As the pace of commercial HVACR industry consolidation increases, owners receive more and more letters, calls, and emails from brokers and potential investors. These inquiries have owners wondering why consolidation is happening again given that consolidation wasn't very successful the first time around.
Certainly, the first wave of consolidation in the 90s and early 2000s had some significant failures. There was Blue Dot, Encompass, and a handful of utility-backed consolidation efforts that fell flat. So, it certainly makes sense that owners are questioning why this is happening and wondering what is different about this second consolidation wave. Let's dig in to two key consolidation questions.