. In Fremont County, a buyer also looks at how much income comes from institutions and how much from tourist season, and whether the people who hold those relationships are staying. We give you an honest range with reasons. We do not quote a number on the phone.
Getting started
We follow four steps: a private first call, an honest price range, a quiet buyer search and a close done with your accountant and attorney. Here are the four steps. Heating and cooling owners may want to read about selling an HVAC business.
The founder takes the calls at (983) 900-6537. If you work up the valley, see the Salida page. If you are closer to Pueblo, see Pueblo West.