Pre-close · Specialty Construction

Employment & Non-Compete Agreements Counsel for Specialty Construction Acquisitions

Securities and M&A counsel for independent sponsors negotiating specialty construction transactions, from LOI to close to the capital markets that open up afterward.

EV range $8M to $110M EV EBITDA $2M to $18M Audience Buy-side / Sponsor
The deal context

An independent sponsor closing specialty construction transactions in the $8M to $110M EV range has a defined set of moves at the Employment & Non-Compete Agreements stage. Most of them are not in a generic M&A textbook.

The typical specialty construction platform sits at $8M to $110M EV with EBITDA in the $2M to $18M range. The thesis runs on trade-specific buy-ups (roofing, mechanical, electrical, fire protection). Bonding capacity is the gate. Without it, the independent sponsor deal stalls at the first big project bid post-close.

The moves

How Employment & Non-Compete Agreements actually gets structured.

  1. Negotiate seller non-competes to the maximum enforceable scope, by state law.

  2. Refresh key employee restrictive covenants pre-close, where possible.

  3. Address the FTC non-compete rule and its state-by-state aftermath.

  4. Tie executive non-competes to retention bonus economics that survive a quick exit.

  5. In specialty construction, layer in surety pre-qualification for the buyer entity as part of the Employment & Non-Compete Agreements workstream.

The common mistake

Drafting a national-scope non-compete in California. Enforceability is a binary, not a spectrum.

Jason's take
"A non-compete is only as strong as the state it sits in. Draft for the state, not the deal."
Jason Powell · Employment & Non-Compete Agreements
Capital after close

The deal is one thing. The capital that opens up after close is another.

Capital after close is where the IRR actually gets made. The right introductions at month nine through month thirty are where this practice works as hard as it does at the LOI.

MONTH 18
Senior refi
MONTH 24
Dividend recap
MONTH 36
Growth equity
YEAR 4–5
Strategic exit
WORK WITH JASON

Bring the specialty construction deal. Get Employment & Non-Compete Agreements done right.

Direct counsel from a securities and M&A attorney with billions in structured transactions, the independent-sponsor-native playbook, and the capital markets network that opens up post-close.