This is Tomasz’s story.
How to sell a window and door replacement business at the right time, to the right buyer, for the right price is the question Tomasz Kowalski had been turning over for almost two years before he picked up the phone. When the right time came, he called CGK Business Sales. Tomasz, 59, a Polish-American second-generation owner whose father had emigrated from Krakow in 1984 and started the business doing single-window retrofits out of a Ford F-150, ran a residential window and door replacement contractor based out of a Briargate showroom in Colorado Springs serving the Front Range from Monument and Castle Rock down through Manitou Springs and Fountain. The company did $7.2 million in annual revenue and roughly $1.4 million in SDE, with twenty-two W-2 employees: Tomasz plus an operations manager, fourteen W-2 install technicians arranged into seven two-tech crews, three estimators, a showroom design consultant, a permit and HOA coordinator, and a shared office manager. Roughly 2,200 jobs a year ran through the schedule, all retrofit (no new construction), all residential, with certified dealer status with Andersen, Pella, and Marvin and a Milgard secondary line for the value-tier price point. The business ran 65 percent on window replacement (double-hung, casement, sliders, awning, and bay or bow), 25 percent on door replacement (entry doors, patio sliders, French, and pocket door retrofits in the Northgate and Rockrimmon segments), and 10 percent on energy-package combinations that paired window replacement with patio door retrofit on a single permit. The in-house W-2 crew model, not subcontracted (the differentiator that separates Tomasz’s company from roughly 70 percent of the Colorado Springs competitive set), was the reason a sophisticated PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidator’s underwriter was able to write a defensible warranty-claim model on the chain. Tomasz’s father had passed in 2024. His daughter Magda was a Denver hospital pharmacist; his son Pawel was in his second year as a Boulder structural engineer. Neither was coming back to the family business. He came to us in mid-2025 because he did not know who else to talk to about how to sell a window and door replacement business at this size, with this dealer roster, with in-house crews, and with his wife Anna’s parents in Krakow needing more of his time. This page is what happened next, and what could happen for you. Tomasz is a composite, not a single real CGK seller, but the patterns and details are pulled from real residential window and door replacement engagements.
The night before Tomasz decided to sell a window and door replacement business.
Most owners who decide to sell a window and door replacement business have been carrying the question quietly for a year or more before they reach for the phone. Tomasz was no different. He was 59. For seventeen years he had been the operator of record on the Briargate showroom, on the company’s installer license file with El Paso County and the City of Colorado Springs, on every Andersen and Pella and Marvin certified-dealer renewal, on the relationship lead with the EagleView and Hover aerial-measurement vendor accounts, and on the after-hours phone any time a homeowner in Monument or Castle Rock had a sliding patio door come off-track on a Saturday afternoon. The company did $7.2 million in annual revenue across the Briargate showroom and the seven crews running the Front Range, roughly $1.4 million in SDE at the upper-mid end of single-location residential window and door replacement contractor norms (driven by the in-house W-2 install model, the three-line manufacturer dealer roster, the Milgard value-tier secondary line, and a fully-staffed permit and HOA coordination function), and twenty-two W-2 employees including an operations manager (Andrzej Wisniewski, age 47, who had been with Tomasz since 2011 and ran the seven-crew dispatch and EagleView measurement workflow), fourteen install technicians arranged into seven two-tech crews (each crew with one lead installer and one apprentice, with the lead installers averaging eleven years on the bench and the apprentices in the National Association of the Remodeling Industry continuing-education track), three estimators running the home-show and showroom and SEO/PPC lead pipeline, a showroom design consultant who walked homeowners through the Andersen 400 series versus E-Series versus Pella Lifestyle Series versus Marvin Elevate Collection versus Milgard Tuscany Series decision tree, a permit and HOA coordinator (Brittany Sanders, age 34, the daughter of Anna’s longtime friend, who handled IRC R612 egress code research and HOA approval cycles across roughly forty different HOAs from Briargate through Black Forest), and a shared office manager. The crews ran roughly 2,200 jobs a year out of the Briargate showroom, all retrofit (no new construction), with the workflow split 65 percent window replacement, 25 percent door replacement, and 10 percent energy-package combinations. The business carried Andersen Certified Contractor status, Pella Certified Contractor status, Marvin Authorized Dealer status, and a Milgard Certified Dealer secondary line for the value tier price point.
Why owners decide to sell a window and door replacement business
The Friday Tomasz finally submitted the form, his wife Anna had been at the kitchen table reading him the printed search results on her tablet. Anna was a retired Colorado Springs middle-school librarian who had grown up in Krakow before emigrating with her parents in 1992 and meeting Tomasz at a Polish parish in Northglenn in 1995. She had been the steady voice at home for seventeen years while Tomasz was at one job site or another six days a week. Their daughter Magda was 28, a Denver hospital pharmacist at one of the major downtown systems, and had told Tomasz she had no interest in coming back to the family business. Their son Pawel was 25, in his second year as a structural engineer at a Boulder firm, and had said the same thing. Tomasz had hoped for years that one of them would come back. Neither was. Tomasz’s father, who had emigrated from Krakow in 1984 with two suitcases and a tool bag and had started the business doing single-window retrofits out of a borrowed Ford F-150, had passed in 2024. The family chapter that started in a Polish-American immigrant story had run for forty years and was nearing its end, and Tomasz, who had taken over operations in 2008 when his father stepped back, decided he had run it long enough. Anna’s parents were still in Krakow and in their late seventies. He wanted to be on a plane to Poland four times a year instead of once. Andrzej Wisniewski, the operations manager, had been with Tomasz for fourteen years and was committed to staying on post-close if the buyer ran the company in a way that kept the seven-crew bench together. Brittany Sanders, the permit and HOA coordinator, was ready to keep her seat. The seven lead installers were ready to keep operating under a new owner provided their crew pairings, their pay structure, and the in-house W-2 model stayed in place. Tomasz had been approached eleven times in the prior fourteen months: five times by PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidators headquartered out of Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, and a couple of the national tier-one platforms, three times by regional independent home-services groups expanding into the Front Range, twice by manufacturer-affiliated franchise platforms trying to bring the showroom under their banner, and once by an individual high-net-worth buyer running an SBA-financed home-services acquisition. Tomasz did not know what his company was actually worth at $7.2 million revenue and $1.4 million SDE, with the three-line manufacturer dealer roster, the Milgard secondary line, the in-house W-2 crew model, and the structured permit and HOA coordination function. He did not know whether the firms calling him were the right buyers for Andrzej, Brittany, the fourteen install techs, the three estimators, the showroom design consultant, or the office manager. He did not have a single peer in his life who had ever sold a window and door replacement business at this size, with this dealer roster, with in-house crews instead of subcontracted ones.
That is the night he found CGK and submitted the form. We called him back at 7:38 the next morning, while Tomasz was at the Briargate showroom unlocking the door for the 8:00 a.m. estimator standup.
The first call about how to sell a window and door replacement business.
The first call was 47 minutes. We did most of the listening.
Owners who think about how to sell a window and door replacement business in their late fifties, like Tomasz, usually carry the same handful of pressures into the first call. Tomasz talked about Andrzej Wisniewski and the way Andrzej had been the practical operator of the dispatch desk and the EagleView measurement workflow since 2014, when the company moved from four crews to six. He talked about Brittany Sanders running permit and HOA coordination since 2018 and the way Brittany had quietly become the institutional knowledge holder on IRC R612 egress code triggers across forty different HOAs from the Briargate ridge down through the Old North End. He talked about the seven lead installers and the eleven-year average tenure on the bench and the way the pairings between each lead and each apprentice carried six and seven years of bay rhythm. He talked about the three estimators running the home-show and showroom and SEO/PPC lead pipeline and the way each estimator had a different conversion rate by lead source. He talked about the Andersen Certified Contractor status, the Pella Certified Contractor status, the Marvin Authorized Dealer status, the Milgard Certified Dealer secondary line, and the worry that a buyer would not be able to assume those certifications cleanly without the manufacturer agreeing first. He talked about the EagleView and Hover aerial-measurement vendor accounts, the improveit360 lead-management subscription, and the JobNimbus production-management workflow. He talked about his father starting the business in 1984 with two suitcases and a tool bag and a borrowed Ford F-150, the Polish-American parish in Northglenn that had been the social fabric of the family for thirty years, and the way he wanted to spend more weeks on a plane to Krakow with Anna once the operating-day pressure was off him. He talked about his daughter Magda taking the Denver hospital pharmacist role and his son Pawel taking the Boulder structural engineering role and the way that had finally settled the succession question. We asked about the company the way you would ask if you were trying to understand it, not the way you would ask if you were trying to win the engagement. What we were listening for was not just the financials. We were listening for whether Tomasz was actually ready to sell, what he was working toward, and whether his expectations on price were grounded in what the residential window and door replacement M&A market would actually support.
At the end of that call, we set up a working session: an in-person conversation where one of our Managing Directors would walk Tomasz through our valuation model and tell him honestly what his window and door replacement business was likely to command. We did not promise him a written report. Written valuations involve substantially more work, and we charge for those when a seller actually needs one for partnership buyout, estate planning, a divorce, or another documentary purpose. The walkthrough was free because Tomasz was clearly thinking seriously about how to sell a window and door replacement business, the way someone thinks about it before they actually do it. Whether that ends up being in a year, five years, or longer, we make the same call.
The valuation session was the following Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. at the Briargate showroom, before the estimator standup and after Andrzej had finished pulling the morning EagleView measurement queue for the seven crews.
Tomasz was not ready to sell a window and door replacement business yet. He went home and waited five months.
The valuation session showed Tomasz that his window and door replacement business was worth meaningfully more than he had been hoping in some areas and meaningfully less in others, which is how these conversations usually go. The in-house W-2 crew model rather than subcontracted installation, the three-line manufacturer certified-dealer roster (Andersen, Pella, Marvin) plus the Milgard value-tier secondary line, the seventeen-year operating history under a single founder family, the Briargate showroom footprint, the structured permit and HOA coordination function, the EagleView and Hover aerial-measurement workflow, the improveit360 lead-management data depth, the JobNimbus production-management discipline, and the 2,200-job annual run rate were all premium-multiple drivers a sophisticated PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidator would pay up for. Three issues, though, were dragging the number down. The first was the warranty claim register. Tomasz’s company carried lifetime install warranties on every job and the Andersen, Pella, Marvin, and Milgard manufacturer warranties on the products themselves, but the warranty-claim register was sitting in JobNimbus as raw service-ticket entries rather than as a structured warranty-exposure model the buyer’s diligence team could underwrite. The second was the manufacturer dealer assignment. Andersen, Pella, Marvin, and Milgard each had their own change-of-control approval mechanic on certified-dealer status, and a sophisticated PE-backed exterior remodeling buyer was going to want pre-conversation assurances from each manufacturer before LOI rather than wait until close to find out whether the dealer agreements would actually transfer. The third was the lead source mix breakdown. The estimators each had a different conversion rate by lead source (home shows, retail partnerships, organic SEO, PPC, Angi, HomeAdvisor) but the bookkeeper was running everything through a single revenue line, and a sophisticated buyer was going to want lead-source-by-conversion-rate breakouts so the underwriter could model out the customer-acquisition-cost and lifetime-value picture.
We told Tomasz honestly: he could go to market now and accept the discount, or he could spend four to five months building a structured warranty-exposure model out of the JobNimbus service-ticket register, walking each of the four manufacturers through a pre-conversation about change-of-control approval (Andersen first, because the Andersen 400 and E-Series mix was the largest revenue contributor, then Pella, Marvin, and Milgard), and pulling the bookkeeper into lead-source-by-conversion-rate breakouts with three years of CAC and LTV math by source. We said the second path would likely command a meaningfully better number from a wider range of buyers, especially a top-tier PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidator running a long-hold thesis with central support and a satellite-brand preservation acquisition model. The realistic buyer pool for a $7.2 million revenue, $1.4 million SDE, single-location residential window and door replacement contractor with in-house W-2 crews, three-line manufacturer dealer roster, and a structured permit and HOA coordination function is wider than people think, but each band of buyer prices the same company differently, and the cleaner the diligence file is the more buyers can compete. CGK is an active member of the International Business Brokers Association and the M&A Source, both of which give us deep visibility into the active exterior remodeling buyer landscape, and we follow the trade through the National Association of the Remodeling Industry and the Energy Star Section 25C residential energy efficiency credit cycle.
This is the part most brokers skip. Most brokers would have signed Tomasz that day, taken him to market, and made the commission whether or not the deal was the best one for him. We told him to wait, even though it meant we did not get paid for five months and might never get paid at all if he changed his mind.
Tomasz went home and waited. He spent the next five months getting Andrzej Wisniewski on a three-year operations manager retention agreement with a formal stay arrangement, getting Brittany Sanders on a two-year retention agreement with a comp-step protection, walking each of the seven lead installers and seven apprentices through a pay-structure preservation conversation, calling Andersen, Pella, Marvin, and Milgard each for a pre-conversation on change-of-control dealer approval, building a structured warranty-exposure model out of the JobNimbus service-ticket register that mapped lifetime install warranty exposure against the manufacturer warranty backstops by product line, and pulling the bookkeeper into three-year lead-source-by-conversion-rate breakouts that mapped home-show and showroom and SEO and PPC and Angi and HomeAdvisor traffic against estimator-by-estimator close rates. He read background material on residential exterior remodeling M&A through the National Association of the Remodeling Industry and watched exterior remodeling consolidator acquisition announcements in the trade press while staying close to the Andersen and Pella and Marvin certified-dealer regional networks. He called us back in late 2025 and said he was ready to sell a window and door replacement business that was finally in the shape it needed to be in.
What we did when Tomasz came back.
What it takes to sell a window and door replacement business properly
When an owner is ready to sell a window and door replacement business with CGK, the speed of the on-ramp surprises them. We took Tomasz’s company to market in just over six weeks once he got us his updated financials, the documented retention agreements with Andrzej Wisniewski and Brittany Sanders, the pay-structure preservation conversations with the seven lead installers and seven apprentices, the pre-conversation summaries from Andersen, Pella, Marvin, and Milgard on change-of-control dealer approval mechanics, the structured warranty-exposure model out of the JobNimbus service-ticket register, the three-year lead-source-by-conversion-rate breakouts mapping home-show and showroom and SEO and PPC and Angi and HomeAdvisor traffic against estimator-by-estimator close rates, the customer-cohort analysis on the trailing five-year homeowner roster across Briargate, Rockrimmon, Northgate, Monument, and the broader Front Range, the equipment-and-leasehold-improvements schedule on the showroom and the seven crew vans, the improveit360 and EagleView and Hover and JobNimbus subscription documentation, the Andersen and Pella and Marvin and Milgard certified-dealer documentation, and the lease terms on the Briargate showroom. The blind teaser went out to forty-two buyers we had pre-qualified, a slightly tighter funnel than Tomasz expected because the residential window and door replacement M&A buyer pool is structurally concentrated at this size band but actively bidding. Buyers fell across four buckets we routinely use to think about how to sell a window and door replacement business: PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidators (active across Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, and a few national tier-one platforms, typically running long-hold theses with central manufacturer relationship management and acquiring under original brand names), regional independent home-services groups (privately held, often family-owned, expanding their state or multi-state footprint through targeted acquisitions and typically operating acquired contractors under their original brand names), manufacturer-affiliated franchise platforms (smaller band by deal volume but historically active on stronger-margin contractors, typically rebranding under the franchise banner), and individual high-net-worth buyers running SBA-financed home-services acquisitions (the most active buyer pool by count but the smallest by check size, typically focused on single-crew operators under $2 million revenue rather than seven-crew contractors). Each bucket prices the same company differently.
Twenty-nine of the forty-two buyers signed NDAs and received the full Confidential Information Memorandum. Eighteen submitted Indications of Interest after data-room review. Nine advanced to Letters of Intent. We narrowed to six for management presentations. Four re-submitted refined LOIs after the management meetings. Two went into a final-final negotiation cycle. One pulled out late in the cycle on a manufacturer dealer assignment timing question.
Tomasz decided between two of the top LOIs. They were materially different. One was a slightly lower headline price from a regional independent home-services group headquartered in the Denver metro with about thirty home-services contractors across Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico, around $58 million in annual revenue, and a satellite-brand preservation strategy where each acquired contractor kept its existing brand. Under that LOI, the Briargate showroom would keep its existing identity on the storefront, the seven-crew install bench would stay together, and Tomasz would step back to a one-year transition consulting role at one day per week. The other was a higher headline price from a top-tier PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidator running roughly $1.1 billion in revenue across more than 90 markets nationally, comparable in scale to a Power Home Remodeling or a West Shore Home tier of platform, with a long-hold thesis (the platform was in its second PE ownership cycle and had publicly disclosed an intent to hold for at least another six to eight years), and a satellite-brand preservation acquisition model where the consolidator routinely acquired regional contractors under their original brand names with central manufacturer relationship management, central insurance and warranty contracting, central IT, and central marketing infrastructure layered underneath. Under that LOI, the Briargate showroom would keep its existing identity, the twenty-two-person bench would stay at the Briargate showroom and on the seven crews, Andrzej Wisniewski would step into a Front Range regional operations role with the consolidator while keeping his Briargate dispatch responsibilities through a phased eighteen-month transition, Brittany Sanders would continue running permit and HOA coordination with an expanded mandate that would route additional Front Range permit research into her seat, the seven lead installers would continue running their crew pairings, the three estimators would retain their lead-source territories and pay structure, the showroom design consultant and the office manager would retain their roles, the four manufacturer certified-dealer agreements (Andersen, Pella, Marvin, Milgard) would transfer cleanly under the consolidator’s central manufacturer relationship management umbrella with each manufacturer having pre-signed change-of-control acknowledgements, the improveit360 lead-management and JobNimbus production-management subscriptions would be retained for at least the first eighteen months before any consolidation onto the consolidator’s enterprise stack, and Tomasz would step back to a two-year transition consulting role at one day per week with full freedom to spend the rest of his time on his trips to Krakow with Anna. We walked Tomasz through what each LOI would actually deliver under realistic and pessimistic scenarios, including what the cultural continuity would look like for Andrzej, Brittany, the seven lead installers, the seven apprentices, the three estimators, and the showroom design consultant under each acquisition structure. The PE-backed consolidator deal was the better one for Tomasz. The headline number was higher. The brand preservation kept the Briargate showroom the storefront the homeowners recognized. The Front Range regional operations runway gave Andrzej a path forward that none of the other LOIs offered. The four-line manufacturer dealer roster was treated as a regional asset rather than as a one-off curiosity.
Through the whole process, the same CGK Managing Director who had taken Tomasz’s first call five months earlier was the person walking him through every conversation.
The deal Tomasz took to sell a window and door replacement business.
How the deal looks when you sell a window and door replacement business with CGK
This is the part of how to sell a window and door replacement business that gets the least attention in the trade press and the most attention from owners who have actually closed a transaction: the structure of the consideration package matters more than the headline number, and the structure for a single-location residential window and door replacement contractor with in-house W-2 crews, a three-line manufacturer certified-dealer roster, a Milgard secondary line, and a structured permit and HOA coordination function is a familiar pattern for a PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidator running a long-hold thesis with a satellite-brand preservation acquisition model. Tomasz’s deal closed roughly seven months after we restarted the engagement, the standard CGK exterior remodeling window. The buyer was a top-tier PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidator with roughly $1.1 billion in annual revenue across more than 90 markets nationally pre-acquisition, in its second PE ownership cycle with a publicly disclosed long-hold thesis through at least the next six to eight years, with a satellite-brand preservation acquisition model that routinely acquired regional contractors under their original brand names with central manufacturer relationship management, central insurance and warranty contracting, central IT, and central marketing infrastructure layered underneath. The acquisition structure was an asset purchase rather than a stock purchase: the Briargate showroom and the seven-crew operation folded into the consolidator at close while keeping the existing brand identity on the storefront, the twenty-two-person bench stayed at the showroom and on the crews, Andrzej Wisniewski stepped into a Front Range regional operations role with the consolidator while keeping his Briargate dispatch responsibilities through a phased eighteen-month transition, Brittany Sanders continued running permit and HOA coordination with an expanded Front Range mandate, the seven lead installers and seven apprentices continued under their existing pay structure with crew-pairing protections, the three estimators retained their lead-source territories, the four manufacturer certified-dealer agreements transferred cleanly under the consolidator’s central manufacturer relationship management umbrella, and Tomasz transitioned to a two-year consulting role at one day per week.
The total deal economic value was approximately $7.7 million, roughly 5.5 times trailing SDE, a strong residential exterior remodeling multiple driven by the in-house W-2 crew model (the consolidator’s underwriting model on warranty exposure was meaningfully tighter under in-house crews than under subcontracted ones), the three-line manufacturer certified-dealer roster (Andersen, Pella, Marvin) with the Milgard value-tier secondary line, the seventeen-year operating history under a single founder family with a Polish-American immigrant origin story, the Briargate showroom footprint, the structured permit and HOA coordination function across forty HOAs, the EagleView and Hover aerial-measurement workflow, the improveit360 lead-management data depth, the JobNimbus production-management discipline, the 2,200-job annual run rate, and the structured succession story Tomasz had built during the wait period with documented retention agreements on Andrzej and Brittany and pay-structure preservation on the seven lead installers and seven apprentices. About 78 percent of it came as cash at closing. About 10 percent was held back in escrow for 24 months, a longer escrow window than the standard 12-month exterior remodeling pattern because the buyer wanted the holdback to run alongside the second-year warranty-claim curve on installed windows (manufacturer warranties run twenty years on the products and lifetime on the install, but the Year 1 and Year 2 install-related claims are where the deal-specific risk concentrates). The remaining 12 percent was a rollover-as-equity stake into the consolidator’s holding company, with Tomasz’s existing equity converting into the consolidator’s holding-company partnership interests on a vesting schedule tied to his continued two-year consulting involvement and the consolidator’s long-hold thesis runway. The numbers add up to one hundred. Wire hit on a Friday morning at 10:23 a.m. while Tomasz was at the Briargate showroom with Andrzej.
Tomasz stayed on as a transition consultant for the consolidator’s Front Range region for twenty-four months after closing, dropping to one day per week so he could personally walk each of the four manufacturers (Andersen, Pella, Marvin, Milgard) through the dealer-assignment handoff to the consolidator’s central manufacturer relationship management team, accompany Andrzej on the consolidator’s Front Range regional operations meetings, accompany Brittany on the consolidator’s regional permit and HOA coordination working group, walk the seven lead installers through the consolidator’s national install bench rollout, and shape the consolidator’s Colorado Springs and broader Front Range expansion strategy across the additional Monument, Castle Rock, and Larkspur sites the consolidator was already underwriting. After twenty-four months, Tomasz stepped back to a quarterly clinical-advisor relationship that gave him room to spend the bulk of his weeks on flights to Krakow with Anna and on the Polish-American parish board work he had been thinking about for two years.
What happened to Tomasz’s people and his customers.
The people-side of how to sell a window and door replacement business usually weighs heavier on the founding operator than the financial-side, even when the financial-side is what triggers the call to a broker in the first place. Tomasz cared most about Andrzej Wisniewski (the operations manager who had been with him for fourteen years), Brittany Sanders (the permit and HOA coordinator who had been with him for seven years), the seven lead installers (eleven-year average tenure on the bench, with the longest having been with the family business since 2010 when Tomasz’s father was still on the payroll), the seven apprentices (most in the National Association of the Remodeling Industry continuing-education track), the three estimators running the home-show and showroom and SEO/PPC lead pipeline, the showroom design consultant, the office manager, the active homeowner roster (a five-year cumulative customer base of roughly 9,400 households across Briargate, Rockrimmon, Northgate, Monument, Castle Rock, Manitou Springs, Fountain, and the broader Front Range), and the manufacturer certified-dealer relationships with Andersen, Pella, Marvin, and Milgard. The PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidator buyer was a top-tier platform running a satellite-brand preservation acquisition model that routinely acquired regional contractors under their original brand names rather than rebranding under a national identity on a tight ninety-day timeline. That made the people part substantially cleaner than it would have been under a manufacturer-affiliated franchise platform that wanted to absorb the showroom into a single franchise banner.
The buyer kept all twenty-two W-2 employees, honored the existing pay structure across the operations manager, the permit and HOA coordinator, the install techs, the estimators, the showroom design consultant, and the office manager, and committed to keeping Andrzej Wisniewski running the Briargate dispatch desk while stepping into the consolidator’s Front Range regional operations role on an eighteen-month phased transition, Brittany Sanders continuing in permit and HOA coordination with an expanded Front Range mandate, the seven lead installers continuing in their crew pairings with their seven apprentices, the three estimators retaining their lead-source territories and conversion-rate-based comp structure, the showroom design consultant retaining her seat, and the office manager retaining her seat. The retention work Tomasz had done during the wait period (formalizing the three-year retention agreement with Andrzej and the two-year retention agreement with Brittany, plus the pay-structure preservation conversations with the seven lead installers and seven apprentices) was preserved with formal employment agreements at or above the existing comp model. The seven crew pairings between each lead installer and each apprentice were preserved, including the crews running the bay window, casement, and patio sliding-door specialty rotations across the Front Range. The four manufacturer certified-dealer agreements with Andersen, Pella, Marvin, and Milgard transferred cleanly under the consolidator’s central manufacturer relationship management umbrella, with each manufacturer having pre-signed change-of-control acknowledgements during the wait period. The improveit360 lead-management subscription and the JobNimbus production-management subscription were retained for the showroom through an eighteen-month integration window before any consolidation onto the consolidator’s enterprise stack. The EagleView and Hover aerial-measurement vendor accounts transferred cleanly. The 9,400-household homeowner roster stayed firmly attached to the showroom because the brand and the showroom and the people stayed in place.
Tomasz was at the Briargate showroom on a Friday morning when the wire confirmation came through. Exterior remodeling closings often happen at the end of the week to coincide with weekend showroom-traffic cycles. Andrzej had just finished the morning EagleView measurement queue for the seven crews. Tomasz stepped into the dispatch room, picked up the phone, and called Anna in Polish: “Już skończone.” It is finished. Anna did not say anything for a few seconds. Then she said, in Polish, “Dzięki Bogu.” Thanks be to God. Tomasz hung up, drove the eight minutes to the warehouse, and pulled all fourteen install techs off the morning route. He walked them out to the parking lot where Andrzej had set up two folding tables and a charcoal grill the night before. He told them the wire had hit, that the company was now part of the consolidator, that the crews and the pay and the showroom and the dealer roster were staying in place, and that Andrzej was stepping into the Front Range regional role. Then he ran the grill himself the way his father had run the grill at Polish parish picnics in Northglenn for thirty years.
What Tomasz told us afterward.
Why owners who sell a window and door replacement business with CGK keep coming back
Most owners who sell a window and door replacement business do not call the broker again in the first year. The ones who do call usually want to talk about the parts of the engagement that, in retrospect, mattered more than they realized at the time. About eight months after closing, Tomasz called the Managing Director who had run his engagement. He said two things that the Managing Director still tells new sellers about.
The first was about the five-month wait. He said: “Three of the buyers who had been calling me were ready to sign LOIs in thirty days, and two different consolidator scouts I talked to before you told me they could take me to market right then with the Andrzej and Brittany retention conversations still on a verbal handshake and the warranty-claim register still as raw service tickets in JobNimbus and the manufacturer dealer agreements untouched. The reason I sold with you is that you told me the truth about how my in-house W-2 crew model and my three-line manufacturer dealer roster and my structured permit and HOA coordination function were actually being valued by a sophisticated PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidator underwriter, the truth about what the formal Andrzej and Brittany retention agreements would buy me in LOI conversations five months later, and the truth about what the change-of-control pre-conversations with Andersen, Pella, Marvin, and Milgard would buy me in management presentations. You told me what would happen to the price if I went out without fixing those things. I would have left more than a million dollars on the table, and Andrzej would have folded into a worse comp tier under a different operator.”
The second was about who he sold to. He said: “I almost signed with the regional Denver-metro home-services group because the conversation felt familiar and they told me they could close in sixty days. The fact that you walked me through what each buyer would actually do with Andrzej’s Front Range regional runway, with Brittany’s expanded permit and HOA coordination mandate, with the Briargate showroom I had run for seventeen years, and with the homeowner roster I had built over seventeen years, what each buyer’s brand-and-bench integration thesis would mean for the in-house W-2 crew model three and five years out, and how a top-tier PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidator with a satellite-brand preservation thesis and a long-hold runway was structurally different from a regional home-services group with a smaller central manufacturer relationship management stack, is a conversation I never even thought to have until you raised it. I sold to a buyer who is actually going to keep the Briargate showroom the showroom my homeowners walk into and recognize, and who is going to give Andrzej a Front Range regional runway he could not have built on his own.”
This is what we mean when we say we sit with you in the decision, not just the transaction. Tomasz is one composite story, but the pattern is real. The owners we work with who decide to sell a window and door replacement business usually find their way to us through versions of Tomasz’s situation, and the relationships start with a long listening session and a free walkthrough, not a pitch.
Ready to sell a window and door replacement business? Where are you in Tomasz’s story?
If you are starting to think about how to sell a window and door replacement business, we should talk. There is no commitment and no pressure. The first conversation is free. The valuation walkthrough that follows is free when you are seriously thinking about selling, whether that is in a year, five years, or longer. We only charge for formal written valuations, and only when you actually need one for a partnership buyout, estate planning, or another documentary purpose. Submit the form and a senior CGK Managing Director will reach out within one business day.
If you are Tomasz at month 1: just exploring
You are not sure if you want to sell yet. The exterior remodeling M&A landscape keeps shifting (PE-backed consolidators, regional independent home-services groups, manufacturer-affiliated franchise platforms, individual high-net-worth buyers with SBA financing), your operations manager and lead installer retention conversations are still on verbal handshake terms, your manufacturer certified-dealer agreements with Andersen and Pella and Marvin and Milgard are running on their original renewal mechanics with no pre-conversation on change-of-control approval, your warranty-claim register is sitting in JobNimbus or another production-management system as raw service-ticket entries rather than as a structured warranty-exposure model, fifteen-plus years of running the showroom is starting to tell you something, your kids are not coming back, you are curious about how a buyer would value your window-versus-door mix or your in-house W-2 crew model versus a subcontracted competitor, or maybe a PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidator or a regional home-services group has been calling you. Most of our best engagements start here. Submit the form and we will schedule a working session. You walk away with a real number and a clear sense of what to do next, with no obligation to do anything.
If you are Tomasz at month 5: ready to go
You have done the work to clean up the company. The financials are tight. Your operations manager and lead installer retention agreements are documented with multi-year stay arrangements. Your permit and HOA coordinator comp protections are documented. Your manufacturer certified-dealer agreements with Andersen, Pella, Marvin, and Milgard each have a pre-conversation on change-of-control approval. Your warranty-claim register is built into a structured warranty-exposure model that maps install warranty against manufacturer warranty backstops by product line. Your three-year lead-source-by-conversion-rate breakouts are pulled into a buyer-grade report. Your sub-mix breakouts (window replacement, door replacement, energy-package combinations) are clean. Your improveit360 and JobNimbus and EagleView and Hover subscription documentation is current. Your Andersen and Pella and Marvin and Milgard certified-dealer documentation is current. Maybe a buyer is already in the conversation. You want to run a real process. Submit the form and we will be in touch within a business day to talk about timing, scope, and what your first 30 days as a CGK seller would look like.
If you are not sure where you are
Most owners are not sure. Submit the form and start with the conversation. We will figure out together where you are. We are equally happy to tell you to wait twelve months as we are to take you to market in six weeks.
Or call us directly at (888) 858-7191.
Start your own story
A senior CGK Managing Director will respond within one business day. Strictly confidential. For owners of privately-held window and door replacement businesses doing $1.5M+ in annual revenue, including residential window-only retrofitters, full-service window-plus-door-plus-entry retrofitters, premium-tier Andersen and Pella and Marvin certified-dealer contractors, mid-tier multi-line dealers, lead-gen-driven volume retrofitters, regional commercial-mix exterior remodelers, and owner-installed boutique studios. The first conversation and the valuation walkthrough that follows are free for any seller seriously thinking about selling, on any horizon.
Confidential. No obligation. Direct routing to a named CGK business broker, not a junior screener.
One of these eight people would lead your engagement.
When you decide to sell a window and door replacement business with CGK, one named senior Managing Director stays with you from the first call through the wire transfer, just like Tomasz’s Managing Director stayed with him for five months and then for the engagement that followed. Our Managing Directors come from Wall Street investment banks, hedge funds, Fortune 500 corporate finance, and operating-business leadership. Cornell MBA. U Chicago Booth MBA. CFA. CMT. Naval Academy. Goldman Sachs. Merrill Lynch. Deutsche Bank. AIG. T. Rowe Price.
What sellers say after they sell a window and door replacement business (and other businesses) with CGK
I could not be happier with the experience I had selling my business with CGK. Greg did a detailed analysis of my business and helped me price and position it right for the market. After receiving multiple offers at full asking price, the rest of the process went very smoothly, and we closed in less than two months.
Hanna M.Selling my business was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I’m incredibly grateful to have had Wes by my side throughout the process. He brought perspective, pushed when necessary, and always had my best interests in mind. His experience and strategic approach allowed me to maximize the sale price while minimizing long-term risk and obligations. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose him as my broker.
Adam NevilleDerik located multiple interested strategic buyers that produced more than one serious offer. The negotiations were tough but Greg and Derik’s experience helped us overcome. We got a great result for our employees and for the owners. We would recommend them without reservation.
Bob TaylorWe sold a business that was 47 years old and being run by second generation within a year of working with Wes. CGK has a system that attracts serious prospects to review opportunities. Wes was able to make the overwhelming feeling of selling easy and to a certain extent enjoyable. I never felt alone or in the dark throughout the entire process.
Jennifer WilliamsWe decided to sell our company in 2025. Talked to another M&A company in the Houston area. We felt very comfortable with Greg and Matthew at CGK. Could not have made a better choice. From day 1 till final closing and even after 30+ days, they have been here helping us with documents and support during the transition. Thanks can not be said enough.
Rickey ThomasInside the Blueprint, on Bloomberg TV and Fox Business News.
Tomasz’s son Pawel, the Boulder structural engineer, was the one who first sent him a clip of CGK on Bloomberg. He had been watching the segment in his apartment near 28th Street on a Sunday morning and recognized the firm name from a residential exterior remodeling trade article about how to sell a window and door replacement business he had read a few months earlier. He texted his father the link with a note that read “Tato, watch this. This looks like the right firm for the conversation you and Mom keep having.” CGK Business Sales is featured on Inside the Blueprint, the syndicated business television series. Our episode aired on Bloomberg TV and Fox Business News. Watch the segment, then start a confidential conversation.
The CGK office Tomasz called was the CGK Colorado Springs office. Yours might be one of these.
When you sell a window and door replacement business with CGK, whichever office you reach, you get the entire firm. Tomasz worked with a CGK Managing Director based out of the firm’s Colorado Springs office, but his deal benefited from a buyer pool we sourced firm-wide, including the top-tier PE-backed exterior remodeling consolidator that ultimately won the engagement. Click any city to learn about our local presence and the named Managing Director leading that market.
Other Questions Tomasz and Other Window and Door Replacement Sellers Ask Us
Practical answers to what comes up before, during, and after the kind of engagement Tomasz went through, when you sell a window and door replacement business with CGK.