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Selling a septic company?
A permanent home for your septic pumping business
Homes and businesses all over the Southeast run on septic, and every one of those tanks needs pumping sooner or later. If your trucks are the ones people call, we'd like to talk about the future of your company.
Why we like it
Why we buy septic businesses
We get it: nobody thinks about their septic tank until it backs up, and then you're the most important call they make all week.
We buy essential service businesses across the Southeast and keep them. Septic pumping is our kind of work: your customers need it on a schedule, and they can't skip it.
Essential and widespread
More than one in five U.S. households relies on a septic or other onsite system, according to the EPA, and they are especially common across the rural and suburban Southeast.
Maintenance comes around again
Septic tanks need periodic pumping (the EPA's general guidance for households is every three to five years) plus inspections and repairs, so good customers come back.
Permits, trucks, and disposal access
Hauling and disposing of septage is regulated, and it takes permits, well-kept trucks, and reliable access to approved disposal sites. That is hard to replicate.
Local reputation wins
When something backs up, people call the company they already trust. Long-standing local names and dense routes are real advantages.
What we look for
What stands out to us
No business checks every box. These are the strengths we get excited about.
- A solid base of residential and commercial maintenance customers
- Well-maintained trucks and equipment, and current permits
- Reliable access to disposal or treatment capacity
- Related services such as inspections, line jetting, repairs, or installation
- Experienced drivers and technicians
Our criteria
- Geography
- Across the Southeast, with deeper interest in Atlanta and Georgia. We love investing in our community.
- Revenue
- $2.5 – $50 million. Typically recurring or reoccurring
- Cash flow
- $0.5 – $5 million
- Ownership
- Founder owned or long-time owner
- Structure
- Majority to full buyout, including partnerships with management
For owners
What happens after you sell
We buy with our own money and we keep what we buy. No fund clock, and no plan to flip it in a few years.
Your customers and your team come first. We invest in people, equipment, and technology and build on what you started. Deals range from majority to full buyouts, including partnerships with management.
Confidential from the first conversation. We know how sensitive a possible sale is for your team and your customers. What you tell us stays between us.
Know a septic business owner?
Introduce us. If we buy the company, you get $10,000 in cash at close. (Not available to brokers, investment bankers, or other financial intermediaries.)
Contact
Not ready to sell? Let's talk anyway.
Most conversations start years early. Whether you're ready now or just starting to think about the future of your septic business, it costs nothing and stays between us.
Questions owners ask
Is Howler Mountain a private equity firm?
No. We're a family-owned company based in Atlanta. We buy with our own money and keep what we buy. We don't buy businesses to flip them.
Will our conversations stay confidential?
Yes. We know how sensitive a possible sale is for your team and your customers. What you tell us stays between us.
My business is smaller than your criteria. Should I still reach out?
Yes. A smaller company can be a great add-on to one we already own, so it's worth a conversation.
Other industries we buy