Infrastructure & Utilities M&A
Thinking about selling your infrastructure services company?
Utility work runs on qualified crews, well-kept equipment, safety records, and long customer relationships, and buyers study all of them. We help owners of power line, water and sewer, and fiber contractors understand what buyers pay for, and run a confidential sale when the time is right.
- Water and sewer line and power and communication line construction establishments
- 17,953[1]
- 2023, employing about 459,000 people (computed sum of two industries)
- Of those establishments have fewer than 10 employees
- 63%[1]
- 11,261 of 17,953 in 2023 (computed); counts are establishments, not companies
- Water supply, sewage, and waste disposal construction put in place, 2025
- $89.8 billion[2]
- Combined, computed from two Census series; up from $57.3 billion in 2022, about 96% public
- Utility system construction jobs, August 2026
- 641,000[4]
- Seasonally adjusted, preliminary; up about 3% from August 2025 (computed)
The infrastructure contracting market in brief
Most infrastructure contracting establishments are small. Census counted 10,841 water and sewer line construction establishments and 7,112 power and communication line establishments, which include fiber and underground cable work, in 2023, and 63% of them had fewer than 10 employees (computed). Most are owned by S corporations: 61.5% of the water and sewer establishments and 53.6% of the power and communication line establishments (computed), which shapes how a sale is structured and taxed.[1]
Public spending on water systems has grown. Census puts water supply construction at $36.2 billion and sewage and waste disposal construction at $53.6 billion in 2025, a combined $89.8 billion, up from $57.3 billion in 2022, and about 96% of it public (computed). EPA says the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act delivered more than $50 billion to EPA for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.[2],[3]
The work depends on skilled crews. BLS counts about 641,000 jobs in utility system construction as of August 2026, about 3% more than a year earlier (computed). It estimated 131,070 electrical power-line installers and repairers in May 2025, with a median annual wage of $95,320 across all industries, and 38,990 of them worked for utility system contractors.[4],[5]
Buyers look closely at how much of a contractor’s work repeats under master service agreements with utilities, carriers, and municipalities, and how much is won one bid at a time.
What buyers pay for in an infrastructure services company
Earnings matter, but buyers look hard at how predictable the work is and who performs it.
Master service agreements
Multi-year agreements with utilities, telecom carriers, and municipalities bring repeat work at agreed unit prices. Buyers generally value that recurring base above one-time projects.
Qualified crews and foremen
Line workers, operators, and foremen who are trained, qualified, and stay with the company are hard to replace. Retention and training records matter to a buyer.
Safety record and written programs
A low incident rate, a strong experience modification rate, and written programs for trench protection and energized work keep a contractor on approved vendor lists.
A well-kept fleet
Bucket trucks, excavators, vacuum excavators, and directional drilling rigs with documented maintenance reduce the capital spending a buyer has to plan for.
Customer and service mix
Work spread across power, water and sewer, and fiber, and across several customers, protects revenue when one program slows.
Bonding capacity
Surety support for public water and sewer work lets a buyer keep bidding the projects the company already wins.
What gets discounted when you sell an infrastructure services company
Buyers price these risks into the number or into the deal structure.
One utility or carrier as the main customer
A single customer’s budget, program change, or vendor consolidation can cut the work quickly.
Storm work as a large share of earnings
Emergency restoration can make a strong year, but buyers usually treat it as hard to repeat.
Thin-margin bid work
Low-bid public projects with little room for error are weighed more cautiously than negotiated or MSA work.
Safety incidents
Serious incidents or citations draw close review and can cost approved vendor status.
Owner-held relationships
If the owner holds every utility and municipal relationship, a buyer has to plan for those leaving.
Deferred fleet spending
Trucks and rigs run past their useful life show up as capital spending in the buyer’s model.
Who buys infrastructure services companies
Each type of buyer values the customer agreements, crews, and equipment differently. Reaching more than one is generally how an owner learns what the company is worth.
National and regional specialty contractors
Larger utility contractors adding territory, customers, or service lines such as fiber or water.
Looks for: Master service agreements, qualified crews, and customers in markets they want.
Private equity backed platforms
Investment firms building utility and infrastructure services businesses through a first acquisition and add-ons.
Looks for: Recurring work, a strong safety record, and a team that stays.
Engineering and construction firms
Firms adding self-performed field crews to the design and construction work they already sell.
Looks for: Crews and equipment that fit their customers and regions.
Infrastructure contractor due diligence: what to prepare
These are the records buyers ask for first. Owners who gather them before going to market generally move faster and face fewer late surprises.
| Record | What buyers expect to see |
|---|---|
| Customer agreements | Master service agreements and unit price contracts, with terms and renewal history. |
| Backlog | Awarded and expected work by customer and service line. |
| Revenue by customer and service line | Several years of revenue split by customer, by power, water and sewer, and fiber work, and by storm versus regular work. |
| Safety records | OSHA logs, the experience modification rate, and records of the trench protective systems and competent-person inspections that OSHA’s excavation rules require. |
| Training and qualification records | Training and qualification records for crews who work on or near energized lines. |
| Equipment and bonding | Every major unit with age, hours, and liens, plus the surety program and current bonding capacity. |
Questions owners ask about selling an infrastructure services company
How is an infrastructure services company valued?
Value generally depends on earnings and how dependable they are: master service agreements, customer mix, qualified crews, safety record, and fleet condition. Two contractors with similar revenue can be valued very differently once a buyer separates recurring MSA work from storm work and one-time bids. A review of several years of results is usually the starting point.
Do buyers value MSA work differently from bid work?
Often, yes. Work under master service agreements repeats at agreed unit prices and tends to continue as long as the contractor performs, so buyers generally treat it as more dependable than projects won one bid at a time. A clear history of renewals and expanding scopes with the same customers helps a buyer underwrite that revenue.
How does storm work affect the value of my company?
Storm and emergency restoration work can raise earnings sharply in an active year, but its timing is outside anyone’s control. Buyers typically look at results with and without storm revenue and weigh the recurring base more heavily. Showing storm work separately in the financial statements makes that review faster and avoids surprises late in the process.
How do safety records affect a sale?
Utilities and carriers screen contractors on safety, so a strong record keeps the company eligible for the work a buyer is counting on. Buyers review OSHA logs, the experience modification rate, incident history, and written programs for trench protection and energized work. Serious incidents can delay a sale or shift risk to the seller through the deal terms.
Who buys utility contractors?
Buyers typically include national and regional specialty contractors adding territory or service lines, private equity backed platforms building infrastructure services businesses, and engineering and construction firms adding field crews. Each values the customer agreements, crews, and equipment differently, so a sale process that reaches more than one type of buyer generally shows what the company is worth.
How long does it take to sell an infrastructure services company?
A prepared sale process commonly runs several months from launch to closing. Customer agreement review, fleet records, and safety history tend to take the longest in diligence, along with any customer consents a contract requires. Owners who organize these records before going to market generally move faster and face fewer surprises late in the process.
Related reading
- Infrastructure M&A advisory
More on selling an infrastructure company.
- Construction M&A
General contractors, heavy civil, and specialty trades.
- Paving & Asphalt M&A
Road, highway, and site paving contractors.
- Equipment Rental M&A
Construction, heavy, and specialty equipment rental.
Sources
- [1] U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns: 2023, NAICS 237110 and 237130 Utility System Construction, 2025 release (2023 data). View source
- [2] U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Value of Construction Put in Place, 2022 to 2025, July 2026 annual revision. View source
- [3] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Water Infrastructure Investments, Updated July 8, 2026. View source
- [4] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics: Utility System Construction (CES2023710001), August 2026 data, preliminary. View source
- [5] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Profile: Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers (49-9051), May 2025 estimates. View source