Extera Building Solutions

Quick Stats

Leadership: Trevor Cost
Prospect Team: Brett Holcomb, Mike McInerney, Kyle Slovis
Location: Walton Hills, OH
Industry: Specialty Service (B2B)
Investment Date: March 2024
Exit Date: Active

Overview

Extera Building Solutions is a leading provider of premium exterior facility services, specializing in roofing, sheet metal installation, glazing, masonry, and restoration services. The Company serves a diverse base of commercial customers across manufacturing, education, government, healthcare, and other end markets throughout the Midwest.

Extera’s full-service offering of building envelope solutions, in addition to its core roofing capabilities, positions the Company as the preferred exterior building services provider in its markets. The Company’s highly trained technicians hold certifications across all major roofing types, and strategic relationships with specialty vendors enable Extera to successfully execute highly complex projects.

Our investment in Extera provides an example of how we work with strong, entrepreneurial owners to provide growth capital and strategic advice, enabling the Company to build on a legacy established over 100 years and execute a buy-and-build strategy in a highly fragmented industry.

After identifying commercial roofing as a sector of interest, we were introduced to Trevor Cost, the third-generation leader of Warren Roofing & Insulating Co. through an investment banker relationship. Trevor was seeking a partner who could provide the knowledge and capital to help navigate the Company through its next phase of growth. Once introduced, we quickly established a strong cultural alignment with Trevor, demonstrating our knowledge of the industry and ability to deploy a playbook to help build the Company’s infrastructure and capture future growth opportunities. Ultimately, we created a new Holding Company, Extera Building Solutions, balancing transaction proceeds with the capital needed to accelerate Warren’s growth trajectory.

Partnership Rationale

We saw an opportunity to back a dynamic, third-generation leader of a premier exterior building service provider in Northeast Ohio, capitalizing on repeatable, non-discretionary demand in a highly-fragmented industry. Additionally, by building out Extera’s complementary service offering to “own the building envelope” the Company can seize cross-sell opportunities by bundling a fully-integrated solution. The Company’s expertise in providing complex, high-quality exterior building solutions to a blue-chip customer base positioned the Company as a differentiated player in a market with large barriers to entry. We made a control-equity investment in Extera Building Solutions and are working closely with the team to expand the leadership group, build scalable infrastructure, and pursue strategic growth opportunities both organically and through acquisition.

Growth Initiatives

Closed first add-on acquisition, expanding geographic reach into contiguous markets; pursuing other add-on acquisitions that expand geographic footprint and add complementary service offerings
Scaling ancillary service offerings including masonry & restoration, glazing, and skylights
Expanded into new HQ facility with a second larger office and additional warehouse space

Strategic Partnership

Strong partnership with Trevor Cost, Morgen Cost and Colin Smith
Implemented first equity incentive program for senior management and other key employees
Developed structured board reporting package with appropriate KPIs and metrics
Engaged consultant to support and facilitate integration roadmap and execution

Infrastructure Building

Developed monthly and weekly reporting cadence, creating a financial package along with a weekly KPI dashboard
Implemented Work-In-Progress and Job Activity Report review to standardize processes and increase visibility into job performance
Acquired proprietary software developed in-house (now under common ownership)
Administered revised incentive program to enhance field labor retention and attract talent

Management Team Additions

Recruited a highly talented CFO to lead finance function and support strategic initiatives
Hired a Controller to further bolster finance organization
Hired VP of Integration to support acquisition integration and provide operational support
Hired IT Director to support technology infrastructure and integration initiatives