Punctual Pros portfolio consists of three home service franchises under Authority Brands: One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and Mister Sparky.
When Matt Buckwalter bought out his partner and became the majority owner of Punctual Pros in 2021, he made his intentions clear: He wanted to bring the company to market.
Buckwalter’s plan became a reality recently when he sold Pleasantville, New Jersey-based Punctual Pros’ territories in central Pennsylvania to Broad Sky Partners for an undisclosed amount. His company’s portfolio consists of three home service franchises under Authority Brands: One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and Mister Sparky.
The deal gives Broad Sky Partners, a middle market private equity firm based in New York City, majority ownership of the first tri-brand operator under Authority Brands.
Punctual Pros is one of the platform company’s largest franchisees in terms of the number of zip codes it covers. The four brick-and-mortar franchise locations and one satellite location that Punctual Pros own provide home services for 240 zip code territories in central Pennsylvania.
Apax Partners-backed Authority Brands owns 229 units of One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and Mister Sparky covering more than 820 zip codes.
In December 2022, Authority Brands acquired The Junkluggers in a 100 percent buyout transaction to bring its growing platform to 16 home services brands. The company has more than 1,900 franchise locations.
Matt Buckwalter, CEO of Punctual Pros
As part of deal, Buckwalter agreed to stay on as CEO of the company and retain his executive team. He said his main responsibility will be identifying independent home service providers as for potential acquisitions to bolster growth in the Mid-Atlantic states. He said that he’s targeting potential businesses in Maryland and possibly New Jersey in the near term.
“We had a lot of interest from other firms in buying us, and we ended up whittling it down to eight finalists,” said Buckwalter. “With Broad Sky as a financial partner, we feel confident that we can become the absolute dominate player in plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electric services.”
Buckwalter said Punctual Pros, which was founded in 1958 as The Rohrer Company, nearly tripled its business in the last five years.
Jonathan Marlow, partner at Broad Sky Partners
“We were attracted to the strength of leaders Matt Buckwalter and Aaron Buckwalter who, along with their team, have driven key operational metrics and cultivated a values-driven, people-first culture,” Jonathan Marlow, partner at Broad Sky Partners, said in a statement.
With Broad Sky’s marketing and franchising support, Buckwalter said Punctual Pros could even quadruple its unit count in the next three to five years. Punctual Pros represents the private equity firm’s first venture in the home service category and first investment in franchise brands.
“They have very skilled people around marketing, around operations and HR related issues to help streamline some of the things we do and help alleviate the growing pains, so to speak,” Buckwalter said.