TL;DR: Nexstar Network ended every private-equity-backed membership at the close of 2025, even though those members represented about 50 percent of its revenue. An independent shop should compete on local continuity, honest pay terms, and direct owner involvement, not by copying a centralized roll-up.
Nexstar Network cut every private-equity-backed member, and those members brought in roughly half its revenue. The decision made Nexstar the clearest name in the residential HVAC ownership fight.
Nexstar is the best-known business coaching and membership group for residential plumbing, HVAC, and electrical contractors. In 2025, it told its private-equity-backed members that their memberships would end at the close of 2025. There was no grandfathering. People tied to private equity would not attend future events, according to ACHR News on September 24, 2025.
Nexstar chose independent owners over half its revenue
Private-equity-backed members made up about 30 percent of Nexstar’s membership, or roughly one-third, but about 50 percent of its revenue. Three years earlier, those members represented about 10 percent of membership.
President and CEO Julian Scadden said Nexstar was built to serve independent owners like he once was, not to maximize revenue. His short version was, “Growth without purpose is cancer.”
Nexstar gave two reasons for the split. Some private-equity-backed members had their own capital and centralized systems, so they no longer needed Nexstar’s support. Others were operating beyond the level its service was designed to support.
Nexstar said in October 2025 that it planned a flat 2026 with no workforce reduction. It said an investment reserve, kept for this kind of moment, would fund that plan.
The decision still carries a cost. Nexstar gave up roughly half its revenue to keep its stated purpose tied to independent ownership. That is why this is more than a membership policy. It is a public judgment about what happens when a local service company becomes part of a larger financial platform.
The roll-up wave gives critics plenty to point to
Nearly 800 HVAC, plumbing, and electrical service companies have been bought by private equity since 2022, according to PitchBook data reported by The Wall Street Journal in October 2024.
Alpine Investors’ platform, Apex Service Partners, has rolled up more than 200 companies across 43 states into a business of roughly $2.2 billion a year, according to the Journal. Wrench Group and Sila Services are other well-known private-equity-backed residential platforms.
ACCA wrote in an April 2023 member blog post that private equity likes HVAC for three reasons. It is a stable industry with solid margins. The field is dominated by small regional businesses that can be consolidated. Many owners are approaching retirement without a succession plan.
Critics say consolidation can change the daily decisions that customers and technicians feel. The American Prospect reported in October 2023 that Indiana HVAC engineer Jeff Howard described a talent exodus and doubled warranty calls after an acquisition. He also described management that prioritized equipment replacement over customer and employee care. That is one engineer’s account, not industry data.
A broader concern is easier to recognize in the field. When ownership measures revenue per call, homeowners can feel pushed toward replacement before repair options are explored. That concern does not prove every platform operates that way. It explains why customers pay attention when a familiar shop changes hands.
Owners of independent shops often describe the same pattern after a long-running local company is bought and its phones move to a central call center. Their call logs fill with callers who say they used the other company, ask for a technician by first name, and ask whether “you’re still local.” Customers notice continuity. They ask about it directly.
The seller’s case is stronger than critics admit
The Wall Street Journal reported on October 12, 2024, that technicians at businesses Alpine acquires receive an average 20 percent pay increase in the first year after the sale. The increase mostly comes through higher wages, bonuses, and commission.
The Journal also reported that Rite Way, a Tucson HVAC company, grew revenue from $30 million to $70 million after its sale. Former owner Rick Walter said selling took a lot of stress out of the business.
ACCA’s 2023 post listed other possible benefits for sellers. They may receive payment up front instead of seller financing, better employee benefits and training programs, stronger purchasing power with vendors, growth capital, and knowledge shared across sister companies.
The succession argument is real. Many owners are nearing retirement, and their children may not want the business. A private-equity buyer is often the buyer who shows up with cash. The American Investment Council, the private equity industry’s trade group, promoted the Journal story as evidence that private equity boosts wages and growth in the trades.
ACCA also listed the costs. A seller can lose autonomy and identity. Growth mandates may clash with the owner’s goals. The owner may be expected to stay through the transition. Those terms matter as much as the purchase price.
If an acquisition letter lands in your inbox, read ACCA’s pro and con list, talk to an advisor, and understand the earnout and stay-on expectations before signing. This is not a decision to make from the headline number alone. For background on owner economics and what a shop may be worth, see what small HVAC companies make.
Independent shops can sell what centralized systems struggle to copy
You compete with private-equity-backed shops on the parts of service that a centralized model is slowest to copy. The same technician comes back. The owner calls replacement customers personally. The phone gets answered by someone who knows the shop.
That personal follow-up matters when a homeowner is deciding who gets the replacement job. Use the owner call as part of your process, and review winning replacement leads before you let a valuable inquiry sit in a queue.
Pay is now a recruiting fight. If a nearby platform raised technician pay, know what you can offer instead. That might be the schedule, ownership of the work, or no commission pressure. Put those facts in job posts honestly. Do not promise what your shop cannot provide.
You also need a plan for competing for customers before the phone rings. Review where HVAC leads come from, then make sure your local reputation and referral sources match the customers you want.
Dial 72’s AI receptionist, Bella, answers every call 24/7 in under a second, in English or Spanish. She recognizes maintenance plan members and gives them priority scheduling, flags replacement and install inquiries as high-value leads so the owner can call back personally, and texts the shop a summary after every call. That lets an independent shop keep the advantage of someone always picking up and knowing who the caller is without building a call center. For maintenance members and agreements, review maintenance plan auto-renewal.
This season, post the pay and schedule you can actually offer, assign an owner follow-up for replacement leads, keep local continuity visible, and use a call process that answers every customer without giving up the independent identity Nexstar chose to protect.
