In April, PitchBook posited that garage doors could be the next big PE roll-up opportunity. Come September, KKR agreed to buy a Phoenix garage door company for a SaaS-like multiple.
The PE manager is acquiring A1 Garage Door Service for approximately 20 times its EBITDA, according to a person familiar with the matter, an eye-opening multiple for an industry that few would describe as glamorous.
A1 Garage’s EBITDA has grown from $27 million in 2022 to about $100 million this year, two people told PitchBook, on the back of a string of add-on acquisitions.
In September, A1 acquired United Garage Doors, which sells and services garage doors in Delaware and the greater Philadelphia area.
KKR declined to comment.
News of KKR’s acquisition of A1 for about $2 billion was first reported by Reuters at the start of September.
There were 21 PE-backed acquisitions of garage door businesses so far this year, totaling $4.2 billion, according to PitchBook data through Sept. 28. The first nine-month deal value surpassed any year in the last decade, except for 2021’s $5.6 billion.
Berkshire Partners and General Atlantic are among the PE firms interested in buying garage door companies, the people said.
The majority of buyers in the industry are private equity-backed companies, with some traditional strategic buyers, such as regional operators, looking for small businesses, said Mike Dudek, a director at Third Coast Capital Advisors, a buy-side M&A advisor who works with PE-backed companies across service markets.
Though competition is creeping up, “there is still a good amount of runway left, and this industry is not at the level where HVAC is,” Dudek said.
The residential garage door services industry is highly fragmented, made up largely of mom-and-pop shops that generate less than $10 million in annual revenue. These businesses typically trade at a multiple of 2x to 6x EBITDA, market participants say.
This makes the sector well-suited to PE roll-up strategies, which can create operational synergies, boost purchasing power and generate procurement savings, according to Jared Stein, co-founder and partner of Monogram Capital Partners, which acquired a majority stake in Precision Door Tri-State, a franchisee of Precision Door Service, in 2024.
Scale matters in this market, Stein said. Customers will just call the next name on the list if a service provider cannot send someone in quickly.
Some PE-backed garage door businesses have grown to $20 million to $40 million in EBITDA in recent years. But few assets in the space match A1 Garage’s scale, industry sources said.
One exception is Guild Garage Group, which was acquired earlier this year by Oak Hill Capital for $800 million. The valuation implies an 18x EBITDA multiple.
Garage door repair and maintenance are considered essential home services that customers cannot put off purchasing. They also require a skilled technician to carry them out safely.
A1 Garage adds to KKR’s portfolio of home services companies, which contains Neighborly, a franchisor of home services brands that the manager snapped up in 2021, and Groundworks, a residential foundation repair and water management services provider KKR backed in 2023.
Latest Research
Consumer Retail & Services Report
Recent News
Why Wall Street wants to trade AI compute like oil
Conditions have been kind to PE returns. Why haven’t portfolios delivered?
Learn about our editorial standards.