Fire Safety M&A — What the market looks like right now, and why I’m buying
The fire safety sector is quietly interesting right now. You’ve got a fragmented market — thousands of owner-managed businesses doing installation, maintenance, and compliance work — sitting underneath tightening regulation, a post-Grenfell enforcement environment that isn’t going away, and recurring revenue models that any acquirer should find attractive. The businesses that interest me most are the ones that have built genuine recurring contract bases, have solid compliance history, and are run by founders who’ve done the hard work but haven’t thought seriously about what comes next. I’m actively looking to acquire in this space. Not as a trade buyer, not as a financial engineer — as an operator. I’ve spent 25+ years running complex, compliance-heavy businesses and I know the difference between a business that looks good on paper and one that actually works. If you’re in fire safety, know someone who is, or have deal flow in this space — I’d welcome a conversation. What’s everyone else seeing in the compliance services space at the moment? Valuations, deal structures, seller expectations — curious where the room is on this.