Private Equity Just Mapped 288 Trade Roll-Up Platforms. ServiceTitan Just Mapped 74% AI Adoption. Your Exit Multiple Now Has An AI Coefficient.

Two reports landed inside seven days. Together they redrew the exit math for every independent trade shop in America.

CT Acquisitions counted 288 active private equity platforms rolling up the U.S. trades across 32 sectors. Home services alone — HVAC, plumbing, roofing, electrical, pest control — hosts more than 30 active platforms competing for your shop. ServiceTitan surveyed 1,000 residential contractors and found 74% see AI as essential for efficiency, but only 25% actually use it.

You are sitting on top of the biggest buyer pool in the history of the trades. And the buyers just got a new pricing input. Read on.

The buyer pool: 288 platforms and growing

The 2026 PE Platform Map published June 20 is the most complete public count of who is buying you. 288 active roll-ups across 32 verticals. Home services dominates with 30-plus platforms: Apex Service Partners, Sila Services, Wrench Group, Champions Group, Authority Brands, Rollins, Rentokil, ARS-Rescue Rooter, and dozens of regional consolidators.

The deal cadence in the last 30 days alone tells the story.

• June 22, 2026: Master Group acquires Distributor Corporation of New England, adding a 63-year-old Carrier distributor across MA, ME, NH, RI.
• June 18, 2026: Platinum Equity sells Heat Controller to Lennox.
• June 15, 2026: Truelink Capital takes significant stake in Horwitz, a Minneapolis MEP services firm.
• June 5, 2026: FirstCall Group acquires Comfort Indoor Solutions, opening Chicago.
• June 1, 2026: A. Hattersley & Sons (mechanical contracting) absorbed into commercial consolidation platform.
• May 27, 2026: Garnett Station Partners' Grizzly MEP adds Stegall Mechanical (Birmingham, since 1957) — five regional partners in 14 months.

And brand new on June 1: Schryver & Co. launched a Florida-based M&A advisory built specifically for HVAC, roofing, and other trade firms. When a dedicated sell-side advisor opens its doors for your trade alone, the market is mature. The check is leaving the building.

The exit math is on the table

The numbers are no longer a secret. CT Acquisitions' 2026 Home Services M&A Multiples Report laid the math out in public on June 22:

• HVAC platform anchors clear 6.0x to 9.0x EBITDA for $3M-plus EBITDA targets.
• Add-on bolt-ons clear 4.0x to 6.0x EBITDA.
• The integrated portfolio exits to the next sponsor at 8.0x to 12.0x EBITDA.
• PE-backed HVAC deal volume tripled in one year — from 8% of transactions in 2023 to 23% in 2024.
• Pest control is now roughly 60% PE-owned at the transaction level.
• Electrical M&A volume rose 13% in 2024 on data center demand.

The dispersion between owner-dependent shops at 3x-4.5x and "scalable" shops at 7x-10x has widened materially. That gap is real money. Same trade. Same revenue. Same town. Double the price.

What just changed: AI is now in the multiple

Here is the part nobody is saying out loud yet. The ServiceTitan 2026 Residential State of the Trades Report covered in industry press this week put hard numbers on AI adoption: 74% sentiment, 25% actual usage. Early adopters: 48% report increased productivity, 45% report time savings, 73% say starting early creates competitive advantage.

Then ServiceTitan dropped the live example. Quality Service Company: "Now nearly 30% of our bookings flow end-to-end without any human involvement from call to schedule dispatch." That is Luke Peluso, Technology Manager, on the record. Using ServiceTitan's Atlas agentic tool.

30% no-touch bookings. That is what the buyer sees when they due-diligence your operation.

PE math: a $2M EBITDA HVAC shop trading at 6x is worth $12M. That same shop with 30% no-touch booking, demonstrated AI-driven scheduling efficiency, and 40%+ service-agreement revenue — that shop is a 9x platform target worth $18M. Or it gets passed over entirely for the shop down the street that bridged the gap.

The new buyer checklist

Today's serious buyer underwrites three things you did not have to show five years ago.

1. Speed-to-lead documented. ServiceTitan reports more than half of contractors respond within the first hour. Cool. Yours had better be under 60 seconds, ideally automated. Logged. Reportable.

2. Recurring revenue mix. Above 40% service-agreement revenue triggers platform-tier underwriting. Below 25% and you are an SDE deal at 2x-5x. That is the difference between selling to PE and selling to your nephew.

3. AI/automation infrastructure. AI receptionist, AI scheduling, AI quote-prep, CRM with agent integrations. The buyer is no longer asking IF you use AI. They are asking which agents, which platforms, what percent of bookings, and what is the productivity delta.

The window

Anthropic and former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo just announced "Raise Us" — $500M secured, $1B target, focused on AI labor transition. The federal posture on AI in services is hardening. Big capital is moving. The buyer side is already organized and pricing your AI maturity into your multiple.

You have two choices.

Bridge the 74%-to-25% gap inside your own shop. Document the lift. Get to 40%+ recurring revenue. Sell at 7x-10x to the platform that wants to buy AI maturity, not build it.

Or do nothing, watch your neighbor get the offer, and explain to your family why the shop down the street sold for double.

The math is no longer hidden. The buyers are no longer theoretical. The AI coefficient is no longer optional.

The window closes whenever you decide it does.