Company of the Month: DealFlowAgent (as featured in Building & Facilities News)

Originally featured as Company of the Month in Building & Facilities News, July 2026.

Building & Facilities News names DealFlowAgent its Company of the Month for July 2026, and asks the M&A adviser what actually drives value for owners across fire safety, building services and healthcare.

The owners who keep buildings running rarely get enough credit. Whether HVAC, electrical, water, fire and life safety, lifts, cleaning or waste, the work is not glamorous, but it is essential, and it does not stop for a season, a downturn or a pandemic.

When an owner starts thinking about a sale, whether six months or three years out, the real list is long: stakeholder expectations, keeping the team steady, director alignment, what actually moves the valuation, which buyers fit, and how to have these conversations without competitors finding out. DealFlowAgent offers a free, confidential discovery call to work through exactly that, an NDA up front if it helps, and owners typically leave with a personalised valuation and buyer list either way.

That gap, between what owners actually want and what most of the M&A market offers, is why DealFlowAgent exists. Joe Lewin built and sold his own company before founding the firm, growing it to up to 30 staff at peak season with more than 600 owned vehicles, and saw the M&A process from the seller's side directly. Like most M&A advisers, the firm began sector-agnostic, before Lewin concluded you cannot build deep buyer relationships, or earn the trust of serial acquirers, by dabbling across everything. So it niched down hard, into building services, facilities management and healthcare only, a specialism reflected in how the firm compares with generalist brokers.

Ask Lewin where a sale process actually gets stuck, and the answer is not what people expect. "It is not really the paperwork," he says. "The hardest part is finding and converting a genuine pool of buyers who are qualified, interested and good actors, not just names replying to a teaser. And once you are in a process, every time information passes from seller to advisor to lawyer, something gets lost and has to be re-explained, that is where weeks disappear. That is why being a genuine sector specialist matters: we have built a relationship network before our clients need it, so we are not starting from zero."

The team

Martin Watson, MIET MIFSM, has now formally joined DealFlowAgent as Senior Building Services & FM Advisor. He is Chairman of both the Fire Industry Association and the British Security Industry Association, the only person in the UK to hold both roles at once, and spent over a decade in senior leadership at Mitie, latterly as Industry Liaison Director for fire and security, growing it from £7 million to past £500 million in revenue, including Mitie's £366 million acquisition of Marlowe plc.

"Business owners in these sectors deserve a specialist adviser through the whole journey to a sale, from valuation and business optimisation through to buyer access," says Watson, who advises DealFlowAgent in a personal, non-partisan capacity given his industry roles.

Nick Barker, founder of FM Talent Partners, has also joined the team as Industry Partner for hiring and leadership, closing the management-depth gap that buyers price down more than almost anything else.

A new Head of M&A joins DealFlowAgent full-time on 22 August 2026 from the UK's largest M&A advisory firm, owned by K3 Capital Group, selected from 260 applicants; the name will be announced closer to the date. He has told the team what drew him across: DealFlowAgent's modern, streamlined approach to running a sale process, the decision to niche hard into a small number of industries rather than spread thin, and the scale of the growth opportunity still ahead across the UK and US as momentum builds.

Day to day, that specialism shows up in the detail: within building services, fire safety, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, water hygiene, waste management, commercial cleaning, pest control and lift and elevator maintenance; within healthcare, dental, care homes, veterinary and specialist clinics and GP practices. Testing, inspection, compliance and planned maintenance is exactly the recurring, compliance-driven revenue that makes a business attractive to acquirers, more than one-off project work. The firm occasionally takes on an exceptional B2B SaaS or consumer brand outside these three sectors, where the numbers make sense, but it remains the exception.

Headquartered in South West London, the firm's footprint spans the UK (Manchester, Birmingham, the South East), continental Europe (Germany, the Netherlands), and a growing North America presence in Florida and Texas, backed by a Delaware legal entity. Clients and buyers reach as far as Singapore and India.

Buyer relationships sit at the centre of how DealFlowAgent operates: a network of more than 13,000 self-registered buyers who signed up directly, via LinkedIn, organic search, referral or events, each with defined search criteria. "Anyone can find out whether a buyer is funded, that's on the fund's website," Lewin says. "What you cannot find online is what happens once a buyer sits with a target: which due diligence issues have scared them off before, what customer concentration makes them walk, what contract length they will pay a premium for. We get that from direct conversations with registered buyers, not a database."

"That kind of trust is not given lightly. It comes from showing up. Consistently. In the right rooms."

Some of that room-time is public record: DealFlowAgent has exhibited at The Facilities Event, Interschutz, The Fire Safety Event, The Security Event and Fire Safety Matters Live in Coventry.

That dynamic played out on one of the firm's own deals, and it was not a fire safety business, which is rather the point. A UK online pharmacy came to DealFlowAgent to explore a sale. An American pharmacy group expanding into the UK was already a buyer the firm knew well, and had never heard of the target. The team introduced them over WhatsApp and prepared both sides for due diligence. The process produced four offers in under a month; the business, run by founder Saim, has grown 50x since. Relationships built before a business is for sale are what turn a stranger into a buyer.

Most of DealFlowAgent's clients arrive through referrals rather than outbound marketing: accountants, wealth managers, lawyers, and other owners who have sold, formalised through DealFlowAgent's referral programme, which pays introducer fees. That pattern is itself a signal, advisers do not put clients in front of an M&A adviser lightly.

What actually drives value

Most owners reading this are not about to sell next month, more likely one to three years out, which is why this matters now. Most generalist advisers value a business on a handful of traditional metrics. DealFlowAgent works from around 25 value drivers: quality of earnings, including how much revenue is genuinely recurring, EBITDA margin, growth rate, legal and admin exposure, market position, and sector KPIs like revenue per engineer, technician or cleaner. The more of the top line on multi-year contracts, the more a buyer will pay.

The factor owners underestimate most is key-person dependency. Buyers test whether a business can run for four to six weeks without its founder. If pricing, client relationships or supplier terms live only in the owner's head, that gap gets priced into the offer. Systemising the business and naming account managers a year before any sale conversation is unglamorous, but one of the most effective things an owner can do to protect value.

That level of detail is only possible because of what sits behind it: a proprietary database of 2.1 million companies and 400,000-plus historical acquisitions, and two in-house systems, Sage and Sterling, which the firm describes as software rather than staff, monitoring buyer signals and surfacing matches around the clock. None of it is scraped; it comes from real conversations and real data, anonymised before it informs a report, giving owners an evidenced picture of what would make their business more valuable.

DealFlowAgent's own transaction record, 22 completed sales and counting, gives a further sense of range: an £18 million fire sprinkler contractor sold to a PE-backed platform, a £12 million plumbing and heating group sold to a PE-backed roll-up, and an £8.5 million facilities management firm acquired by an infrastructure investor. At the smaller end, the firm is running a live process for a £3 million client, already holding a 100 per cent cash offer with multiple parties competing.

That kind of platform growth is not unusual in building services right now. Ranger Fire and Security has completed close to 20 acquisitions since 2024, part of a pattern Joe Lewin tracked in this analysis of fifteen firms acquiring more than 480 businesses. Sureserve Group moved into electrical safety compliance this year via its Kinovo acquisition, and at the top of the market OCS is paying £3.1 billion for Mitie, the clearest signal yet of how far consolidation now reaches. Rentokil Initial remains pest control's standing example of programmatic buying. US platforms are more aggressive still: Pye-Barker Fire & Safety has completed 185-plus acquisitions, and APi Group (NYSE: APG) closed deals in Canada and Europe in the past two months, exactly the kind of buyer DealFlowAgent now matches UK and European operators against.

Lumaca Capital backs DealFlowAgent's board, alongside former investment bankers and M&A lawyers giving clients institutional-grade support through complex transactions. The firm has also raised backing from Long Journey, the venture fund behind early bets on Uber and SpaceX.

Lewin's advice to owners considering a sale is straightforward: start earlier than feels necessary.

"If you are an owner-manager in building services, facilities management or healthcare thinking about an exit in the next two or three years, start preparing now, not when you first speak to a buyer," he says. "Demand for compliance-led, recurring-revenue businesses remains strong, but buyers are more rigorous, not less. Getting the financials in order and the right buyers lined up well ahead of a sale is often the difference between a stressful process and one that changes the future of the business and the owner both."

Business owners can get a free valuation and buyer shortlist at dealflowagent.com/buyer-match, book a discovery call at app.lemcal.com/@joelewin/30-minutes, or contact the team on 020 7293 0327.

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Head of M&A

Joining 22 August 2026, name announcing soon

Joining full-time on 22 August 2026 from the largest M&A advisory firm in the UK, owned by K3 Capital. As an ex-Director he managed teams of M&A advisors, analysts and associates, working daily with business owners, buyers and stakeholders on live acquisition deals. Selected from 260 applicants alongside colleagues from investment banking backgrounds, he brings that experience and network to lead the advisory bench across Building Services, Facilities Management, and Healthcare.

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Joining full-time on 22 August 2026 from the largest M&A advisory firm in the UK, owned by K3 Capital. As an ex-Director he managed teams of M&A advisors, analysts and associates, working daily with business owners, buyers and stakeholders on live acquisition deals. Selected from 260 applicants alongside colleagues from investment banking backgrounds, he brings that experience and network to lead the advisory bench across Building Services, Facilities Management, and Healthcare.

Industry Specialist

Martin Watson

Senior Building Services & FM Advisor

Martin is one of the most well-connected figures in UK fire, security, building services and FM. He is Chairman of both the Fire Industry Association and the British Security Industry Association, the only person in the UK to hold both roles simultaneously. Martin spent over a decade in senior leadership at Mitie, latterly as Industry Liaison Director for its fire and security division, helping scale the business past £500m in revenue and playing a role in the £366m acquisition of Marlowe plc, which created one of the UK's largest compliance, fire and security services groups. He joined DealFlowAgent because owners in these sectors deserve a genuine sector-specialist advisor across valuation, business optimisation and buyer access. In recognition of his industry roles, he acts in a personal, non-partisan capacity.

Read full bio

Martin is one of the most well-connected figures in UK fire, security, building services and FM. He is Chairman of both the Fire Industry Association and the British Security Industry Association, the only person in the UK to hold both roles simultaneously. Martin spent over a decade in senior leadership at Mitie, latterly as Industry Liaison Director for its fire and security division, helping scale the business past £500m in revenue and playing a role in the £366m acquisition of Marlowe plc, which created one of the UK's largest compliance, fire and security services groups. He joined DealFlowAgent because owners in these sectors deserve a genuine sector-specialist advisor across valuation, business optimisation and buyer access. In recognition of his industry roles, he acts in a personal, non-partisan capacity.

Industry Partner

Nick Barker

Industry Partner, Hiring and Leadership

Nick leads FM Talent Partners, the facilities management and real estate leadership search firm, and is a leading specialist in building services and FM management talent. He partners with DealFlowAgent on two-way referrals: helping business owners and acquirers fill the key roles that decide whether a business is sellable, and introducing owners who are thinking about their next chapter to a team that knows their industry and their market. Key-person dependency is one of the two most common reasons a sale collapses, and Nick fixes it at source.

Read full bio

Nick leads FM Talent Partners, the facilities management and real estate leadership search firm, and is a leading specialist in building services and FM management talent. He partners with DealFlowAgent on two-way referrals: helping business owners and acquirers fill the key roles that decide whether a business is sellable, and introducing owners who are thinking about their next chapter to a team that knows their industry and their market. Key-person dependency is one of the two most common reasons a sale collapses, and Nick fixes it at source.

James Duboullay

Senior M&A Advisor

• •25+ years across investment banking, M&A and fundraising
• •Sector focus: essential services and software
• •Long-standing relationships with private equity buyers and growth funds
• •Personally advising DealFlowAgent founders for the past four years

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• •25+ years across investment banking, M&A and fundraising
• •Sector focus: essential services and software
• •Long-standing relationships with private equity buyers and growth funds
• •Personally advising DealFlowAgent founders for the past four years

Emerson Patton

Sector Specialist: Building Services & Facilities Management

• •20+ years advising owners in building services, fire safety, HVAC, plumbing, and construction
• •Guided 200+ companies through growth, profit improvement, and exit planning
• •Builds equity value and operational structure long before a sale
• •Partners with DFA to prepare owners for exit while the advisory team runs the sale

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• •20+ years advising owners in building services, fire safety, HVAC, plumbing, and construction
• •Guided 200+ companies through growth, profit improvement, and exit planning
• •Builds equity value and operational structure long before a sale
• •Partners with DFA to prepare owners for exit while the advisory team runs the sale

Kaya Kesici

M&A Advisor, Fire Safety, Security & Compliance

• •17 completed M&A transactions over the past six years across UK SME fire safety, security and compliance-led services
• •Sell-side and buy-side experience, buyer research, acquirer mapping, outreach and live process coordination
• •Information request lists, databook prep, IC-style summaries and EV-to-equity bridge work
• •Direct sector exposure across fire protection, security systems, CCTV, access control and intruder alarms

Read full bio

• •17 completed M&A transactions over the past six years across UK SME fire safety, security and compliance-led services
• •Sell-side and buy-side experience, buyer research, acquirer mapping, outreach and live process coordination
• •Information request lists, databook prep, IC-style summaries and EV-to-equity bridge work
• •Direct sector exposure across fire protection, security systems, CCTV, access control and intruder alarms

Previously

Ranger Fire & Security · Complete Building Services · Compliance Group

Joe Lewin

Founder, DealFlowAgent

• •22 completed M&A transactions
• •Direct relationships with hundreds of strategic and financial acquirers
• •Previously built a mobility and field services business to 30 staff and 6 UK warehouses, then sold via competitive process with an EY M&A partner
• •Raised £2m in funding; placed 3rd of 1,900 at OnStage (the "Y Combinator of Europe")
• •Full-stack developer of advanced agent systems and second-brain tooling for the M&A process

Read full bio

• •22 completed M&A transactions
• •Direct relationships with hundreds of strategic and financial acquirers
• •Previously built a mobility and field services business to 30 staff and 6 UK warehouses, then sold via competitive process with an EY M&A partner
• •Raised £2m in funding; placed 3rd of 1,900 at OnStage (the "Y Combinator of Europe")
• •Full-stack developer of advanced agent systems and second-brain tooling for the M&A process

Call: 020 7293 0327

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For every engagement we add a sector specialist from your industry to the core team: a 15–25 year operator or advisor with direct relationships in your niche. Recruited per deal so you get the right fit, not a generalist.

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For every engagement we add a sector specialist from your industry to the core team: a 15–25 year operator or advisor with direct relationships in your niche. Recruited per deal so you get the right fit, not a generalist.

The bench is growing. Two senior M&A hires confirmed for late July 2026, selected from 200+ applicants out of Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, EY, KPMG and leading boutique M&A firms. See open roles →

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