How We Partner | Bur Oak Environmental Services

What we are for

We are operators first. We buy septic companies second.

Everything below exists because we run these businesses ourselves — local brands kept intact, one back office underneath, owners holding equity in the whole group.

01

Achieve

Help you hit the financial outcome you have been working toward for thirty years.

02

Facilitate

Build the exit around your timeline, whether that is next year or year ten.

03

Grow

Put trucks, crews, demand and disposal capacity behind a route book that has been capped for years.

04

Benefit

Leave your people better off than you found them, and your customers unable to tell anything changed.

Terms

What we buy
A majority stake, typically 70–85% of the equity.
Cash at close
Funded by committed equity and lending relationships. Seller notes are available, never the whole deal.
What you keep
Real equity with quarterly distributions. Not phantom units.
Your pay
Market salary and benefits for whatever role you choose. You stop paying yourself last.
Real estate
Sell it at appraised value, or keep it and lease it back at market. Plenty of owners prefer the rent check.
Your people
Team retained, benefits matched or improved, tenure carried over. Written into the agreement.
Cost to look
Nothing. Mutual NDA, you send financials, we come back with a number or a no.

The support stack

What actually moves to us on day one.

Finance
Payroll, accounts payable, financial reporting and benchmarking, tax returns, monthly and annual budgeting, pre-negotiated vendor contracts and rebates, and full P&L transparency back to you.
Human resources
Health insurance, dental, vision, 401(k), accident and life cover. Performance reviews and development plans, employee handbooks, and support for local management when a staffing issue gets hard.
Talent acquisition
CDL and licensed-operator recruiting, retention and engagement programmes, structured onboarding, mentorship, and technician training partnerships.
Marketing
New customer acquisition and retention, local search and paid demand, website and creative, review and reputation management, and county-record-driven service reminders.
Operations
Staffing and training, dispatch and routing software, inventory, fleet procurement and maintenance, disposal contracts and receiving capacity — plus access to every other operator in the group.

Who decides what

Local autonomy, central support. Written down so there is no argument later.

Bur Oak drives

Group strategy and vision
Seller relationships and M&A
Systems and infrastructure
Risk, governance and FP&A
Succession planning

Shared

Budget, built with your input
Workforce planning
Marketing strategy and brand
Technician recruiting and training
Fleet procurement
Best practice across the group

You drive

Customer experience
Call handling and dispatch
Sales and local marketing execution
Interviewing and hiring your crew
Your budget and margin targets

What you get

Six things owners tell us matter most.

Value growth

Holding a meaningful stake in a larger group is usually worth more than selling 100% up front.

Distributions

Retained ownership pays quarterly while the business keeps growing.

Flexibility

Deal structure, your future role and your succession plan are all negotiable.

Operational autonomy

Keep the way you serve your market. That is what we are buying.

Fewer responsibilities

A partner who carries the administrative load and answers the phone at month-end.

Quality of life

Less time on the back office. More time on the business, or off it.

Criteria

What we look for.

$1.5M–$25M revenue, profitable, owner-operated
A recurring base, not project work alone
Septic, liquid waste or portable sanitation
MN, WI, IA, IL, MI, ND or SD
Owned disposal or a durable plant relationship
Low turnover and licensed operators on staff

Not every box has to be checked. Disposal in particular is usually something we bring.

Process

From first call to close, about twelve weeks.

AWeek 1
Initial contact

Thirty minutes on the phone. We learn the business and walk you through how this works. No documents, no NDA, no obligation.
BWeeks 1–4
Pre-LOI review

Mutual NDA, then three years of financials. We normalise EBITDA and come back with a real number and the math behind it — or a straight no, with the reason.
CWeek 4
Letter of intent

Price, structure, your role, your team, your real estate. Written plainly and signed before diligence starts, so nothing moves later.
DWeeks 5–8
Diligence and a site visit

Quality of earnings, licensing and compliance history, environmental, fleet, insurance. We come to you, ride along and walk the yard.
EWeeks 9–11
Purchase agreement

Both legal teams finalise documents. Your counsel, your pace.
FWeeks 9–12
Integration planning

Before closing we plan the transition with you: payroll, benefits, software, disposal. Your team hears it from us together, on the day you choose.
GWeek 12
Close and fund

Documents signed, proceeds wired, and your retained stake documented.

Questions

Are you private equity?

Not the way you mean. Two operators run this full time, backed by committed capital and lending relationships. No committee you'll never meet, and no fund clock forcing a sale.

Will my employees lose their jobs?

No. We're buying the crew and the routes together. Seniority carries over, benefits are matched or improved. A licensed operator with a CDL who shows up is the scarcest thing in this industry.

How do you decide what my company is worth?

Normalized EBITDA times a multiple driven by how durable the revenue is. Recurring routes, grease contracts, rental fleets and owned disposal raise it. Heavy install mix, one large customer, or a worn-out fleet lower it. We walk you through the math line by line.

Disposal is my biggest problem. Does that disqualify me?

Usually the opposite. A strong route book throttled by long hauls is what we're set up to fix. Tell us where you're taking it and what it costs per gallon.

I'm not ready for a few years.

Meet now anyway. The best transitions get set up years ahead — cleaning up the books, developing a successor, timing a fleet cycle. We're happy to be a relationship before we're a transaction.

I already have a buyer offering more.

Take that meeting seriously. Then compare what happens after the wire clears: whether your name survives, whether your people keep their jobs, what you're doing in year three, and whether you still own something. If the higher number still wins, take it, and we'll tell you so.

Start

It starts with a phone call.

Send whatever you're comfortable sending. No financials required to talk.

Or skip the form — Scott@buroakenvironmental.com, or call (262) 749-0005 and ask for Scott. Advisors and intermediaries welcome.

You built it. You decide what happens to it.