Colorado Springs is the second largest city in Colorado, with nearly half a million people inside the city limits and more in the towns around it. It sits under Pikes Peak, next to five military installations. For a trade company owner, that mix means a steady flow of homes, offices and base-related buildings that all need service, and a customer base that changes every year.
Kent & Tamarack is a business broker for Colorado Springs and Southern Colorado owners who run trade and service companies and want to sell. Plumbers, HVAC companies, electricians, roofers, landscapers and cleaning crews. The founder answers the phone at (983) 900-6537, and the first call is private and free.
How the Pikes Peak economy shapes your sale
The military is a big part of life here. The region has five installations: Fort Carson, Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station and the Air Force Academy. Fort Carson alone is one of the largest employers in the state. Around them sit aerospace and defense companies, a growing space industry and the national headquarters of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movement.
For a trade business, this matters in two ways.
First, a lot of your customers move. Military families arrive and leave on orders, so homes near the posts see new people every few years. A buyer will want to see that you win new customers every year and keep the ones who stay. Good reviews, a steady referral flow and maintenance agreements that renew all help.
Second, the work is steady. Bases, defense contractors and the people who work for them are not here on a short boom. El Paso County is already the most populous county in Colorado, and state forecasts expect it to keep growing for years to come. A trade company with a good name in the newer parts of the county has room to grow, and buyers can see it.
The towns we cover
This page covers Colorado Springs and the towns that do business with it every day.
Monument and the Tri-Lakes area sit at the north end of El Paso County along I-25. A company there sits between two markets, which can make it interesting to buyers from the Springs and from the Denver side.
Fountain and Security-Widefield lie south of the city, close to Fort Carson.
Woodland Park is up Ute Pass on Highway 24, in Teller County. Mountain work has its own rhythm: longer drives, steep roads and early snow. A buyer needs to know your crew can handle it.
Canon City sits along the Arkansas River in Fremont County. The market is smaller, and a good trade company there can be the name everyone in town calls.
Pueblo is its own city with its own history. It was built on steel, and the steel mill still runs. A large wind tower plant employs hundreds of people there too. If your Pueblo company has a long customer list and a crew that has stayed for years, those are real strengths in a sale.
If your company is in Denver or the metro suburbs, see our Denver page. If you work west of the Divide, see the Western Slope page.
Who buys a Southern Colorado trade company
The pool of buyers in Colorado Springs is smaller than in Denver, and the pool in Pueblo or Canon City is smaller still. A well-run company can still find the right buyer. The search just has to reach further and be run with more care.
Here is where the buyers for a Pikes Peak trade company come from.
Local competitors who want your crew, your customer list or your part of town. A plumbing company on the north side may want a shop that already covers Fountain.
Companies from the Denver area that want to grow south along I-25. For them, buying an existing company with a crew and customers is faster than starting from scratch. They will ask who runs the day here, so a strong local manager helps a lot.
People coming out of the military. The local chamber of commerce says hundreds of service members leave the military in this region every month. Some of them stay, and some want to own and run an established business instead of starting one. Many have led crews and managed equipment for years.
Your own employees. A manager or a small group of key people may want to buy you out over time, and state programs exist to help with that kind of sale.
We do not steer you toward any one of these. We find out who is serious, check that they can pay, and lay the offers side by side so you can compare them.
Keeping it quiet where everyone knows everyone
In a smaller market, privacy is harder and more important. If your techs hear a rumor at the supply house, some of them may start looking for other work. If a competitor hears it, they may tell your customers you are closing.
So the search is quiet from the first day. In a town the size of Canon City, even "a plumbing company on the east side" can give you away, so the early profile leaves out anything that local people could match to you. Your name goes only to buyers who have signed a confidentiality agreement. We meet away from the shop and never call your business line unless you ask. The timing of the news to your crew and customers stays with you.
What your Colorado Springs business is worth
A business valuation for a trade company here starts with the same basics as anywhere: what the company earns for an owner in a normal year, how much work repeats, the crew, the trucks and the books.
A few things weigh more in this market:
- How your customer base holds up as people move. A company that wins a steady number of new customers every year, and keeps a strong share of the old ones, is worth more.
- Who runs the day. If a buyer comes from Denver or from outside the state, they need a manager here they can trust.
- Your service area. A company that covers the Springs, Fountain and Monument from one shop has a different value than one that also drives to Woodland Park or Pueblo every day.
- Clean books that match your tax returns.
We will not give you a number before we see the company. After a look at your books, we give you an honest range and the reasons for it. If one part of the company is dragging the price, we say so and show you the fix.
The next step
Our process has four steps: a private first call, what it is worth, the right buyer and a clean close. You can read how a sale works on our home page. Plumbing owners can also read our guide to selling a plumbing business, and landscapers can read about selling a landscaping business.
When you are ready to talk, call (983) 900-6537 or email hello@kentandtamarack.com. Tell us about the company and what you want after the sale. We will give you a straight answer.