Brett Maxam·September 4, 2025

A Few Hours Per Week, a Few States Away | Brett Maxam Interview

Brett Maxam, a former private equity portfolio company CFO with nearly a decade of executive finance experience, bought Morcrete Construction — a 30-year-old concrete flatwork company in Vancouver, Washington (Portland metro) — closing February 1, 2025. The business pours driveways, garages, patios, porches, and sidewalks for high-production home builders, generating $3-4m in annual revenue and SDE in the high six figures (approaching $1m). Brett negotiated a sub-3x multiple with 70% seller financing at 5% fixed interest over 7-8 years and no personal guarantee, funding the ~30% equity portion from a ROBS structure and personal savings. The deal was made possible partly because prior buyers had struggled to obtain SBA financing due to customer concentration. Operating the business remotely from Denver, Brett quickly streamlined operations by transitioning from paper to digital systems, delegating field scheduling and measurements to his foreman and setup crew, and hiring a full-time virtual accountant in the Philippines to handle invoicing and administrative tasks — compressing his weekly time commitment to roughly 10 hours when not traveling. The central tension of the episode is that the remote setup worked so well that Brett drifted toward exploring independent sponsor deals rather than growing the existing business; a conversation with fellow acquirer Adam Markley redirected him to double down on organic and possibly roll-up growth at Morcrete.

Deal facts

purchase price: under $2m
multiple: sub 3x SDE
sde ebitda: SDE high-end six figures (approaching $1m)
revenue: $3m-$4m
financing structure: 70% seller note at 5% fixed, 7-8 year amortization; ~30% equity from ROBS (401k) and personal taxable accounts; no SBA, no personal guarantee
notes: Asset deal. Closed February 1, 2025. Business: Morcrete Construction, Vancouver, WA. No earnout. Seller had previously tried SBA financing with other buyers and encountered challenges, enabling the seller-note structure.

Why this business

Brett liked the known pipeline and backlog from working with national, regional, and local home builders — typically getting purchase orders 1.5 to 3 months out and being awarded entire neighborhoods at a time. He was attracted to the Vancouver, WA market specifically for its zero state income tax, strong population growth, year-round workability (only two weather shutdowns in a year), and proximity to Portland. The business's 30-year track record, a tenured foreman with 30+ years of history, and the seller's prior step-back from operations gave him comfort that it could be run remotely. The sub-3x multiple and 70% seller financing made the risk profile acceptable given the customer concentration and cyclicality.

What's working

Veteran foreman with 30+ years at the company manages day-to-day field operations, enabling remote ownership from Denver
Seller-financed deal at 5% fixed rate, sub-3x multiple, no personal guarantee — significantly de-risks the acquisition
Hired a full-time virtual accountant in the Philippines who handles invoicing, 811 call-before-you-dig filings, scheduling, and measurements formerly done by Brett and the seller
Transition from paper-based to digital systems freed up significant owner time
Pipeline visibility: home builders issue purchase orders 1.5-3 months out and award entire neighborhoods, providing near-term revenue predictability
Year-round workability in Pacific Northwest climate (only 2 weather shutdowns in a full year)
Low fixed cost structure — when not pouring, labor and material costs drop substantially
Added three new subdivisions (two with existing builders, one new builder) in first months of ownership
Brett now spends roughly 10 hours per week remotely and visits the site every couple of weeks rather than the originally planned 3-4 days per week

What's hard

Customer concentration in home builders — a primary reason the seller had difficulty getting SBA financing with prior buyers
Cyclicality tied to new residential construction; revenue exposed to housing market downturns
Business is a plane ride away (Denver to Portland metro ~2.5 hours), creating friction for hands-on involvement and potentially reducing the psychological incentive to lean in and grow
Blue-collar workforce management required learning curve for an executive with a finance background
Working capital complexity: invoicing on completion, paid net 20-45 days, with some builders on fixed billing cycles — required careful 13-week cash flow modeling at acquisition
Asset deal required re-onboarding all customers with new payment information; early POs under the seller's name required manual true-up checks
Brett acknowledged the remote setup made him mentally comfortable doing less, which paradoxically slowed growth plans — advised by Adam Markley to refocus on the existing business rather than pursue independent sponsor deals

Notable quotes

I try to always remind myself to maybe shut up and let them do a little more talking. Whether it's a broker, a seller, if they want to share, great. Then maybe ask a few leading questions and absorb what you can because otherwise, I mean, in this circumstance, I would have been negotiating against myself.

Due to some concentrations in the business, we were actually able to negotiate a 70% seller note. So we didn't go the SBA route on this one and got very friendly terms with that. So it helps mitigate a lot of the risk going into it with concentrations, new construction, out of state.

I've gotten comfortable going in and not doing the fake it till you make it thing and actually saying I don't know. If I get back to them in a couple hours or a day, that's gone quite a long way.

A 13-week cash flow is critical to running any business. You've got to have a 13-week cash flow. What that basically is — a simple Excel spreadsheet where you look at 13 weeks, which is a fourth of a year, and you're basically saying, okay, top of it, here's my cash balance I'm starting with. Here's the revenue that I'm expecting to collect, and here are my cash expenses that are going out. And every week, solve for ending cash.