An acquisition-led rollout, one trade at a time. Year 1 establishes and proves Electric — The Verified System is built in the opening weeks while Steve is under contract (near-zero burn), the panel-upgrade hook gets the first truck rolling, and the ~$1.121M Stage-1 startup lands the first electrical firm. Year 2 acquires more electrical firms and starts Plumbing; Year 3 deepens Electric, acquires Plumbing, and starts HVAC; Year 4 adds Civil, the last trade. Deep in one trade, then the next — ~9 firms consolidated into ~57 trucks (~19 per trade). Every wave is gated: capital only moves as deals close and prior integrations prove out. This is the cadence, not a fixed calendar.
The Verified System — AI back office, JobTread, a standardized iPad / phone / network field kit, playbooks, business management, and the Verified estimation process — is built in the opening weeks while Steve is under contract, at near-zero burn, with an estimator on early (estimating is the trades' profit lever). Verified Electric runs the panel-upgrade hook (first crew, first wrapped used cargo van) sold with an outside customer-financing partner, and Construction (Icarus, reactivated) stands up as the licensed KB-1 GC carrying the firm's umbrella insurance policy. The prove phase is less than half a million (~$461k); the full ~$1.121M Stage-1 startup also lands the first electrical firm before any scale capital moves.
Capital · Stage-1 startup ~$1.121M · prove ~$461k + first firmWith the system proven and the first firm in, Verified acquires more electrical shops — moving each owner onto The Verified System, meshing their estimating into the standardized process, and buying them out (come onto our system, we buy you out). The fleet steps from 6 to ~17 trucks. In parallel, Plumbing stands up on its low-price sewer-scope + hydrojetting hook to get a truck rolling and the licensed entity in place — the bridge until the first plumbing firm is acquired.
Electric keeps consolidating toward its ~19-truck target while Verified acquires plumbing shops onto the system and buys them out. HVAC stands up on the clean-and-service tune-up hook — the highest-ticket in-home service in Phoenix — getting a truck rolling under its license until the first HVAC firm is acquired. Fleet reaches ~29 trucks.
Verified acquires HVAC shops onto the system while Electric and Plumbing deepen. Verified Civil — the final trade — activates under Steve's A engineering license on dig-and-replace jobs that Plumbing's sewer scope turns up plus site work off GC bids, then grows by acquiring civil contractors. All five divisions live; fleet reaches ~41 trucks.
With all five divisions running on one system, the focus is same-trade consolidation — buying owner-operators at ~4×, moving them onto The Verified System, and re-rating them at the platform multiple. Fleet reaches ~49 trucks on ~$30.4M revenue.
The platform reaches ~9 acquired firms consolidated into ~57 trucks (~19 per trade), ~$37M revenue and ~$4.5M EBITDA — a scaled, systematized, self-performing building firm with recurring service revenue. Exit optionality: sell the whole firm, carve by division, or keep operating.
Capital · final wave ~$1.0M equity · ~$10M total called