Chris Jones·September 5, 2023

How to Survive & Thrive After a Rocky Transition | Chris Jones Interview

Chris Jones, a finance professional who spent his career in mortgage and credit at a private bank in Miami, relocated his family to Charlotte, NC during COVID and spent roughly two years searching for a business before acquiring a foundation repair company in July 2022 for a price in the $2-4m range using an SBA loan through Live Oak Bank. The transition was deeply rocky: his key general manager — who felt betrayed that the sellers had implied he might one day buy the business — resigned eight days post-close and launched a competing company, sellers provided almost no real training, a post-closing WIP accounting dispute had to be resolved by attorneys, and seasonal sales collapsed in October 2022, leaving Chris burning cash to keep his crew employed through the winter. Despite having no construction background and coming from an analytical, white-collar environment, Chris rebuilt: he overhauled his marketing (SEO, new website, referral BD hire), restructured internal roles, replaced ineffective office staff, and earned the trust of his field crews who were far more welcoming than he had feared. By mid-2023, first-half revenue had already exceeded either of the prior two full years, and Chris is now actively exploring a second acquisition — likely a geographic tuck-in near Charleston or Wilmington — feeling that his hard-won industry knowledge would make him a far sharper buyer the second time around.

Deal facts

revenue: ~$6m (2023 run rate); H1 2023 sales better than prior two full years
financing structure: SBA loan (floating rate, Live Oak Bank) + personal equity; used HELOC to absorb home equity and avoid lien on house
notes: Business founded 2006; ~35 employees; search price range was $2-4m; closed July 12, 2022; required buyer to obtain general contractor's license in NC and SC; WIP/work-in-progress post-closing dispute with sellers; prior deal fell through before Chris's successful close

Why this business

Chris was industry-agnostic and geographically focused on the greater Charlotte area. He was drawn to foundation repair because it is not going away — the Carolinas have clay-heavy and sand-heavy soil that causes constant movement, so demand is persistent. He also saw private equity backing a roll-up competitor and viewed that as validating the space. The business was originally presented to him in 2019 and came back around when a prior buyer fell through, giving him a second shot at a deal he had already warmed to.

What's working

SEO and digital marketing improvements: new marketing company drove better organic rankings, moving from page 3 to higher Google placement
Restructured operations: promoted a sales manager to director of operations who had construction background and kept trains running on time after GM departure
Sales team overhaul: replaced an unwilling salesperson with someone who had field experience and wanted to sell
Referral network: Realtors, home inspectors, and structural engineers generate business roughly on par with Google leads; hired a business development manager to cultivate these relationships
Crew loyalty: all key crew leaders stayed through the rocky transition and have been welcoming and willing to teach the new owner
First-half 2023 revenue exceeded either of the prior two full years
New website launched to improve lead capture and user experience

What's hard

GM departure: the general manager — who Chris was counting on heavily — quit eight days after close, having secretly formed a competing LLC; he felt blindsided by the sale after sellers had informally implied he might one day buy the business
Sellers provided almost no meaningful transition support; visits devolved into socializing with staff rather than training Chris
Post-closing WIP dispute with sellers over work-in-progress accounting; vague APA language with no dollar amounts tied to WIP led to a significant disagreement resolved only by re-engaging attorneys
Accounting irregularities during diligence: QuickBooks numbers changed between reviews and a separate management reporting file with different figures appeared late in the data room
Sales fell off a cliff in October 2022 when the GM left, compounded by seasonality Chris had underestimated due to a large post-COVID backlog masking winter slowdowns during diligence
Labor is extremely difficult to recruit: crawl space work is physically demanding, niche, and requires clean backgrounds; 80-90 Indeed outreach efforts yielded one hire
Floating SBA interest rate has added several thousand dollars per month in debt service versus original model
First two weeks consumed entirely by account-switching logistics, preventing relationship-building with the team at a critical moment
Office management staff (not field crews) were the source of dysfunction: long lunches with alcohol, disengagement, and loyalty to the departed GM

Notable quotes

I had this position where I was sitting at the picnic table outside and I was like I just had this wave of nausea coming over me and I'm like oh my god what have I done like is this did I make a terrible mistake is everything that I've been working towards just amounted to this and this was the wrong thing to do.

You've sailed to the shore and burned the ships and you got to figure out how to make it work.

He came into me the next day and he gave me an envelope with a couple hundred dollars in it that was the cost of all the classes and the resignation letter saying that he was quitting.

The problems that I had with employees was much more so on the office and the management side which is the total opposite of what I had expected.