Results
What changed, and what it was worth.
Two businesses. Both depended on the person who built them. Here is what changed and what it did to the value. The how stays inside the work.
Client names are withheld. Esther works under strict confidentiality.
Case study 01 · Turnaround
From deficit to exit in 10 months: a Calgary siding contractor.
The situation
A residential siding contractor that had never done more than $250,000 in a year, and most years under $200,000. It went into the November off-season $300,000 in the hole. The founder was the business: his name, his face, his cell number, his labour. Pricing didn’t reflect the true cost of the work, business and personal money were mixed, and a spouse’s paycheque quietly covered the gap. The company’s own CPA valued it at $30,000.
The move
Esther acquired 100% of the company and took over operations, keeping the founder on a guaranteed monthly draw.
What changed
- The numbers came first. A true monthly break-even of $60,000 was established before anything else changed. Every decision after that was measured against it.
- The founder stopped being the business. Sales, quoting, and client contact no longer depended on one person.
- Cash flow was restructured. Projects were funded before work began, and crews were paid on a schedule that kept them fast and loyal.
- The work mix changed. The company stopped taking jobs that couldn’t reach break-even and started winning larger contracts.
- The books were rebuilt to S2Q standard, recovering thousands in unclaimed credits from CRA.
The result
- $790,000 collected in under eight months, counting only cash actually received. That’s more than three times the company’s best-ever year.
- $500,000 in contracted work scheduled, with deposits in hand.
- Net margin went from nothing to 15%, on track for 25%.
- Valued at more than $350,000 by the same CPA at the September sale, up from $30,000 ten months earlier.
The lesson
The trucks, the materials, and the installs weren’t where the value came from. The system was. Once it left, so did the results. That’s the blind spot for most owner-operators: they can see the work, but not the machine behind it. S2Q builds that machine so the enterprise value transfers.
Case study 02 · Exit
From a $120,000 asking price to a protected exit: a custom window company.
The situation
A custom window and framing business that had peaked at $2 million in revenue, run almost entirely by its founder. He did the design, the client relationships, and the operations, with helpers and installers brought in as needed. He was working 12-hour days and was burned out. He wanted out, but he was the business. The only buyer he could see was an installer he had trained, so he offered to sell to him for $120,000.
The real risk
His clients were loyal to him. He believed that without him the business would fall apart and his clients would be let down. His personal goodwill was the business, and personal goodwill doesn’t transfer.
What changed
- The founder’s knowledge was captured and systemized. His design and delivery method became a documented system someone else could run without his supervision.
- The founder was pulled out of operations within one week. His days went from 12 hours to 3.
- Client relationships were made portable. Existing clients kept getting his standard of work without him on site.
- The business was valued on what it was without its owner, including a full waitlist of scheduled clients. Fair market value came in close to $500,000, about four times his asking price.
- The deal was structured to protect the founder. He kept ownership of his method and his client book until he was paid in full.
The result
- Sold for well above the original $120,000 asking price, with the business itself funding the buyout.
- Transition completed in under a month.
- The founder kept his method as intellectual property. The new owner runs the business under licence. The founder is free to license the same method to others, giving him a future income stream on top of the sale.
- Clients stayed served, and the buyer took over a business designed to run without its founder.
The lesson
The founder believed nobody could pay what his business was worth, because nobody could be him. He was right that nobody could replace him. He was wrong that anyone needed to. Once the system carried the work, the value belonged to the business, and the method became an asset he could sell more than once.
Read the book?
Tell us what it changed.
If the book helped you, a few honest lines or a short video to camera helps the next owner. Write the true one, not the perfect one.