The objection sounds sophisticated.

"Otis, KONE, Schindler, and TK control the parts, the software, and the service contracts. An independent elevator company is renting time until the OEMs squeeze it out."

Here is what building owners actually experience: OEM service contracts with 3 to 5 year auto-renewing terms, 90-day cancellation windows, hour-long hold times, and callback response measured in days. Independents win accounts for one reason, and they win them constantly: they answer the phone and show up.

The company in this deal held 410 elevator units under maintenance contract with a 96% renewal rate, in a market where all four OEMs operate.

Six buyers passed at $6.2M. 24 months later the business produces $2.9M in EBITDA and would clear roughly $14M in a sale to the consolidators actively buying independents.

Business: Independent elevator maintenance, repair, and modernization company

Sale Price: $6.2M

Annual Revenue: $5.1M

EBITDA: $1,720,000 (33.7%)

Multiple: 3.60x EBITDA

Units under maintenance contract: 410

Contract renewal rate: 96%

Employees: 26, including 14 licensed elevator mechanics

Why six buyers passed:

Revenue breakdown:

Maintenance contracts (410 units × $9,800 average/year): $4,018,000

Repair and callback billing outside contract scope: $694,000

Modernization projects: $388,000

Total: $5,100,000 ✓

79% of revenue is contracted maintenance ✓ ($4,018,000 ÷ $5,100,000 = 78.8%), renewing at 96%, on units that state law requires to be inspected and maintained annually. An elevator without a maintenance contract cannot legally carry passengers. This is compliance revenue with a machine attached.

The parts monopoly myth, checked against the fleet:

Of the 410 contracted units, 74% were hydraulic or traction units older than 15 years, running on open-market parts with no proprietary lockout. The genuinely locked-down OEM-software units were 9% of the book, and the company subcontracted those diagnostics twice a year at a known cost already inside the margin.

The installed base of aging elevators in mid-rise buildings is enormous, growing, and precisely the segment OEMs deprioritize because it doesn't feed new-equipment sales.

Purchase Price: $6,200,000

Cash at close (10%): $620,000

Seller note (10%): $620,000 at 6.0%, 5 years

SBA 7(a) loan: $4,960,000 at 10.5%, 10 years

Debt service:

SBA monthly: $66,928

Seller note monthly: $11,986

Total monthly: $78,914

Annual debt service: $946,969 ✓

Cash flow after debt:

EBITDA: $1,720,000

Debt service: ($946,969)

Net cash flow: $773,031 ✓

DSCR: $1,720,000 ÷ $946,969 = 1.82x ✓

Cash-on-cash: $773,031 ÷ $620,000 = 124.7% ✓

Payback: 9.6 months ✓

Mechanic retention was structured before close: stay bonuses for all 14 licensed mechanics, funded by the seller from proceeds, vesting over 24 months. Zero departures in the first two years.

Months 1 to 6: Reprice legacy contracts

132 contracts hadn't been repriced in 5+ years. Renewal-cycle increases averaging 8% added roughly $310,000 of annual revenue. Cancellations attributed to pricing: 6 units of 410 (1.5%).

Months 4 to 16: Win the OEM's unhappy accounts

A single inside salesperson calling buildings within 30 days of their OEM cancellation window added 78 net new units under contract: 78 × $9,800 = $764,400 of new contracted revenue.

Months 10 to 24: Sell modernization into the base

The 15+ year fleet is a modernization pipeline the company already controls. Mod backlog grew from $388,000 to $1.3M annually, staffed by the apprentice pipeline built in year one.

Where it stands at month 24:

Revenue: $8.2M

EBITDA: $2,900,000 (35.4%)

Value at 4.8x (elevator services trade rich to consolidators): $13,920,000 ✓ ($2,900,000 × 4.8)

Six buyers repeated a monopoly story they'd read about OEMs. One buyer audited the actual fleet, found 74% of units running open-market parts, and bought $4M of legally mandated recurring revenue at 3.6x.

At The Continental, we test the scary narrative against the customer list. The narrative usually loses.

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Acquire Weekly | Giants build elevators. Independents get paid to keep them running.