Limbach Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: LMB) has acquired 1901 Inc., a Madison, Wisconsin-based union MEP contractor with operations across Wisconsin and the Midwest. The purchase price is $63 million, subject to customary post-closing adjustments, funded with available cash and borrowings under Limbach’s recently expanded revolving credit facility. The agreement also includes performance-based earn-outs of up to $6 million payable over the next two years if specified targets are met. Limbach said it will provide additional information on 1901’s anticipated financial contribution when it reports third-quarter 2026 results in November. Trailing twelve-month revenue and EBITDA for 1901 were not disclosed.
The asset.
1901 is a union MEP contractor providing design-build, construction, fabrication, service, maintenance, controls, and underground utility work throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest. Founded in 1901 — the same year as Limbach — it traces its roots to W.J. Hyland Hall and later H&H Industries before rebranding as 1901 in 2018.
The release says the deal adds about 450 employees, including more than 350 field professionals. Named end markets include healthcare, higher education, industrial, and cultural facilities, with stated room to expand into advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and technology projects. 1901 CEO Paul Christensen is remaining with the business. On its own website, 1901 currently describes itself as employing 400-plus people and projected to produce over $130 million in annual sales; that figure is a company projection, not a disclosed trailing twelve-month result.
The platform.
Limbach is a building systems solutions firm focused on mission-critical mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and controls infrastructure. Before 1901, it reported roughly 2,100 employees across 23 offices in the Eastern and Midwestern United States.
Recent disclosed acquisitions sit in the same pattern. In July 2025 Limbach acquired Pioneer Power for $66.1 million and said it expected annualized contribution of approximately $120 million of revenue and $10 million of adjusted EBITDA beginning in 2026. In August 2026 it acquired CYMCOR, a data-center professional services firm, for $30 million, with expected 2027 contribution of about $12 million of revenue and $4 million of adjusted EBITDA.
President and CEO Michael McCann called 1901 “an exceptional fit” that scales the building systems platform, deepens Midwest presence, and adds mechanical, electrical, and controls expertise for mission-critical facilities. Limbach’s stated integration plan is to bring 1901 onto the operating platform while preserving local customer relationships, technical capability, and the skilled workforce, then expand the MEPC offering to 1901’s customers.
The disclosed multiple.
Limbach currently expects 1901 to contribute approximately $140 million of revenue and $11 million of adjusted EBITDA in 2027.
$63 million of consideration against $11 million of expected 2027 adjusted EBITDA implies about 5.7x. Including the $6 million earnout cap, the same math is about 6.3x. Against $140 million of expected 2027 revenue, $63 million is about 0.45x sales. Those are forward multiples on management’s 2027 contribution estimate. No trailing twelve-month EBITDA was published, so a TTM multiple cannot be calculated from the release.
Prior Limbach prints give some context. Pioneer Power’s $66.1 million purchase price against $10 million of expected 2026 adjusted EBITDA was about 6.6x on that forward figure. CYMCOR was $30 million against $4 million of expected 2027 adjusted EBITDA, or 7.5x, on a professional-services mix. 1901 is the largest of the three on expected revenue, and Limbach said it establishes the company’s largest electrical operation to date, while adding mechanical, plumbing, controls, fabrication, service, and underground utility capability.
The commercial MEP M&A environment.
Public strategics and private platforms are both active in commercial and union MEP. The difference for owners is the paper trail. A $63 million close with named 2027 contribution shows how one sophisticated buyer is underwriting a Midwest multi-trade contractor that combines project work, fabrication, and service.
Electrical capability is part of the thesis. Owners who are electrical-heavy, or who already combine electrical with mechanical and plumbing, sit in a different buyer conversation than a pure mechanical shop.
What it means.
About 5.7x on expected 2027 adjusted EBITDA — 6.3x if the earnout is fully earned — is a disclosed forward multiple on a 125-year union MEPC contractor with 350-plus field professionals. It is not a valuation for every commercial shop in the Midwest. Mix, margin, and how much of the building-systems wallet a buyer thinks it can own after close still drive the rest of the conversation.
Limbach has now put purchase prices and contribution figures on three deals in a little over a year. For commercial and union MEP owners in Wisconsin and the broader Midwest, the next inbound may come from a public strategic that has to disclose, or from a private platform that does not.
Own a commercial MEP, mechanical, or electrical contracting business?
Schryver & Co. advises trades owners across roughly $5 million–$100 million of revenue, and works with plenty of owners who simply want an honest read on what they have built. If you’d like to understand what your business is worth and which acquirers would genuinely compete for it — public strategics and private platforms alike — we’re glad to talk. No pitch, no pressure.
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