Automated Prospecting for M&A: Source Trade and Construction Businesses Worth Buying
Every roll-up starts the same way: a thesis on a whiteboard and a spreadsheet of company names pulled from a directory. Then the slow part begins. Half the names are dormant, a third have no owner you can find, and the ones worth calling have already heard from three other buyers. Builtie shortens that part. Its method is the one it runs for trade contractors every day: monitor the signals, qualify against a profile, identify the decision maker, reach them. For M&A the profile is your thesis and the database is construction companies rather than projects: which firms of a given trade, size and geography are actually active, growing or slowing, and who owns them.
The same four steps, whether the buyer is a builder, a designer, an owner or a company you want to acquire.
Who this is for
- Roll-up platforms and private equity consolidating HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, landscaping or other trades, and the business development teams that feed them.
- Strategic acquirers: a contractor buying a competitor or a complementary trade to add territory or a service line.
- Search funds and independent sponsors looking for an owner-operated trade business with a real book of work.
- Business brokers and M&A advisors sourcing sell-side mandates from owners who have not listed with anyone yet.
Four deal types, four screens
The same database, read four ways. Pick the one closest to your mandate.
Platform acquisition
Thesis. A trade business large enough to become the anchor of a roll-up: management depth, a real book of repeat builder relationships, room to bolt others on.
Screen on. Employee count in the upper band for the trade, steady or rising permit and project volume over the last year, active hiring for lead roles, a company page that posts consistently, association membership or board roles.
Reach. The president or owner, and the operations lead under them. The first message references the projects Builtie can see them on, not a generic "we buy companies".
Tuck-in
Thesis. A smaller shop in the same trade that adds crews, a neighbouring territory, or a builder list you do not have.
Screen on. Trade match, a territory adjacent to yours, a small but active project footprint, and overlap with the builders you already serve so integration is a hand-off, not a rebuild.
Reach. The owner directly. Tuck-in owners rarely have a corporate development contact; they have a phone and an inbox, and Builtie finds both where they can be verified.
Succession
Thesis. An established owner-operator with a strong book and no obvious successor, where a fair offer beats a slow wind-down.
Screen on. Long, steady project history, a stable crew, little recent hiring, no growth marketing, and a company whose public presence is the owner's own name and reputation.
Reach. Patiently, and only the owner. Succession conversations are personal; the message is about their legacy and their people, and it never arrives from a mailbox they cannot reply to.
Distressed or opportunistic
Thesis. A company whose activity is slowing, where a tuck-in of the crews and the customer list may be available on good terms.
Screen on. Falling permit volume against a strong prior year, roles posted then withdrawn, posting gone quiet, and ad spend switched off.
Reach. With care. Activity signals are proxies, not a diagnosis; the message asks about their year rather than assuming it.
What a company record holds
In Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the founding market, Builtie holds 70,167 construction companies tied to over 225,000 permit records, with identified decision makers on more than 19,000 of them. Open any record and this is what you screen on. Click a card for the fields.
Trade and type
Builder or developer, general contractor, architect, designer, engineer, landscape, or trade, with the credited trades read from completed work. The first filter for any thesis.
Territory
Address and city, plus the geography of the projects the company has actually appeared on, which is often wider than the address suggests.
Size signals
Employee count from the company's professional network profile, review volume and rating. Proxies for scale, not a headcount audit.
Activity over time
How many permits and projects the company has been attached to, and whether that volume is rising or falling. The single most useful column, because a directory cannot show it.
Marketing and hiring
Whether the company is running paid advertising and for how long, whether it is hiring and for which roles, and how often it posts. Growth intent, visible from outside.
The people
The owner, principal or president and the operators under them, with title, email, phone and LinkedIn where they can be verified. Anything unverified is labelled, never guessed.
Directories list every registered business, dormant ones included. Activity is what separates a target from a listing.
Build a thesis
Screen on activity, not on a directory
Directories list every registered business, including the dormant ones. Builtie ranks companies by what they are actually doing. Weight the signals the way your thesis does and watch the order change. The companies below are illustrative, not real; your live list ranks real ones.
| # | Company | Fit |
|---|
Move a slider and the ranking re-sorts. A platform thesis weights size and activity; a succession thesis weights steady activity and low marketing; a distressed thesis inverts the trend.
The method, applied to acquisitions
Six steps from thesis to first call
Outreach an owner will actually answer
An owner considering a sale is deciding whether to trust a person. Every message Builtie sends carries your name and comes from your own LinkedIn account and mailbox. It references the business as Builtie sees it: the projects, the territory, the crew. And it stops the moment the owner replies, so no follow-up ever ignores an answer.
Bring your own list
Already have a target list from a broker, an association or your own research? Upload it. Builtie enriches each company in a cheapest-first waterfall and writes a value only when it can be traced to something actually found, so a list of a few hundred names becomes the short list that is active and reachable.
Each rung is cheaper and higher-yield than the one below it. Nothing is written that cannot be traced to a source.
Directory, broker list or Builtie
| Industry directory | Broker mandate list | Builtie | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who is on it | Every registered business, dormant included | Owners who already decided to sell | Companies attached to real projects in your trade and territory |
| Activity signal | None | Whatever the memo says | Permit and project volume over time, hiring, ads, posting |
| Owner contact | A main line | Through the broker | Named owner with email, phone and LinkedIn where verified |
| Competition for the deal | Everyone with the same directory | Every buyer the broker emailed | You, before the owner is on the market |
| Outreach | You, by hand | Not applicable | Sequences under your name, stopping on reply |
| Financials | None | In the memo | None; diligence is yours |
What Builtie does not do
It holds no financial statements, revenue figures or valuations. Activity signals are proxies for scale and momentum, not a substitute for diligence. It uses no private data. And it sends nothing anonymously: every message carries your name, because the person on the other end is deciding whether to trust you.
Where it works
Across North America, in the United States and Canada. Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is the founding market and carries the deepest company, permit and decision-maker data. Depth in other cities depends on what each municipality publishes, so ask for a live screen of your target territory before you decide.
Plans
M&A teams are set up on a Custom plan built around the thesis: the company universe, the territories, the number of seats and the list-enrichment volume. Sourcing, outreach and reporting can be run by Builtie's team rather than yours on the same plan — see Done-For-You, from CAD $1,500 a month. Book a discovery call to scope it, or see the standard plans for how the platform is priced for trades.
Frequently asked questions
What does Builtie know about a construction company?
Its trade and type, location, employee count from its professional network profile, review volume and rating, the permits and projects it has been attached to over time, whether it is hiring, whether it is running paid advertising, its recent posting activity, and the owner and operators with contact details where they can be verified.
Can Builtie tell me a company's revenue or valuation?
No. Builtie holds no financial statements or valuations. Activity signals such as project volume, hiring and employee count are proxies for scale and momentum that decide who to approach; diligence still happens after the conversation starts.
How is this different from buying a list from a directory?
A directory lists every registered business and cannot tell you which are active. Builtie ranks companies by what they are actually doing, permits and projects over time, hiring, ads and posting, and attaches the owner. The dormant names drop out before you spend an hour on them.
Can I upload my own target list?
Yes. Custom-plan customers upload a list of companies or people and Builtie returns website, phone, the owner and operators with email and LinkedIn where they can be verified, and the projects each company is attached to.
How does outreach to owners work?
Personalized LinkedIn and email sequences sent under your own name from your own connected accounts, referencing what you know about the business. Replies are classified by intent and land in your inbox and Action Plan; automation on a thread stops as soon as a person replies.
Which trades and company types can I screen?
Any trade or company type in the database: builders and developers, general contractors, architects, designers, engineers, landscape firms and every trade from HVAC and plumbing to roofing, electrical, flooring and cabinetry, filtered by territory and size band.
Is the outreach discreet?
Every message is a personal note from a named person at your firm, sent from your own accounts, to an owner you have a specific reason to contact. Nothing is broadcast and nothing is anonymous.
Is Builtie only for Toronto?
No. Builtie is available across North America. Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is the founding market with the deepest data; depth in other markets depends on what each municipality publishes, so ask for a live screen of your target territory.