5.3.8.5Vertical

Plumbing & Piping Contracting

Licensed plumbing contractors serving commercial construction projects.

Market snapshot

These figures describe Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing (MEP) (5.3.8), the segment that Plumbing & Piping Contracting sits within. They are not figures for Plumbing & Piping Contracting on its own.

Market size
~$589B
Growth
~7.5%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~193,336 firms
Firms by employee count

89.6% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 173,222 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe20,114 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
17,19886%
100–499
2,39312%
500+
5233%

The deepest acquisition pool in construction (nearly 200,000 firms, nine in ten under twenty people) and the segment where roll-ups have concentrated, because service and retrofit work recurs against an installed base while new-build does not. Growth here outpaced general contracting, which is the aftermarket showing through.

NAICS 238210, 238220, 238290. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Installation contracts plus recurring service and replacement

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$3,047,945
Revenue per employee
$258,417
Employees per firm
11.7
Recurring revenue
Moderate

recurring service, maintenance, and retrofit

EBITDA margin
Service work higher-margin than install
Capex intensity
Moderate

Characteristics

  • Balanced cost base: payroll is 27% of revenue, leaving room to scale margin without cutting staff
  • Deep strategic-buyer pool: 523 firms exceed 500 employees, so a scaled asset has trade buyers
  • Largest specialty trade; the hottest PE roll-up corner.
  • Recurring service and replacement especially attractive.
  • Electrification and data centers structural tailwinds.

NAICS 238210, 238220, 238290. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

M&A deal context

Deal activityHigh

Who’s acquiring

  • PE-backed MEP & HVAC platforms
  • National service consolidators
  • Facilities & mechanical strategics

What’s driving deals

  • Aggressive roll-up of fragmented trades.
  • Recurring-service revenue and replacement cycles.
  • Electrification and efficiency-retrofit demand.

Find Plumbing & Piping Contracting acquisition targets

Search Acquisera’s index for companies classified under Plumbing & Piping Contracting (5.3.8.5) and build a targeted deal pipeline.

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