A platform that acquires trade firms, runs them on one system, and consolidates them to sell.

Verified buys small trade firms, puts them on Verified's technology and business management — an AI back office, JobTread, a standardized field kit, and playbooks — and consolidates them into a sellable platform. We stand up and prove electric first, acquire electrical firms, then repeat the play in the next trade. Your capital is called in gated waves as deals close, and paid first through the waterfall.

This package is everything you need to evaluate a partnership in Verified before we meet. In one line: Verified is a platform that acquires trade firms, puts them on Verified's technology and business management — an AI back office, JobTread, a standardized iPad / phone / network field kit, and playbooks (The Verified System) — and consolidates them to sell. We build that system first, in the opening weeks while Steve is under contract at near-zero burn. A sharp, need-based hook — panel upgrades for Scottsdale's aging homes — just gets one truck on the road and stands up the licensed electrical entity as a bridge until the first firm is acquired. From there the sequence is establish and prove electric → acquire electrical firms → move to the next trade → repeat: deep in one trade, then the next (plumbing, HVAC, civil). You fund it; Steve runs all of it; your capital comes back first, with a preferred return, before Steve earns a dollar of upside.

~$10M

Equity deployed (of ~$10M committed) plus ~$6M acquisition debt / seller notes, called in gated waves as deals close

~2.8×

Acquisition-led return on your capital (~33% IRR): ~$10M in → ~$28M back

~$37M

Platform revenue at scale — 9 firms acquired → 57 service trucks (~19/trade), ~$4.5M EBITDA

~$47M

Firm value at exit (sum-of-the-parts, blended ~8.5×) → ~$40M equity

The plan, in three moves

Prove

Build The Verified System, then stand up and prove electric — less than half a million to prove it (~$461k). The full ~$1.121M lean startup also lands the first electrical firm.

Roll up

Deploy ~$10M equity + ~$6M acquisition debt in gated waves — acquire 9 firms onto the system → 57 trucks → a ~$37M platform. Deep in one trade, then the next.

Realize

Sell the consolidated platform at scale — ~$47M EV at a blended ~8.5× — carve it by trade, or keep operating for cash flow. Your choice, no forced sale.

Why this fits your capital

The return comes from a value engine, not heroics: multiple arbitrage — buy small trade shops at ~4× earnings, sell the consolidated platform at ~8.5× — compounded by scale, recurring service revenue, and leverage. Your exposure is limited by design: you risk only the ~$461k prove phase to prove the model before any scale capital moves, and after that equity is called in waves as deals close — each wave gated on prior integrations proving out, so a stall caps how much is ever committed. The waterfall pays you a 10% preferred return, then 55% of the profit before Steve's carry. Acquisitions are why this closes easily. A shop owner who joins gets a triple win: (1) The Verified System — AI, project management, and back office, roughly ~$250k+/yr of delivered value and the very tools they'd otherwise pay for, solving their "how do I keep up with AI and manage projects" problem, with whatever system they already run integrated into Verified's; (2) a real operator salary — they keep running their trade; and (3) a sure-thing buyout and exit. It's a soft landing that makes owners want to come onto the platform — which is what makes deals cheap and repeatable. This is costed and staged: purchase multiples, a funded M&A / integration team, deal costs, and ~$6M of acquisition debt / seller notes are all budgeted, and integration — the real risk — is de-risked by going deep in one trade first (electric) before opening the next. Leverage cuts both ways — the ~$6M of debt amplifies returns and risk alike, and we say so. And the firm is holdable — there's no forced sale.

The arc, in one line: less than half a million to prove it → ~$10M equity to roll it up → ~$28M back to you at ~2.8× (~33% IRR). David: ~$10M in → ~$28M out; Steve's carry ~$11.5M, earned only after you're made whole. The floor is the organic-only plan — if we prove the model but never acquire, the firm is still worth roughly ~$16M at ~1.8×. That downside stands on its own; the acquisition platform is the headline.

What's in this package — and where to start

This Executive Summary — the one-page orientation. (You're here.)
The Operator — who's running it, and why he's the right person to.
Business Plan — the full thesis: the sellable system, the acquisition play, the value engine, licensing, team, and the trade-by-trade roadmap.
Financial Model — interactive (also attached as a file): drag any assumption and watch the waterfall and your return recompute.
Capital Deployment Schedule — how your ~$10M commitment is called in waves (plus ~$6M acquisition debt / seller notes), each gated on prior integrations proving out.
Division Playbook — how each trade is established, proven, then built by acquisition onto the platform, with a worked example.
Term Sheet — the proposed partnership on one page: capital, the waterfall, and what each of us brings.
Structure & Process — how the entities fit together and how the business actually runs.
Governance & Control — your consent rights, the deadlock mechanics, and the transparency layer.
Key-Person Equity — how the operators are incentivized and retained (all carved from Steve's share, not yours).
90-Day Launch Plan — the concrete first-quarter play, step by step.
What Happens After We Shake Hands — the immediate action plan once you commit.
Division Rollout Brief — how the next trades (plumbing, then HVAC, then civil) are established and rolled up by acquisition once electric is proven and consolidated.
Anticipated Questions & Procedures — pre-answers to the questions you're likely to ask, each with the process behind it.
Startup Budget (separate spreadsheet) — the ~$1.121M lean-startup ask, line by line — system build, first crew, a minimal office, and the first acquisition — with the accounting treatment.

The ask

Review this before we meet. Two decisions unlock everything else: your capital commitment and the partnership structure, and locking the licensing/qualifying-party path. With those in hand, the sellable system gets built in the opening weeks, electric is in-market within a quarter, and the acquisition engine follows the proof. I've built this to be fair to both of us — your capital protected and paid first, and my upside earned only after you're made whole. This is the partnership I'm proposing, and I stand behind it as it's laid out.

Confidential — illustrative planning document. Prepared for discussion between Steve and David. All figures are estimates and assumptions for planning purposes only; they are not forecasts, guarantees of future results, or personalized investment, legal, or tax advice. Capital deployment, valuation, licensing, financing, and every definitive agreement must be confirmed with qualified Arizona counsel and a CPA before commitment. Prepared with Claude · The Lugo Team · Verified.