For owners

If you are thinking about selling your Boise business

If you own a Boise business, here is how a sale to Swabian Acquisition works: a confidential conversation with Jeff Richardson, a written offer within a few weeks of seeing basic financials, decisions about your employees, your name, and your role made together, and a quick, professional closing within 90 days when both sides are ready.

Most owners sell a business once. It is normal to be nervous, and normal not to know the steps. This page walks through what happens, in the order it happens, and what you get to decide.

Will anyone find out I am talking to you?

Not from me. Here is how I handle confidentiality:

• The first conversation needs no documents, and no company name if you prefer. Describe the business in general terms.
• We sign a confidentiality agreement before I see your financials.
• I do not contact your employees, customers, vendors, or landlord until you say it is time.
• We can meet off-site, after hours, or by phone.
• I do not use your name or your numbers with anyone you have not approved. My accountant and attorney are held to the same rules.
• I do not tell anyone which businesses I am talking to. Not other owners, not advisors, not brokers.
• If we stop talking, I return or destroy what you gave me.

How long does this take?

You set the pace. If you need to wait until after your busy season, or after a family conversation, we wait. Ninety days is a target when both of us are ready. If you need it slower, it goes slower.

What happens to my employees?

Your people are most of what I am buying. In a service business, the trucks and the software are replaceable; the people who know the customers are not. Before we sign, we go through the team: who the key people are, what they have been told, what they have been promised, and how to keep them.

In the trades this matters twice over. In Idaho, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical contractor licenses belong to the person, not the company, and do not transfer with a sale [Idaho contractor licensing rules]. So we plan early for who holds the license after close, whether that is a key employee or you staying attached for a defined period.

I cannot promise any single person's future, and I will not pretend to. But keeping the team intact is the whole point of buying an established business instead of starting one, and the plan for your people goes in writing.

Does the company keep its name?

My default is yes. A name that has been on trucks, invoices, and referrals for years is worth keeping, and I have no brand of my own to push. I am not folding it into a regional brand. If you feel strongly either way, we talk about it early and put the answer in writing.

Who runs the business after close?

Not me, day to day. I am the owner. Who runs it is something we decide together, and the three usual routes are:

1. Your existing team, if someone is already effectively running it.
2. A manager we hire, before or shortly after close, with your input.
3. Someone you help choose, which sometimes means a long-time employee you have been meaning to promote.

Which route fits is one of the first things we talk about, because it decides how long you need to stay.

What is my role after the sale?

That is up to you as much as me. The usual options:

• A short handoff and a clean exit
• A defined transition, measured in months or a couple of years, agreed up front
• A part-time or advisory role with no operating duties
• Staying on in a role you actually enjoy, such as estimating or key accounts, while someone else runs the day to day
• Helping choose the person who runs the company, then stepping away

Whatever we pick goes in writing before close. What I will not do is promise something vague and let you find out later.

How and when do I get paid?

How much is paid at close and how much later, if any, is decided together, with your CPA at the table. I am flexible here in ways an industry buyer or a fund usually is not, and I would rather build a structure that fits your tax and retirement plans than force one on you. Bring your CPA and attorney in early. I will say the same thing the first time we talk.

What is my business worth?

Honest answer: it depends, and I will show my work. Nationally, businesses that sold for $500,000 to $2 million recently went for a median of about 2.8 to 3.0 times seller's discretionary earnings, which is roughly your profit plus your own pay and perks. Larger deals, from $2 million to $50 million, went for around 4.0 times EBITDA, which is profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization [IBBA Market Pulse Q1 2026]. Your number depends on your margins, your customers, your people, and how much of the business depends on you personally.

When I send you a written offer, it will explain how I got to the number, and you should have your CPA check it. Structure matters as much as the headline: how and when you are paid can change what you keep after tax.

What happens after close?

• Week one: nothing dramatic. Same people, same phones, same trucks. Customers hear from you and me together, on the schedule we set.
• The management plan we agreed on gets carried out: your team, the hire, or the successor you helped choose.
• Payroll runs on the same schedule, and customers should notice very little.
• I stay in the valley and stay reachable. If something we promised is not happening, you call me and I answer.

I expect you will want to know how your people are doing a year later. You will be welcome to ask.

What if I am not ready yet?

Call anyway. A year or two ahead is a good time to talk. You learn what a buyer will look at, you have time to clean up whatever needs cleaning, and you are not making decisions under pressure. You will not be pressured. If you take my call and decide this is not the year, that is a fine outcome and I will say so.

This offer does not expire. The page will still be here next year, and so will I. Call (208) 890-4649 or email jeffrey.richardson@swabian.co.