Frontier Service Partners, a newly launched residential services company, announced on August 6 it had acquired Haley Mechanical, headquartered in Dexter, Mich.
Haley is one of the pre-eminent residential HVAC companies in Michigan servicing the Ann Arbor area. This partnership marks the inaugural acquisition for Frontier, which was founded earlier this year on the philosophy of putting people first, delivering on its promises, and creating lifetime clients. Frontier is backed by Imperial Capital as part of the firm’s Back/Buy/Build investment strategy.
“Frontier is excited to welcome the Haley Mechanical team into the Frontier family,” said Dean Fulton, chief executive officer of Frontier. “Henry and Lindsey Haley, Haley Mechanical’s owners, have built an exceptional residential HVAC services company with a strong local reputation, and Frontier will work with them to build on that strength and further grow the team and service capability. We intend to invest heavily in Michigan, where Haley Mechanical currently operates, as we build a multi-regional home services company.”
“We have successfully serviced our customers in the Ann Arbor area for more than two decades,” said Henry. “Partnering with Frontier will provide Haley Mechanical with the expertise and capital required to accelerate our growth.”
“We see tremendous opportunity to deploy our Back/Buy/Build investment strategy within the residential HVAC, plumbing and electrical services industry and this is just the beginning for Frontier,” said Eugene Polevoy, principal of Imperial Capital, Frontier’s capital partner. “We are extremely pleased with the early momentum at Frontier and are thrilled to partner with Henry and Lindsey. Frontier will continue to expand through acquisitions and partnerships while maintaining a focus on best-in-class service. We are excited to provide the resources and expertise to continue the legacy that owners such as Henry and Lindsey have worked so hard to build.”
Dean Fulton Named Frontier's CEO
On August 6, 2021, Frontier Service Partners announced it had named Dean Fulton its founding chief executive officer. Fulton has amassed more than 30 years in the residential HVAC and plumbing industry, most recently at Hiller Plumbing, Heating and Cooling where he served as chief operating officer and vice president of sales, where he helped grow its revenue from $18 million to approximately $110 million, $50 million of which was generated by plumbing services.
Prior to his association with Hiller, Fulton was a general manager at Service Experts for approximately 20 years.
“Frontier is pleased to welcome Dean Fulton to the team,” said Eugene Polevoy, principal at Imperial Capital, Frontier’s capital partner. “Frontier was founded with a commitment to partnering with seasoned industry executives who have deep expertise in the residential HVAC and plumbing space, and we are excited to work with Dean as our founding CEO.”
'Beginning this quarter, we will work to execute our growth strategy through a number of acquisitions and partnerships while always maintaining a focus on operational excellence.' - Dean Fulton
“I am excited to join Frontier Service Partners and work towards building a world class platform of leading residential services brands,” said Dean Fulton. “Imperial Capital’s Back/Buy/Build investment strategy stands out to me as the right playbook for the residential HVAC and plumbing industry. Beginning this quarter, we will work to execute our growth strategy through a number of acquisitions and partnerships while always maintaining a focus on operational excellence.”
Creating Value
During an interview with Contracting Business, Fulton said he seeks to create more value for a business, by focusing on growing the recurring revenue statement of the business.
“Things haven’t changed much from the days when Ron Smith was promoting service agreements at Modern Air in the 1970s," Fulton said. "You need to grow the service agreement/recurring revenue base, which softens the HVAC ebbs and flows of weather-driven sales. More and more are seeing the benefits of adding plumbing and electrical, to flatten out the sales curve, not have as many ‘shoulder seasons,’ and make it a more predictable business.
'Businesses should have a type of profit-and-loss statement and balance sheet connection that revalues their business every month under today’s multiples, as a means of motivating them to continue to grow the business in a healthy way.' - Dean Fulton
“I envision a way for companies to have a month-to-month moving value of their business, as a way to motivate them. They should have a type of profit-and-loss statement and balance sheet connection that revalues their business every month under today’s multiples, as a means of motivating them to continue to grow the business in a healthy way, and watch the value of their business grow along the way.”
Fulton has progressive ideas on helping businesses redesign service agreements to be more profitable, but also more helpful to customers, and improving their training as a path to recruiting new talent.
Frontier Service Partners, founded on the expressed philosophy of putting people first, delivering on promises, and creating lifetime clients is backed by Imperial Capital. Frontier seeks to partner with leading regional residential service operators in building a platform which benefits customers, employees and transitioning business owners looking for a partner that will carry on its legacy.