For PE sponsors backing residential home services platforms.

The portco's marketing looks fine in the deck. Does it reconcile to the P&L?

Marketing is almost always the workstream that shows up last in diligence and last in the 100-day plan. By month four, the operating partner has spent a full quarter discovering what the marketing function looks like instead of operating it. Sheppard runs marketing as a function inside PE-backed residential home services platforms across the deal lifecycle. Pre-close audit alongside CDD. 100-day install of the operating system. Hold-period execution measured on marketing-sourced EBITDA. Exit data room hardened twelve months ahead of sale.

Engage Sheppard See how we engage

Four moments in the deal lifecycle.

Sheppard engages at any stage of a platform's hold. Most sponsors start in one phase and grow into all three. The handoff between phases is intentionally tight so the same team carries context from diligence into install into ongoing execution.

Engagement lifecycleDIAGRAM / DEAL CYCLE

Pre-close to exit timeline with Sheppard touchpoints

Pre-close

You're under LOI on a residential home services platform.

Sheppard runs a structured marketing stack audit alongside your CDD provider's commercial DD. Output is a working memo with an EBITDA-impact estimate the deal team folds into committee materials, plus an operating plan the future portco CEO uses on Day 1.

See the marketing stack audit

First 100 days

You just closed and need marketing operational by Day 100.

Sheppard installs the marketing operating system. Vendor consolidation, attribution methodology, KPI dashboards, channel rebuild, sponsor-facing reporting cadence. The 100-day playbook that eliminates the discovery quarter most platforms burn post-close.

See the 100-day install

Mid-hold and roll-ups

You're acquiring add-ons and marketing integration keeps slipping.

Sheppard runs the platform marketing function through the hold. We integrate each add-on cleanly, defend brand equity across DMAs, compound local SEO across the roll-up. One operating system across portcos, not nine vendors per portco.

See roll-up marketing

Pre-exit, 12 to 18 months out

You're a year from sale and the marketing data room isn't ready.

Sheppard hardens the marketing function the buyer's CDD provider will inspect. Clean attribution, vendor lineage, brand-equity baselines, a transferable systems pack. Built deliberately, the marketing data room defends a half-turn or more of EBITDA in negotiation.

See portfolio company marketing

Three modes, applied to the deal lifecycle.

Sheppard's three modes (Run it, Build it, Advise on it) show up at every stage of a PE platform's hold. The mix shifts by phase. The same team carries context across all three.

Run it

Execution inside the portco.

Full-stack digital marketing operated as the platform marketing function or laid over the agency stack the portco has. Ten specialties, senior operators, measured on ROAS and EBITDA contribution. Reported on the cadence of financial close.

See the ten specialties

Build it

Systems engineered for the platform.

AI call answering and booking automation that captures every paid click as a booked job. CRM and dispatch integration. Attribution warehouses reconciled to the financial system. Built inside the portco's perimeter, transferable at exit.

See what we build

Advise on it

Counsel to sponsor and operating partner.

Pre-LOI diligence input. 100-day operating plan design. Mid-hold operating-model assessment. Pre-exit marketing data-room strategy. Cross-portfolio standardization for operating partners running multiple platforms.

See the advisory practice

The PE marketing agencies that win in home services don't exist.

Generalist PE marketing agencies serve B2B SaaS, healthcare, financial services, and consumer brands. Sometimes all four under one roof. The frameworks transfer at the level of "run marketing diligence" or "build a 100-day plan." The substance does not.

Residential home services marketing has specific economics. Emergency versus retail demand splits. Lead quality through CRM, dialer, and dispatch. Neighborhood saturation through EDDM. Multi-DMA local-pack compounding. Brand decisions during add-on integration. Route density driving paid-search ROI. A generalist team is not equipped to run the marketing engine inside an HVAC roll-up. A specialist practice is.

Sheppard's entire practice is built around this category. Nothing else.

Residential home services only.

HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, pest control, pool, garage door, flooring, restoration, and landscaping. We do not work in B2B SaaS, healthcare, financial services, or other PE verticals. The specialization is the point.

$10M to $200M EBITDA platforms.

Single-portco operators through multi-DMA roll-ups. The operating model scales with the platform.

Sponsor-level engagement.

We engage at the sponsor level and operate inside the portco. Operating partner sees monthly EBITDA-contribution reporting. Portco CEO works with us weekly on execution.

Three to five active platforms at a time.

Sheppard is not a high-volume agency. Capacity is deliberately limited so each engagement gets senior attention, not a junior handoff.

What Sheppard does inside each residential trade.

The operating model is the same across residential trades. The playbook inside each phase is engineered around the unit economics of the specific trade.

Private equity, HVAC

HVAC platforms

Replacement-driven, recurring service, weather-cyclical.

See the engagement

Private equity, Plumbing

Plumbing platforms

Emergency demand, trust at point of crisis.

See the engagement

Private equity, Electrical

Electrical platforms

Decision-cycle driven, electrification tailwinds.

See the engagement

Private equity, Roofing

Roofing platforms

Storm and retail funnels with different economics.

See the engagement

All ten residential trades

Frequently Asked

Questions sponsors and operating partners ask before they engage.

What marketing services does Sheppard provide for PE-backed portfolio companies?

Three integrated services across the deal lifecycle. Pre-close: a structured Marketing Stack Audit that doubles as a Day-1 operating plan or a marketing input alongside your CDD provider. Post-close: the 100-day playbook that installs the marketing operating system (attribution methodology, KPI dashboards, channel rebuild, and rationalization of the agency relationships the platform inherited). Hold-period through exit: ongoing execution of the full marketing engine, ten specialties run as one function, reported up to the sponsor on the cadence of financial close.

How is Sheppard different from a general PE-marketing agency?

Sheppard is the specialist marketing practice for PE-backed residential home services platforms, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, pest control, pool, garage door, flooring, restoration, and landscaping. We do not work in B2B SaaS, healthcare, financial services, or other PE verticals. Most PE marketing agencies are generalists; our entire practice is built around the operating realities of the residential trades, multi-DMA roll-ups, lead-driven trade economics, dispatch and booked-call discipline, seasonality, and the exit dynamics of this category specifically.

Does Sheppard work with sponsors directly, or with the portcos?

Both. Most engagements are scoped at the sponsor level, an operating partner brings Sheppard in to install the marketing function across one or more portcos. The day-to-day work happens inside the portfolio company, with the portco CEO and marketing operator. The sponsor sees monthly EBITDA-contribution reporting and a clear cadence tied to the deal thesis.

What size of platform does Sheppard typically work with?

$10M–$200M EBITDA platforms across single-portco and multi-portco roll-ups. The work scales, a single-DMA HVAC operator gets a different playbook depth than a 12-DMA multi-trade roll-up, but the operating model is the same. We do not take engagements with platforms below ~$5M EBITDA where the marketing function isn't yet large enough to professionalize.

Can Sheppard support multiple portcos in the same sponsor's portfolio?

Yes, that's increasingly common. We engage at the sponsor level and operate across the portfolio, standardizing the marketing operating system across portcos while respecting per-trade and per-DMA differences. The advantage compounds: same dashboards, same vendor map structure, same operating cadence, transferable benchmarks across the portfolio.

Marketing built for the hold, defended at exit.

Have a platform that needs marketing under control?

Engage Sheppard