M&A & Diligence Support for Marine Service & Repair
A marine service shop runs on seasons, certifications, and one or two technicians who know where everything is. Diligence pokes all three, because a buyer needs to know the business survives after the season ends and the key tech goes fishing.
What diligence actually feels like
Under a letter of intent, the buyer's accountants and lawyers send request lists covering financials, tax, contracts, payroll, and certification and warranty records — wanted fast, organized, and consistent. For a seasonal business, they want to see the true annual run rate under the spring and fall spikes.
You're still turning wrenches and running the shop while this happens. These deals stall when the seasonality isn't normalized and the certifications and technician dependency aren't documented. A buyer reads unexplained swings and key-person risk as reasons to lower the number.
M&A support is the finance seat that runs the data room, defends the numbers in the buyer's language, and keeps the deal moving while you keep the shop running.
The marine-service deal-killers hiding in plain sight
Buyers focus on shop-specific risks. Is the seasonal revenue normalized to a defensible run rate? How dependent is the business on one master technician or the owner, and are there retention agreements? Do OEM service authorizations and technician certifications transfer to the new owner? Are warranty-work receivables and obligations documented? What about environmental handling of waste oil and fluids?
They'll expect schedules owners rarely keep ready: normalized run rate, recurring storage and service contracts, certification and OEM-authorization status, and technician concentration. Prepared, these show a transferable business. Missing, they show a seasonal shop that depends on one person.
We normalize the seasonality, document certifications and dependency, coordinate OEM and environmental items with your attorney, and have the answers ready — so diligence confirms a steady, transferable operation.
How Kaizen runs it
We build and manage the data room, normalize seasonal earnings to a run rate, defend recurring-versus-project revenue, respond to diligence requests, defend adjusted EBITDA and add-backs, model the working-capital peg, and coordinate with your attorney and banker so finance never stalls the deal. One point of contact owns every number the buyer questions.
We're named after continuous improvement, which in a marine-service deal mostly means turning a business that feels seasonal and personal into one that reads, on paper, as steady and transferable.
What's included
- Data room built and managed: financials, contracts, tax, payroll, warranty records
- Seasonal earnings normalized to a defensible run rate and defended in diligence
- Recurring storage/service contracts separated from project work
- Adjusted EBITDA and add-backs defended under buyer and QoE-firm questioning
- OEM service authorizations and technician certifications documented for transfer
- Technician/owner dependency assessed; retention agreements scheduled
- Working-capital peg modeled and the closing true-up negotiated
- Coordination with your M&A attorney and investment banker through close
Pricing
Straight answers
My revenue is wildly seasonal. Does that scare buyers off?
Seasonality itself doesn't — everyone in the space expects it. What worries a buyer is not being able to see the true annual run rate under the spikes. Normalizing it into a defensible run rate is what makes the earnings underwritable in diligence.
Do my OEM authorizations transfer when I sell?
Not automatically — many require the manufacturer's approval of the new owner, which takes time. We document the authorization and certification status early and coordinate with your attorney so continuity is planned rather than discovered at closing.
Can you help me acquire a marine service business?
Yes. Buy-side, we test the target's normalized run rate, technician dependency, and certifications, and coordinate OEM and environmental diligence — so you know what you're buying before you commit.
One tech does most of the specialized work. Deal problem?
It's key-person risk, and a buyer will price it. We quantify how concentrated the revenue is on that person and document what transfers, so it's a managed, priced reality — and so you can decide whether to cross-train before you sell.
Related
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