What does it take to build a contracting business that can grow, scale, and eventually sell for millions without the owner being trapped in the day-to-day?
For many contractors, the answer starts with an uncomfortable realization:
You can’t build a sellable business if the business depends on you for everything.
If you’re still the top salesperson, solving every operational problem, making every important decision, and jumping in whenever something goes wrong, you may own a successful business. But you may not yet own a scalable business.
That’s exactly what Kelly Mesaris of Build Sell It discussed with Paul Sanneman, founder of Contractor Staffing Source, on an episode of Business Success Tips.
Kelly’s team has helped build and operate multiple trades businesses and has used that experience to create a playbook for contractors who want to build companies that are scalable, profitable, and potentially attractive to buyers.
And the biggest lesson?
Private equity isn’t buying you. They’re buying the company you’ve built.
🎙️ Want the Full Strategy?
Kelly and Paul go much deeper into what it takes to build a contracting business that can operate without the owner, including sales teams, technology, AI, EBITDA, recruiting, and phantom stock.
Watch the full episode on YouTube or listen on Spotify.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
In the full conversation, Kelly explains:
- What private equity looks for when buying a contracting business
- Why your first major hire may need to be your replacement
- How sales can influence the value of your business
- Why contractors should think beyond their specific trade
- Where AI can actually help a contracting company
- How technology can reduce unnecessary overhead
- How phantom stock can incentivize employees
- The three areas contractors should prioritize when building to sell
- Why the ultimate goal is to build a business that can run without you
What Does It Mean to “Build to Sell”?
Building a company to sell isn’t simply about increasing revenue.
It’s about creating a business that someone else can step into and operate successfully.
According to Kelly, private equity buyers are looking for a well-oiled machine. They don’t want to inherit a collection of problems, disconnected systems, or a business that falls apart when the owner takes a vacation.
They want something replicable and scalable.
Kelly identifies five major areas buyers look at:
1. A Strong Sales Team
A business shouldn’t depend on one person to generate all the revenue.
If the owner is still the company’s top salesperson, the business becomes heavily dependent on that individual.
A buyer wants to see a diversified sales organization that can continue producing results without the owner personally closing every deal.
2. Standard Operating Procedures
Growth becomes difficult when employees simply “know how we do things” but nothing is documented.
Strong SOPs help create consistency, make training easier, and allow the company to operate without relying on institutional knowledge that exists only inside the owner’s head.
3. Strong Branding
A professional, recognizable brand can contribute to how customers perceive the business and how a buyer evaluates the company.
Kelly explains that her companies use Dan Antonelli from Kick Charge for their rebrands.
4. Customer Reviews and Experience
Buyers want evidence that customers are happy with the business.
That means paying attention to customer interactions and building a strong reputation through reviews and service.
5. A Scalable Technology Stack
Technology should make the business easier to operate, not create another headache.
Kelly emphasizes that buyers don’t want a collection of one-off systems. They want technology that is replicable, scalable, and capable of providing strong reporting.
The goal is simple:
Build a business that works like a machine, not one that requires the owner to manually keep it running.
The First Person You May Need to Hire Is Your Replacement
One of the most counterintuitive pieces of advice Kelly gives is also one of the most important:
Hire to replace yourself.
For a contractor who has spent years building the business, that can sound crazy.
Why would you hire someone to do the job you’re already doing?
Because your job changes as the company grows.
If you’re spending your entire day selling, managing technicians, answering questions, and putting out fires, you don’t have time to actually build the company.
Kelly believes sales is one of the first areas where an owner needs to create separation.
If you’re the only salesperson, you’re not building a sales team.
You’re building a company that depends on you.
And that’s a major problem if the eventual goal is to sell.
As Kelly explained during the podcast:
“They’re not buying you. They’re buying a company.”
The sooner an owner can step away from the daily grind, the sooner they can focus on marketing, technology, recruiting, financial performance, and long-term growth.
Stop Thinking of Your Business as Just a Roofing, HVAC, or Plumbing Company
There’s another important mindset shift in Kelly’s approach.
Whether you’re running a roofing company, HVAC company, plumbing company, fencing company, or painting company, the underlying business principles are similar.
Kelly argues that contractors should think of their company as a sales, marketing, and people company.
The trade is the vehicle.
That distinction changes how you think about growth.
Instead of only asking:
“How many jobs did we complete?”
you start asking:
- Is our sales team producing consistently?
- Which marketing channels are generating results?
- Are we recruiting continuously?
- Does every employee have a clearly defined role?
- Are our systems scalable?
- Can our technology handle growth?
- Can the business operate without the owner?
Those questions help transform a contracting business from an owner-dependent operation into a valuable company.
How Do You Increase the Value of a Contracting Business?
During the conversation, Kelly discusses multiples in the market and references approximately 5x to 8x EBITDA for certain businesses.
But increasing your valuation isn’t simply about chasing more revenue.
It’s about improving the quality of the business.
That means building:
Strong sales + measurable marketing + efficient operations + the right people + scalable technology
Kelly repeatedly comes back to sales because sales drive the business.
But sales alone aren’t enough.
You also need to understand where your leads are coming from, know which marketing efforts are working, recruit the people needed for growth, and make sure every employee has a clear role.
And then there’s another critical consideration:
Overhead.
Kelly describes her companies as running “lean and mean.”
Before hiring another person, her team asks whether technology can handle the task.
If technology can solve the problem effectively, use it.
If a human is needed, make sure that person has a clearly defined role and responsibilities.
The result is an organization designed to protect profitability while continuing to grow.
Where Does AI Fit Into a Contracting Business?
AI isn’t necessarily about replacing your entire team.
In Kelly’s companies, it’s being used to augment people and improve visibility.
Some of the applications discussed during the podcast include:
- Listening to customer service calls
- Coaching CSRs
- Reviewing sales calls
- Customer-service call overflow
- Outbound campaigns
- Drip campaigns
- Sales-process improvement
- Dispatching decisions
- Matching technicians and salespeople to opportunities
One particularly interesting example is using AI to monitor sales calls.
Think about a traditional ride-along.
An owner notices that one salesperson isn’t performing well, so they spend a day riding with them.
Naturally, the salesperson may perform better when the owner is watching.
But what happens the next day?
The owner can’t ride along with everyone.
AI can provide another layer of visibility by helping owners and managers review interactions without physically being there.
That’s one of the more practical applications of AI for a growing contracting business.
Phantom Stock: How to Get Employees Invested in the Exit
Another fascinating part of the conversation is Kelly’s explanation of phantom stock.
Rather than giving employees traditional ownership shares, phantom stock can give qualifying employees a percentage of the proceeds from a future sale if specific conditions are met.
Kelly explains that the arrangement can be included in an employee’s offer letter.
For example, an employee might receive a specified percentage of the proceeds from the sale if they:
- Remain with the company until the exit
- Meet the requirements associated with their role
- Remain employed during the specified period
The percentages can vary depending on the employee and role.
The underlying idea is powerful:
Give your team a reason to care about the long-term value of the company.
Instead of employees simply working for today’s paycheck, they can have a financial reason to help build tomorrow’s company.
Kelly describes it as everyone running toward the same finish line.
And in her team’s case, that finish line is the eventual exit.
The 3 Priorities for Contractors Who Want to Build to Sell
If you’re running a smaller contracting business and thinking about what the next three to five years should look like, Kelly boils the strategy down to three major priorities.
1. Recruiting
You need people who can eventually take over responsibilities that currently sit with the owner.
That means recruiting before you’re desperate and building a team capable of supporting future growth.
The objective isn’t simply to fill today’s open positions.
It’s to build the organization you’ll need tomorrow.
2. Marketing
You can’t scale intelligently if you don’t know which marketing efforts are producing results.
Track your marketing.
Understand your numbers.
Know where your opportunities are coming from.
Then make decisions based on what’s actually working.
3. Technology
Your technology stack should support growth rather than create more complexity.
The goal is to build systems that can operate consistently, provide useful reporting, and continue working even when the owner isn’t involved.
Put these three together and you start creating something much more valuable:
A business that doesn’t require the owner to be involved in every decision.
Is Your Contracting Business Ready to Sell?
Here’s a simple way to evaluate where you are today.
Ask yourself:
- Can my company operate if I’m unavailable for 30 days?
- Do I have a sales team, or am I still the primary salesperson?
- Are our key processes documented?
- Do employees have clearly defined roles?
- Do I know which marketing channels are actually producing?
- Are we continuously recruiting?
- Does our technology support the way we operate?
- Do we have strong customer reviews?
- Can our business continue growing without adding unnecessary overhead?
- Am I spending more time working on the business than in it?
If you answered “no” to several of these questions, that’s not necessarily bad.
It simply tells you where your biggest opportunities may be.
Private Equity Doesn’t Want to Buy a Headache
One of Kelly’s most important points is that buyers don’t want to purchase a business that creates more problems than it’s worth.
They want something that already works.
They want:
People who know what they’re doing.
Systems that are documented.
Technology that supports operations.
Marketing that can be measured.
Sales teams that can produce.
Customers who are happy.
And an owner who isn’t required to keep the entire thing together.
As Kelly explained, the business needs to be a “well-oiled machine.”
That’s what makes it valuable.
Building to Sell Can Make Your Business Better Even If You Never Sell
Here’s the interesting part.
You don’t necessarily need to sell your company for the strategy to be worthwhile.
Imagine building a contracting business where:
- Your sales team can sell without you
- Your employees understand their responsibilities
- Your processes are documented
- Your marketing is measurable
- Your technology supports the operation
- Your team is continuously developed
- Your customers are happy
- Your company can operate while you’re away
Would that be a better business?
Absolutely.
Even if you never accept an offer from private equity.
That’s why “build to sell” is really about something bigger:
Build a business that doesn’t own you.
Because the ultimate goal isn’t simply to create a bigger company.
It’s to create a company that creates value without requiring you to sacrifice your time, freedom, and sanity to keep it running.
Your Business Shouldn’t Depend on You for Everything
For many contractors, growth creates an unexpected problem.
The company gets bigger.
Revenue increases.
The team grows.
But the owner becomes busier than ever.
That’s not the kind of growth most business owners want.
If your company can’t function without you, you’ve built a job.
If your company can operate, grow, and create value without you being involved in every decision, you’ve built an asset.
And that’s the difference Kelly’s approach is designed to create.
🎙️ Watch the Full Podcast With Kelly Mesaris
Want to hear Kelly explain how contractors can build businesses that are more scalable, profitable, and attractive to buyers?
The full Business Success Tips episode goes deeper into:
Private equity → Sales → Recruiting → AI → Technology → EBITDA → Phantom Stock → Building to Sell
Watch the Full Episode on YouTube
About Kelly Mesaris
Kelly Mesaris is part of the Build Sell It team, which applies the operating playbook used across LB Capital’s trades businesses to help contractors build more scalable companies.
Her work focuses on areas including sales, recruiting, marketing, technology, operations, and building businesses with a potential exit in mind.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you build a contracting business to sell?
Start by reducing the company’s dependence on the owner. Build a strong sales team, document your processes, develop scalable technology, track marketing performance, recruit continuously, and create clearly defined roles throughout the organization.
What does private equity look for in a contracting business?
According to Kelly Mesaris, private equity looks at areas including the sales team, SOPs, branding, customer reviews, and the company’s technology stack.
How can I make my contracting business more valuable?
Focus on profitable and consistent sales, measurable marketing, efficient operations, strong recruiting, documented systems, technology, and reducing the owner’s role in day-to-day operations.
What is phantom stock?
Phantom stock is an incentive arrangement that can give qualifying employees a percentage of proceeds from a future business sale without giving them traditional ownership shares. The specific terms and conditions depend on how the arrangement is structured.
How can AI help contractors?
The episode discusses AI applications including customer-service call monitoring, sales-call analysis, coaching, customer-service overflow, outbound campaigns, drip campaigns, and dispatching decisions.
Should contractors hire someone to replace themselves?
Kelly recommends thinking about hiring people who can replace the owner’s day-to-day responsibilities, particularly in sales. This creates more time for the owner to work on growth rather than remaining trapped in daily operations.
Build the Team Your Business Needs to Grow
You can’t build a scalable contracting company alone.
The right people can give you the capacity to step out of the day-to-day, focus on growth, and build a business that creates value beyond your personal involvement.
At Contractor Staffing Source, we help contractors build winning teams so they can spend less time worrying about hiring and more time building the business.
LEARN HOW CONTRACTOR STAFFING SOURCE CAN HELP YOU BUILD A WINNING TEAM
