After the close, in ten pictures

You bought a platform company in one trade and plan to add more. Here is how the work after close goes: where the hours and the margin are, what to do first, and where it gets expensive.

  1. 1 The Monday after close

    Each of these companies ran fine on its own for years. The work is joining them up while the people who know how each one runs are still there.

    Hand-drawn picture titled "the Monday after close": you bought an HVAC platform and three add-ons. Four storefronts, the platform and add-ons 1 to 3, each with its own pricebook, field app and ad account. The founder stands beside them saying "I price the big jobs." A box of years of job history that nobody has exported is marked "export it first." Green arrows bring everything into one pricebook, one copy of the records and one dashboard. A check mark: add-on two takes less time than add-on one. Takeaway: the margin gets made after close.

  2. 2 Where the office's hours go

    You get these hours by sitting with the office for a week and timing the work. The company's software won't show them.

    Hand-drawn bar chart titled "where the office's hours go", one HVAC add-on, one month, example numbers, not a client. Let the computer do it: scheduling techs 180 hours, sending invoices 200 hours, chasing late payments 75 hours. Computer drafts, a person checks: writing quotes 180 hours, booking new jobs 120 hours. Keep a person: pricing big jobs 60 hours, customer complaints 40 hours. Takeaway: start where the hours pile up.

  3. 3 The order matters

    Skipping to step four usually means buying one tool for every company. Without the notes from step one and the records from step two, that tool copies each company's old mistakes.

    Hand-drawn staircase titled "the order matters" with four steps: 1, write down how the work really gets done; 2, get your own copy of the records; 3, prove it at one company first; 4, copy it to the next add-on. A red arrow jumps from the start straight to step 4, labeled "most plans start here. that's the expensive way." Takeaway: do it in this order.

  4. 4 Where it gets expensive

    None of these show up in the first month. They show up at add-on two, when you try to do it again and nobody can say how it was done the first time.

    Hand-drawn road titled "where it gets expensive", the road from close to add-on two, with five potholes. 1: you automate work nobody wrote down, so the new system copies the old mistakes. 2: a software vendor holds your job records, so you pay to get your own records back. 3: the founder leaves and nobody knows how he priced jobs, so margins drop. 4: techs stop using the new app in the field, so you paid for software nobody uses. 5: you compare results to your best months, so a project that worked looks like it failed. Takeaway: each pothole is cheap to fix early and expensive to fix late.

  5. 5 Get what the founder knows written down

    Start in the first 90 days, while the earnout gives him a reason to help. Every rule he approves stays with the company after he leaves.

    Hand-drawn loop titled "get what the founder knows written down": sit with the founder on 5 real jobs; write down why each price is what it is; someone else prices the next 5 from the notes; the founder marks what's wrong; each fix becomes a rule; the computer drafts quotes and the founder approves; then back to the start. A red note warns: wait until the earnout ends, and it leaves with him. Takeaway: every fix becomes a rule the next estimator can use.

  6. 6 How we work together

    Start with a working session. You're interviewing us: we show you where the problems are, how we'd fix them and what it's worth against your own numbers. Then half up front, half when the first piece is delivered. Cancel anytime, no penalty. Nothing about your deal or your company leaves our team.

    Hand-drawn staircase titled "how we work together" with three steps. Step 1, a confidential assessment: one day of our work, one hour of yours, on a deal you're working on or just closed; you get a plan for one specific fix, like combining invoicing or the CRMs; $1,000, counted toward the project. Step 2, one project, fixed price: a set time and a set price, the assessment fee counts toward it, and we prove it works on your company. Step 3, your AI-native partner: we run the whole plan going forward, add-on by add-on. Takeaway: start small, prove it, then scale it.

  7. 7 The math (example)

    Example numbers, not a client result. Most of the gap is office work and how jobs get priced. Those are the first places we look on your company.

    Hand-drawn stacks of coins titled "the math (example)", example numbers, not a client result, all on the same customers and the same $10M of revenue. Before: 10% profit margin, $1.0M profit, worth $6M at 6x. Systems combined: 14% margin, $1.4M profit, worth $8.4M at 6x, with a red note: most buyers stop here. AI-native: 40% margin, $4.0M profit, worth $24M at 6x. A list of where it comes from: office work cut in half by the computer; every job priced the same, right way; less overtime and less driving between jobs. Takeaway: same customers, four times the value.

  8. 8 The weekly check-up

    Every company reports the same five numbers every Monday, so you can compare add-ons side by side. If key people start leaving, a better margin won't last.

    Hand-drawn dashboard titled "the weekly check-up" with five gauges: profit per job, how fast quotes go out, days from job done to invoice, records you own a copy of, and key people still here. Takeaway: watch your people as closely as your margin.

  9. 9 The crew runs the back office by text

    Your techs already text all day, so there's no new app for them to learn. The invoice comes from your own price list, and a person in the office still approves every one.

    Hand-drawn picture titled "the crew runs the back office by text", one HVAC add-on, one water heater job, example numbers and times, not a client. Four steps: the tech texts the job from the driveway ("invoice Johnson, swapped the gas valve on the water heater, 1.5 hrs") at 2:14 pm; we draft the invoice from your price list at 2:14 pm: gas valve $185.00, labor 1.5 hours at $150 an hour $225.00, trip charge $70.00, tax on the part $14.34, total $494.34; the office checks it and taps yes at 2:15 pm; the customer pays from the text at 2:31 pm. A red note: without it, the job sheet rides in the truck for days before anyone bills it. Takeaway: days to invoice, now minutes.

  10. 10 Work you can check

    Names are removed. Here is the four-company read, start to finish.

    Read the sample PDF, 4 pages

    Hand-drawn cards titled "work you can check". A sports-training franchise: reports that took days now take minutes, and the CEO asks questions in plain English. A pump maker: picking the right pump from its own spec sheets, done by computer. A group of four companies: read from the outside, using public info only. Your deal next: book a call for a confidential assessment of a deal you're working on or just closed. Takeaway: we built these, and you can look at each one.

Each add-on gets easier than the last, because the notes, the records and the steps that worked carry over. Each one gets more profitable, because the margin work is already proven. That's the playbook.

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Or read the sample first

If there's a fit, the next step is a confidential assessment: one day of our work, one hour of yours, $1,000, counted toward the project.

Background on Kash, our founder, if you want it.