Enrique Rodriguez·July 21, 2025

One Year, 3x Revenue, and a Clear Path to $15M | Enrique Rodriguez Interview

Enrique Rodriguez is a Northern Virginia-based electrical engineer and licensed master electrician who bought Mac General, Inc. (now Mac General Power Solutions), a commercial and municipal electrical subcontracting firm in Sterling, Virginia, for $450k all-cash in mid-2024, with roughly $840k all-in when accounting for working capital injections and forgone salary. The business was generating about $1.35M in revenue and ~$240k SDE at acquisition — a sub-2x multiple — but had nearly no backlog (one month) and was fully owner-dependent, with everything running through the 64-year-old seller Mike. Enrique's thesis was a deliberate trade of financial risk for execution risk: by buying small with cash rather than levering up on a $4-5M SBA deal, he gave himself room to execute his growth plan. Armed with 17 years of engineering experience, his master electrician license, an MBA, and deep local contractor relationships, he immediately implemented new estimating software, a project-based ERP, a professional management team, and began bidding aggressively on the existing high-volume bid flow. One year in, the business is tracking $3.5-4M in revenue with ~$750k SDE — roughly 3x the acquisition-era figures — and carries a six-month backlog. Enrique's three-year roadmap targets $15-16M in revenue, at which point 15% net margins would yield $2M+ EBITDA, unlocking lower-cost middle-market credit to accelerate further growth, with potential geographic expansion and roll-up acquisitions.

Deal facts

purchase price: $450k
multiple: sub-2x SDE
sde ebitda: SDE ~$240k average (3-year average; best year ~$300k in 2023)
revenue: $1.35M at acquisition; ~$3.5-4M projected year one post-acquisition
financing structure: All-cash purchase ($360k upfront + $90k holdback in escrow for one year); no SBA loan used; additional ~$125k working capital injected at close; total all-in cost estimated at ~$840k including first 5 months of unpaid salary and investments; business line of credit of $300k plus $150k additional line drawn later
notes: Seller (Mike) retained as head of estimating/sales post-close. Holdback of $90k held in escrow for one year. Working capital funded through buyer's personal HELOC and securities lines of credit plus wife's funds. Seller left ~$170k of accounts receivable behind as part of deal. No SBA loan — deal was below the threshold brokers/lenders considered worthwhile for SBA Express. Buyer also had prior engineering LLC generating $20-50k/year in side work.

Why this business

Enrique was drawn by the exceptional bid flow — an email alias receiving a new request for bid every 10 minutes from 30 years of established contractor relationships — and the low price relative to what he believed the business could become. He saw the seller's constrained operation as artificial: the business was starved of capital and ambition, not of demand. As an electrical engineer with a master electrician license, an MBA, and 17 years of engineering project experience in the DC area, he saw near-perfect business-buyer fit and chose to take on execution risk rather than financial risk by buying small and growing rather than levering up on a larger acquisition.

What's working

Massive pre-existing bid flow: established contractor relationships generate continuous unsolicited requests for bid, estimated at a wild flow of ~$25M/year in potential work without additional business development
Business-buyer fit: Enrique is a licensed master electrician and electrical engineer with deep construction industry knowledge, local contractor relationships, and project management experience — he knew the business and industry cold
Aggressive bidding using new estimating software (Vision InfoSoft Electrical Bid Manager + Bluebeam) that cut estimate turnaround from days to hours, enabling higher bid volume
Retained the seller (Mike) as head of estimating, keeping 45 years of institutional knowledge and industry relationships on staff
Implemented a new ERP system (NoFi) providing real-time dashboard of backlog, active contracts, AR, and cash position
Built a management team quickly: promoted office manager, retained Mike as head of estimates, hired a former engineer colleague as head project manager, and uses his CPA father for accounting
Moved into higher-margin work: prime contractor jobs (30-40% gross margin) and design-build work (40-60% gross margin) vs. commoditized commercial subcontract (20-30%)
Operating in wastewater/municipal electrical sector where there is less competition and larger project sizes create pricing power
Utilization rate improved from seller's 50-60% to 110% for field employees — full teams productively deployed across multiple simultaneous projects
Six-month backlog achieved vs. approximately one month at acquisition; targeting 18-month backlog at $4M run rate
Revenue on track for ~$3.5-4M in year one vs. $1.35M at acquisition — approximately 2.5-3x growth
Projected year-one SDE of ~$750k vs. ~$240k average at acquisition
Circle of advisors including wife, seller Mike, strategy consultant Lee Malberry (Northern Star), CPA father, and architect brother providing accountability and guidance

What's hard

Discovered only two days before closing that the business had only ~$80k of backlog remaining, with work expected to run out in September — required immediate and intense bidding from day one
J-curve cash crunch: from November through mid-December was the hardest period — had already injected an extra $250k+ on top of the purchase price and was waiting for the first project checks to arrive
Working capital constraints are now the primary limiting factor to growth — the AR-based line of credit ($300k + $150k) is expected to be exhausted around October/November as the business scales toward $4M
Five won jobs cancelled in year one due to external forces (federal budget cuts, school renovation cancellations in Frederick MD, Leesburg job rebid) — highly atypical and attributed to macro/political environment in DC area
Wastewater and municipal projects can be delayed or cancelled when funding is disrupted, as occurred this year with some federal and county-funded work
Bonding capacity is a limiting factor for growth into larger projects — currently paying 2% of contract value for bonding
Project-based cash flow is inherently lumpy and requires disciplined daily monitoring of AR, AP, and backlog
Had to personally inject all ~$750k of wife's capital plus business lines of credit to fund the business — no SBA leverage to share financial risk
Took approximately 5 months without paying himself a salary (estimated $90k opportunity cost)

Notable quotes

I transferred my instead of having big financial risk because I'm basically doing all cash, I have more execution risk. I have to if I want that $5 million or to $10 million revenue business, I have to execute. I have to have a better plan and grow the business. So I transfer the financial risk and now I got execution risk.

He showed me his bid log. So he has an email where all the bids come in and it was always coming in. It was his bid flow was every 10 minutes a new request for contract would come in and from his 30 years of doing work. You're looking at a waterfall and you put your little red cup out there to get a drink. That's what it is.

I spent 17 years in a career and I, you know, till the day I bought this business, I always, you know, uh I felt like I like uh the Shawshank Redemption when he's crawling through the sewage. And then the day I bought this business and I started running it, it was like when he got that first, you know, the rain on him on the freedom side of the wall. That taste of freedom. It felt liberating.

I walk into that knife fight with a machine gun so everything solves itself very quite easily.